Hellcat (Eduard 1/72) and resin flight deck

[Doc72]

Hi everybody and welcome to another episode of "unnecessary complicated paintjobs",

 

I haven't finished my Canberra yet (https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235067090-canberra-b1516-akrotiri-strike-wing-172/&tab=comments#comment-3566276), but decided to do something simpler and faster in between before finishing this big short-run kit. I won't bore you with the built of the Hellcat; the Eduard kit is well known and it really is a fine kit. Instead I will focus on the weathering. That is a field where I like to experiment and try out new thing even though in the end, the path or steps I chose might not be the fastest way. I also I have the feeling that heavy-weathered models are not that fashionable in this forum, but anyway, here we go.

 

I tried out black-basing for the Sky-coloured lower surfaces and a correspondent white(ish)-basing for the darker upper surface:

 

Fine scribbles of Sky (paints were mostly Gunze and Tamiya) were added on the black base. In order to get some sharp edged patterns, I applied Maskol with a sponge. This effect mostly disappeared later, so it wasn't really worth it (execpt for the fun of it, of course).

 

The two camouflage colours on the upper side were airbrushed freehand on the light base. Again, the idea was to get a deliberately patchy, uneven finish.

 

 

 

 

[Doc72]

Here it is with Future and decals added:

 

... and with a pinch of salt and the resin base (already primed):

In general, I don't buy display bases because I enjoy building them myself. In this case, however, with a carrier deck I had no idea how to scratch-build these metal tie down-strips. This is why I ordered the base from redog via ebay. It is cheaper than the equivalent product by Eduard, but the casting might be of a lesser quality.

 

Later the Grumman looke this way (these are sh*tty mobile photos. I will do better ones for the RFI):

[Doc72]

That's the lower side. Colours are a bit off due to the mobile photo. Apart from the black basing, you can see some splatters of thinned dark paint and some exhaust stains:

 

And again the upper surface and the carrier deck, now weathered with oils. I applied a good coat of several brown tones and wiped it off with a dry cloth after some minutes. Later the deck was also dry brushed with lighter brown-grey oils. What is still missing is painting the metal tie-downs and adding some white markings.

 

[Doc72]

I'am quite satisfied with how the deck looks now after painting and weathering: