1/72 Eduard Grumman F6F-3 & F6F-5 Hellcats *FINISHED*

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks gents  It's a nice model, but see below...

 

I attached the little lenses for the gunsight:

 

 

... and masked and fitted the canopies:

 

 

So far so good but wait! Both the sliding sections of the canopy overhang the fixed part behing them... I've never noticed it before, can't see any definite evidence on actual Hellcat pictures and as most people seem to build theirs with the cockpits open I can't tell if it's meant to be assembled this way. Is this normal? Look:

 

 

... and here:

 

 

The fixed front part can't go any further forward and the fixed rear part can't go any further back, the sliding section is as long as it is long so I guess it must be meant to be like that, but it is the first time in this build where something felt like it didn't fit precisely, in fact it felt a bit of an awkward fit which made me wonder if I have overlooked something. The hood is definitely facing the right way forward... so I dunno 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

[Grey Beema]

I've just had a look on google and you're right, when closed, the rear of the sliding part of the canopy seems to overlap the front frame of the rear windows behind the sliding canopy.  

 

Is it possible to sand the sliding canopy back by the millimetre or so and replace the rear frame with tape or plastic strip?

[CedB]

Just caught up Stew, great stuff as usual

I think the canopy must overlap otherwise how would it slide open? Looks good to me but avoiding paint going under the gap is going to be fun.

[rob85]

15 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Thanks gents  It's a nice model, but see below...

 

I attached the little lenses for the gunsight:

 

 

... and masked and fitted the canopies:

 

 

So far so good but wait! Both the sliding sections of the canopy overhang the fixed part behing them... I've never noticed it before, can't see any definite evidence on actual Hellcat pictures and as most people seem to build theirs with the cockpits open I can't tell if it's meant to be assembled this way. Is this normal? Look:

 

 

... and here:

 

 

The fixed front part can't go any further forward and the fixed rear part can't go any further back, the sliding section is as long as it is long so I guess it must be meant to be like that, but it is the first time in this build where something felt like it didn't fit precisely, in fact it felt a bit of an awkward fit which made me wonder if I have overlooked something. The hood is definitely facing the right way forward... so I dunno 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

I had the same issue with mine stew, so just posed it open.

 

love this kit and would really like to make some more!

 

your doing your usual job of some very neat fine work, looking forward to the rest of it mate.

 

Rob

[Grey Beema]

@Stew Dapple looking at this again you would have to sand some of the front frame off and some of the rear to keep the centre canopy frame to the centre of the canopy (if you know what I mean.then replace the front and rear canopy frames (but there again I would leave the canopy slide back)..

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello @Stew Dapple ... Heres a photo from wikipedia of a hellcat. 

The photo sure looks like the canopy sits proud of the fuselage to my old Mk.1’s. Im thinking your canopies are fine.

 

Dennis

Edited April 26, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[trickyrich]

if i'm correct (though often not), the canopy frames do overlap. When looked at side on the rear of the sliding canopy should overlap the front frame of the fixed section. There may have been or not a seal on the rear edge of the sliding canopy (in photo #4 in below link there looks to be a seal on the rear of the canopy). 

 

http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/Hellcat-Cockpit-photos.shtmlHellcat cockpit

 

In the 5th photo you can see the faded painted section (it looks to be the original paint, they just re-painted her with the canopy closed) where the sliding canopy sits of over the fuselage.

 

There are some fantastic detail photos on this site of a Hellcats undercarriage, I love the one showing the gears that rotate the main wheels as they retract. To be honest I never really though about how they did that!

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks very much gents, I don't mind if it lacks a little finesse, I was just concerned I might have fitted the parts incorrectly

 

Next step will be clicking the tailplanes, wings etc. back into place before priming, but that will have to wait until after the weekend as after work today I will need to get my stuff together for the Scottish Nationals Model Show on Saturday and Sunday  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[stevej60]

Coming together well Stew.

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks mate,

 

I had a couple of days off in the week to make up for spending the weekend standing up at the Scottish National Model Show

 

It wasn't all wasted - I sprayed the models with Tyre Black to act as a black base:

 

 

... and last night I sprayed the underside of the F6F-3 in Non-Specular White - first I roughly in-filled between the panel lines with my usual mix of about 2:1 thinner to paint, low pressure and plenty of air in the mix. After that I thinned the mix even more and sprayed a number of coats over the in-fill, adding a bit more thinners for every coat until I was spraying, effectively, tinted thinners. It meant I could control quite easily how much of the original black was still faintly visible between the panels:

 

 

It's not very clear on the picture but there is quite a bit of the black basing still visible - perhaps a little too much; I'll have a look at it in proper daylight when I get back from work today. Once I'm happy with that it will be on to the Intermediate Blue for the fuselage sides and vertical tail...  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[trickyrich]

she looks great in the photos, I love the look, personally I think you've gotten it perfect!  I do really like the method you used for the undersurfaces. Sounds like you have far more control with the fill-in colour, I like it and will have to try it out. I tried to do something similar on the Sea Fury but not to the same extent.

