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1/72 Academy Hellcat


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To improve my skills I purchased this inexpensive Academy Hellcat kit. It is my first ever 1/72 scale kit and I was pleasantly 
surprised by the detail.

 

I put my Spitfire builds on hold, and worked solely on the Hellcat, which has become my first completed build in over
15 years. I tested new paints, weathering pastels/enamels, decal solutions and glues. It was a great learning experience 
and I enjoyed every step of the way. Thanks to everyone here for answering my Hellcat specific questions. 

Feel free to comment (I am anticipating dings for too much weathering!).  I will take it as constructive criticism. I have 4 more Hellcat models 
on standby and want to improve my skills. It is 'out of the box' and what I would call a 'what if', in the sense that 
I didn't try to copy any known existing Hellcat (as far as markings).  

 

One last note - I got very lucky with my photos.
Up until last week my pictures were terrible, but somehow, moving my spray booth (which also serves as my light box)
to another location corrected lighting issues and I am very pleased with the results. The bottom 4 pictures were taken with my
new macro lens, and you can see some difference in the levels. 

 

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Edited by Crane
wording error
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Fanciful scheme or not, I like it.  I think the weathering is great.  The only area where I would throttle it back a bit is the gray weathering area above the wing roots.  Maybe tone it down a bit.  Top notch job, my man.   But then again, what I say and a $1.38 will get you a coke.  😁

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16 hours ago, Phantome said:

Lovely work! Curious... what paints did you use?

Mr. Paint for blues and white (not straight, I mixed to lighten the blues)

Gunze for gloss and flat clear

hobby store water base acrylics for details

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11 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Well done Hellcat. I like the way you did the salt effect on the fuselage. I think your weathering effects are just right. The 

Model likes like a 1/48 scale one. 

Thank you. The kit's details are nice and I worked 'em.

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That is a great result Crane! I'm finding that sometimes less is a lot more. Rather than getting bogged down with aftermarket stuff, a clean build out of the box can be a lot more rewarding - not to mention a lot more quicker to build.

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On 5/13/2019 at 11:13 AM, Crane said:

To improve my skills I purchased this inexpensive Academy Hellcat kit.

Sorry, but am I missing something here. Exactly which of your skills need improving?? 🙂

 

Lovely build and great painting and weathering. Hard to believe it's 1/72 really.

 

Steve

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I think everything about the build looks great--the paintwork, decaling, and weathering.  My only nitpick would be to tone down the gunpowder stains a wee bit, something that I think is often overdone anyways (occasionally by yours truly as well).  Smokeless powder has been in use for over 100 years!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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  • 4 months later...

Update: I went to the Penncon show yesterday and entered the Hellcat. As I was packing up, the judges called out my name! I was really surprised. My model was sitting at the end of the last table. I didn't even think they looked at it. It was very exciting to have my work recognized with a bronze, especially amongst all the entries that were works of art IMO. I will have pics of the show up soon, linked in my sig with the rest.

 

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