A Gutless challenge - Fisher’s mighty F7-U3 M. Working hard before trying to make both ends meet ...

[Peterpools]

Hubert

Wishing you positive results with your medical appointments, business meetings and enjoy your family events. 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looking great Hubert.  That punch set looks fantastic.  Good luck with the appointments

[CANicoll]

Hubert,

I wanted to buy one of those Waldron punch sets decades ago, but never got around to it.  You have made excellent use of yours!

Chris

 

[Peterpools]

10 hours ago, CANicoll said:

Hubert,

I wanted to buy one of those Waldron punch sets decades ago, but never got around to it.  You have made excellent use of yours!

Chris

 

Chris

I bought Waldron Punch Set around 1973, my first real modeling tool and it's still used all the time. I lost the case years ago and just keep it in a small Tupperware jar. Best modeling money I ever spent. I also have the RP Toolz Hex Punch Set - awesome quality but because it's so specialized, I do not use it anywhere as much. RP Toolz also make a round punch set, many more punch sizes, a much higher quality and pricier. For my money and needs over the past 50 years, the Waldron set is perfect.

 

[HubertB]

The only issue of the Waldron set is that they rust, by simple contact with body moisture …

But somehow, probably linked to the cristalline structure of stainless steel, which includes chromium crystals, you cannot get as sharp edges with stainless steel punches as with ordinary steel …

My micro-punch set has also steel punches, and they rust, even when I never touched them, given the way the set is designed.

Hubert

[Martinnfb]

Nice to see your choice is Cutlass Hubert . I really like these obscure early jet. 
 

[Peterpools]

5 hours ago, HubertB said:

The only issue of the Waldron set is that they rust, by simple contact with body moisture …

But somehow, probably linked to the cristalline structure of stainless steel, which includes chromium crystals, you cannot get as sharp edges with stainless steel punches …

My micro-punch set has also steel punches, and they rust, even when I never touched them, given the way the set is designed.

Hubert

Hubert

I've bought mine in the 1970's, use them for all these years (a good chunk of time I wasn't modeling and they were packed away) and not a spec of rust. Only wish the case was a bit beefier but for a tool to lasted all these years and still in perfect shape, they were one of my best purchases I ever made. The amazing thing is I never lost any of the punches. Could be the s/s was changed over the years to keep the cost down?

 

[Bomber_County]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:11 PM, HubertB said:Hubert

Is it done yet ………….just asking……..

[HubertB]

I have spent VERY little time at my bench in the last 8 weeks, and therefore made VERY little progress  

But i have made some, and will post some pics next week-end, when I am back home …

Hubert

[Peterpools]

Hubert

Looking forward to your Cutlass build as time allows.

 

[HubertB]

Well, a few weeks have again elapsed. I need to prove this one has not found its way back to the SOD …

N ly last update, I was adding bits and pieces to the cockpit. I did some surgery to remove the back bulkhead from the old cockpit that was chewed by my cat a few years ago, and graft it to the hew cockpit, in place of the new one, warped beyond reprieve.
This is where I hit my nemesis, and went through a severe procrastination bout : black cockpits of the early jets. Iam really struggling to achieve some degree of interesting contrast in this black-on-black exercise. My first painting attempt was not satisfactory and was stripped, from its paint.

This is where I am standing today, in tne middle of the process. The base color is MRP « tire black » with details highlighted here and there in real black, silver, red, etc. The oxygen hose needs re-gluing, the red dots reinforced, the IP fire alarm warning lights added, as the emergency cockpit and bom releases handles, etc. the control column and rudde pedals are still missing.

So it’s not finished yet. Spending hours on this one with the maximum amplification Optivisor, I am not really satisfied with my work and results, but I have to remind myself that nobody will look at it with this degree of extreme magnification … And then the pics show that black on black is a real pain to photograph as well

More to come …. one day or another ….

