F6F Hellcat Mk 1, 800 Sqdn, FAA

[Tail-Dragon]

Here’s my latest completion, Otaki’s aging F6F Hellcat kit in1/48. The subject is one of the first Hellcats that went to 800 Sqn FAA, HMS Emperor, and participated in the Royal Navy strikes against the Tirpitz, while she was anchored in Norway. This Hellcat accounted for 3 FW-190’s.
The Otaki kits were great in their day, and still serve as a good basis for detailing and scratchbuilding.

– Detailed gunsight, True details cockpit, scratchbuilt rear bulkhead and armour plate based on photos, replaced machinegun barrels, and exhaust with aluminum and brass tubing.
– Canopy is Squadron vacuform with internal structure from plastic strip.
– Removed and scratch built wheel wells from photos and plans, scratch built arrester hook and holdback, detailed landing gear, and thinned and corrected gear doors and actuators.
– Rebuilt and corrected droptank as per photos.
– Detailed engine and wired, added cowl inner structure and details, deepened intakes and added screen.
– Added formation, ID, landing and nav lights with acrylic rod.
– Painted with Tamiya acrylics, weathered (hairspray technique) with stiff brush and sharpened toothpicks, pastels and enamel paint.
– Decals from Techmod, spares, and custom made.

Hope you like, thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grey Beema]

Lovely finish - well done..

[colin]

Very nice

[Retired Bob]

That looks great for a kit from the 70s.  I have some Otaki kits including this one in the stash....... perhaps one day.

[ForestFan]

Beautiful job

[Nick Belbin]

That’s fabulous.

 

Otaki is responsible for my love of 1/48. Found the Spitfire in a department store back in 1970 I think it was. It seemed the perfect combination of 1/72 Airfix and 1/32 Revell that I was used to then. I was amazed by the sharpness of the moulding but unaware / ignorant of gullwings and fabric ailerons . . .

 

Nick

[almac]

Excellent job. 

 

Cheers Allan

[pat d]

Nicely done indeed, especially using an older model which many would dismiss. Good craftsmanship in all respects.

 

[Adam Poultney]

Incredible build

[72modeler]

You, sir, are a model builder, not an assembler! Would have been cheaper to start with the Eduard profipak, but everything you have done to bring the old Otaki kit to modern standards, shows your modeling skills .Beautiful detailing and the finish and colors are spot-on. Well done! Now you need to do an Otaki FAA F4U-1 to go with this one! 👍

Mike

[airbus320]

Amazing! Getting from the Otaki kit to there shows supreme skills!!! Very well done!!!!

 

Chris

[RMCS]

Superb 

[DJJunis]

Absolutely outstanding! Very well done!

 

All the Best!

Don

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great work with an old classic. 

[Beazer]

Great job on that, I especially like how you did the exhaust 

[Toryu]

You created an excellent model from the weak Otaki kit! I'm now restoring many of my own old Otakis, and have more in the stash. I even prefer some over more recent kits with a lot of after-market and scratch-building of course, as you did in an examplary fashion. I dismissed their Hellcat, however, for appearing too small in scale, and used the parts for colour-testing. Looking at you model it may have been a mistake...

[Alpha Delta 210]

Incredibly realistic looking model.

[F-32]

That's wonderful work, I've always liked the Hellcat in that scheme

[Meatbox8]

That's a stunning looking Hellcat. A beautiful paint finish.  I particularly like the colour you've used for propeller.  It's very easy (for me especially) to make things too 'bliack'.  Your 'off-black' looks perfect. 

 

I was recently reading about the FAA operations over Norway in the Osprey FAA Aces volume.  I think the Hellcat has a reputation for being a zoom and boom sort of fighter, as applied so successfully by the USN in the Pacific.  The Tirpitz operation just goes to show that it could 'mix it' with the best of them as well.

[DaveyGair]

Excellent work and not 'overdone'.

 

 

Davey.

 

[phildagreek]

That's beautiful, very nicely done.

[Tail-Dragon]

4 hours ago, Meatbox8 said:

That's a stunning looking Hellcat. A beautiful paint finish.  I particularly like the colour you've used for propeller.  It's very easy (for me especially) to make things too 'bliack'.  Your 'off-black' looks perfect. 

Thanks!  I've always found that some of the colors (blacks, whites, reds especially) are too intense and give a toy-like look. For the blacks, I use Tamiya NATO black, which is more of a deep grey. I also, after the first flat coat over the decals, apply white, grey or black [or a mix] pastel powders over the decals and selected areas (like the prop). The object is to reduce the intensity of the colors and fade them into the background. The nice thing with pastels is you can keep adding if required, or wipe some or all if you don't like the effect. A final coat of flat finish seals everything - One note of caution, I found that with  the flat coat, the darker pastels become more intense, and the lighter ones become more translucent. So under-do the darks, and over-do the lights!

[Ignacio]

Absolutely amazing! The painting and weathering are just spot on. Doesn´t look like an old kit at all.

 

Best regards

 

Ignacio 

[Celestialsphere]

That is lovely, truly an inspiration.

Your weathering is spot on.

Thankyou for sharing.

[bryanm]

Really good- love the subtle weathering.