Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[rifleman_btx]

Lol

[Grossman56]

Rushed home today because, well, today is Tigercat Day!!
Sure as heck, she was there waiting for me!!

So, not to bore you with Grossman enthusiasm, let's skip to the finished product!!


Note the difference between the Bearcat and the Tigercat colors? That's the same color, just with a few coats of Spar Varathane, incredible difference.
Anyway, take a good look 'cause she won't be that color for long. I assembled it and made sure everything was functioning. This weekend, I'll remove the wings and start the paint job.
First impressions, this thing is BIG!!
First comment out of the wife, bless her heart.
When next you see her (the Tigerkitty, not the wife!)
She will be La Patrona.


Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Tinker toys? Dan I think we did this last year. No football, no range model air riffle (you'll shoot your eye out! ) ;), just 'Cats...I'll kick down $20 to you for all the help you've been to me this year. Anyone else wanna donate to a worthy cause to get this good man a Tiger?:rolleyes:

And thanks again for the help Westsider, your contribution was incredibly kind.

Grossman56

[RCjetdude]

Rushed home today because, well, today is Tigercat Day!!
Sure as heck, she was there waiting for me!!

So, not to bore you with Grossman enthusiasm, let's skip to the finished product!!


Note the difference between the Bearcat and the Tigercat colors? That's the same color, just with a few coats of Spar Varathane, incredible difference.
Anyway, take a good look 'cause she won't be that color for long. I assembled it and made sure everything was functioning. This weekend, I'll remove the wings and start the paint job.
First impressions, this thing is BIG!!
First comment out of the wife, bless her heart.
When next you see her (the Tigerkitty, not the wife!)
She will be La Patrona.


Grossman56

Very nice. I always love getting new planes. Hope to see it at NEFI in all it's glory.

[TiredIronGRB]

You will love this plane!

[Sky Wolf]

:)Ohh,! So that's what Grossman looks like! You know how you see these names over a period of time, and you never actually see them, so in your mind you sort of develop a self-developed facial description of that person based on their word usage, language, and humor?

Well "Howdy" Grossman! Glad to finally meet ya'!

I guess if if I ever get the chance to join you at NEFI, as I thought I would have when you and I first started talking about it last year, I would've met you by now. LOL

Hope to see some vids soon of your Tiger Cat. I've had mine since the second shipment but still haven't maidened yet. The winds and weather here in N. Texas have been crazy so far this year.

[Sky Wolf]

By the way Grossman, can you you give a brief description of you apply that varathane again? I can't remember the place where you described the application before.

Thanks

[Grossman56]

Hey Skywolf, yeah it's really cool when you actually get to meet/see a person for the first time that you already consider a friend, one of the great things about Nefi, I actually recognized some of the guys airplanes before I recognized them!!
As for the Spar Varathane, up until the Bearcat I'd used foam brushes. This time I tried some of my old painting brushes (I'm also an artist) what I use for blending is an old brush that the bristles have splayed on. The soft bristle type, sort of like a make up brush.
I did small areas, starting on the outside of one wing and working my way in, going length wise then rebrushing it from leading edge to trailing edge, smoothing it out with light strokes always watching for runs. I usually give it three coats and it looks good although its a judgement thing. You can really see the difference in this particular color as the blue goes from an oxidized look to a deep shiny blue.
With the Tigercat, I'll spray it with Krylon Foam Primer, then spray the silver/gray with my airbrush, mixing in some pearl clear as well, once the silver gray is established, I'll apply some more pearl clear, then the decals and follow up with a couple of coats of Spar Varathane. It might sound like I'm adding some weight here, but remember its water based so most of the weight evaporates. I'll do a photo sequence of the steps.
Of course, the biggest thing is the prepping and masking, which I'll probably start tonight.

