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Jasmine Model 1/48 F6F Hellcat


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People seem to enjoy seeing my work on this unusual model so I decided to share with the folks here.

The following photos span a couple months' worth of metal fun. :)

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And that's as far as I've gotten. Still have the starboard wing to build then add the landing gear and engine which are silver-painted cast resin.

Cheers,
Eric

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That's amazing! I've been wanting to see one of these built.

You might want to move this over to the "In Progress" category where more folks will see it.

Thanks!

Good point! Don't ask me how I ended up putting it here. I know better. I'll do that right away. :)

Cheers,

Eric

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This has to take the title of 'most masochistic model build' ever!

Very very impressive indeed, I would love to have the patience and skill to be able to make one of these. You've done a beautiful job so far, I will be watching.

I have to ask (as someone who is fairly nervous of even the most basic photo etched parts), how difficult is it to put together? It looks like thae parts fit well, but getting good alignment and not getting three pints of cyano all over it must be a real challenge.

In the extraordinarily unlikely event that I ever make one of these, I'd probably go for the interior details in their correct colours - I remember my dad taking me to the Model Engineering Exhibition in Wembly area when I was a kid (the Sex Pistols were top of the charts if that helps with how long ago) and someone hade scratchbuilt a Hurricane like this and I thought that it was the most incredible model ever

Keep going, I want to see this finished

Les

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Superb work..! I've built their U Boat kit and can testify to how good they are. They can be fiddly, especially some of the smaller parts, but in the main I didn't find it too difficult to do. The trick is the ensure everything slots home fully so that later stages line up correctly. Their choice of etched steel rather than brass helps enormously.

Great work, I'll be following this :)

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This has to take the title of 'most masochistic model build' ever!

Very very impressive indeed, I would love to have the patience and skill to be able to make one of these. You've done a beautiful job so far, I will be watching.

I have to ask (as someone who is fairly nervous of even the most basic photo etched parts), how difficult is it to put together? It looks like thae parts fit well, but getting good alignment and not getting three pints of cyano all over it must be a real challenge.

In the extraordinarily unlikely event that I ever make one of these, I'd probably go for the interior details in their correct colours - I remember my dad taking me to the Model Engineering Exhibition in Wembly area when I was a kid (the Sex Pistols were top of the charts if that helps with how long ago) and someone hade scratchbuilt a Hurricane like this and I thought that it was the most incredible model ever

Keep going, I want to see this finished

Les

Thank you! Two important tricks to building something like this are to work a little bit at a time and never, never, be in a hurry to get to the next step. :)

This is my third Jasmine kit and the engineering and design is superb but some areas are very fiddly, especially working with the long thin parts. Even in stainless steel they bend and twist but fortunately can be straightened easily. I would not recommend the Hellcat to a photo-etch novice. You'd be better off giving one of their smaller kits, like the U-boat, a try first, but even that one had its challenges.

I use a fast-setting CA actually sold in cosmetic departments for attaching artificial finger nails. I use short lengths of stretched sprue or light weight monofilament fishing line held in a small alligator clip to apply the CA and even then occasionally get too much on. Excess glue can be carefully scraped away with an Xacto blade.

I'm often asked if I'm going to paint it and the answer is no. These are more artistic representations rather than precise scale models and as such I find the attraction to be in the shiny metal look. I have built an Eduard Stripdown L-4 Cub which did get painted but that's mainly because was a combination of brass and styrene which would have looked odd if left unpainted.

Here are my Jasmine 1/72 Ho 229 Horten and 1/350 U-Boat. The Horten was my first Jasmine kit.

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And the above mentioned 1/72 L-4.

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Oh, BTW, here is my home-made CA applicator which is just a micro-clip stuck on the end of an old paintbrush handle. The other item shown is just a toothpick with a length of copper wire wrapped around it and a tiny loop formed at the end - perfect for applying a drop of CA accelerator.

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Cheers,

Eric

Edited by eclarson
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Thanks for the tip about the cosmetic cyano, I'll try that on the little PE work I do to see if I see any improvements in my builds

Les

You're welcome Les. To be specific, the product I use is Kiss Maximum Speed Nail Glue which I usually buy at local drug stores such as Walgreens (I'm in the US).

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/kiss-maximum-speed-nail-glue/ID=prod10487-product

Eric

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Nice work on all that PE... fiddly is the word! :lol: I've merged your two topics so replies won't be lost, and I've de-duplicated your second post so there's only one opener :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

If anyone thought I'd given up on this thing, no worries....I've had to focus on my latest Airfix Model World project so haven't had much time to work on the Hellcat but a week or so ago I was able to get the engine oil tank and main landing gear attached. Hmm...just noticed I still need to touch up the silver paint on the resin oil tank from where I sanded down the casting lug. :)

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Cheers,
Eric

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Looking great, Eric. How tricky was the installation of the landing gear? And do the maingear struts, tailwheel and the surrounding bits have to go on when instructed, or can they be left off until the end?

Cheers

Les

Edited by lesthegringo
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Looking great, Eric. How tricky was the installation of the landing gear? And do the maingear struts, tailwheel and the surrounding bits have to go on when instructed, or can they be left off until the end?

Cheers

Les

Hi Les,

I'll reply here as well as in your thread. The main gear are simple to install as they attach to tabs folded down from the wing box front. The tailwheel and hook were trickier but I seem to remember them being installed after most of the fuselage was completed but before the horizontal tail was attached. I don't recommend departing from the indicated assembly sequence though as you can't always forsee what problems might arise if you do.

Ah...I just scrolled up to check my earlier photos and see that the tail wheel and hook are indeed installed prior to much of the additional tail details. I have a feeling if you leave them until later you'll have problems.

Eric

Edited by eclarson
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Eric, I need your help to understand how the bottom of the engine assembly is mounted to the airframe. I can only see upper mount struts, and it looks like the engine is cantilevered from the top, whereas the Aires set has a total of four 'V' struts. Am I missing something?

Cheers

Les

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Eric, I need your help to understand how the bottom of the engine assembly is mounted to the airframe. I can only see upper mount struts, and it looks like the engine is cantilevered from the top, whereas the Aires set has a total of four 'V' struts. Am I missing something?

Cheers

Les

Hi Les,

Funny you should ask as that's precisely the area I just started working on. There are actually four struts but the first image under the ENGINES section on page 14 does not show them clearly. Parts M10, M11, M12, and M13 are the 'V' struts and is where I ran into a problem. Turns out my kit was missing M11 and had a spare M12 instead. Fortunately Jasmine was very quick to respond and sent me the missing part, as well as a couple spares for the other struts, which arrived yesterday. Securing them to the firewall section (M8) looks to be tricky as there are just faint dimples where the strut ends go. I think drilling them out a bit will help. The completed assembly fits into four holes in the fuselage front, the two upper ones go in the front plate (part 24) and the two lower ones fit into a pair of holed tabs hanging down from part 85 as shown on page 15. If you're not sure about the tabs on part 85, see the upper right diagram on page 11.

It also helps to look at photos of the completed model on their web site.

http://www.jasmodel.com/PRODUCT/202006/202006_E.htm

I hope this helps.

By the way, I'm going out of town tomorrow for a few days (to attend a model show) so if you post any more questions after today I probably won't be able to respond until I get back. I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. :-)

Cheers,

Eric

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Got it, thanks - I will have to look hard for the extra struts, as I can only find the top two, however as I am probably not going to use them I am not going to worry too much - they are more for reference.

Enjoy your model show, try to keep a tight grip on that wallet!

Cheers

Les

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