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Pics thanks to Mark Mills.

Here is my completed 1/48 FAA Hellcat done as Hellcat Mk 1, FN373/J of 1839 NAS, Eglington, Dec 1943 . I used a combination of Pollyscale and HUmbrol paints for the camouflage with a black wash on the panel lines with some Hu98 Chocolate for the exhaust weathering. The build log is at the link below: http://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8818

I have been building this one since the start of 2014 and have finally gotten close to finishing it. The kit is the Eduard 1/48 F6F-3 'weekend edition' and has minimal markings and PE (thankfully), it is OOB except for using Xtradecal markings and adding the drop tank straps that were not done by Eduard. I have used a combination of Humbrol and Pollyscale acrylics for the cam and Humbrol Hu98 chocolate for the exhaust staining after a black wash was put on. I have to put all the small bits on then give it a coat of Humbrol Matt Varnish to finish it off.

Grumman Hellcat MkII 1:48 The Royal Navy received 252 F6F-3s as Hellcat I under Lend-Lease. Production continued until November 1945 by which time 7870 F6F-5s had been built, of which some 930 had been supplied to the Royal Navy as Hellcat II and 1434 of the total had been completed as F6F-5N night-fighters. Ultimately, the Hellcat equipped 14 FAA front-line squadrons. The first Hellcat Mark Is started to be delivered to the Fleet Air Arm on 13 March 1943, FN321 and FN323 arriving three months later, in June 1943 to the A and C Flights of A&AEE, Boscombe Down for service trials by RN pilots, and in July 1943 FN330 was tested by 778 squadron at Crail. Very soon afterwards the Hellcat was distributed to operational squadrons, 800 Squadron received its first Hellcats in batches in July, August and October 1943, and 1839 squadron from December 1943. Not long after this, on 31 August, 1943 the first combat sorties were being flown by the USN VF9 and VF-5 squadrons aboard USS Yorktown against Japanese targets on Marcus Island (Minami-tori Island) some 700 miles southeast of Japan. The first and second batches of 188 F6F-5 Hellcat Mark IIs started to be delivered to the Royal Navy from May 1944, primarily to 1840 squadron. By this time many Hellcats were being shipped to overseas FAA squadrons directly from Norfolk, Virginia, USA to HMS Thane 14 August 1944 and on to RNARY Wingfield, then onto 804 Squadron in September 1944. The subsequent batch of 295 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Mk F.II was also shipped directly to RNARY Wingfield in HMS Ranee in September 1944, and on to RNARY Coimbatore. Many of these Hellcats were still in service in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) after the end of the war and into1946. However, quite a number were surplus to requirement after VJ-Day and dumped in the sea off Australia by HMS Colossus in 1945. The final 293 Hellcat II to be delivered to the Fleet Air Arm arrived between January and May 1945, the very last aircraft, being delivered on 11 May 1945. The Hellcat served post war and some of the earlier batches managed to remain in RN service, in 709 squadron. After this aircraft was paid off it went to Fairey Aviation at Hayes in 1946. Whilst Grumman F.II KE209 remained as the personal aircraft of the Lossiemouth Station Flight Commanding Officer Caspar John until 1952, and the Aircraft Holding Unit in 1954, (this aircraft is now on display in the Fleet Air arm Museum at Yeovilton, Somerset). The Model With a Hellcat in RN colours on the front of the standard Weekend Edition yellow/white and blue box. Upon opening the kit is well wrapped in a poly bag with the decals and instructions loose. The model is produced