 

 

Hubert

[HubertB]

… And my pics are absolute crap on top 🤣 !

the blue background plays havoc with the « logic » of the phone camera.

Let’s see if a new background will help ( some details have been enhanced between the previous pics and these ones, and I have started adding the warning lights on the IP)

 

 

 

[Peterpools]

Hubert

Absolutely the color change of the background worked and the resolution is a lot better. Details look good and right on the right course.

 

 

[HubertB]

Well, this is as far as I can go on the cockpit and IP detailing, Thanks to Airscale 1/48 decals (yes, 1/32 dials were too big for the IP openings), some AnyZ detailing bits, and a decision to go for less realism, and more visible details, this is as far as I can go. Not the best with macro-photo, but it looks good enough to the naked eye.

Time to move on to other parts, like the seat, and the wheel wells. Maybe I can finish this one before the deadline 🤞

Hubert

 

[towerpower]

Boa noite Hubert,

 

Just stumbled onto this thread, and it's very very interesting to see your approach towards building and eventually finishing this kit.

Have the same in the stash waiting to be built (yeah right, with my building progress.....) so i'll try and follow this build with interest.

 

good show,

 

Jack.

[DocRob]

C'mon Hubert, it's nearly done . I like the looks of your pit a lot, well detailed and lived in, but personally, I can't wait for you tackling the weird outside looks of this interesting bird.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

Go Hubert, go!  Only 14 days left.

[HubertB]

8 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Go Hubert, go!  Only 14 days left.

WOT ? I thought it was 75, but then realised it was only 45 … Now if you shorten it further, I am sure I will (again) prove I am bad at Group builds 😂 …

Hubert

[Martinnfb]

No need to rush it Hubert. If you won't make it on time we can still move it into the work in progress section. Cockpit looks good.

[HubertB]

38 minutes ago, Martinnfb said:

No need to rush it Hubert. If you won't make it on time we can still move it into the work in progress section. Cockpit looks good.

« Rushing » is not part of my modelling vocabulary, Martin. « Procrastinating » on the other hand …😜

Hubert

[GazzaS]

3 hours ago, HubertB said:

WOT ? I thought it was 75, but then realised it was only 45 … Now if you shorten it further, I am sure I will (again) prove I am bad at Group builds 😂 …

Hubert

Heh...   here I thought it ended June 1.  Silly me.  Anyway...   45 days...   now you have no reason to procrastinate.  Rome wasn't built in a day....   But maybe 45.

 

[KevinM]

For me it's hard to make a pit look good in black but you pulled it off Hubert.

[HubertB]

Thanks Kevin.

The cockpit is actually not as finished as I thought (and wrote) it to be:

1) It was missing the oxygen hose that had come loose,

2) I need to repaint the floor, pedals, control column pedestal  and back bulkhead in interior green (re-checking the colors infos has brought this up)

3) whilst laboring on the ejection seat, I found out that Fisher has molded a part of the seat frame with the rear bulkhead, making the assembly awkward and fragile. So I removed all traces of the seat frame on the bulkhead, and rescratched a new one, that will go with the seat, thus making the lot sturdier and easier to paint.

Pics soon

Hubert

[Peterpools]

Hubert

Nice progress on the front office - working in black and black tones is a tough act for sure.  

Forget the finish date and just keep going at your own speed. I'm sure when the GB has ended, Ernie will move your build to the appropriate forum and we will be able to follow and enjoy your build.

 

[HubertB]

Well, as this GB is drawing to its end, it’s time to show where I am standing with it. It won’t be much of a surprise if I say it’s nowhere near finished.

The last weeks have been a demonstration of the consequences of poor planning, and not understanding well enough what I was seeing and what it meant for the project. Most of the issues have arisen from working on the ejection seat. But first, this is what the original looked like :

Plenty of info to integrate, and to translate into a model. Not in particular the safety belt, and the hint at how it goes above the seat tubing structure into what is probably a tensioning device ( a drawing of which is shown in the Ginter book). Note also ghe rear structure of the seat, with some tubes (the central one being the rocket propulsor). Finally, note the headrest, its attachment to a tubes’ structure, and the way it stands proud of the rear structure, made of I-beams and the top structure bearing an armoured panel, and the face curtain mechanism.

