I’ve been away from building models for about 25 yrs but I’m finally getting back into it. My first build is the Accurate Miniatures F3F-1. I’m just wondering if somebody can direct me to some interior color photos. I’ve done some searching but not much luck so far.
I was also wondering what to use for the top wing color. I’ve read all the online builds I could find and sounds like Gunze-Sanyo H-24, “Orange Yellow” is the most appropriate. I cannot seem to find this in any of the local hobby shops however and thought it might be best to just mix orange and yellow. If this is do-able, what would be the proper ratio’s?
Finally, I have never used acrylics and I was wondering if acrylics and enamels be used on top of each other?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Rob
The interior is natural metal, or painted in aluminum lacquer. The orange-yellow is available in the Color of Eagles line of paints available from Eagle Strike or Vallejo. It’s a perfect match to the US Navy paint chips of the period. Paint the rest of the model in aluminum with the squadron and carrier colors over that.
If you can’t find the orange-yellow, add a tiny dash of red to chrome yellow, but only a dash. Just remember, it’s a lot more yellow than orange.
I’ve had no trouble using most acyrylics and enamels on top of one another, but experiment on scrap first. A lot depends on what your use for thinner for the enamel if that’s the top color.
You picked a great model to come back into the hobby with, even though its a bipe, it is quite free of traps and builds up beautifully if you follow the instructions to the letter (especially when installing the gear doors).
TOM
Thanks for the help Tom. I guess my big questiopn concerning the interior is if the instrument panel is all black like it’s shown in the instructions and the on-line builds. I have seen a couple pictures that show parts of the panel being aluminum. Mind you, one of the pictures was a large scale RC F3F and the other was that restored F3F-2 found over at “Fantasys of Flight”. I’m just curious if there are any color photos from when these aircraft where being used. See below.
http://www.fantasyofflight.com/aircraftpages/f3f.htm
Trust AcMin. You are looking at someone else’s model and a rebuilt F3F-2 for reference, which isn’t very reassuring for accuracy. So if you follow the painting instructions, you’ll be OK. Accurate Miniatures is the only company I’ll say that about, and even they aren’t right much of the time. In this case they are, based on photos I have. You don’t need color photos to tell black from aluminum.
TOM
Congratulations on your return, Rob… look forward to seeing F3F! [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Welcome back to the hobby. Be sure to show us some photos.
Jerry
Thanks again Tom. I kind of suspected all black is the way to go but just wanted to confirm it.
As for photos of my first build, we’ll have to see if I can figure out how to post them. Maybe in a couple weeks.
I thought I should share these photos of Dave Beckers prewar 1/350 scale Saratoga. Sure makes a great sight seeing a deckfull of colorfull Biplanes, Buffalos and Devastators.
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/cv/cv-03/350-db/db-index.html
Rob…make sure to post pics of your progress!
Hmm. I guess I can do that. I’m still painting the cockpit so maybe in a few days I can post some shots of it assembled.
Well, I got a bit curious about how to get pictures on to this website so gave it a try. We recently got a digital camera and I got a couple pictures into the “My Pictures” folder in “My documents”. I just can’t seem to figure out how to get them over here. Tried the online help but I must admit, I’m pretty new to this so if anybody could give me some direction here, it would be greatly appreciated.
Rob
Well, haven’t had much time to work on this lately plus I wanted to hunt down some reference mat’l. I noticed Eudard has a detail set for the AM F3F’s. Tried to find a review on it but no luck. Has anybody tried this set out? Thanks.
Rob
It will be natural metal through the -3…I used Gunze Yellow (gloss) acrylic on the wings, Gunze gloss black on the tail and Alclad ll laquer on the fuse and under wing with no issues. I just sealed the acrylics with a nice coat of future before applying the Alclad…
Steve
Sorry. Should have mentioned it’s a PE detail set that I was wondering about. Not sure it it was just for the interior but looked like quite a few parts so I think there is some exterior stuff as well. Like i said, I couldn’t find any online reviews of it to get an idea of if it’s worth getting.