Grumman XTB3F-1S Guardian, 90506 (completed)
1
April 3, 2015Courtesy of Steve Ginter (Naval fighters no. 20).2
April 3, 2015First result of my research & comparison of the kit with the original: the offset of the nacelle and prop to right direction are partially missed in the kit (Drawing: Grumman via Wikipedia)3
April 22, 2015The holes for the switches from wire are well visible: fitting after airbrushing so I can leave out painting wit aluminium paint.4
April 22, 20155
April 22, 20156
April 22, 20157
April 23, 20158
April 23, 20159
April 23, 201510
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April 25, 201514
April 25, 201515
April 25, 2015At first this looks complicated but it was the easiest way for me to determine the attachment the engine to the cowling.16
April 25, 201517
April 26, 2015Right: too small engine from the kit. Left for comparison: engine from AMT's Tigercat.18
April 27, 2015Gearbox from the kit combined with the cylinder banks from Tamiyas Corsair.19
April 27, 2015Ignition wires from 0,25 mm wire and as try partially from thin plastic.20
April 27, 2015One of the latest versions of the Double Wasp (visible in the cylindrical gearbox and cylindrical magnetos).21
April 27, 201522
April 27, 2015The asymmetrical shape of the cowling mounting ring is well visible (offset to the right side).23
April 27, 201524
April 27, 2015It was worth working exactly: the engine sits in the correct position.25
April 27, 2015It was worth working exactly: the engine sits in the correct position. Triangle shaped structure on the inner side of cowling coming soon.26
April 27, 2015The first part of the cowling completed with all ribs.27
April 27, 201528
April 27, 2015Left: ok. Right: I have forget to drill out the 6 triangle-shaped holes...29
April 28, 201530
April 28, 201531
April 29, 201532
April 29, 201533
April 29, 2015Cockpit after the first airbrush session (interior green and grey). By the way: I was to lazy to get interior green from the "plane lab" under the roof and so I mixed a bit black into yellow. Voila: interior green.34
April 29, 2015All is well again: now both wheels have the 3rd dimension🙂35
April 30, 201536
April 30, 201537
April 30, 201538
April 30, 201539
May 1, 2015Unbelievable: I spent nearly half as much time for the harness as for painting of the entire cockpit!!!40
May 1, 2015Seldom I seen such large prop on a single engined aircraft. 4,03 m in diameter, larger than the prop of the Skyraider and surpassed maybe by Skyshark. The Double Wasp has to do very hard work....41
May 1, 201542
May 4, 2015It is not enough to separate the flaps and ailerons: you have to do a lot to get the wing's stability back. The longish gap roughly in the center is the location of the movable panel which folded down when the wing folded.43
May 4, 2015Inner flap. First step is the filling of the gaps with plastic.44
May 4, 2015It is very interesting in the original how the upper and lower surfaces are divided. The small slot on the left side of the flap is the attaching point of the inner hinge.45
May 4, 201546
May 8, 201547
May 8, 201548
May 8, 201549
May 10, 2015Inner flap and fixed part of the wing after correction (compare with pictures 47&48).50
May 10, 201551
May 10, 2015The slats have 5 support points. It was very tricky to fit the tiny plastic parts.52
May 10, 2015Left wing & movable surfaces completed minus fabric surfaces on aileron and outer flap. The ailerons on prototypes and early productions machines were longer and has round tips.53
May 10, 201554
May 10, 2015Source for hinges for flaps, elevators and ruder.55
May 14, 2015The finnets on the stabilizers were added later (productions machines). For all prototypes you have to fill the cutouts in the kit parts. Tesa film on the outside and plastic&CA glue on the inside is in my opinion the best way for this job.56
May 16, 201557
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May 17, 201560
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May 19, 201564
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May 22, 201567
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May 23, 201570
May 25, 201571
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May 27, 2015Correct Position of the ribbs.74
May 27, 2015I glued all three windows from outside with lots of CA glue.75
May 27, 2015After dying I sanded them flush with 600 & 1000 sanding paper und 3200 & 6000 micro mesh. At last I polished the area with cotton cloth.76
May 27, 201577
May 29, 201578
