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About the aircraft: What is there to write: Hellcat - the successor of the Wildcat and the slayer of Zeros over the Pacific 🙂 About the copy: In 1955, George Kreitzberg purchased the aircraft and converted it first to an agro plane (field sprayer) and then to a firefighting plane. Each tank contained more than 1,100 liters of fire extinguishing agent so all in all it wasn't bad! Unfortunately, the planes (because there were two such Hellcats) did not make a dizzying career. Something was wrong with the positioning of the tanks and accurate targeting. Well - such is the role of pioneers About the model: The base was Eduard's kit "Hellcat F6F-3" in 1/72 scale. Underwing tanks are selfmade. Own decals, Bilmodel paints. Livery based on photos from Warbirds International. Hellcat with a younger brother Wildcat (sprayer). My collection of Grumman's Navy planes: Wildcat (sprayer), Hellcat (sprayer / fire bomber) & Avenger (fire bomber)

Hello Everyone ... Been busy over in the group builds lately but i havent forgotten that i build things with wings. I’ve been finishing up some models in my down time from the group build stuff. This is Hasegawa’s F6F Hellcat which i started last fall but just got around to finishing yesterday. I chose to do it in the markings of a Hellcat from VF-33 on Espirtu Santo in late 1943. I found the marking scheme while looking at an Eduard Hellcat, and yes i have a photo as well. Though I didn't have exact markings i was able to find spares in the same style. So without further talk I present to you my Hellcat. Heres a photo of the cockpit during the build. And for those that are curious, heres the photo from WW2.🔺 I truly hope everyone like this, and as usual please feel free to leave comments, questions, or jokes. Have a great modeling day. Dennis 🔺* not sure if this is public record so i will state the ownership rights belong to others. I only use them for informational purposes. If i have to i will remove them.

Hi folks, I started building the old - but still good - Airfix Hellcat a while ago, but it's just in the last few weeks that I've had the mojo to finish it (well, apart from the wingtip nav lights, but pshaw!). So, this Hellcat dates from the '70s and I have observed people on this very forum saying that it's accurate in outline, but lacking up-to-date levels of detail. I can't comment on the former, but the latter is fair. Having said that, I like the detail on the prop and the undercarriage; the cockpit and engine are, however, less good. So I thought I'd use some AM to bring the kit up to a more modern standard. This included: Quickboost F6F-5 engine (Shhhhh! If you don't tell anyone, neither will I!); Quickboost exhaust pipes; Airwaves etched cockpit interior and straps; Techmod decals for E-L, JV131 of 800 Sqn, FAA, during Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France in September 1944. I also added some etched mesh over the intakes beneath the engine intake, removed the guns and replaced them with 1.5mm diameter brass tubing. Anyway, enough of the blah. How does it look? Only top views, I'm afraid, as there's a slot in the underside to take the ventral tank. I realised after painting and decalling that I didn't think it was used (and I didn't like the moulding anyway). Still, noone will pick it up and look, will they? Comments welcome. regards, Martin

