Grumman FF?

[Glenn]

After making two Ducks, and using the third one to make the Loening, I had a floatless Duck in my collection. Going through the Squadron books, I found one on the Grumman biplane fighters of the 1930's, and the first two were what I was looking for.
It didn't need much modifcation, new tail, bigger tailplanes, new trailing edge on the lower wing, at the root, and the bulge underneath.As you can see, this much is done, but at present, I'm not sure it will be an FF1 or an FF2 that I'll finish with. It all depends on what engine and exhaust pipes I can find.
The FF1 has open exhaust pipes, while the FF2 has the enclosed collector type. I'll let you know when I know.
I did the shot in Greyscale, as in colour it would have been 120KB.

[John Howling Mouse]

Very intriguing!  But I'm not sure I follow what you did.
Did you actually remove the big float-shaped lower fuselage from a Duck?

Can you please show a pic of the ventral side of said floatless Duck and describe how you closed up that area?

[Glenn]

JHM,
  The undersides was done with balsa, sanded, bogged, sanded and finally finished in a coat of resin. The wheel wells were drilled out and sanded smooth. It's funny, but the float was the only thing I used to make the Loening, except for half a JN-4.
I think it will end up an FF2, as I think I have the right stuff to finish it.

[Captain Canada]

" Duck ! "

" Why......is somebody shooting at me ? "




I just chopped one of them myself...to do my Centaurus powered Sea Lysander !

[Glenn]

Capt'n,
   With this Sea Lysander, outrigger floats, or Sponsons? The sponsons might give it more stability, especially if they were attached to the wing through the wing struts.

[John Howling Mouse]

JHM,
  The undersides was done with balsa, sanded, bogged, sanded and finally finished in a coat of resin. The wheel wells were drilled out and sanded smooth.

Would you happen to have any in-progress pics or even underside pics of the final product?  Pretty please?

 

[Glenn]

JHM,
   A shot is coming, when I get it our of the camera. Are you looking for something to do with your land based Duck?
By the way, sorry, it'll end up as an FF1.

[John Howling Mouse]

I do have a Duck to bash but, more intriguing for me is just seeing the process by which you cut the float from the fuselage then filled the void.  There are many
kitbashing projects that require a similar treatment and it's interesting to see how
someone else tackles the problem...

^_^  

[Glenn]

Jhm,
   Photo enclosed of the FF1 so far. Sorry it's in B&W, but the file was a little big. The model I'm doing is from Squadron 'Grumman in action' book # 160, on page #8, there is a three way plan of the FF1 that I'm using. First, I scaled the plans to 1/69.074 and then converted them to what percentage I'd need to bring it to 1/50. That worked out to x1.38, so using the side view, marked the shape on a block of balsa, scaling the shape as I went from nose to tail.
Cut out the shape, and then the front view, and leaving a small lip on top to fit into the hole in the fuselage. (where the float went) Superglued it in place, and once cured, sanded to shape.
Once the shape was right, marked where the wheel wells went, and drilled out with a couple of short bursts. Next covered in Automotive bog (putty) sanded once cured, again and again until smooth. (including the wheel wells) Finished off with an undercoat, (to find the mistakes) re-sanded and re-undercoated and finally gave the new hull a coat of resin.
I needed a 750HP Wright, and ended up with an 850HP Prat, from a Dauntless, with a cowling from a Japanese biplane trainer, as well as the exhaust pipes.

Overall.....Aircraft Gray FS 16473 (Model Masters)
Tail..........True Blue      FS 15102    "           "