Grumman Bearcat - 1/33 - GPM

[busoramas]

Nice build! what about the pilot!

[ricleite]

@ Paúl - I'm afraid it would not be safe to put a pilot without seatbelts

The central fuselage section is an important assembly. It includes fittings for the wing spar and the cockpit. The fuselage is so deep that the cockpit occupies less than half of the available section! The joint with the rear fuselage has an angle, placed at the cockpit base level. Quite unusual but the fact is that the joint matches a real joint between skin panels. A good point for GPM.

[busoramas]

Heheheh yeah thats not safe!!

[Don Boose]

Your usual precise work, Ricardo, and good advice for those who might want to build this model.

Don

[ricleite]

@ Don - in this kit, there is a lot of freedom for the modeler

The pictures show two fuselage sections just behind the cockpit. Despite the angled joint, the fit was trouble free.

[Erik Zwaan]

What a beautiful precise work of art Ricardo. I only hope that the "glass" planel of the visor will not break off during handling. Happened to me about a dozen times when building the Mosquito a few years back....

Erik

[ricleite]

@ Erik - good point! The "glass" visor and its base are not yet glued. I have already revoved that assembly and the idea is to fix it just before gluing the canopy.

As the real wheel is a solid roller, I didn’t use the rolled paper method. There is a hole through the roller. It will serve to pass the wire that links to the fuselage.

[gotham]

Late to the party. That is some clean work, can't wait to see this as a finished item - not familiar with this aircraft.

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi Ricardo,

I have "played" with your method of rolling the wheels for the DC9 but eventually didn't use it as I need a bit more practise. What paper are you using? The regular print style = 80 grams, so a thickness of 0.1mm (at least that's the paper I used) or 160 grams, which in my case has a thickness of 0.2mm? I must say 0.2mm paper is more stable to use (shorter length of the paper strips as well!) but the curvatures of the tires still remain nicely visible. Do you glue the entire stretch or do you tag glue? I would prefer a dot of glue at regular intervals, which makes it easier and still possible to adjust/shape the rolled up tire. Once satisfied after rolling, glue can be applied over the entire surface to fixate the binding.

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

@ Gotham - welcome
@ Erik - I always use 80g/m2 paper. I made a wide roll to get the thickness with good precision and it came out at 0,113mm. I strongly advise you to press the paper strip. If not, the cut lines are not completely flat, the "thickness" increases, the roll becomes loose and the stability would be ruined. I put bits of glue at relatively regular intervals - more at the beginning and not so much in the middle. The last 10 to 15cm, when the strip becomes very thin, are glued all along. I don't care to put glue on the whole surface, after rolling, because the gouache paint does not like surfaces with white or cellulosic glue. If you put glue (not water-based!) on the whole surface, it might be ok if you glue only the paper strip extremities (apart from the last bit, as it is too thin to be stable).

The second picture shows that I used a number of “extras” in the fuselage section between the engine and the cockpit. They include tabs to fix the main gear compartments and the exhausts.
The 3 yellowish card rectangles serve both to position and to fix the engine bulkhead.
The cowling is in place just to check the fit. It is so good that I didn’t bother to paint the tabs.