1/48 F6F-3 Hellcat (Eduard)

[Venelin]

Hello,

 

This is my recently finished Hellcat with the colorful nose art of Lt. Richard E. Stambook's plane. OOB build-no problems during construction, painted with Gunze acrylics and weathered with oils and AK enamel products. I didn't like the decals, so all markings and the nose art are made with homemade masks, using the decals as stencils

 

 

 

 

 

Some in progress photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Knight_Flyer]

Very nice build, have the 1/72 kit in the stash.

 

What was wrong with the decals?  Are they... poor quality? Inaccurate?

[Venelin]

Just now, Knight_Flyer said:

Very nice build, have the 1/72 kit in the stash.

 

What was wrong with the decals?  Are they... poor quality? Inaccurate?

 

Thanks!

 

The decal film seemed too thick to me and didn't conform well, so I decided to make masks. Also the blue on the insignia wasn't good IMHO,  I used Gunze  H-326 FS 15044 instead, which is much better. The new Eduard decals are better though (on my Bf 109E-7 by example). But nevertheless I like it much more with painted markings, no matter how good are the decals

 

Regards,

Venelin

[Knight_Flyer]

3 minutes ago, Venelin said:

 

Thanks!

 

The decal film seemed too thick to me and didn't conform well, so I decided to make masks. Also the blue on the insignia wasn't good IMHO,  I used Gunze  H-326 FS 15044 instead, which is much better. The new Eduard decals are better though (on my Bf 109E-7 by example). But nevertheless I like it much more with painted markings, no matter how good are the decals

 

Regards,

Venelin

 

Ok, that's useful to know, I'll check the sheet in my kit before commencing the build.

[Venelin]

Other people may have better success, this is personal opinion. I'm not telling that all decals are bad, maybe it was just bad luck with my example

 

 

[russ c]

Very nice Hellcat, love that scheme too

[Gerrardandrews]

Very nice Hellcat, 😊

[WildeSau75]

Like it - you really covered that scheme nicely.

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Ridgeline]

Interesting.... Did you "paint" the red in the eyes and mouth with marker?

Edited March 26, 2017 by Ridgeline

[Venelin]

35 minutes ago, Ridgeline said:

Interesting.... Did you "paint" the red in the eyes and mouth with marker?

 

The blood lines in the eyes are made with sharpened marker. The red in the mouth is Gunze flat red, using masks that I've made. All is painted except some small stencils and the kill count, they're from the decals.

 

Thanks!

[batcode]

looks great, nice work....

[shakakoz]

That's some clever use of the stencils for the nose detail. Overall, I think it was a great paint job.

[BerndM]

Excellent build the paint job with the shark mouth is outstanding.

 

[Zarichta]

Crazy stencils mate! Superb work!

Regards;

[Venelin]

With the painted pilot (from Aerobonus). Not in my usual 1/35 figures, but I like the result and the overall look of the Hellcat is better. Next, the aircraft deck