1/48 Eduard F6F-3 Hellcat, Lt. Vraciu, February 1944

[Kahunaminor]

In an attempt to break the deadlock on my bench I have started what in theory is a straight forward build, with a little twist. Eduard’s Hellcats are lauded as relatively simple to build with a good result. I intended to build with minimal AM, Ultracast prop and seat, to just have something on the go as everything else on the bench just doesn’t interest me and I wanted to do something quick and not Axis themed to redress the disparity ratios in the display cabinet:
 

 

 

I started in the cockpit area and assembled and dry fit the main components. The kit seat back and base was reduced so the Ultracast seat fits a little better:

 

 

 

 

 

I then turned my attention to the engine and the front and rear cylinder banks were joined. The Ultracast prop has an integral shaft, so the front of the kit shaft was removed. It will be drilled out at a later date. This allowed the magnetos to sit properly in the crankcase. Small holes were made in the cylinders to accept the PE wiring harness at a later date:

 

 

So there it stood, almost but not quite. It was looking too simple so I added the wing fold kit from Wolfpack just to add some spice. A beautiful set that replaces the entire wings sections with resin:

 

 

Keep tuned and thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

[Kahunaminor]

So progress marches slowly forward. In the cockpit, I have assembled and painted the main components. Making room for the Ultracast seat in the cockpit tub meant removing some plastic from the kit seat attachments. This is the original 2009 issue of this kit and does not include any decals or PE for the side consoles so they were drawn by hand with a Uni ink pen:

 

 

The Ultracast seat was painted up and detailed with acrylics:

 

 

The IP had its PE attached:

 

The engine has been assembled and painted and awaits final assembly:
 

 

 

The port resin wing inner has been cut from its casting block and test fitted. I also test fit the MLG components into their positions. A bit rough at the moment but I am encouraged by the fit so far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tail wheel had a hole cut out to better reflect reality and the tail wheel assembly trimmed so it could be fit after joining the fuselage:

 

 

 

 

Finally, the fuselage to cowling was sanded to allow a better fit as it kept popping the seams on the cowling assembly. The cowling also had a styrene rod attached to strengthen the seam:

 

 

 

 

The whole lot has been gloss coated in preparation for the decals, Airscale sets for the cockpit to busy it up then some washes:

 

 

Regards, 

 

[Col.]

This one is looking good thus far Kent  

[Kahunaminor]

Welcome back,

Work on the office this day. Airscale WWII USN instruments and Allied cockpit placards to dress up the office. AK Dark Brown for green vehicles enamel wash for and the Ultracast seat was CA’d into place. Still some more PE handles and levers to go:

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

[Kahunaminor]

So progress on the cockpit saw the PE levers attached and a couple of extras added  from scrap PE with Acrylic paint built up for handles:

 

 

 

 

 

Then a  Dullcote protective coat and when that was dry, some chipping and highlights with water colour pencils. The cockpit was then attached to the port side and held for a while with a clamp to ensure correct position:

 

 

 

 

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The engine got  fully assembled its PE cabling commenced:

 

 

 

Next step is to close the fuselage and then continue with the engine.

 

Regards,

[Kahunaminor]

Welcome back,

 

Working on the cockpit. Gunsight glass added and canopies masked inside and out. The kit doesn’t have a mirror so I found some PE mirrors and used my Molotow pen for the first time. The wiring harness is now in place:

 

 

 

 

 

The fuselage is joined and ready for cleanup. I have affixed the front windscreen with its rear view mirror. The windscreen piece was a tad wide at the rear edges so I removed some material from the inside and blended it in. My plan now is to seal the cockpit with tape to keep the dust etcetera out. The engine wiring has been completed and another wash of AK Neutral Grey applied. It will get a Matt finish later on. Test fitting it and the cowling show a fairly good fit and look. The engine will go aside now until final construction. The cowling will also be left unfixed so I can paint the scheme in full remove it and add the exhausts prior to fixing it for good:

 

 

 

 

 

The cockpit has now been sealed with tape masks and masking liquid. I used the extra canopy pieces to trace the shapes fore and aft and got a fair shaped mask. Then fit and sealed. The resin inner wing sections are both free from their casting blocks. I then fitted the kit MLG components to the wing inners. The wings are dry fit into place:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Regards,

[Kahunaminor]

F6F-3 progress. The inner wing assemblies have been permanently attached with two part epoxy.  Perfect plastic putty on the wing root seams and a couple of other small blemishes.  The white and black dots on the spine are 1mm punched discs to replace the light mounts which I sanded off. I have fashioned a sprue holding device for primer and painting by drilling through the engine hub. This will be cut off flush when the engine is mounted. Next step is priming with AK Grey primer and micro filler:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

[Kahunaminor]

Primer coat...the great revealer! Shows the great detail on the resin parts and some do overs on the assembly front. Good news on the fuselage to wing joins, not so much on the front windscreen, spine and belly. Some obvious (to me) flat spots on the underside. The spine needs addressing at each lap joint and the very fine seam to be reinstated on both top and bottom as per my references. Some PPP for the windscreen and rear windows (although that might not happen as the sliding section should effectively hide those) and a small blemish just forward of the windscreen. Good point is the forward fuselage is nice and smooth:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

[pacificmustang]

Great progress kent

This is looking good, sorry I missed you on our little video link up the other day

Work, as you can imagine has been busy.

 

Bruce

[Kahunaminor]

5 minutes ago, pacificmustang said:

Great progress kent

This is looking good, sorry I missed you on our little video link up the other day

Work, as you can imagine has been busy.

 

Bruce

Thanks matey,

 

Yes, I cannot imagine. Stay safe and catch you on a later iso chat!

 

Regards,