Dandie Dinmont

Thanks Cookie, that was my thinking along with maybe doing some weathering if time permitted (needless to say, it will not). A long long time ago when I was a hulking teenager, my dentist informed me that the bill for my 50-a-day sweetie habit had come due, and that I was going to have to part company with a couple of molars. This was in the wild west era of dentistry where the tooth mechanic would happily knock you out before wielding the pliers if you so desired (and as someone with a morbid fear of dentistry, I wanted as little to do with the entire procedure as possible). Most dentists used the old laughing gas, beloved of comedy films and programmes to induce unconsciousness but my dentist had a more sophisticated setup and had a device that would actually inject you with a measured amount of anaesthetic. I was strapped into the chair, a needle was inserted into a vein and connected to the device by a clear tube. The dentist invited me to start counting back from 10 and fired up the device. Immediately, my eyes began to close but before darkness completely overwhelmed me, I couldn't help but notice a thin jet of liquid spurting from a pinhole in the tube. I recovered consciousness a few minutes later to find that my mouth hurt considerably less than I had expected, and that I was surrounded by glum faces. It transpired that although I had received enough juice to put me under, I hadn't received enough, thanks to the hole in the pipe, for the dentist to be confident that I wouldn't wake up mid-extraction. And because they didn't know just how much I'd had, they couldn't top me up without risking putting me to sleep permanently. The whole affair therefore had to be postponed. My mother, eminently practical and Aberdeen born and bred, decided that since no blood had been spilled, we could catch the bus home (had the extractions taken place, I like to think she would have sprung for a taxi). Once aboard, and still under the influence of the insidious chemicals, my normal shy and retiring nature was replaced by excessive verbosity and desire to share my story with all the other hapless passengers. I therefore reeled from seat to seat engaging my fellow travellers in conversation at the top of my voice, while my mother did her uttermost to convey the impression that we were unrelated. It was an eerie preview of my habitual behaviour when as a student, I discovered the twin delights of beer and lunchtime drinking. It's possible I suppose that one or two of you at this point may be wondering what this has to do with Hellcats or modelling. I shall elucidate. You will recall that I had decided to use @Troy Smith's mix of one part Tamiya Sea Blue to one part Purple (and many thanks to Troy for his post comparing this with the real thing). For maximum accuracy, I used a large bore syringe to transfer large, but carefully measured, amounts of paint from both pots to the mixing jar. This worked fine for the Sea Blue but when it came to the purple, the syringe stuck, then freed itself and with great force shot out a great blob of purple paint. Some went in the jar, some went all over my cutting mat, a lot went over my hands and most catastrophically, some went onto the brand new T-shirt, my wife had just presented me with. Thank goodness for water soluble acrylics. If I'd been using enamels, the forecast could have been very frosty at Chez Dinmont. Inspecting the contents of the mixing jar after I'd cleaned up, it was clear that I had some sort of blue but was it anything like ANA 623? My problem, like my dentist of long ago, was that although some purple had gone it, I had no idea how much so I didn't know how much to add to bring it up to the proper spec. I couldn't start again from scratch because I'd used most of my supplies of the constituent paints to mix up this batch. All I could do is go ahead with what I had, which produced this: and after a respray of its snout and a coat of klear: I've no idea how close this looks to the real item, but it's definitely blue, and looks ok to me. Next up, we will find out how good the Eduard decals are. I'd like to take one more opportunity to display my ignorance to the Britmodeller hive mind though. I know that ANA 23 was supposed to be a gloss finish but in reality, would a F6F that had spent more than 5 minutes on a carrier deck have had more of a gloss, satin or matt finish? Thanks for reading, Craig.

Glad to hear it. I find that my willingness to apply stencils varies inversely with the amount of time I have to finish the build. The Hellcat I’m currently building for the STGB come with an entire extra sheet of stencil data and since it has to be finished in almost exactly 7 days as I write this, I fear very few of them will be applied and I’m equally sure few will notice the omission. Craig.

Those are good looking stripes. It’s going to look great with the decals on! Craig.

