Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[CzechSix]

Looks great, I'd recommend you put a few coats of Spar Varathane over the finished surface, with the color being dark, you don't want it in the sun without any UV protectant. Minwax Spar Varathane has become hard to find, in gloss anyway, you may have better luck with a semi gloss or a matte. I find that a semi gloss applied with a spray gun comes out flatter than if applied with a brush.

Grossman56

Thanks, Gross! I'm curious what the role of the varnish is - I know EPO tends to bubble up in the sun but I figured that would be a function of heat buildup not UV - does varnish help with that?

[martconnor]

Captured this aircraft in motion

[Grossman56]

Looks great, I'd recommend you put a few coats of Spar Varathane over the finished surface, with the color being dark, you don't want it in the sun without any UV protectant. Minwax Spar Varathane has become hard to find, in gloss anyway, you may have better luck with a semi gloss or a matte. I find that a semi gloss applied with a spray gun comes out flatter than if applied with a brush.

Grossman56

[CzechSix]

The cockpit area had some pretty bad "aligator skin" so I gave it a quick cover with my favorite lightweight scratchbuilding material - craft foam. I covered up the ugliest parts of the rear bulkhead and instrument panel, and made a simple seat and headrest for the pilot that helped fill the space a little bit. Last I added some greeblies from the parts box that kinda/sorta resembled a gunsight. Won't win any scale nats but from a couple feet away it looks great.



Next I cut some vinyl markings on the trusty Cricut machine - awesome for making large-scale decals. Special thanks to all the scrapbooking old ladies of America for making this technology affordable for us humble aircraft modelers.



After that it was just some exhaust streaks, some very light weathering of the upper surfaces and she's looking good! Next I will get the flight surfaces calibrated and it's nearly time to fly!

[CzechSix]

Progress report on the resurrected Tigercat - got some bodywork done using lightweight spackle to smooth out the major dents, scratches and divots, there were quite a few.



After that it was trying to find the right color paint to match that diabolical post-war "Sea Blue." Navy blue Rustoleum looked promising but was too purple, so time to bust out the cheap Harbor Freight airbrush. I started with a custom mix of all over blue that looked like a close match to the original but once dry, was way too light of a shade. So I darkened it with some inexpensive craft paint and a couple more light coats and that did the trick - that dark blue almost-black that I was looking for.

[CzechSix]

Great score! One of the club members has one sitting that he says he won't fly again for whatever reason. I'm working on him to give it to me. He's one of these guys who has probably a thousand airplanes including the latest and turbines as well.

Grossman56

Thanks and good luck - we have some guys like that in our club too, I'm envious to any who have that kind of time, space and money. Turns out one of the guys in my club recognized this plane, says he owned it at one time, upgraded the LG and then unloaded it. How it ended up 100 miles away where I found it remains unknown!

[CzechSix]

Stripping, cleaning and repairing the model - might a well give the pilot a facelift. Not a bad sculpt actually, but the "Ken Doll" paint job had to go. I wish he wasn't modeled with his collar buttoned to the top like a nerd 🤓 but in all he still looks pretty good.

[Grossman56]

Great score! One of the club members has one sitting that he says he won't fly again for whatever reason. I'm working on him to give it to me. He's one of these guys who has probably a thousand airplanes including the latest and turbines as well.

Grossman56

[CzechSix]

CzechSix Very fortunate find. :clap:
My sweetie is always complaining about my rubber necking while driving but that's how these fortunes are acquired.
You're gonna really enjoy this bird :ok_hand:

Hey Charlie - thanks! And good to know I'm not the only one, ha. The price was good enough that even if I scavenged the decent parts and hung it up as a decoration it would have been worth it- not to mention softened the blow of "another damned airplane" from the wife. 😎 Really looking forward to this one, it's been on my want-list for a long time.

[OV10]

CzechSix Very fortunate find. :clap:
My sweetie is always complaining about my rubber necking while driving but that's how these fortunes are acquired.
You're gonna really enjoy this bird :ok_hand:

[CzechSix]

Hello and thank you for welcoming me into the group! Fortune smiled on me today and I found one of these at a yard sale - I recognized the tail feathers as I was driving past and couldn't believe my eyes. I don't have much history on this one, the guy said it belonged to his wife's dad. It was a little beat up, filthy and some parts missing, but all in all it looked serviceable and it was dirt cheap! After fitting it into my truck (barely) and getting it home I reconnected all the electronics, and literally everything works. The engines spooled up nicely and the gear, flaps, steering and flight surfaces all function, and it has the upgraded landing gear. And I even found a functional Spektrum receiver and a random car part rattling around loose inside, score!

Looks like someone belly landed it at some point so I need to do some dent repair, fix gear doors and repaint, but that's all stuff I enjoy doing. This is going to be fun!

[Grossman56]

Yes, it was at Nefi in 2017. AMA field in Muncie, airplane heaven.

Grossman56

[Pauly]

The wife took some pictures of OV10 (Charlie Brown's) Tigercat with the spare cockpit,



Ryan Ramsay's in the foreground and me and La Patron in the back.
Sadly, two of these birds are no longer with us, I'm not sure about Ryan's.

Grossman56

I have to the one that Ryan had. I'm guessing this is a old picture.

[Merry Boozer RC]

I used a Hobby Iron to get mine to stick way better. the trick is get it to where its hot enough to make the foam bubble just a little where it shrinks after it cools for a few seconds after the heat iron goes over the sticker.

[Grossman56]

I struggled with applying the decals as well, they don't want to stick onto the surface of the airplane if the decals are old. I had to line up each decal and slowly peel back the transfer materil at almost a 180 degree, get a finger nail onto the decal itself and hold it while slowly working the backing off. It's a pain!

Grossman56

[Dequesne Patrice]

I have already tried the matte varnish, several layers with airbrush with the result on the photo so before. Maybe not a good varnish? The transparent transfer sticks more on the fuselage than the lettering, impossible to put the Marine lettering! I cut out of a cheap DIY roll and holds it well, a shame not to be able to use the original delivered kits ...

[Grossman56]

Hello, does anyone have a good solution so that the original sticker kits do not peel off the first flight?

Clear coat ! Depending on what sort of finish you want to end up with, start with a gloss coat as it tends to seal them on better, if you want a gloss finish, try 3 or 4 coats, or until it looks like its glossy with no patches. For a matte finish, you can coat over the gloss until you get the desired result.

This is what I use, the gloss can looks the same. For a matte finish, I went the 'blue' colored can. My rule of thumb is for the glossiest effect, use a brush, for the dullest, use a spray gun.
Glossy:



Matte:



Grossman56

[nuts-n-volts]

Or have Callie Graphics re-do them. Her stuff is excellent.

[rifleman_btx]

Clear coat it

[Dequesne Patrice]

Hello, does anyone have a good solution so that the original sticker kits do not peel off the first flight?