Eduard 1/48 FAA Hellcat Mk.I

[pipthepilot]

Hello Everyone, 

 

Although I am quite near to the completion of this build, as a new member with Britmodeller I wanted to post my first "Work In Progress" topic for my current project the Eduard 1/48 Fleet Air Arm Hellcat Mk.I.

 

This is the first Eduard kit I have build and have really enjoyed building it, the detail is very good and the kit went together really easily. Sorry in advance for the number of photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Col.]

Very nice work!  

[Grey Beema]

Good so far.  This one is going to finish up well.

[rob85]

Really nice kit! And some very nice work, especially your painting. I’ve done the same in 1/72 and really enjoyed it.

 

Rob

[pipthepilot]

Thanks for all your comments, 

 

I had a few hours to spend yesterday so managed to finish it. Below is the final stages.

 

I have a Harder and Steenbeck Evolution SL airbrush and mostly use Vallejo Model Air paints, I really like the Vallejo paints but I do question some of the colours. The colours recommended in the instructions where Olive Drab, Ocean Grey and Sky but I wasn't convinced that the Vallejo versions of these would look right.  Instead, I used Dark Slate Grey (71.309) instead of Olive Drag (71.016) and US Dark Grey (71.110) instead of Ocean Grey (71.273). When it came to Sky I had two choices, 71.306 Sky Blue or 71.407 Sky grey but because the Sky blue was too blue and Sky grey too grey I tested a mix of the two and really liked the result so created my own colour with 50% of both.

 

Overal I was pleased with the result but I thought the Grey wasn't blue enough so I used Tamiya Clear Blue X-23 as a filter over the grey areas to increase the blue and create a more weathered effect. I also used the Clear Blue as post shading over some of the panel lines which can be seen quite clearly in the image below along the fuselage over the green. Lastly, I used Tamiya Smoke X-19 to create shading in places like the wing root and to tone down the decals.

 

The Kit has plastic guns for the wing that have to be installed when you glue the upper and lower wing surfaces together but I didn't like this because I was sure I would break them so I decided to leave them out and create my own gun barrels from small brass tube later. I also decided to use the brass tube to create the exhausts rather than use the plastic parts as they weren't very detailed. Below are the tubes ready to be painted. 

 

Here you can see my gun barrels, I like them better than the kit parts. Also, you can see the exhaust stains airbrushed along the fuselage, I used black first they created the effect of lead dust using sand yellow 71.278.

 

Installed the undercarriage and fuel tank.

 

Standing on her own feet for the first time. 

 

Last pieces, the masts and radio wire. 

 

 

[matteo44]

Well done! Very nice job!