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Airfix 1/24th F6F-5 Hellcat


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Progress...the engine is now all but complete, as is the cockpit. 

 

The big take home from assembling the engine, especially the complex air ducting behind the cylinders, is to test fit everything, quite a bit of sanding of joints and mating surfaces was needed. 

I sprayed everything interior green, then found that I had to remove the paint from every joint and after gluing scrape down the joins. I ended up brush painting most of it a second time. 

 

This is the view looking down, with the engine bearers dry fitted into the firewall. The detail is impressive! 

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Next, looking straight down from above:

 

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It would be a shame to hide all that detail, so I'll leave the upper cowlings off! 

 

Edited by 224 Peter
Typo!
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On 6/30/2019 at 9:02 PM, Tony Whittingham said:

I just picked up one of these kits, and I have to say I am impressed. One question I do have has to do with the Royal Navy option. All the photos I’ve seen of East Indies Fleet Hellcats have the wing bands covering a portion of the roundels, but this isn’t the case with the kit option. Does anyone have a photo of this aircraft?

The roundel centres are supposed to be 80” from the tip, on the official Grumman markings diagram. Not so on the kit. 

This isn’t a big issue, just a “watch out” if I’m correct.

Also, there appears to be a pneumatic tyre tail wheel on the sprues (part L31). Is this for Royal Navy Hellcats only, or for land based use?

 

TW

Land based planes only, like US Marines.

Ron G 

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  • 2 weeks later...

More progress, the fuselage is closed up, Ive started work on the wings. 

 

This photo shows the typically "tubby" Grumman fuselage, with the centre section beside it. 

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I left all the internal detail of the fuselage, it is invisible unless the lower hatch is fitted open. 

The centre section is complex, especially round the wheel wells. Everything fits well, as long as ALL sprue gates are removed and surfaces sanded smooth. 

Build before gluing: if you spray everything first it is essential that all paint is removed from surfaces to be glued. 

 

Next, a look down into the cockpit:

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I've never before put transfers on to a parachute and seat belts. 

The instrument panel is convincing, with transfers for all the main dials. 

The plastic overlay needed work, many of the holes for the dials were overshot, not round and not sharp. I should have photographed before closing up. 

 

Last, from the front:

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The engine assembly, positioned (but not stuck) to the firewall and the front spar in the background. 

 

A lot more work to be done, I'm working on the wings. This is a big model, so I'd like to show it with one wing folded, one wing down and the gun bay open. BUT is this a realistic pose? Could one wing be unfolded independently of the other? 

Advice much appreciated! 

 

I'm not an exhibition modeller, nor a semi professional with a you tube feed, just someone who enjoys making reasonable representations of interesting aircraft. So far I've nopt found any real problems, other than the engine core, mentioned above. 

 

More, in a few weeks! 

 

 

 

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Hey Peter 

 Yes the wings can be shown in the position you described. They were manually folded by the deck crew, so one open, one folded would be prototypical. Don't forget to add the fuel tanks in the wing center section. There were two tanks one on the starboard,  one on the port. You can see them through the wheel wells, especially if the wing is folded.

  If you go to YouTube and look for Nigelsmodelingbench videos he is doing a build along and has made resin fuselage and wing tanks that you can order from him. They should be painted a flat rubber black. Also there is someone making brass landing gear for this big heavy bird, but they are about 3 to 4 weeks out.

Ron G 

Edited by Crankycraftsman
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1 hour ago, Crankycraftsman said:

Hey Peter 

 Yes the wings can be shown in the position you described. They were manually folded by the deck crew, so one open, one folded would be prototypical. Don't forget to add the fuel tanks in the wing center section. There were two tanks one on the starboard,  one on the port. You can see them through the wheel wells, especially if the wing is folded.

  If you go to YouTube and look for Nigelsmodelingbench videos he is doing a build along and has made resin fuselage and wing tanks that you can order from him. They should be painted a flat rubber black. Also there is someone making brass landing gear for this big heavy bird, but they are about 3 to 4 weeks out.

Ron G 

Ron,

thanks: I plan on leaving the gun covers off on the extended wing. 

Thanks also for reminding me about Nigel's Modelling Bench, I'll order the tanks. 

I thought this was a kit I could build "straight from the box" without buying extras!!   

 

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Hey Peter 

 

  You do need to reinforce the undercarriage legs as they are not strong enough to support the weight of the complete kit. Drill up from the bottom of the leg through to the open part of the leg. Then clean out the two upper half areas. I used 3/32" (2.38mm) diameter brass tube in the upper part of the leg and 1/32" (0.79mm) diameter steel rod up through the hole drilled in the lower leg and into the brass tube. I inserted the rod in the lower leg with some superglue and left about a little over a mm left and filled this with a piece of plastic rod. Once painted you can't see the fix. Nigel shows how to do this on his videos.

Ron G 

 

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Ron, 

 

thanks: for the heads up.

It seems Airfix has history with fragile 1/24 scale U/C legs in that the Typhoon legs are also a bit weak.

My feeling is that they should engineer the legs to contain a metal rod, as Tamiya do on their 1/32 F14A. 

The Mosquito, as it has effectively 4 legs, seems not to have this problem. 

Peter J.

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1 hour ago, 224 Peter said:

Ron, 

 

thanks: for the heads up.

It seems Airfix has history with fragile 1/24 scale U/C legs in that the Typhoon legs are also a bit weak.

My feeling is that they should engineer the legs to contain a metal rod, as Tamiya do on their 1/32 F14A. 

The Mosquito, as it has effectively 4 legs, seems not to have this problem. 

Peter J.

Either that, or make them out of metal (not white metal, they bend worse than plastic ones) but brass. The brass landing gear from Alistair at Aerocraft are on the way probably 3 to 4 weeks out. I've asked him about doing the 1/24 Typhoon also but haven't heard anything yet.

Ron G 

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Next Report: The wings.

 

Assembling the wings is a matter of carefully following the instructions. It is vital to keep paint off joining surfaces, but I had no real issues. 

I purchased and fitted Nigel's Fuel Tank Ends. The close off the view inter the centre section in a realistic way. I don't understand why Airfix didn't pick this point up: if you chose wngs folded it is easy to see straight through the centre section, where the 2 tanks sit. The Hellcat has 3 internal tanks, plus a centre line belly tank and the possibility of tanks on the bomb shackles. Together this fuel load give an incredible range for a single engined aircraft. 

 

The guns and ammunition boxes are simple to fit, Airfix suggest Red or Yellow for the shell feed chutes: I chose red, for no good reason, other than it stands out well against the FAA colours.  

 

This is the right gun bay: 3 x 0.5inch brownings. OK against unarmored Japanese aircraft, but surely 2 x 20mm cannon would have been better? 

 

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This is the completed lower wing. It is BIG. I was going to do one folded, one down but a slight planning error made both down the only option. A folded wing has the flaps up and I'd used the flaps down brackets before I realised this rather key point. The structure is impressive and it makes the wing very rigid. 

 

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The next step is to fix the upper wings... or is it?

 

This is one of the upper wings. The other is fine! 

 

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Before gluing, I'll prime, to be certain the marks fade away. What are the marks? They don't wash off and they don't disappear with light sanding, so they must be in the plastic. I suspect some sort of contamination of the plastic of the mould. Whatever they are it smacks of poor quality control. 

 

If primer doesn't cover the stains I'll ask Airfix for a replacement. 

 

Next it will be mating the wing with the fuselage: watch this space. 

 

 

 

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On 8/23/2019 at 3:28 AM, 224 Peter said:

Ron, 

 

There is an after market supplier working on brass legs for the F6F: he expects to have product to sell in a month. I'll wait for them. 

 

Peter

Hey Peter 

 As I said in my post his name is Alistair at Aerocraft. Check Ebay there is someone from the Ukraine making wheels/tires for the Hellcat/Corsair main and tail wheels. They look very good. I've ordered two sets (since I have two kits) I'll let you know how they are when they get here, probably 2 to 3 weeks to get to the States.

Ron G 

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Hey Peter 

 

 Alistair is now taking preorders on his web site. Here are some pictures of what he has. The landing gear are shown primed, but will come as cast in brass the tires will be cast in grey resin. I can't post pictures here (dont have a picture posting service) here is his web site.

 

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/airfix-hellcat-brass-undercarriage-and-wheel-doors

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/airfix-hellcat-tyres-cross-hatch-type

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/airfix-hellcat-tyres-straight-running-tread

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/airfix-hellcat-tyres-cruciform-block-pattern

 

Ron g

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Wings and fuselage joined! 

Quite an amount of sanding needed to get a snug fit, but certainly no filling needed. 

This shot makes it clear just how massive it is, the Spitfire is a 1/72 scale model. 

Quite a lot more to do, the tail planes are not stuck on and won't be till painting is completed. 

 

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The next photo will be with the engine in place! 

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Mid Week update! 

 

The engine is now mounted, a lot of cowling bits to fit, remove, paint the inside and then either glue in place, or leave off/on as the fancy takes me. 

Picking up the model I thought it felt heavy...

Without tail surfaces, flaps, ailerons, U/C and external loads it is 450gm. 

I'm very glad I ordered the cast bronze replacement legs from Aerocraft!

When done it is going to be closer to 700gm and I can see the kit parts failing under that sort of load.

Why didn't Airfix mould the legs so a wire rod goes inside, as is the case with the 1/32 Tamiya F14?

 

Photos at the weekend! 

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Progress, to date. 

 

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The cowl top piece fits, which suggests I've got the engine mounted correctly. 

In the background you can see al the cowl bits, sprayed interior green and primer. 

I plan to fix most of them with blu-tac so I can sprat the main colours without much masking. 

 

Motoring on, just waiting for the Aerocraft legs and tyres. 

 

Oh yes, the prop is VERY loose on the shaft, it will need packing out to get a snug fit. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress.....

First coat of paint applied, a mix of spray (grey) and brush for the green. 

The panel effect shows up quite strongly. 

Next is to lightly sand down and apply a second, thin coat. 

After that a coat of gloss before applying transfers and so on before matte varnish and some weathering. 

As a tropical carrier based a/c some fading is needed on upper surfaces, also a whitish dried salt spray effect on leading edges, etc, although this was washed off regularly.  

Still a lot to do. 

 

It is getting big, and heavy. 

 

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