Another plane build!

Randy Critchley

Randy Critchley

Pop-rocks
Aug 17, 2016
18
16
0
70
East central Wisconsin
This is my latest build. The Grumman Skyrocket or the XF5F-1. To try to make a long story short, I used to collect comic books. (At it’s height, 35.000 Marvel comics. But that’s a story for another time!). My step-dad would tell me about the comics he used to read, one of which was Blackhawk comics during WW2! When his dad built their new house, his comics went in the walls for insulation!!

A while back the Fiddlers green site had this model for free download. My dad would have loved it and I couldn’t pass it up!

DSCN0635(s).jpg
Most of the build was pretty easy.
DSCN0637(s).jpg
Until I came to the forward part of the fuselage:
DSCN0641(s).jpg
I’m sorry that I didn’t take any photos of the building process of the front piece of the fuselage. Well here’s the results:
DSCN0649(s).jpg DSCN0647(s).jpg DSCN0648(s).jpg
I still need to go over it with a sharpie, and figure out where the gun turrets go…

Still, it was a fun build! Please feel free to comment or criticize!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: zathros, Gandolf50, Rhaven Blaack and 1 other person
Perfect! Thank you! :)

Again, this is a very fine build! Thank you for showing! :)
 
Randy Critchley said:
Thank you both for your kind words. Rhaven, I checked out your gallery. Keep up the great work, it's very impressive!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I was living in Eastern Europe at the time that made all of that. Unfortunately, when I moved back to the US (and left my ex-wife), all of that was destroyed. So now, I will be rebuilding everything all over again. The thing is, I will be able to add even more greebles than before.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Randy Critchley
I have seen attempts to make this model, and yours wins hands down!!

It's time for you to up your game, paint the part's edges, and with the propellers, make them 3 dimensional. This can easily be done by rounding the propellers edgewise, to they look like real props, (they should have an airfoil shape). Glue one edge, let it dry, the, fill with some tissue, and glue the rest of it together. Make the hub thicker to accommodation the new thicker base of the props. When building these models, especially with the thick black lines, cut exactly inside the lines. The model will look more "real". Funny, that model is still offered for Free of Fiddler's Green, but the props are black?

I redid the props (enlarged them ever so slightly to accommodate the shaped properly). Use if you wish, or don't. Your choice. Don't feel bad if you don't.

They shouldn't print that big, I set it to print on standard U.S. Letter 8.5 x 11:00 paper. If they do, let me know, please! :)

Props.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gandolf50 and Randy Critchley
I must admit I didn’t use the propellers that came with the model, I used the props that came with the Corsair model, (I liked them better, so I scaled them to match the ones that came with the Skyrocket, and doubled the thickness. One regular, one reversed). Then I roll some card stock around a toothpick to make a shaft to run the pin through so the propeller doesn’t hit the cowling. I put a slight bend in each blade of the prop (depending which way I want it to turn when I blow on it!) I agree building the thickness up so they would look more 3 dimensional would look better. Perhaps I’ll try that on the next plane I build! Again I want to thank you, zathros, for your advice. I treasure your input...

I have my sights on an iconic “race” car for my next build. (This one’s gonna’ be FUN!!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rhaven Blaack, Randy Critchley and subnuke
zathros said:
I have seen attempts to make this model, and yours wins hands down!!

It's time for you to up your game, paint the part's edges, and with the propellers, make them 3 dimensional. This can easily be done by rounding the propellers edgewise, to they look like real props, (they should have an airfoil shape). Glue one edge, let it dry, the, fill with some tissue, and glue the rest of it together. Make the hub thicker to accommodation the new thicker base of the props. When building these models, especially with the thick black lines, cut exactly inside the lines. The model will look more "real". Funny, that model is still offered for Free of Fiddler's Green, but the props are black?

I redid the props (enlarged them ever so slightly to accommodate the shaped properly). Use if you wish, or don't. Your choice. Don't feel bad if you don't.

They shouldn't print that big, I set it to print on standard U.S. Letter 8.5 x 11:00 paper. If they do, let me know, please! :)

View attachment 153607
Click to expand...


When you get to the point..there is a way to get really down and dirty with your props...the one I'll show is for a single prop...but it would only take a little extra effort for 3 or 4 bladed props... and also this was designed for a thinner card stock..80 lb if I remember..so you could beef it up to 110 heavyweight and reduce the amount of layers ... Pix below ..is the prop in the center and the rectangle around it is the jig...

Prop.jpg
this has 13 layers as the stock was so thin...so..basically..cut all,,,then glue a2 on a1..then a3 on a2 etc...till you get to a13...Glue only goes on the prop sections and not on the jig!! then you tear away the jig and lacquer the prop, sand to shape ..and there you go... and you also know now, why my builds take for-ever!!;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rhaven Blaack and Randy Critchley
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom