mike romeo Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) Backstory: The Hellcat was never intended to be the mainstay of the USN fighter force, as the F4U Corsair, with its generally superior flight performance, was intended to be the Fleet's premier fighter. However the ineradicable problems with the latter's deck landing performance prevented it from being fielded on even the large USN Fleet carriers. Even then, the need for a successor to the F6F-3 in advance of the advent of the F7F and F8F was not widely appreciated. However, despite the US blunting the advance of Imperial Japan in a series of major sea and land battles during late 1942 and early 1943, new and improved types were coming into service with both the Japanese Army and Navy, particularly the Ki-84 Hayate and A7M Reppu.Pre-war Japanese naval attaches sent grave reports home regarding the awesome industrial potential of the US and Japan acted on these reports, developing a series of massive underground production facilities. They also developed advanced production methods, rewarding factory line workers for their ideas to improve efficiency of production and indeed design improvements. Their military was not exempt from changes, too. The recognition that pilot training needed expanding and improving was also acted on, together with increased cooperation between the IJAAF and IJN. The net result of these policies was an improvement in both quality and quantity of Japanese aerial opposition by late 1943, together with increasing losses among Hellcat units. Grumman resolved to tackle the shortfall in key areas of Hellcat performance and developed an effective response in the Grumman F6F-7, conceived in a phenomenally quick time and deployed in combat for the first time in late 1944 . . ."The F6F-7 incorporated a Wright R-3350 engine of 3000hp combat rating, an improved 'bubble' canopy and revised armament of 2 20mm cannon and 2 0.5in machine guns. The machine shown below is my interpretation of the famous #155 of Cdr Roger Hedrick, CO of VF-84 based aboard USS Bunker Hill. It is depicted as at the beginning of the 2nd battle of Saipan in November 1944. Hedrick, and #155 were fortunate to have been airborne escorting a TBM strike when Bunker Hill was sunk by shore-based Judy dive bombers, which had evaded the CAP, which was fully engaged the Ki-84 escorts. Unfortunately, although Hedrick was able to recover safely aboard the USS Wasp, #155 was unceremoniously dumped over the side to make space for Wasp's own aircraft. The model was based on the Eduard F6F-3 Weekend edition, with bits from the Airfix Skyraider, the NT Airfix P-51D and a Matchbox Tempest II. It was built as part of a "what if" GB on another forum, and the link to the build thread is here: http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=311&t=11040. Mods, I'm not sure if linking to a build thread in another forum is within forum rules / etiquette. If not, either delete or ask me to do same. regards, Martin Edited March 1, 2015 by mike romeo 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 That looks absolutely fantastic. A very believable progression of the Hellcat if the Bearcat was not in the pipeline. It does however remind me in profile of some of the later war Japanese fighters, so I wonder if it would have been susceptible to `blue on blue` encounters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 That looks absolutely fantastic. A very believable progression of the Hellcat if the Bearcat was not in the pipeline. It does however remind me in profile of some of the later war Japanese fighters, so I wonder if it would have been susceptible to `blue on blue` encounters? Thank you. I suspect it would indeed have been thus afflicted. regards, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Super like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Very nice. How did you do the exhaust stains? The primer coat showing through is a nice balance of the cowl and spinner brightness. I'm not sure if that was intentional but it looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Very nicely done! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Very nice. How did you do the exhaust stains? The primer coat showing through is a nice balance of the cowl and spinner brightness. I'm not sure if that was intentional but it looks great. Thank you! Exhaust stains are dry-stippled humbrol MSG, followed by Tamiya smoke, followed by Tamiya dark iron. I should actually clean up the edges of the staining to make them look less 'lumpy'. regards, Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Sir, EXCELLENT build.... I like your Hellcat a lot..Scuffed and weathered .... Great job.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Superb! Breathtaking quality build and fantastic what-if background story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Great build. But, I wonder about the wing mounted cannon. How would they have worked on the wing stub and in very close proximity to the wing fold? Also thye appear to fire through the propeller arc. But I do like the look of it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 Great build. But, I wonder about the wing mounted cannon. How would they have worked on the wing stub and in very close proximity to the wing fold? Also thye appear to fire through the propeller arc. But I do like the look of it though. Hi Paul, Thanks for the post. A colleague of mine asked the same thing. I hadn't noticed they were so close to (inside?) the propeller arc. For some reason I had the impression that the F6F cannon were sighted inboard of the wingfold, but now having read up on it, I can see that was a stupid assumption. Hey ho! I have two choices: 1) Move the cannon to the correct position (and move the machine guns further outboard), 2) Ignore it and pretend they would have fitted where I've put them. Through the propeller arc? Not a problem. They just copied the solution that FW used for their wing root cannon . . . . regards, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I like option two. I would love to recreate this for my display space. Having viewers ask "What IS that?" would be worth the effort to build it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 Well, having had the incorrect cannon placement pointed out by Paul, it bugged me too much to stay with my original Option 2, so I broke off the cannon barrels (only superglued on - and none too securely at that), and removed the original gun barrels. I then scratched replacements from brass rod. Of course, as these are now in the middle m/g position, they shouldn't stick out as much as they do - but it's my whif, so yah boo sucks! regards, Martin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Perfect, really finished off the model really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leptiprince Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Hi interesting subject ... I request how you changed the nose? Can we be more precise picture of the nose and below? Thank youSee my website http://www.figthingfalcon.eu/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leptiprince Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Yes I look: http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=311&t=11040&start=60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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