Grumman Hellcat F6F-3 Eduard Profipack 1:48 The Grumman Hellcat is famed not for it's beauty, but for it's performance. Admittedly, the opposition over the Pacific grew weaker as more inexperienced Japanese pilots were pressed in to service, but a claimed kill ratio of 19:1 is a pretty impressive score. Even taking in to account inaccuracy of this figure, it is still undeniably good with 75% of aerial victories achieved by the US Navy in the Pacific. It was pushed into service as a stop gap between the Wildcat and the F4U which was under development at the time, but it's rugged and well armoured airframe mated to a powerful engine was a winning combination. The aircraft was regarded as being quite easy to fly, however of the 2400 Hellcats lost during WWII, only 270 were lost in aerial combat compared 1300 lost during training or ferry flights. The kit This is another variant release of the reputable Eduard Hellcat. It's regarded as the most detailed and accurate 1:48 Hellcat on the market with plenty of finely moulded detail parts and beautifully restrained recessed panel lines and riveting. A big bonus over the Hasegawa kit is that the canopy can be positioned in the open position from the box and the cowling shape is more accurate. We reviewed the original release HERE back in 2012 with the Hellcat Mk.II that served with the Fleet air Arm, so I'm not going to spend too much time talking through the build, I'll let the pictures do the talking and focus more on the differences provided in this boxing. Firstly, the sprues contained in the pack. These contain three types of engine cowling. The instructions indicate which cowling is used on which of the 5 decal variants included, so it's important to decide which route you want to take before assembling these. The F6F-3 had a different windscreen than the previously released F6F-5, however both types are contained on the clear sprue. The parts are beautifully clear and thin so distortion is minimal. There are two canopies included, one is for the open position, the other for the closed location, so take care to use the correct part depending how you want to model your aircraft. A sheet of paint masks is provided for the clear parts too. Taking a closer look at the detail on the plastic sprues, you can see the quality of the moulding. Separate control surfaces are provided however, these are located by tabs in a neutral position. If you want to fit them in an off centre position, the tabs will need removing and possibly the mating edges rounding off for correct location. One of the criticisms of the Weekend Edition boxing is the lack of later wider style wheels on the plastic sprues. This issue is addressed in the profipack edition with the inclusion of the beautiful Brassin resin wheels which have separate hubs. Paint masks are also included on the masking sheet. Two frets of etch are included. One fret is the pre-painted type predominantly for the cockpit interior including panels and seatbelts whilst the other provides bomb fins, plug leads for the engine front and a few other details. The decals The Profipack boxes usually provide several schemes and this one won't let you down. 5 schemes are included covering 3 years of service, all with the 3 colour camouflage scheme. Register of the colours looks excellent and the inks vivid and sharp. There are enough stencils included without them becoming excessive. Schemes included are: BuNo 66016 (probably), VF-16, USS Lexington, Hawaii, Sept 1943 BuNo 25813, Lt. C.K. 'Ken' HilderBrandt, VF-33, Ondonga, Dec 1943 - early variant, achieved all his 5 kills in this aircraft BuNo 40090, VF-1, Lt. William C Moseley, USS Yorktown, June 1944 - shot down, MIA July 4th 1944 in this aircraft BuNo 40467, Lt. Alexander Vraciu, VF-6, USS Intrepid, Feb 1944 - achieved 3 betty kills in one mission Jan 44, finished was with 19 victories Lt. Richard E Stambrook, VF-27, USS Princeton, Oct 1944 - shark teeth scheme (BuNo unknown but greater than 40235), he achieved 11 kills Conclusion I've nothing of criticism to report on this kit. The quality is superb, cost for these kits is competitive and the 'extras' included really make it a desirable option. If one wanted to be challenging, perhaps the control surfaces could be designed to allow off centre positioning. Construction is pretty standard, so even though there are some small and intricate parts, it isn't for the exclusive construction of experienced builders. Review sample courtesy of

Afternoon all, Just wrapped up my build of The Fighter Collection's Hellcat. Have to say, a combination of the thin decals and questionable exhaust staining have resulted in this being a 'view from a few feet' kind of model, but from said distance, it doesn't look too bad I suppose, and it's pleasing to have a model of one of my favourite warbirds in the cabinet. Please ignore the odd dust post visible in the pictures, I only noticed after uploading and really can't be bothered to re edit and upload... Thanks for looking, comments welcomed Cheers, Shaun

Evening all, Whilst I've been waiting for various bits for my Battle of Brtain project to arrive, I've made a start on another model I;ve wanted to build for a while. One of the highlights of my year was seeing The Fighter Collections Hellcat return to the air for the first time in seven years or so. As someone who travels to many shows, I like to build where possible particular aircraft that I've seen and photographed, and this is one them. It really is a stunning machine DX_2014_100 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr DX_2014_036 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr This particular aircraft is a marking option in Eduard's F6F-3 kit, but I'm actually using their F6F-5 kit, which I happened to have in the stash, as it has all the necessary parts to backdate it. I've acquired a set of aftermarket decals for the markings, although there is a problem, as the code number (19) on the undercarriage doors are in white, not black- the paint guide would have you paint the undersides in FS36440 for some reason... I've had a look around t'interweb for some generic code decals, with no luck, so will have to think about a way around that.... Having built a Fleet Air Arm example a couple of years ago, I'm pretty familiar with this superb kit. I've finished off the interior with as much of the Photo Etch that I could manage- throttle levers and such like are just too small in this scale!- and am letting the matt varnish cure before sealing up the fuselage tomorrow. Apologies for the funny white balance in the photo, my camera doesn't seem to like the green, which isn't quite so yellow in the flesh. I'd fix it, but the pub is calling! In the interests of completeness, here's one I made earlier... Time for a pint or two! Cheers, Shaun

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...

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