Fisher has represented the seat with one part of the rear structure directly molded with the rear cockpit tub bulkhead. The face curtain / armoured plate structure is an add-on by Fisher, to be glued to the seat bucket, to which some PE parts are added to represent the side-tube of the seat-bucket, and the side leg-guards. They are , es expectable with PE, a bit flat and two-dimensional. The seat harness is also PE, and is glued to the tube structure supporting the headrest.

As I have written, my kit suffered in the past from some resin-tasting and munching by my cat. Fortunately, I could order a replacement from Paul, but the replacement were badly warped in some areas, like the rear bulkhead, the armoured plate/face curtain mechanism or the headrest tube structure. Some kit-bashing between what I could salvage of the original cockpit, and some scratch-building was of the order of the day. 
 

However, I had not understood well enough the details of the seat. For instance, I had scratchbuilt the headrest structure, with tubes, rods, some folded brass sheet, when I realised that the bucket structure and the rear structure needed to go together, and to leave some space for the belt-tensioning device …

So enters the saw to remove a resin plug from the rear of the bucket, and a chisel to remove the rear seat structure from the bulkhead ! Nerve-wracking sequence # 1 !

 

But then, it dawned on me that the resin on the back of the bucket seat was still too much. Nerve-wracking exercise #2 : get the power tool out to remove the excessive resin with a burr ! Yes, you are right, it’s a bad idea when you have already glued in some delicate parts, which started flying to feed tha carpet monster !

 

 

And then the poor planning / bad documentation analysis came back to the forefront : not only the seat, but the cockpit tub, bulkhead, control yoke and pedals were not black but interior green ! Ok, I need to mask the side consoles without damaging any of the details there … And nerve-wracking exercise #3 done !

 

On the above pic, you will also notice that I have rebuilt and added to the bulkhead the guides between which the the seat I- beams slided during the ejection sequence. These were made with some folded brass sheet, and plastic rod « rollers ».

 I had annealed the Fisher-supplied seat harness, but I was still struggling with the fact that it was not a good representation of the tensioning device behind the bucket. And then the carpet monster ate one half of it ! 
But these early ejection seat harnesses used basically the same model as the WWII prop-planes harnesses. And I had a supply of those, from HGW, in the AM stash. Those of you who have used them know what treading the harness through the PE buckles can be : nerve-wracking exercise #4 !

(Btw, although it’s here, done in full 10-pieces detail, I forgot to take a puc of the rear of the bucket with the harness-tensioning device - sorry)

And here is the result of 4 weeks of doing, undoing, redoing, re-undoing, re-re-doing, and repainting :

 

 

 

The next pics shows the seat blu-tacked together. The « floating » wire-bundle on the right side of the rear seat frame actually attaches to the side of the bucket, so this will be done when the seat is put together. I am still unsure whether this should be done now, or after the cockpit tub has been glued in position in the front fuselage.

 

 

 

 

And a final view of the repainted cockpit tub …

 

 

Time to move on to detailing the front LG bay. The below pic shows what Fisher is supplying. Two point to note: 1) the big tube on the bottom left of the bay is already and add-on. It is the tube that brings compressed air from one of the engines to the pipe on the landing gear that feeds the turbine pre-rotating the wheels before landing, to reduce the whiplash effect on the gear at touch-down. 2) the ram in the center is actually the one that actuates the closing of the gear-bay doors. As such, it is too long, and needs shortening, as below :

 

 

 

Note on the bottom of the bay the compressed tube is prolonged. The ribbed effect was done by coiling some 0.4 mm wire around a 1 mm dia solder wire.

And that is where I stand (with a bit more details still done since) one day before the GB ends !

Hubert