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Hellcat quartet.


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Hi folk's as far as aircraft go I,ve got bogged down with a couple of large project's(1/32 Heinkel,and a couple of 1/48 GB entries) and the old enthusiasm

has gone so I thought let's get back to 1/72 scale with a four ship build with the Eduard 1/72 Hellcat at one end of the spectrum and three Hobbyboss

easy kit's at the other.I have the choice of boxed decals plus three from an old Italeri kit with a FAA and French Navy machine included so I can have

four different finishes in the build so to kick off until the Hobbyboss kit's arrive I'll start the more complex Eduard kit.Boxart to begin with.

edu_7434_title_zpsphwkn745.jpg

 

This beauty has the parts not only for the N model but the F5F-3 and 5 so I'll choose as the build start's with model and finish.

 

Edited by stevej60
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The old production line has just reopened.

Smashing!

How are the HB easy builds? I only know the Academy Hellcat, so I am looking forward to see what all these look like!

Great choice!

 

jr

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56 minutes ago, jean said:

The old production line has just reopened.

Smashing!

How are the HB easy builds? I only know the Academy Hellcat, so I am looking forward to see what all these look like!

Great choice!

 

jr

Not sure Jean,never seen them in the flesh should be here Monday Hobbyboss kits are hit and miss but their Buffalo was as good as many more

complex kit's one of these will be a French Navy machine hope you like that choice and by coincidence the Dewoitine D520 easy kit is coming

with the Hellcat's.

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1 hour ago, stevej60 said:

Not sure Jean,never seen them in the flesh should be here Monday Hobbyboss kits are hit and miss but their Buffalo was as good as many more

complex kit's one of these will be a French Navy machine hope you like that choice and by coincidence the Dewoitine D520 easy kit is coming

with the Hellcat's.

I have been toying with the idea to get the D 520 when I go to South Africa next month, as I want to try one Easy kit, and I have quite a lot of 520 decals to use, so I am really interested to hear what it looks like when you get it. All I've got here is the Hasegawa kit, so a HB one seems like a good idea, and I like the fact that it is supposed to be a "quick and easy" build. What remains to be seen is if I can do an OOB job.... Damn!

JR

Edited by jean
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Morning folk's thought I would get a start this morning just removed the major part's and cleaned them up.

DSCN4843_zpsdv8pguks.jpg

 

And assembled the cockpit ready for paint and detailing.

DSCN4844_zpsjs00fdyo.jpg

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14 hours ago, jean said:

I have been toying with the idea to get the D 520 when I go to South Africa next month, as I want to try one Easy kit, and I have quite a lot of 520 decals to use, so I am really interested to hear what it looks like when you get it. All I've got here is the Hasegawa kit, so a HB one seems like a good idea, and I like the fact that it is supposed to be a "quick and easy" build. What remains to be seen is if I can do an OOB job.... Damn!

JR

I've built the HB D520 and it was a fun, easy built that I was happy with, apart from using Humbrol acrylics with a brush - bad mistake! I'm after another one or two to build an Armee D'Aire variant and convert one to the carrier borne job.

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13 hours ago, stevej60 said:

I'll post it up when it arrives Jean,

Thanks Steve.

19 minutes ago, Mitch K said:

I've built the HB D520 and it was a fun, easy built that I was happy with, apart from using Humbrol acrylics with a brush - bad mistake! I'm after another one or two to build an Armee D'Aire variant and convert one to the carrier borne job.

Hi Mitch,

I will take your word for it. I need a serious mojo restorer as I must have the largest "shelf of doom" between here and Canis major. And enough is enough! So a quick D 520 in Aeronavale color scheme would go a long way in starting me right.

Knowing you, you must have done some Bulgarian or other *.*ian Dewoitine! 

I do not know any carrier-borne D 520. Beside l'Armee de l'Air, the Aeronavale used them with at least 2 'squadrons', but they were shore based.

Anyway, I'll wait to look at Steve's goodie and then take it from there.

 

Cheers guys.

JR

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5 hours ago, jean said:

Thanks Steve.

Hi Mitch,

I will take your word for it. I need a serious mojo restorer as I must have the largest "shelf of doom" between here and Canis major. And enough is enough! So a quick D 520 in Aeronavale color scheme would go a long way in starting me right.

Knowing you, you must have done some Bulgarian or other *.*ian Dewoitine! 

I do not know any carrier-borne D 520. Beside l'Armee de l'Air, the Aeronavale used them with at least 2 'squadrons', but they were shore based.