on five sprues of greeny beige styrene. Being a weekend edition, there are no resin or etched parts. All the parts are nicely moulded with no visible imperfections but quite a few moulding pips. The details are well presented including the prominent rivets on the rear fuselage. The panel lines are finely done and seem to represent the aircraft structure well. Construction starts with the cockpit tub which is made up of the floor, rear bulkhead, seat, joystick, rudder pedals, instrument panel and side consoles. Detailed painting and the provided decals will pay dividends on the instrument panel and consoles. The cockpit assembly is then fitted to one side of the fuselage. With the addition of the tailwheel, and under cockpit panel the fuselage can be closed up. Note that if the centreline external fuel tank is to be fitted then a slot in the fuselage needs to be removed. The engine assembly comes next with the two banks of cylinders, crankcase and magnetos along with the prop shaft. The whole assembly is then fitted to the fuselage followed by the two halves of the engine cowling sides and front. Now, there are two sets of cowling, but there is no reference to why inthe instructions. To the rear of the fuselage the horizontal tailplanes with their respective elevators and the rudder can be fitted. The wings consist of upper and lower halves, clear landing and navigations lights, machine gun barrels, undercarriage bays, plus separate ailerons and flaps. Firstly the machine gun barrels and undercarriage bays are fitted to the lower wing sections before the upper sections are attached. Although separate the ailerons and flaps don’t appear to be posable without some modification and scratch building. Once the wing halves and flying controls are fitted then the clear navigation and landing lights are fitted. When all complete, the wings can be attached to the fuselage. At this point the instructions call for the cockpit canopy and aerials to be fitted, but these may be left off till near the end of the build, unless of course the canopy is to be posed closed, then the two parts can be fitted at this point. Turning over the completed assembly there are couple of small parts to be added to each wheelwells along with three identification lights on the centreline of the lower fuselage. The hook can also be fitted, either in the retracted or extended position. The undercarriage is built up of the main leg, retraction jack, scissor links, main undercarriage doors and four piece wheels, made up of the separate tyre halves, inner and outer wheels. Now, while this will help with the painting of the wheel, but it will need some careful cleaning up of the tyres join. The completed undercarriage can then be added to the main assembly. The final parts to be added are the built up long range fuel tank and its support, propeller, front undercarriage doors, and the optional rockets, 6 of which are provided, and finally the pitot probe. Decals The only decal option provided is that for an aircraft flown by Sub-Lieutenant W.M.C. Foster, of No1844 Sqn when onboard HMS Indomitable, Okinawa, April 1945. Along with the main insignia, decals are also provided for the propeller, cockpit side consoles and instrument panels, for use if painting them is not for the modeller. The decals are well printed to the standard we are coming to expect from Eduard, in good register and nicely opaque. Conclusion This is another very nice kit from Eduard. It looks like it will build into a very nice model and I don’t think the missing resin and etch of this weekend edition makes it any real difference, unless you are a real superdetailing modeller. It would certainly make for a good, quick mojo booster. Recommended.

Navy Bureau Numbers and aircraft serial match up Now I know there are dangers in assuming a logical BuNo/serial match up, but I thought I’d have a go. I used Joe Baugher's US Navy/US Marine Corps Aircraft Bureau Number database and cross referenced it with the data provided by Sturtivant and Burrow in their book ‘Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939 to 1945’, published by Air-Britain Publications. Doing this, I came up with following; Hellcat I Production Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat I Serial Numbers: FN320-FN449 & JV100-JV221 BuNo to serial relationship 04850-04859 = FN320-FN329 04945-04954 = FN330-FN339 08894-08903 = FN340-FN349 08954-08963 = FN350-FN359 09029-09038 = FN360-FN369 25778-25787 = FN370-FN379 25868-25877 = FN380-FN389 25958-25967 = FN390-FN399 26053-26062 = FN400-FN409 26148-26157 = FN410-FN419 65962-65971 = FN420-FN429 66082-66091 = FN430-FN439 66222-66231 = FN440-FN449 40111-40120 = JV100-JV109 40266-40285 = JV110-JV119 40421-40430 = JV120-JV129 40597-40605 = JV130-JV139 40771-40780 = JV140-JV149 40946-40955 = JV150-JV159 41121-41130 = JV160-JV169 41306-41325 = JV170-JV189 41826-41831 = JV190-JV195 42332-42344 = JV196-JV208 42845-42857 = JV209-JV221 I’m not sure why FN420 to FN449 seem to be later build airframes than the JV serialled airframes. Can someone explain this? Hellcat II Production Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Mk II Serial Numbers JV222-JV324, JW700-JW784, JW857-JW899, JX670-JX964, JX968-JX999, JZ775-JZ821, JZ912-JZ946, JZ960-JZ964, JZ970-JZ978, JZ981-JZ994, KD118-KD152, KE118-KE159, KE180-KE214, KE215-KE229 and KE230-KE265 BuNo to serial relationship 58220-58232 = JV222-JV234 58733-58795 = JV235-JV297 58996-58999 = JV298-JV301 69992-70014 = JV302-JV324 70015-70037 = JW700-JW722 70238-70287 = JW723-JW772 70463-70474 = JW773-JW784 70475-70512 = JW857-JW894 70688-70692 = JW895-JW899 70693-70762 = JX670-JX739 71163-71237 = JX740-JX814 71638-71712 = JX815-JX889 72113-72187 = JX890-JX964 77259-77290 = JX968-JX999 77291-77337 = JZ775-JZ821 77792-77826 = JZ912-JZ946 78446-78450 = JZ960-JZ964 78456-78464 = JZ970- JZ978 78467-78471 = JZ981-JZ985 78422 = JZ986 78473-78480 = JZ987-JZ994 79006-79040 = KD118-KD152 79514-79555 = KE118-KE159 79273-79307 = KE180-KE214 79708-79722 = KE215-KE229 79723-79758 = KE230-KE265 Hellcat II(NF) Production Serial Numbers JX965-JX967, JZ822-JZ827, JZ890-JZ911, JZ947-JZ959, JZ965-JZ969 (possibly), JZ979-JZ980, JZ995-JZ999, KD103-KD117, KD153-KD160, KE160-KE179 BuNo to serial relationship 72989-72991 = JX965-JX967 77338-77343 = JZ822-JZ827 77680-77681 = JZ890-JZ891 77695-77696 = JZ892-JZ893 77705-77706 = JZ894-JZ895 77715-77716 = JZ896-JZ897 77725-77726 = JZ898-JZ899 77745-77746 = JZ900-JZ901 77750-77751 = JZ902-JZ903 77760-77761 = JZ904-JZ905 77765-77766 = JZ906-JZ907 77780-77781 = JZ908-JZ909 77790-77791 = JZ910-JZ911 78365-78366 = JZ947-JZ948 78375 = JZ949 78385-78386 = JZ950-JZ951 78395 = JZ952 78405-78406 = JZ953-JZ954 78414 = JZ955 78425-78426 = JZ956-JZ957 78435 = JZ958 78445 = JZ959 78451-78455 = JZ965-JZ969 78465-78466 = JZ979-JZ980 78890 = JZ995 78891 = JZ996 78895-78896 = JZ997-JZ998 78910 = JZ999 78914-78915 = KD103-KD104 78933 = KD105 78935-78936 = KD106-KD107 78950 = KD108 78955-78956 = KD109-KD110 78970-78971 = KD111-KD112 78984-78986 = KD113-KD115 79000 = KD116 79005 = KD117 ? = KD153 79221 = KD154 79225 = KD155 79231 = KD156 78235 = KD157 79511-79513 = KD158-KD160 79253-79272 = KE160-KE179 Some of these airframes were definitely delivered as Hellcat II(NF)s, whilst others are noted as NFs by Sturtivant but Baugher states that they were delivered as Hellcat IIs. Perhaps they were used by NF units but not converted, or perhaps they were converted in the UK, once they were delivered? Airframe modifications Richard Dann’s F6F Hellcat Walk Around, published by Squadron/Signal Publications, provides specific BuNos in relation to airframe mods. For example on Hellcat Is, the cannon fairings were deleted, slanted radio masts changed to vertical and the lower cowl flap was deleted after BuNo 26195, the exhaust fairing was deleted after BuNo 40235 and provision for HVARs was made from BuNo 42185. Using the above BuNo/serial info, this suggests that; The last 30 FN serialled Hellcat Is FN420 onwards? would have had the above changes and the R-2800-10W engine. The first 10 JV serialled Hellcat Is up to JV109? would have had the exhaust fairing. The last 82 JV serialled Hellcat Is JV140 onwards? would have had the R-2800-10W engine. The last 26 JV serialled Hellcat Is JV196 onwards? would have had provision for HVARs. For Hellcat IIs, the forward spine light was deleted after BuNo 70289 and the small rear windows were deleted after BuNo 71662. This suggests that; The forward spine light was deleted from JW773 onwards The small rear windows were deleted from JX840 onwards. Cowlings It is stated that the F6F-5 introduced a redesigned engine cowling which fitted more tightly around the engine and reduced drag, contributing to the variant’s improved performance. Looking at drawings and photos, I can’t perceive any difference between a late production F6F-3 (minus the lower flap and exhaust fairing) and an F6F-5 cowling. If you were to park the two next to each other, could you tell the difference? Edit - just corrected my maths

I've been away from the modelling bench over 6 months. Combination of home stuff and work left me very under-enthused. So I've started this as a way of hopefully getting my mojo back. It is intended as a quick build - but we will need to wait and see as my last go at a quick build stalled. So first the box and sprue shots (although I am guessing this is fairly well known kit). Box top: Decals: Sprues (after a quick wash): The intent is also to have a play with some Italeri acrylics that have appeared in my local hobby shop. The price looked pretty good, I'll try them out first just for the cockpit:

Originally released in the 1960s and available (yet again) this year it has been superseded by the fantastic offering from Platz. I'll be building this OOB + filler + sanding + tears + filler + sanding...

Eduard Hellcat Mk.1 Fleet Air Arm, 1943-44

This will be my build for the GB, part of a birthday gift package given to me by some very good friends. Not liking the scheme that came with the kit I decided on a FAA scheme I'll be doing it minus the D Day stripes so she will look something like this The kit is very nice and through the course of the day it flew together Cockpit Fuselage interior Assembled Wings Wings, Fuselage and Tailplanes Engine Engine Cowl More soon

For all of you who helped me out with the "FAA Hellcat Conundrum" thread, here's the result... Painted inside and out with Tamiya acrylics: Dark Grey, Olive Drab and 50/50 Sky + White for the camouflage 50/50 Green + Yellow for interior areas As for markings, the ID codes were masked and painted, roundels are from Xtradecals and all other decals came from the kit sheet. I've been told that the Hobby Boss kit has some pretty bad flaws, but it looks like a Hellcat to me.

Hellcat F6F-3 1:48 Eduard - Weekend The Grumman Hellcat was a US Navy World War II carrier based fighter aircraft designed to replace the earlier Grumman Wildcat. Although the two aircraft do look similar the Hellcat was a completely new design from Grumman. The aircraft featured the Pratt & Whiney R-2800 as used by the Chance Vought Corsair & The Republic Thunderbolt. The Hellcat proved to be a well designed fighter able to stand up to carrier operations and the rough air fields used in the Pacific Theatre of operations. Grummans initial design was in fact so good that the Hellcat was the least revised aircraft of WWII. In total 12,200 Hellcats were built for the US Navy, The US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. The Hellcat is credited with more kills in WWII than any other allied fighter. Post war the Hellcat was phased out of day fighter service but continued in US service as late as 1954 as a night fighter. One notable exception was in late 1952 when F6F-5K Drones carrying 2000lb bombs were used to attack bridges in Korea. Post war the aircraft were also used by the Aeronavale (French Navy), using them in Indochina; and the Uruguayan Navy who used them upto the 1960s. The Kit Euards kit featues the F6F-3, which was the main production varient. On opening the fairly large box from Eduard you get 3 sprues of olive green plastic, one of grey plastic, and one clear sprue. All the parts are as you would expect from Eduard, crisp, well moulded and flash free. Detail is fine engraved panel lines and rivet detail. The clear parts are very well moulded, crisp and clear. Only one of the two front screens is for this model. For the main canopy you get a choice depending whether you wish to pose the canopy open or not, the second being slightly larger to fit over the fuselage. Construction starts as always with the cockpit. This is very well moulded and comprises of nine parts. There are no straps for the seat as presumably these were on a PE fret in the original boxing. Some tape straps would suffice I am pretty sure of. Once the cockpit is complete it is placed into the fuselage, at this stage the tail wheel is also added; and the modeller needs to open up a slot for the ventral fuel tank if its going to be fitted. The fuselage is then closed up. Next job is the engine and cowl. The engine is provided as two banks of cylinders and a front cap. Again I suspect things such as wiring harness etc were on a PE fret you dont get in the weekend boxing. However properly drybrushed and hidden in the cowl the engine should look just fine. The engine is then fitted to the front of the aircraft and the cowl placed around it. Following on from the front of the aircraft its time to move to the rear. The tail planes and rudder need assembling and fitting. Next it the turn of the main wings. The wheel wells need fitting to the inside along with the gun barrels. The wings are provided with separate flaps and ailerons. To finish off the landing gear and wheels need to be made up. These appear complex, the wheels are four parts each with the landing great and doors being 10 parts each. I can see them being a little difficult to get right. Once these are done under wing rockets and the ventral fuel tank can be fitted if need along with the prop. Decals This being the weekend edition there is only one set of decals provided. These are for F6F-3 BuNo 25813 flown by Lt. C "Ken" Hildebrant of VF-33 based at Ondonga in December 1943. Conclusion There is no doubt this will build up to make a good looking model. I for one am a fan of the bare bones approach from Eduard. With the weekend editions you get the same excellent plastic without all the resin and or photo etched parts I dont like. Overall highly recommended for those who like their modelling life a bit more on the simple side. Review sample courtesy of

