matto21

Hi all, With progress on my Eduard Hellcat somewhat stalled, I thought giving this kit a go might kickstart things. I picked it up recently for £4.49 and it's the first time I've given 1:72 a go. Work has started in the cockpit, a bit basic but I figure not much of it will be seen through the canopy anyway. Totally OOTB, sprayed German Grey, a few bits picked out, the kit decals [which I think look pretty good!] and a dark brown wash. Can anyone suggest a good source of 'material' to use as nose weight, preferably something readily available? Thanks for looking Matt

It's fantastic!

Agree with everyone else, that is stunning!

Nice work, looks great!

Awesome, truly inspirational!

Fantastic model! This build inspired me to buy this kit today [well that and the fact it was on sale!]

Looks great - i really like the faded finish!

Bit more progress - the majority of the sub builds are almost ready for paint so I couldn't resist bringing them together to see what it all looks like... Thanks for looking Matt

Cracking start! I wish the cockpit of the one I'm building in 1:48 looked as good as this!

Very nice. I'm currently building this model so it's nice to see a completed model!

I think that is a work of art!

Thank you both for your kind comments, glad you like it!

Thanks for the encouragement. I've struggled to get to this point but that's got more to do with my [lack of] skills than a problem with the kit! I replaced the gun barrels with drilled rod because I damaged one of the kit pieces [accidentally sanded it] and added my own gun sight because the kit part pinged off and disappeared forever. Thanks for looking Matt

Lovely work, looks stunning!

Hi Val, having recently built this kit myself I can only agree as to what a good kit it is. I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turns out!

Thanks again for the kind comments. Sernak - the weathering probably isn't correct, I always err on the side of caution otherwise I probably would have ruined it totally!

Beautiful model, really stunning!

Once again, thank you for the very kind comments! 20 people building the same model in the same scheme....there's a GB if I ever heard one!

Thank you for the positive comments! Keef - the collector rings and exhausts were originally painted with Tamiya XF-28 Dark Copper. I then post shaded them with flat black, before repraying them with a thinned mixture of dark copper, flat black and red brown to give them a, hopefully, dirtier appearance. Tom - I agree that they are a bit heavy, and it's been said before, but I just really like them that way! I usually start with them much lighter but normally end up going darker because they just don't look 'right' to me otherwise! I guess it's just one of my 'modelling foibles'!

Hello again! I decided to give something else a go for a change, namely Eduard's 1:48 F6F-3 Hellcat. This is my first go at using PE parts other than belts and something I've been meaning to try for a while. Work has started in the cockpit: What colour should the headrest be, brown or black? I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't apprehensive about building the kit, especially getting the fuselage sides lined up correctly without the little 'pips' that I'm used to on other kits. Thanks for looking Matt

Finally finished! Started about ten years ago, abandoned in a wardrobe since until I discovered it a few months ago and decided to finish it off. Learnt a great deal while working on the kit, including a few new techniques. Made a couple of mistakes [including melting some of the decals and putting the wingtip lights the wrong way around!], but I'm quite happy with it. Once again thanks to Woody37 for providing me with some spare decals - without his help I wouldn't have been able to finish it! Some pics: Thanks for looking Matt

Love it!

Hello, Made some further progress, undercarridge and props now painted and installed [one of the u/c doors dropped off just as I was taking the photos - typical!]. Just need to do some more weathering before fitting the final fiddly bits and removing the masking from the canopy. Woody37 came to the rescue and provided me with decals to replace those that I damaged, so a huge thank you to him! Thanks for looking Matt

Some more progress to report. The decals are on and a panel line wash has been applied. I mentioned in my last post that I managed to melt one of the decals - the 'Z' got damaged. 'No problem' I thought, 'I'll cut a piece out of a spare red decal and patch it up'. Well I did but to my horror it was a totally different colour [looked ok on the sheet!] - so my 'excuse' is that the codes have been patch painted in a different shade [ignore the dust visible in the pic]! Finally, I was very pleased with my wing tip navigation lights. In fact, I was so pleased, to make them that extra bit special, I glued them the wrong way around [i've tried removing them but they won't budge]. That aside, I'm pretty chuffed with how they look. Thanks for looking Matt

Really nice work!