Grumman F7F-3 Tiger at What-If WIP

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Another project in the works.  Not in a rush on this either.  This was originally part of a kit bash with the Kinetic Models S-2 Tracker.  The plan was to use the Tigercat wings on the Tracker fuselage.  It was a lofty plan that almost worked.  In the end the Tracker was destroyed while the Tigercat was spared.  I still have plans for an attack Tracker but it will not get a wing swap.  As I reflect on the mistakes made I think the wing swap would have been successful if the project had been done in 1/72nd scale where mistakes can be much easier to hide. 

So as slow as this has been.  My building efforts so far are the two stores pylons located between the engine nacelles and fuselage.  The kit pylons had absolutely no substance to what they were to represent.  I attached the kit parts two weeks ago and after looking at the things tonight I decided they had to go.  Fortunately for me I had two sets of stores pylons from the Italeri 1/72nd scale B-57 Canberra available.  The Canberra pylons were the perfect fit after I removed the small stub at the rear of each pylons.  I used the stub at the front of the pylon to match up with the front hole in the wing where the original kit pylon was to go.  Keeping errors to a minimum in that way I gave both of the replacement pylons a quick brush with my Tamiya liquid cement.  Setting the wings aside now for a couple of days to cure before I do anything further. 

[apophenia]

Looking good, Jeff 

This build has me wondering about two (future?) possibilities:

- 1: Has anyone ever done a Tigercat whif with longer-span outer wing panels? (Some extra wing area would seem handy for the attack role.)

- 2: The opposite seems true for a dedicated attack Tracker. Could the outer wing panels be cropped slightly? (Easier to pull off in 1/72nd scale as you suggested for your S-2/F7F hybrid build.) I'm attaching a rough retouch to show the revised wingspan I had in mind.

[The Big Gimper]

- 1: Has anyone ever done a Tigercat whif with longer-span outer wing panels? (Some extra wing area would seem handy for the attack role.)

Speaking of the underworld owner and operator, here is a Monogram F7F wing with a Revell P-51B tucked underneath it. But any P-51 wing will do.

The P-51 wing does a nice job of extending the diminishing chord at the same rate.
And adds about 6 1/2' to 7' per wing.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looking good, Jeff 

This build has me wondering about two (future?) possibilities:

- 1: Has anyone ever done a Tigercat whif with longer-span outer wing panels? (Some extra wing area would seem handy for the attack role.)

- 2: The opposite seems true for a dedicated attack Tracker. Could the outer wing panels be cropped slightly? (Easier to pull off in 1/72nd scale as you suggested for your S-2/F7F hybrid build.) I'm attaching a rough retouch to show the revised wingspan I had in mind.

Hi Stephen.

That was the adjunct of the wing swapping with the Tracker and Tigercat.  The airfoil is identical and only the wing span is different.  Well, wingspan and engines (R-2800 vs R-1820). 

My initial attempt was to mate the Tigercat wings to the Tracker fuselage.  Direct replacement was not possible since the Tracker wing had a fillet added to get the wing to conform with/match up with the curve of the Tracker fuselage.  I cut this curved portion of this fillet away in order to use it with the Tigercat wings on the Tracker fuselage.  It kind of sort of worked but not quite.  Getting the multiple parts at this point to all cooperate was well out of my comfort zone and lack of extra hands/arms to keep it all under control also made it difficult to deal with.  It would definitely be a much easier project in 1/72nd scale as I realized while working on this in the larger scale. 

So what had been a single what-if project suddenly became two what-if projects by accident or default.  The Tracker wing without the inboard fillet fit quite easily on the Tigercat fuselage which made me realize I could create a long-wing Tigercat without much effort.  With the longer wings of the Tracker attached to the Tigercat it could have become an ersatz reconnaissance or surveillance platform perhaps. 

Also, propeller clearance was also not an issue with the modified Tracker wings on the Tigercat fuselage.  The smaller diameter Tracker propellers had plenty of clearance.  Same with the Tigercat propellers on the Tracker since the fillet cut from the Tracker wing was to be added to the inboard section of the Tigercat wings the propeller clearance issues were null.   

[Jeffry Fontaine]

- 1: Has anyone ever done a Tigercat whif with longer-span outer wing panels? (Some extra wing area would seem handy for the attack role.)

Speaking of underworld owner and operator, here is a Monogram F7F with a Revell P-51B tucked underneath it. But any P-51 wing will do.

The P-51 wing does a nice job of extending the diminishing chord at the same rate. And adds about 6 1/2 to 7' per wing.

That is another option to "skinning the cat"

[apophenia]

... out of my comfort zone and lack of extra hands/arms to keep it all under control also made it difficult to deal with...

 

If the Japanese ever do master those kitchen-aide/companion robots, they'll be dead handy mounted beside the modelling bench