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Eduard 1:48 Profipack This is another re-release of their Grumman Hellcat kit. This time though in a Profipack format. The styrene is the same as that found in the weekend edition I reviewed late last year, which you can read here, Hellcat Weekend Edition. Whilst the kit is the same, Eduard have added some extra details, including a new engine cowling in styrene, etched parts, and resin wheels. Once again, apart from the additional parts, the build is exactly same as that found in the above review, so I’ll not repeat myself here. Photo-Etch There are two etched sheets included in the kit, both quite small but with sufficient parts to add a fair amount of zing to the completed model. The first sheet is pre-painted and is designed entirely for the cockpit. Some of the kit details will need to be removed before adding the etched parts, particularly the raised detail on the instrument panel and the left console throttle quadrant. The etched instrument panel comes in left, right, centre and lower parts. To these several bezels, switches and levers are added. The left console receives a new throttle quadrant with associated levers, main panel, a smaller inclined panel and several more levers. The right panel is fitted with a new top part and two circuit breaker panels on the side. The most complicated parts are those that build up into the very realistic seatbelts. On either side of the fuselage, more etched parts are added including the hood winder. The second sheet also has some parts for the interior such as the rear stays behind the seat panel, but is mostly for external details. These include a new ignition harness for the front of the engine, crank case insignia, lower cowling mesh grille, bomb fins, and arming vanes for both sizes of bombs. The bomb crutch, (sway brace), pads also have the tensioning nuts added, whilst the drop tank, if used, has four steadying straps. Resin The kits wheels and tyres are replaced with a set of main wheels in resin, each with separate outside hub covers. The wheels are held on a small moulding gate, which will only require minimal clean up before use. The resin is so much better than the styrene parts in the kit. Masks The set of masks included in this package are for use on each of the canopy and windscreen clear parts, including the side windows aft of the cockpit, with options for open or closed canopy, although I can’t really see any difference in the separate mask sets. The rest of the masks on the sheet are for the tyres and wheel hubs. Decals There are two sheets of decals, which are well printed, in good register, slightly glossy and apart from the Stars and Bars, they have very little carrier film. The main sheet contains the national insignia and identity marks for the following: BuNo. 42158 flown by Lt.Jg Ray Hawkins, VF-31, USS Cabot Sept 1944 BuNo. 70143 Mimsi III, Cdr David McCampbell, USS Essex, Oct 1944 White 7, Paper Doll, Lt Carl A Brown, VF-27, USS Princeton, Oct 1944 BuNo. 76384, VF-7, USS Hancock, 1945. The second sheet contains a full set of stencils for one aircraft. Conclusion As with the Hellcat II reviewed earlier, this looks to be a very nice kit, and with the additional parts will be really quite detailed. It is also good that Eduard have included a revised/correct cowling for this mark to be built. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

R-2800-10 Engine for Eduard F6F-3/5 1:48 Eduard Brassin (648056) This impressively busy set is to replace engine and upper cowling of the Hellcat kits 8221 and 8433, plus any future -3 or -5 kits that they release, which I'm sure will turn up from time to time. The box is Eduard's familiar Brassin cardboard box, and it's not especially easy to tell what kits it is intended for, as the sticker on the top just says "for Eduard kit". The type is on the sticker to the side, which might get ignored if you were in a rush. Inside the box, nestling between a stack of foam slabs are a quartet of ziplok bags of varying sizes, three of which contain resin parts, while the fourth contains a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) metal measuring 10cm x 6cm. There are 13 resin casting blocks, containg 28 separate parts, while there are 34 PE parts on the fret mentioned above. Casting is first rate, highly detailed and very crisp, as you'd expect from Brassin, and the instructions guide you through the construction of the radial engine, which has individual pistons for the two rows, which have exhaust stubs coming from each cylinder head that link up with the main exhaust ring later in the build. There are three types of piston, so take care when fitting them together, although as they're all keyed, you'll not be putting any in the wrong way round. The gearbox and reduction gear fit in the centre of the front row of cylinders, and the ignition wiring loom is made from a spider's web of wires emanating from a central ring, with each wire being tailored to its intended location. A scrap diagram gives additional positioning information for each row of cylinders, which is rather helpful. Behind the exhaust collector ring are the exhaust outlets, which are a quartet of parts which contain either four or five pipes that converge to two exhausts dotted around the lower part of the cowling. The engine slots directly onto the front of the fuselage using a large keyed pin and slot arrangement, ensuring the correct orientation of the cylinders and exhausts. A little material will need to be removed from the slots in the fuselage that allow the exhausts to exit the cowling, but that is a simple job in itself. The kit cowling is made up of two halves split vertically and a single piece front ring, which makes for easy clean-up. The cowling halves have their top halves removed, along with the fixed cowling flaps at the very top, and are replaced by PE parts that replicate the fastener strip that is visible when the panels are removed. The panels themselves are supplied as slim resin parts with a single rib on the interior, which can be placed anywhere on the model or surrounding diorama to simulate a maintenance situation. There are no colour call-outs given in the instructions, but there are plenty of colour photos out there on the 'net for you to use as reference if you're unsure. Conclusion This should build up into a stunningly detailed engine for your Eduard Hellcat, and is to be recommended to anyone that wants to go the extra mile to improve their kit's detail and is comfortable with handling resin and PE. In truth there isn't much to frighten anyone, as long as they have a razor saw to cut the resin parts off their mould blocks. The exhausts have some resin supports moulded into them, but although the look a little intimidating, those can be shaved off with a sharp #11 scalpel blade and any residue sanded away. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

