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F6F Hellcat, 1/48 Eduard


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Hey guys, after quite long time i m back here with some WIP thread :) I found out, i have problems with time-limited builds, with my inconsistent time for modelling :( So it is hard for me to follow the group builds here on BM, as much as i love to be part of these :((

But.. the irony of fate strikes again and i want to build something as a bday gift for my soon-brother in law as he is big fan of WW2 airplanes.. which is, obviously, nothing less than time limited build.. again.. :D

I would have enough time (1-2months), but still i wanted to chose some nice kit, so i chosed one of the Eduard´s gems, F6F hellcat :)

Im not sure which camo i m going to make, still chosing.. mostly i m thinking about some of the all around glossy sea blue F6F-5(N).

As usualy, i started with cockpit :) I made new sidewalls (used just the prepainted PE with instruments), thinned the fuselage halves and added some construction details there. Made new radio equipment from scratch, adjusted the pit floor and headrest with some more details added there too. Seat belts are from HGW, the instrument panel is from the kit (prepainted PE).

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I see i took the shots before adding levers to the side walls :banghead:
I wanted to add something to the kit, but i was not sure i would be able to make complete engine area in time, so i made just the tank and firewall with construction - or well, the part of it what ll be seen when opening the little cover :) All made from scratch.
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So far i made also new rivets to the fuselage halves and started on the wings :)
Edited by Wolwe82
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Thanks Cookie, cheers :) I have to say, i need more practice again.. i think you can see it on the result so far.. :( well, it is just about time to spend my free time on model kits again instead of resting and slacking :)

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Likewise; I always find your WIPs informative and impressive, Wolwe. I was considering starting the 1/72 version of this kit this evening, but I decided not to fill my workspace with something new ahead of the Great Patriotic War GB. As you say: limited time.

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Thanks guys for your support, i appreciate it a lot! Cheers! :)

Amblypygid - i did build the 1/72 version earlier and it is awesome kit as well, going together like a charm :) I had a lot of fun painting it ;)

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Thats the 1/72 version, more shots in RFI if you are interested :)http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985137-f6f-3-hellcat-172-eduard/;)
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Thanks guys, i guess you cant imagine how happy i feel when i m reading your supporting words, realy :worthy: It is great to be back with some build, even though i know this is realy not my best work, i promise i ll practice much more and hopefuly it gets better :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey again guys, i m sorry i did not post the progress in last few weeks - as i was working mainly on rivets and completing fuselage/wings, i thought it is nothing too special :)

So now i have the basic airframe completed, riveted, i did some adjustments to the flaps (cut out the little triangle which stays on the wing, filled the flaps with plastic strips to create the right shape of the inner areas and such) and completed the engine.

The airframe got first some surfacer layer, followed by Agama silver in some areas .

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Cowling and engine, engine is just OOB and quickly painted, it ll be deep inside of the cowling . EDIT: right, the engine is not purely OOB, i have added bolt heads (made by punch n die) on the distributors, to give it a bit of additional life ;)

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Once the silver was dry, i have applied layer of chipping fluid, followed by Gunze C Zinc chromate yellow paint aaaand then i have chipped it off to show up the aluminium base here and there.

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I have already painted the cowling, i was not sure what camo scheme i ll be doing, but bcs i ll have one less week for the build (and now i have just 3 free days over the next two weeks to finish the build), i have chosed dark blue scheme :) Still chosing between a sharkmouth "Paper Doll" or some from the same squadron/flight and some french beaten machine. Though i hope i ll be able to paint the sharkmouth from homemade masks, so lets see :)

I know the dark blue hellcats were not so well beaten (at least it is hard to find US Navy dark blue hellcat which would have paint peeling off so hard as i m going to do so), but as it is birthday gift, i want to make it somehow interesting to look at, so the historical accuracy ll be set a side here :)

So, here is the cowling, just dry fit on the nose.

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This is it for now guys :) I have night shifts over this weekend, so i wont be building much, but at monday+tuesday i have days off, so hopefuly i ll do some work on this baby :)

Edited by Wolwe82
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There is quite a prominent oil pipe on the front of the engine which is easy to fit. It runs from that block under the front of the engine through a right angle and runs backwards ( to where I don't know)...

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Really very nice work! I will be following to see what you do here as I always love how your builds turn out.

I am currently building the FAA version in 1/72, so this may help!

Rob

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Ooh, always a delight to see one of your projects in progress! I am taking notes for the Wildcat I started last weekend. (I know it's not the same, but it's Navy and Grumman...)

Cheers,

Will

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Thanks guys for your very kind comments :) i hope you wont be disappointed with the result ;)

There is quite a prominent oil pipe on the front of the engine which is easy to fit. It runs from that block under the front of the engine through a right angle and runs backwards ( to where I don't know)...

Thanks Beema, i ll check that and try to add that pipe if possible :)

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What a beautiful wip! I'm sure this Cat will be awesome, just as his little 1/72 brother!!

Unfortunately, the missing time is a well known problem to me also . We're nearly half 2016 and I have still concluded nothing!!!

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Thanks Beema, very nice photo of great looking nose of that your hellcat :) (+ nicely noticeable wire)

Dazdot, i m trying Mr.Paint (do not confuse these with Mr.Color, it is two different brands) and this is their MP-014 glossy sea blue, slight postshading was done by mixing a bit of their intermediate blue into the glossy sea blue. These paints are totaly amazing for airbrush using, u can use it straight from bottle for your airbrush (something like Alclad II paints, it is in similar bottles too) and the paints sprays realy smooth. The only downside can be maybe a bit higher price (but easily justified given its high quality) and smell (something like gunze or alclad paints). But the paint is of very high quality.

Greif i m sorry to hear you have similar problem with time as well - i cross my fingers for you to get some more free time in the rest of the year, so you can have a lot of funcy times with kits! :) cheers

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Hey guys, just quickly some progress, step by step :)

1. layer of chipping fluid

2. glossy sea blue, not fully covered, just to make somehow "patchy" look

3. make patches of medium blue, white, yellow (that was bad choice, wont use it for blue camo anymore) and few patches of black here and there

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While waiting for it to dry, i took shots of the sharkmouth, made by homemade masks :)
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aand lets continue :) glossy sea blue, work gently with the airbrush, build up opaque layers

4. first gently layer of glossy sea blue

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5. ... aaand 2 more layers later :)
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6. and finaly after few hours spent on chipping the surface - also, i did not smooth out the rivets earlier and here is the reason why - at this stage i did run gently over the slightly raised rivets edges with fine wet sandpaper (4k ish), so the rivets are now slightly better visible, i have pushed more here and there :)
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I ll continue at friday :) thanks for watching guys and have a great day :)
Edited by Wolwe82
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đŸ˜® your weathering is not only exceptional its explained brilliantly! I would like to try and take this to my build but using a paint brush. Thank you for giving me so much think about

Rob

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Thanks Rob, you are way too kind to me and to my work :) I have to say i have deepest respect to anyone using brush, because paint brush in my hands changes into sort of weapon of mass destruction.. :D

As for the paint brush and textures - in my work i m taking inspiration from those amazing modellers around, here on BM, on facebook and such. One of the most talented in my eyes (if not the most at all) when talking about weathering is Bera KĂ¡roly. Here i borrowed few images of HIS tutorials, i believe he would not mind it. It shows how he is creating textures using paint brush, sponges and such. I believe he is using airbrush for the final layers, but i think using thin layers of much thinned paint could give you similar result :)

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As i said, his work is one of the most inspiring to me, i m not even close to be far back behind him, but love to watch his work and try to such a stuff myself :)
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Hi Wolwe. I do apologise - I managed to miss this before.......and what stunning work I have been missing. Amazing paintwork!! Thank you for posting the step-by-step above - I will bookmark this for future reference although I don't think I will be up to yours and his level for a while........... if at all!!! You are both very talented!

KInd regards,

Stix

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Cheers Stix, no need to apologise for anything realy :) I know it myself, i find barely time to watch out builds here on BM :( It is sad to me because i miss the talk here on BM with you and many others (i do not want to tell names so i do not accidentaly miss anyone :) ). So i m happy you like the build so far ;) And i think you are far over my level in model kits, your brush painting skills are totaly amazing Stix! :)

I hope i ll have enough time to be part of your Vignette GB :) I m geting married at the end of July, but hope i ll have enough time after that ;)

The step by steps are made by Bera KĂ¡roly - i have only wanted to show how is he doing the weathering :)

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That's some very inspiring step by steps there! Thanks for posting. I will have to give them a go on my smaller hellcat and see what comes out!

Edited as I missed the bit about you getting married! A huge congratulations!

Rob

Edited by rob85
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