mack

Hasegawa kit ref. 51338 (1/72nd scale) although labeled as "Hurricane Mk.I late type Battle of Britain" was providing the wrong sprue for the nose (it was the longer, Mk. II sprue) and a "b" wing; at least the one I had... In my case, as I was after a MK.Ia, converting the "b" wing to "a" spec was easy, the nose was a different story...

Thank you all for the positive reactions, Honestly, I didn’t enjoy the build that much, there were lots of ups and downs, mostly caused by my lack of focus. In the end, it was more a case of “I have to have a “four” on my shelf” … now that is done and resting, I fancy a second build, with all the lesson learned, only that most of the photo sets are no longer available. The 1/35th kit is a step to far for me, I’ll rather start the 48th Airfix AH7 Lynx instead. Community guidance and support will be much appreciated on my next on-going project, the “FAA Hellcat” Best regards, Iulian

Thank you all for the reactions!

A couple of photos with my model; Hobby boss kit and Eduard details. Trying to represents a Romanian Air Force machine from the 60's. The WIP topic: Feel free to comment! Best regards, Iulian

bits and pieces are adding up...

not really; there are some air bubbles there and there is a clear lens on top....

negative; it was the only one I had fitting the size; it will have the leaking resin forever...

I haven't documented all construction steps - especially the sanding sessions. Meanwhile the fuselage is closed with basic painting (just 2 colors) and weathering. The decals were of awful quality with significant silvering. I’ve neglected to smooth the slightly textured surface of the kit and I was surprised how visible it became (actually enhanced) through paint coats. Not good...

Hello fellow community members, I would highly appreciate your opinion/ recommendation regarding cockpit interior and wheel wells colors from Vallejo acrylics range. My limited inquiry (mostly internet) ended up with the following results: for cockpit interior: (Interior Green) – Vallejo Model Air 71137 or 71010 or (Cockpit Light Green) – Vallejo Model Air 70974 For wheel wells (including tail wheel) is either same color as cockpit interior or underside color. For underside (supposedly Sky S – BS210) I have no less than 3 Vallejo Model Air references: 71302, 71296, 71009. So, where to?

Congrats! I was proud about my model - from the very same kit - now I'll have to hide it away! Chapeau bas!

Decided to add an extension to the rear cockpit frame, loosely resembling the one from the Airfix instructions. A little bit of work on tail wheel well; the way Eduard modeled the oleo strut force me to insert it close to the middle frame, on the original it was actually articulated on the front bulkhead. I do not intend to completely redo the tail wheel assembly – I’m not in that league of scratch building – so I’ll keep kit’s approach; the Alu tube is the provision for tail wheel insertion. A question regarding painting – what would be the right color for wheel wells (including the tail one) and cockpit interior? Any Vallejo Model Air reference for that/ those colors? Feedback, comments and recommendations are more than welcomed. Best regards, Iulian

Hello, I’ll skip the kit introduction as Eduard’s Hellcat in 72nd scale is well known to the community. I’m not a Hellcat aficionado and actually decided to give it a try thanks to the good press and the generous dimensions of the model in this scale. My knowledge on the subject is quite limited and the documentation even less – the good old “In Action” booklet and the instruction sheet of the 1/24 Airfix kit! Subsequently I’ll heavily rely on community knowledge to guide me into the subject – a Grumman Hellcat Mk.I, obviously FAA, more precisely the JV131 with invasion stripes. The starting point is the Eduard ProfiPack dual combo (so 2 kits, a Mk.II or F6F-5/ -5N might come afterwards on the production line, who knows) and a several accessories (Big Ed set, various resins, etc.). Not sure if all those will find place in a single model. For me, the big “first” will be the rivet decal set – never tried it before; I’ll see. Please excuse the inherent English language mistakes that will be present in my post from time to time; obviously I’m not a native speaker but more of a “bad English” category. That being said, let’s roll. Started by removing exhausts pipes from the fuselage, not due to their representation – quite honest for the scale – but with the aim of simplifying the painting of the exhaust stains latter on; I’ll add some brass tube sections at the very end of the construction. I’ve also opened the tail wheel well; the blank proposal of the kit gives some sort of a toy appearance. I’ll recreate some dummy representation of the two fuselage frames in that area. Of course, the 2 ejector pin marks on fuselage inside are now visible and must be somehow handled. As my model will be a Mk.I – with the corresponding additional windows at the back of the cockpit – and because Eduard completely neglected any frame representation there, I’ve transferred the seat back panel to a piece of 1mm polystyrene and recreated the upper part of the back frame. Not 100% accurate, just to avoid a nasty void perspective. Still thinking if lower part of the abovementioned frame is needed. More to come; hopefully. Best regards, Iulian

thank you all for the feed-back!

Fuselage halfs ready for mating; firewall is scratch and not 100% accurate; it is only intended to limit the visibility inside. Some benches in cargo bay are in folded position.

fit is acceptable till now... but big hurdles are still to come; If you plan to glue shut the clamshell cargo doors, be aware that the profile is not quite matching the fuselage one…