Grossman56

[Sky Wolf]

Hey Skywolf, yeah it's really cool when you actually get to meet/see a person for the first time that you already consider a friend, one of the great things about Nefi, I actually recognized some of the guys airplanes before I recognized them!!
As for the Spar Varathane, up until the Bearcat I'd used foam brushes. This time I tried some of my old painting brushes (I'm also an artist) what I use for blending is an old brush that the bristles have splayed on. The soft bristle type, sort of like a make up brush.
I did small areas, starting on the outside of one wing and working my way in, going length wise then rebrushing it from leading edge to trailing edge, smoothing it out with light strokes always watching for runs. I usually give it three coats and it looks good although its a judgement thing. You can really see the difference in this particular color as the blue goes from an oxidized look to a deep shiny blue.
With the Tigercat, I'll spray it with Krylon Foam Primer, then spray the silver/gray with my airbrush, mixing in some pearl clear as well, once the silver gray is established, I'll apply some more pearl clear, then the decals and follow up with a couple of coats of Spar Varathane. It might sound like I'm adding some weight here, but remember its water based so most of the weight evaporates. I'll do a photo sequence of the steps.
Of course, the biggest thing is the prepping and masking, which I'll probably start tonight.

Grossman56

Man, you are adventurous! But I bet that is going to look AWESOME!!!

Thanks for for the info. I really like the way the blue pops after the Varathane application. Hope that I get the correct brush and can apply it evenly. Wish me luck!

[Grossman56]

Here's the Grey Ghost, she looks spooky with just the primer on............

But cool, now to get serious.....

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

Dan i love yout ENTHUSIASM when you get a mew bird. You can see your excitement in your writing.LOL.

[Shirty]

Plus 1. Grossman gets me excited with his posts. I love his enthusiasm for this hobby. :)

[Grossman56]

Thanks guys, just spent 4+ hours getting the silver grey on. It's a long way around this airplane, especially since I decided to do it with a brush. Now the picture shows more lines in it than there really is, but there is a bit of blue bleeding through, so I'll wait until tomorrow and take it outside to get a good look at where I am. I'm not really worried about the blue, it makes the color hard to pin point, once I get the 6 coats of pearl on it, it'll be even harder, then decals and a few coats of clear, going to be cool!!
Stay tuned..

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

Heck yeah it'll be awesome

[Beeg]

Thanks guys, just spent 4+ hours getting the silver grey on. It's a long way around this airplane, especially since I decided to do it with a brush. Now the picture shows more lines in it than there really is, but there is a bit of blue bleeding through, so I'll wait until tomorrow and take it outside to get a good look at where I am. I'm not really worried about the blue, it makes the color hard to pin point, once I get the 6 coats of pearl on it, it'll be even harder, then decals and a few coats of clear, going to be cool!!
Stay tuned..
Grossman56

When I did my "Firecat" I first primer base coated it with a brush to get into all the nooks and cranny's. My first layers of color were also brushed before going to the airbrush/spray for the finish color to make sure I had good even coverage and from bleed through.

[Grossman56]

Yeah, that's what I figured as well, and the fact that the surface is so smooth, the paint layers on like it;s air brushed. I'll get the second coat on tonight and the start in with the pearl tomorrow.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

First couple of coats of Pearl on her, wow, going to look so cool!, the pearl over grey gives it a silver color, but what it does in the light is a whole different effect. I hit it with a flashlight and you can see the color spectrum.
I'll go at it again tomorrow and get at least two more coats on it, hopefully four then see what it looks like. Hopefully we get some sun tomorrow so I can take it out and see. At any rate, I'll try for 6 layers, then clear coat a couple of layers. If it looks great in the basement, it'll look fantastic outside!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Update on the paint work.
I have the six coats of pearl on her and some areas have the three coats of clear as well. I wasn't satisfied with the starboard wing so repainted it, it looks much better now. Finally got the settings on the camera correct, so now its a more accurate account of the actual color. I'm going to hop into decal mode and get them on before finishing the clear coat, I always clear coat over my decals, see what you think.




The nacelle is clear coated the wing isn't.

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

Excellent!

[Beeg]

The pearl really stands out on the plastic of the cowl ring.