It's always the same isn't it? You exhaust your entire stock of superlatives during the build itself praising the superb craftsmanship, the exquisite attention to detail and the painstaking finishing and by the time you're confronted with the final article, all you can come up with is "yeah, that looks alright". So, erm, Yeah, that looks alright. Craig

That can't be the time already surely? When we last joined this build, the fuselage had just come together in more or less pleasing fashion. Blatantly stealing an idea from one of (I think) @Cookenbacher's builds, I coated the seams in YZC to see how things were looking. 'Not too bad' was the result so construction continued. The wings were cemented in place without issue. Not so the tailplanes which are glued into a slot the width of the fuselage. As they come off the sprue, the tabs at the end of the tailplane meet in such as way as to leave a unprototypical gap between the elevators and the fuselage. Sanding the tabs down sorted this out of course but also left the tailplanes with a degree of freedom which made setting them square to the fuselage sides a tricky proposition for a modeller of my limited abilities. I sweated long and hard to avoid giving the Hellcat a swept back tail but I'm still not convinced that I pulled it off. This is why all photos from now on will be taken from a head or side-on aspect. While the glue was setting, I got to work assembling the motor. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out looking, especially considering that most of it will be hidden away in the depths of the cowling behind the propellor anyway. Looking at it in its final position on the fuselage, I kind of feel the Hellcat should be using the next size of engine up. I thought that I would further improve the look of the thing by drilling out the holes on the tailwheel mount. This seemed to go ok (only one drill bit snapped) until I inspected the other side and found that I had failed to take the elementary precaution of making sure that the drill bit was coming out at the opposite point to which it went in. It looks a mess frankly which is why all photos from now on will be taken side-on from the port side. You will have noticed that I ended up using YZC as an overall primer coat, possibly because I couldn't face another tussle with my nemesis, Stynylrez. It actually worked pretty well, though as ever, the evidence provided by the witness coat was more than sufficient to bring in a verdict of "guilty of shoddy modelling". At any rate, it enabled me to embark on the repeated sessions of filling, sanding and (horrors of horrors!) scribing required. Eventually I reached the point with this where I just didn't care any longer so the windscreen and canopy were attached, a process that no longer holds any fear for me since @AliGauld's recommendation of Formula 560 canopy glue, and masked in my signature "good enough that I'll be able to sort it out with a cocktail stick afterwards" style. It's time for a top coat! To represent ANA623, I'm following the advice of @Troy Smith somewhere on this site and using a 1:1 mix of these: To be candid, late war US Navy colour schemes are not a particular area of expertise for me so I'll probably be pretty happy however this comes out, so long as it's not green. Thanks for reading, Craig.

I think you really should have put some pictures up just to prove to us mortals that you can very occasionally produce a less than perfect finish. Just as encouragement, you know. I’m sure the next try will more than come up to your high standards. Craig.

Looks good to me Mark and I’m sure some paint will enhance things further. This is clearly going to turn out to be a beauty! Craig.

This is looking fabulous Alan! Craig.

That’s a great result John, good job! Humbrol 19 is clearly the way to go with this one. Craig.

Sorry, replied to completely the wrong thread (the perils of having too many Britmodeller tabs open). Craig, in the corner, with the dunces cap on.

That’s a great result John, Good job! Humbrol 19 is clearly the way to go with this one. Craig.

I’m sure no one would dream of accusing you of that Alistair. Craig.

You want to be careful about that. We once redecorated our lounge in a rather fetching light cream and crimson which my wife was very pleased with until a “friend” pointed out that it was an exact match for the old BR Blood and Custard colour scheme. She suspected that this had been my intention all along (even though she had selected the paints) and things were a little frosty around Chateau Dinmont for a while. Craig.

And then you have to sculpt the figure of ‘Winkle’ Brown standing beside it. Which raises another question, is it going to be on its launching trolly or resting elegantly on the skid and one wingtip? Either way, it will look great. Craig.

Sorry to hear that Henry is still giving you gip Mark. Now that you’ve completed a build, you have undoubtably acquired the knack of finishing and will tear through these like a house on fire! Craig.

I take it the departure of the pouch is more of an indication of the titchyness of the pieces than the force of your sneezes? Nice cockpit detailing and nice catch on the mis-aligned cockpit edge. You do realise that if you didn’t build these things so quickly, you wouldn’t need so large a stash? Craig.

Great progress already Alistair and thank you for the inclusion of the scale setting device. Not too onerous an experience I hope? Craig.

Fudging is how I get from one day to the next..... Mm, fudge... You two are being far too modest. Craig.

For some reason, I thought this was 1/32nd. Realising its true scale makes the rigging challenge ahead of you seem even more formidable. Better crank the Opivisor up to 11 for this one. I'm sure you will cope admirably though. Craig.

Top class mottling that man. Do you do it freehand or use a mask? Craig.

Hi Mark, Might Mr. Surfacer be a better bet than paint for building the ribs back up? Just a thought. Craig.

It's a wise man who knows when to call a halt to a build. Hurrah! Popcorn at the ready! Craig.

Another little cracker Alistair. It really is a beauty. Craig.

Beautiful work Alistair. Craig.

Cracking start Mark. If it helps make your mind up, the big H appears to be out of stock of the Kora interior set Craig.