[CedB]

Aha! A use for my Mr Hobby Tire Black that isn't, really, like tyres... good tip Stew!

That underside looks marvellous mate, very good job

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks gents; Rich, that particular way of doing things requires a lot less time and accuracy than pre-shading so it is ideal for me as I am lazy and shoddy

 

Ced, yes I gave up on using black primer for the job as the paint doesn't actually need a primer coat, but I still wanted a black base to work up from.

 

Today I painted the Intermediate Blue on the F6F-3. I removed the wings and tailplanes to make it easier and did it freehand - not my best work I have to say but I can tidy up later:

 

 

Now in order that I do not subject the dog to breathing in thinner fumes for the next couple of hours I'd better take him down the pub 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[trickyrich]

from that photo it looks to take out a lot of the work required to weather her as well!!!

 

....and another excellent idea you've had for clearing the mind and body of paint fumes...the PUB!! I think we'd all be pretty good with that one.  

[CedB]

Wowza! Freehand? Great job Stew, that looks really good to me

[Cookenbacher]

The free hand tri-color looks fantastic Stew - and you've really taken black basing to a new level.

 

How was the Scottish National show?

[Stew Dapple]

On 5/5/2018 at 11:56 PM, trickyrich said:

...and another excellent idea you've had for clearing the mind and body of paint fumes...the PUB!! I think we'd all be pretty good with that one.  

It was a grand idea but I paid for it: on my return I found the mortice lock had somehow tripped and the dog and I were locked out for nearly five hours before an emergency locksmith, eventually and at great expense, arrived and broke in for me  

On 5/6/2018 at 9:01 AM, CedB said:

Wowza! Freehand? Great job Stew, that looks really good to me

Thanks Ced  It will do for now anyway.

On 5/6/2018 at 5:56 PM, Cookenbacher said:

The free hand tri-color looks fantastic Stew - and you've really taken black basing to a new level.

 

How was the Scottish National show?

Thanks Cookie - the Scottish Nationals were good fun as alway, though neither Jamie nor myself found much in the way of impulse buys, which was a bit of a disappointment. 

 

I got the Non-specular Sea Blue applied to the F6F-3 fuselage and the Glossy Sea Blue applied to the wings and tailplanes - the difference is a little exaggerated in the picture, it's not quite this noticable in real life but the photo does at least show the difference between the Prussian Blue effect of the Non-specular Blue against the slightly grey-purple tint of the Glossy Sea Blue (and it does prove that they actually are two different colours ) here:

 

 

... and I added the antenna mast, the pitot and rockets before painting the F6F-5 in overall Glossy Sea Blue:

 

 

I suppose I ought to build and install the engines next, then gloss-coat prior to transfers... hopefully will get some work done over the weekend, as long as the pub and the lock permit...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

oh dear.....did you go back to the pub and wait?

 

very interesting with the paint effects. Which is correct for that aircraft, or did they use both?

[Stew Dapple]

11 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

very interesting with the paint effects. Which is correct for that aircraft, or did they use both?

It was both, you see the same thing on contemporary Corsairs; the Glossy Sea Blue provided less friction so was used on the wings and tailplanes where it provided most advantange to performance, I'm not sure why the Non-specular Sea Blue continued to be used on the fuselage - it could be that it was better camouflage, or something as mundane as expense, or using up the existing paint stocks, but in any event the scheme was eventually changed to overall Glossy Sea Blue.

 

17 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

...did you go back to the pub and wait?

 

 No I didn't, I had imbibed more than enough, a neighbour was kind enough to offer hospitality until I could arrange for the locksmith to come and after that we just sat on the cold floor of the corridor waiting for him to arrive - this turned out to be about two hours as no tradesman in the UK ever arrives at the time they say they will... 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Cookenbacher]

Great to see a proper example of how the tri-color scheme was really a quad-color scheme Stew, I can't wait to try it out myself.

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Cookie, I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park when you do it

 

Over the weekend I got the final sub-assemblies and parts together:

 

 

... and painted; the main airframes got the undercarriages fitted and the first coat of Klear applied:

 

 

So another coat or two of Klear, then I can get on with the transfers...  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Great stuff Stew, coming together nicely  

[trickyrich]

mmm very nice! 

[Thud4444]

Outstanding work.  

 

This kit is in a entirely different league than the Hobby Boss one that I have. I think I need one now.

[Stew Dapple]

Thank you gents  

 

Shiny:

 

 

Transfers next  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew