discussion Academy 1/72 Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat

[flyjoe180]

A quick build before the Tamiya GB kicks off.




I'm going to attempt the three colour scheme of sea blue over intermediate blue and white. The decal option is not accurate, I checked online; K40 was a -5 version. As I want a -3 with the rear glazing, I found photos of these being loaded onto USS Yorktown CV-10 at San Fransisco in September 1943. They had numbers but not on the upper wings. To make this a -3, I will use only the '4' numbers.

 

[flyjoe180]

A rudimentary cockpit job, adding Tamiya tape belts and a quick brown wash.


It builds quickly, a smear of filler here and there, particularly at the lower wing to fuselage join and at the nose.

 

[Lee Drennen]

Joe looks good I like these Academy kits

 

[flyjoe180]

Joe looks good I like these Academy kits

Thanks Lee. I like them, they build relatively quickly, and they are cost effective. Decals can be hit and miss though.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Sometimes it's just good to do a kit that goes together at a pace

And that's quite a lot of cockpit for a quick 1/72

 

[flyjoe180]

This is moving fast by my standards. After a day of letting the primer dry, I got the engine painted and fixed inside the cowl.

 

[flyjoe180]

Today I started painting the main scheme. One thing led to another. The nice dry air we have at present means the paint can be handled after a short time, so taking advantage of that, I got the white, sea blue and intermediate blue scheme on.

 

[flyjoe180]

Glossed and decals applied


Very enjoyable build so far

 

[flyjoe180]

Hoping to get this finished very soon as the Tamiya GB is only a few days away. I also need to clean my model area, it looks like a real disaster zone.

The Hellcat has been flat coated, the wheels fitted and is awaiting some final weathering and detail. I'm having a bit of trouble with the underside ID lights. No decals, no recesses, and I've worked my way into a corner with them. I should have drilled some shallow recesses, painted them and filled them with Clearfix or similar. I'm still working on a solution.

Next time you see this model will be in the completed section.

 

[flyjoe180]

The completed Hellcat thread is here https://www.scalemodelling.co.uk/threads/academy-1-72-grumman-f6f-3-hellcat.1278081/