May 30, 2015I discovered that the best base for the red is a mix of light grey and red if one have materials with different colors.79
May 31, 2015The blades were painted separate (before gluing to the hub).80
May 31, 201581
June 1, 2015Unfortunately, the landing gear are a in the usual short run quality with a lot o flashes and out of register: the diameter varies from 2,6-3,1 mm.... So I decided to made all parts from scratch82
June 1, 2015About 1/3 of each leg is cut off and mounted already in the correct place in the wheel bay (for better alignment).83
June 1, 201584
June 4, 2015The Tamiya tape is for dust protection of the windows. I will remove them after completing the fuselage an this is the reason for threads.85
June 4, 201586
June 4, 2015I'm going to pull the threads through the openings. By the way: so they don't get lost I glued the ends.87
June 5, 201588
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June 5, 201591
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June 6, 201595
June 8, 201596
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June 9, 201599
June 9, 2015The etched oleo-scissors from the kit are well designed but are too thin. Because of them I made new ones from plastic.100
June 11, 2015101
June 11, 2015102
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June 11, 2015105
June 11, 2015106
June 12, 2015107
June 12, 2015Nothing fits: the long edges of the radome-part are about 1 mm too short on the front!!!108
June 12, 2015The lower cooling flaps are practically non-existent 🙁109
June 12, 2015Courtesy Luc Colin110
June 13, 2015111
June 13, 2015Now the Double Cyclone can breathe properly: the cooling channel's and flaps are in place.112
June 13, 2015113
June 13, 2015114
June 13, 2015The prototypes have an another configuration of the exhaust pipes: through the (flat) panels. So it was necessary to make openings in both panels. The best way to produce of two mirror-symmetrically openings was a scribing-template from thin plastic.115
June 14, 2015116
June 14, 2015117
June 15, 2015118
June 15, 2015In this case too I used the old trick with auxiliary hole for applying CA glue from outside. The auxiliary hole are well visible: white quadratic plastic piece, in the middle of the picture.119
June 15, 2015In this case too I used the old trick with auxiliary hole for applying CA glue from outside. The auxiliary holes are well visible: light grey/dark grey spot on the left side.120
June 15, 2015121
June 17, 2015122
June 20, 2015123
June 20, 2015124
June 20, 2015125
June 20, 2015126
June 20, 20152 rods (2mm diameter) as reinforcement of the fuselage. The wingspan of the Guardian is really huge127
June 20, 2015The flaps and the front part of the cowling are I little bid darker than the rest of the fuselage. The lower panel behind the exhaust stacks is much darker but made of steel.128
June 20, 2015Polishing along the panel lines & rivet lines produced a little more "shine" a'la stressed skin.129
June 20, 2015130
June 21, 2015Thin stripe of Cutting Edge Blackmagic foil as surrounding of the bulges (antennas?).131
June 21, 2015132
June 21, 2015By decaling I discovered that the second prototype has no lower window on the right side🙂133
June 21, 2015134
June 23, 2015The first step: surfaces are airbrushed with the mixture which produces a relatively matte and homogeneous finish.135
June 23, 2015Second step: polishing with 6000 Micromesh shows scratches. With 3600 Micromesh it is very well possible to "over polish" the scratches.136
June 23, 2015Second step (just like picture 135).137
June 23, 2015Step 3 (right wing): second round with the airbrush. Step 4 (left wing): polished with 4000 Micromesh & "paneling ala stressed skin" with a cotton swab.138
June 23, 20153rd & 4th step (just like picture 137 but a another direction of light).139
June 25, 2015140
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June 27, 2015143
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June 27, 2015The next obstacle is have been overcome: all 3 windshield windows are OK without dust and other blemishes.146
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June 28, 2015149
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June 29, 2015This morning I have noticed that the moveable part of the canopy is designed only for the closed version. The open version is not possible. It is necessary to add heigh.156
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9 September 2024, 00:16 -
Album info
Photos of completed model: 156-175