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Richard's Academy/Airfix Hellcat for Simon

I still have those moments, while modeling, where I realize I've been holding my breath w/o knowing. PaulE
 
Thread owner
Jim and Paul, ya, heart skipped a beat and breathing stalled for a while... might want to shift it again so don't hold your breathe. :smiling2:

Cheers,
Richard
 
Thread owner
Hi,
I did shift the sights again compliments of the cats dropping a few boxes of kits on the table from the shelves above. Anyway I wanted to do it and good too as I could add a heat shield to the gun barrel...

H63.jpg

The heat shield is like a pad on the barrel seen here in the next photo...

H64.jpg

I began with the wiring...the thicker ones were copper wire and the thinner brass.

H65.jpg

Puttied the seam line and sanded down. More wires will be added so watch out for more later.

H66.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 
Thread owner
Hi Tim, thank you. I did a bit more after the posting as I couldn't sleep... oh dear, Simon behavioral syndrome is catching on...

I made double wiring that ran the whole bottom corner of the turret ring. These connected to the small junction boxes and disappeared behind the controls in the gunners and loaders position. Using cut pieces of foil, I wrapped the brass wires together securing one end with CA to ease the process and then locking the wrap down with more CA. Excess was snipped off.

H67.jpg

Bent the assembled wire to fit the curvature of the turret ring and attached the ends by guessing from reference images. Simon would have added nut or screw heads to the wire securing attachments but I'm just a humble "Padwan" learning the ways of the Jedi Master.:smiling2:

H68.jpg

Wire leading from the aerial to the radio was attached under the rear bustle cover... and another set of double wires leading from the junction box to the right side of the radio.

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The wiring is now complete in this section...now I will need to move onto the gunners side of the turret wall as there are some wires to be fitted running along that.

H70.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 
OOOOOOOoooo! I like that. Very much following in the ways of the "Force"........the Jedi master has taught you well, young Richard.

Rick H.:thumb2:
 
Thread owner
Thank you old chaps... Rick, Andrew and Tim. After installing the wires to the gunners side wall I think I can prime and paint the interior then later work on the crew stowage on the racks. Scotties stowage for his Dodge WC has gotten me fired up to make some.

Cheers,
Richard
 
Thread owner
Hi, I just completed the wiring and these are the images...

H71.jpg

The end of the wires aren't glued yet as the turret ring with the seats and controls need painting before I re-attach it to the turret.

H72.jpg

I think I'll prime it in Nato Black and try the hairspray technique to chip.

Cheers,
Richard
 
That looks nice and the chipping should add a more realistic appearance......good luck with that. Rick H. :thumb2:
 
Hi Richard
Looks excellent. Amazing that you manage to get is so much detail.
Jim
 
Thread owner
Thanks Rick, Si, Peter, Andrew, Jim, Graeme and Scottie,

At least I learnt something about wiring by following the electrician around the house during renovations. :tears-of-joy:

Cheers,
Richard
 
Thread owner
Hi Mick, sorry for the late reply, thanks. I had a bad spot of sinus attack and just recovered. As soon as it cleared I attacked the turret with some vigor. I suspect I am allergic to Tamiya paints unfortunately and suffer sinuses most of the time when I spray with it or a combination of Tamiya and Future. It's horrible for 24 hours and then it clears...strange. Horrible in the sense that I'm a leaky faucet and a repetitive cannon of sneezing that hurts my back. It's over so let's get on with the build...

Interior sprayed with a combination of Nato black, Future, then hairspray and then light grey and then olive drab and then a misting of olive drab mixed with some light grey. Here is it is after the hairspray on...

H73.jpgH74.jpg

After the long intermission of sinus I scrubbed the areas that saw heavy wear. If I were to do this again I would prefer doing the chipping by brush painting as there were many delicate areas I couldn't get to besides you don't know what to expect in the outcome. It did however create dust deposits that looked quite nice. I'm sure the Hellcat didn't get that much wear in the short period of its operations. So I must tone this down a bit.

H75.jpgH76.jpg

I still need to pick out the individual parts in different colours like the seats, sights, 50cal and gun breech.

H77.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 
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