Grumman Bearcat

[Boomerang]

Coming along very nicely.

Gordon

[johnnytodd]

Looking Good!

[FlyingS]

Thanks guys for the nice comments! They are very encouraging words. Your postings have helped me greatly. Its nice when you can learn from so many collective years of experience.
Harv

[FlyingS]

I have the fuselage and wings pretty much to shape. Have to finish the profile of the vertical and horizontal stabilizer and cut out the rudder. The wing air inlets were a bit of a challenge. To get to this point it took a lot of filing and sanding. My wife asks me if I'm going to go "scratch" on my plain haha.

[lastvautour]

Great workmanship on that Bearcat. One would think you have been building for decades.

Lou

[FlyingS]

Thanks Lou! I This model has taught me a lot on what to do and not do. One thing I've learned is some details just don't translate well due to the small scale.
I have rattle can paint for primer and color. I could only find gloss navy blue paint so I'm going to try an experiment and see if I spray it with satin acrylic clear spray if it will flatten the gloss a little.
For the emblems do you think that the dark back ground will show through the printable transfer paper?
I did an experiment with a paper decal where I glued it to sample wood piece with rubber cement and then coated it with 3 coats of water base polyurethane. It has stuck pretty well but the white portion has turned a little yellow. I'm wondering if there is some kind of stabilizer to preserve the colors? I will need to try the same thing with the spray on acrylic to see how it works with the paper emblems. The thing I like about printing the emblems on regular printer paper if I screw up on the scale I don't mind throwing it away as posed to the transfer paper. Thoughts??

[FlyingS]

Maybe everyone has tried all these approaches but I figured I would post my experiments anyway.
My first experiment was to see if I could get a matt finish for the military paint look ( could only find gloss in the navy blue) I sprayed the sample with satin acrylic clear spray over the gloss blue which is the right side. Seemed to work out pretty good. But the spray doesn't work on the paper decal as far as smoothing the edges.
The second picture is different approaches with applying the paper decals. I tried different methods of gluing them on and the rubber cement seems to work the best (maybe there is a better adhesive I didn't use).
Then I covered them with water base acrylic clear polyurethane (only had gloss in that) I find the several coats of the W.B. polyurethane coats the paper decals nicely.
Now I'm trying to find what will coat the paper print so the white part doesn't become translucent therefore allowing the under color showing through. Will post my final results.

[lastvautour]

I have not had much luck with paper decals. I had trouble getting them to stay down and even super glue fail to resolve the problems. As to coatings, clear gloss wrinkled the paper. I have since moved to decal film but that is not a perfect solution either. If one was rich, one could order decals specific to an aircraft.

Lou

PS. I have selected the wood for the prop blades. I should have additional data shortly.

[FlyingS]

Almost done. need to paint canopy, make hub for propeller, glue on emblems. finish stand.
Glad the site is back up!

[lastvautour]

Well done. Looking forward to the finished  Bearcat.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Excellent work!

Gordon

[FlyingS]

Waiting for the paint on the bearcat to cure...didn't realize I had to wait a week for it to cure before I could clear coat it (won't do that again). So Im finishing the stand. It has the squadron emblem (VC-3) my dad was in during and after WW2. The base is cedar.

[lastvautour]

Looks great.


lou

[FlyingS]

Just sprayed the Bearcat with spray satin polyurethane. The only Navy blue paint I could find was high gloss so I scuffed it up with fine gray scotch bright. The satin poly gave it more of the military look. The cockpit didn't come out as good as expected but it's my first attempt so it was a learning experience. I'll post pictures of the final assembly.

[FlyingS]

Finally finished...I have a lot of time into this one but it's been a good learning experience.