Anyway, I'll wait to look at Steve's goodie and then take it from there.

 

Cheers guys.

JR

Spot on, Bulgarian!

 

The carrier-bourne variant was designated the D790 and was intended to equip the French navy's two new carriers. It had an arrestor hook, and folding wings with a slight inverted gull configuration. The armament was dropped to the engine cannon plus two wing-mounted machine guns, so slightly less than the land-based version but more than enough to deal with an FW200. It's likely that the poor view over the nose plus the treacherous ground handling Eric Brown noted would have made the type an absolute deathtrap to its crews and nobody except the most ardent nationalist would have preferred it to an F4F, but it will be an interesting project!

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1 hour ago, Mitch K said:

Spot on, Bulgarian!

 

The carrier-bourne variant was designated the D790 and was intended to equip the French navy's two new carriers. It had an arrestor hook, and folding wings with a slight inverted gull configuration. The armament was dropped to the engine cannon plus two wing-mounted machine guns, so slightly less than the land-based version but more than enough to deal with an FW200. It's likely that the poor view over the nose plus the treacherous ground handling Eric Brown noted would have made the type an absolute deathtrap to its crews and nobody except the most ardent nationalist would have preferred it to an F4F, but it will be an interesting project!

Hi Mitch,

 

well, what do you know?

Despite thinking that I know quite a bit about French Air Force aircraft, past, present and future, it is the very first time I have heard of the D790! 

Or are we still in April Fool's day mode?

Whatever, it reinforces the fact that one never stops learning! I will stick to modelling good old D520 without arrester hooks...

Cheers

JR

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Morning folk's some work done over the weekend,cockpit done and engine painted,there are decals supplied for the instrument panels(I painted them

instead) and the pilot's harness.

DSCN4848_zpshgc8wyll.jpg

 

DSCN4851_zps3l2msewo.jpg

 

 

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Morning folk's last few day's work update,the Hobbyboss Hellcat's arrived both kits are identical except for the one piece fuselage pieces as you

can see the 3 has the insert for the the window's this will be the one finished in the Blue gray/light gray USN scheme.

DSCN4857_zpspv03kcpc.jpg

 

The Eduard kit is as you would expect by far the superior with the only part I would fault was the fit of the very front cowl which needed

filler,this will be finished as a 5N night fighter.Heres where I am today with the Eduard kit ready for primer.

 

DSCN4858_zpsqe6vkok0.jpg

 

DSCN4859_zpsakidko2v.jpg

 

 

Edited by stevej60
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Thank's Rob,I've raided the spares box of decals and managed to do the consoles and IP's.tape belt's added too.

DSCN4861_zpsvnvbdxky.jpg

 

And with the cockpits fitted into place wings and engine cowls added,all ready for primer.

 

DSCN4862_zps1fxyzswm.jpg

 

 

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Hi folk's just an update of the last few days work,I,ve primed all four in gray and started on the three dark blue aircraft's paintwork

here's the three painted,it's not really obvious but Eduards night fighter is a darker blue than the rest I used Tamiya sea blue as my

main colour and lightened it for shading of the highlighted areas and did a few quick passed with the airbrush to break up the solid 

colour, looks strange but trust me as the glossing progresses it blends smoothly,anyway here's all three.

DSCN4893_zpsqdcgch6v.jpg

 

Eduards 5N.

DSCN4894_zpsmpjufffy.jpg

 

And one of the Hobbyboss kit's which will be a French navy machine.

DSCN4895_zpsx0kat79r.jpg

 

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They look great Steve. It looks like the quartet have brought your mojo back :).

 

I have a couple of Revell ones, I never see or read much about them. Maybe they're mojo breakers :blink:!

 

The Hobby Boss kits look good, clever engineering there. Good for getting people into the hobby.

 

:goodjob: 

TonyT

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These are coming on great guns Steve,......looks like the Grumman production line,.....where is Rosy the Riveter?

Cheers

            Tony

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Hi folks got the decals on the three Hobbyboss kit's I wasn't worried about the French navy marking's as they are Italeri thankfully

the Hobbyboss ones behaved as they can sometimes let their kit's down.

DSCN4905_zpsb4tz5kde.jpg

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Nice work, I particularly like the pale blue (?) one.

 

The Hobbyboss kits look pretty good from where I'm sitting. I think I might get a few to use up decals in the Eduard FAA double boxing.

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