Grumman F6F-5 'Hellcat' Trumpeter 1/32 Scale

[topgazza]

Wow.

The Americans did some nice "chunky" aircraft in WWII

[stona]

The video of that collision never get boring.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=big+beautiful+doll+duxford+crash&&view=detail&mid=6EAADF990599DD492B886EAADF990599DD492B88&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dbig%2Bbeautiful%2Bdoll%2Bduxford%2Bcrash%26FORM%3DHDRSC3

The pilot of BBD, Rob Davies, made a lot of quick and correct decisions, otherwise he wouldn't be here today.

He walked away from this in 2015 (four years after his unplanned and brief excursion in a parachute).



That's at least two lives gone :smiling3:

[stona]

Back to the job in hand.

Everyone knows that these carrier aircraft had wings that folded in some way or another, and a lot of the kits are designed in a way sympathetic to folded wings and not necessarily to deployed wings. This one is no exception.
When I built a 'Corsair' a while ago I posed it with folded wings because I couldn't get a satisfactory result (even to my low standards!) with the wings deployed. For this one I am determined to have the wings deployed and after a considerable amount of huffing, puffing, effing and blinding, I have got one attached.



You can see the join at the leading edge, then a sort of zig-zag towards the back of the wing where there is a slight gap. Better there than at the front! I think I'll be able to make this look acceptable, just one more to do.

Cheers

Steve

BTW, that sliver of white at the back of the wing is a piece of plasticard, repairing a little nick that yours truly made when cleaning up sprue attachment points.

[john i am]

Looking good, Steve.

I think someone on the forum ought to start a 'Who has the cleanest and the dirtiest cutting mat'. You and John would have to share the prize for the former hands down!

The server's playing up.

Im looking after my mat Ron cause it's new and BIG! But I may lapse back into my old ways if I neglect to wipe up those little spills that occur or start using it as wet palette again.
Watching your build Steve and its coming along very nicely.

[stona]

A lot more effin' and jeffin' and we have something that looks like an aeroplane.



I just noticed the stickers on the ailerons. They (and the rudder) will be coming off as part of the painting process and are just 'dry' fitted.

I'm going to mask up the canopy and spray the interior colour on the framework, that will then be it for the day.

Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

Looking good Steve not sure what that swastika doing under the Hellcat. I think I'm lagging behind you I still haven't got the fuselage together yet!

[stona]

I've got some new white primer which has to be left 24hrs before it hardens and can be rubbed down, so that will put a temporary stop to proceedings!

White because I intend to mask some of the markings over the white primer rather than using decals. How hard can it be to cut out a star? I'll let you know

Cheers

Steve

[tr1ckey66]

Great progress on the Hellcat Steve. I’m sure the reverse masking you’re planning will work out fine and will make a real differencec to the look of the scheme.

Keep up the great work
Paul

[stona]

I've been fiddling about with the undercarriage today.

Something for Vaughan to look forward to!

Magnification and needle nose tweezers to the fore



Only one more to do :flushed:

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

It turns out that cutting out stars is pretty straight forward.
In fact all the masking is straight edges or straight lines of various widths, using the original decal sheet as a guide.



Where's the rudder? That stays white.

I also added one of these on the other side. It's completely absent from the kit. It is the insulator gubbins where the radio antenna enters the suselage.




I made mine from a bit of sprue, inserted into a hole drilled in the appropriate place on the fuselage, but such detail photography is beyond me.

Cheers

Steve

[scottie3158]

Steve,
Nice idea of the reversed masking.

[stona]

I've done it before for white markings on US aircraft, and I think I did it for this 'Natter', black being much easier to apply over white than vice-versa.



You obviously need to be careful not to build up paint against the masks, but that applies the other way around too.

I will hopefully be unmasking the 'Hellcat' in the morning. I sprayed the GSB colour this afternoon. I very nearly used an entire 14ml tinlet of the paint!

Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

Excellent looking masks Steve , I’m sure it’s going to look great . , cheers tony

[stona]

Early start to get the masking off, and it has come out quite well.




I have done the very minor touch ups required, basically spotting a few drops of white paint using the end of a cocktail stick, and will leave this for a few hours before a quick rub down and varnish.

In the meantime I might make some bombs...:tongue-out3:

Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

Very smart looking Steve the reverse masking of the stars and bars looks very crisp.