F6F Hellcat Propeller with Tool for Cyberhobby Kit 1:72 Quickboost from Aires Whilst the fanfare that accompanied the release of Eduard’s superlative Hellcat somewhat overshadowed that of Cyberhobby’s new kit, the Hong Kong based manufacturer’s offering is still a class act and is worth considering, particularly if it can be found for the right price. Indeed, if you want to build your Hellcat with folded wings, it has a distinct advantage over the Eduard kit as it provides that option. Now Quickboost has released a replacement propeller to enhance the basic kit. The set is comprised of three replacement propeller blades and a new hub, along with a tool to assist in recreating the correct alignment of the propeller blades. Everything is cast in flawlessly smooth grey resin, and the removal of the parts from the casting block should be an absolute cinch. In usual Quickboost style, the finished propeller is a direct replacement for the kit part. Nicely cast, easy to use and accurate – what more could you want? Recommended. Review samples courtesy of distributed in the UK by Hannants Ltd.

F6F Hellcat Propeller with Tool for Cyberhobby Kit 1:72 Quickboost from Aires Whilst the fanfare that accompanied the release of Eduard’s superlative Hellcat somewhat overshadowed that of Cyberhobby’s new kit, the Hong Kong based manufacturer’s offering is still a class act and is worth considering, particularly if it can be found for the right price. Indeed, if you want to build your Hellcat with folded wings, it has a distinct advantage over the Eduard kit as it provides that option. Now Quickboost has released a replacement propeller to enhance the basic kit. The set is comprised of three replacement propeller blades and a new hub, along with a tool to assist in recreating the correct alignment of the propeller blades. Everything is cast in flawlessly smooth grey resin, and the removal of the parts from the casting block should be an absolute cinch. In usual Quickboost style, the finished propeller is a direct replacement for the kit part. Nicely cast, easy to use and accurate – what more could you want? Recommended. Review samples courtesy of distributed in the UK by Hannants Ltd.

ok so i have come back to modelling after about 25 years...that is what happens when you go into toy shops age 45 with your kids :-) I have really enjoyed the quality of the new generation of kits and cant wait to get stuck into the Revell Ventura. Anyway here is one of my first attempts. not up to the quality of some of you guys but i really enjoyed doing it. It is the old Otaki kit in 1/48

F6F Hellcat Wing Mounted Radome for the Eduard Kit (QB 72 373) 1:72 Quickboost The Eduard Hellcat is without doubt one of the best F6F kits on the market, but there are still improvements that can be achieved when someone looks closely enough and that's what Aires have done. On the whole, the kit has beautifully detailed parts and finely recessed panel lines, but for some reason the radome included has raised panel lines. It's also manufactured in two parts which means there will be a seam to blend in, so this single part replacement from Quickboost is a great product that will improve the look of the kit and ensure that you aren't left with a seam. The panel lines are finely recessed meaning that it will blend in beautifully with the rest of the kit. That said, care should be taken to remove the radome from the block that it comes on to minimise the work in removing the join marks. It's a direct replacement part that slots onto the leading edge of the wing. Conclusion A simple but great improvement to the F6F kit if you're wishing to do one of the radar equipped versions. Fitment is easy although there will be a bit of sanding to remove the marks after cutting it from the block. The recessed panel lines are a great improvement over the kit supplied part. Review samples courtesy of distributed in the UK by Hannants Ltd.