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M18 Hellcat - AFV Club - 1/35


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Hello everyone,

 

I wanted to build Hellcat for quite some time, but for some reason, this kit was in my stash for years. Finally I managed to build it. It's an AFV Club No. AF35015 kit, but it turned out to be a Frankenstein build. Many AM items were used: Royal Model detailing set and mufflers, Legend accessory set, Fruil tracks, many stowage bits and pieces from different AM kits (Miniart, Value Gear, Black Fog, etc.), leftovers from other kits and some amount of scratch building.

 

I must say that it was not a very pleasant build. Mostly because of the fitting issues of so many different components (if built out of the box, I am quite sure it would not be the case). For example, fitting that !#%@# canvas mantled cover took more time than building the rest of the model. I regret for not making WIP thread from this one to share my pain with you guys :)

 

This model represents one of the vehicles of 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, as seen on many photos and videos taken during September, 1944 fighting in Brest. Building mostly desert tanks recently, I wanted to make this one very dirty, for a change. Maybe I went a bit too far.

 

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Decals are a bit of a letdown, being very thick so I had to sand them a bit. Also, marking options provided in this kit are mostly wrong, so if you are bothered by this, ignore them and use reference photos and external resources instead. Model is painted with Gunze and Vallejo (for detail painting). Weathering is different Mig's stuff (Nature Effects and lots of pigments). You may notice that road wheels are not aligned. They do not fit very well (they are a bit loose) so it's really hard to align them perfectly. Unfortunately, noticed this after taking photos.

 

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Kit provides very nice interior, especially turret interior. Royal Model detailing set is a very nice addition as well. Unfortunately, not much of the interior can be seen on photos. I tried to capture some details, but I'm not very happy with the result, maybe I'll try to add few better shots later.

 

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Reference vehicle had this custom made hedge cutter. It's quite different from the usual designs, so I had to scratch build it.

 

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And here's the real thing:

 

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51227116475_e4a1d1fc1d_b.jpg

 

There's also a video of this particular vehicle, taken during Brest fighting, and it was very useful to see how it looked from different angles. Especially useful in order to build rhino device and to understand the stowage layout.

 

Thanks for watching and thanks for feedback!

 

Cheers,

Nenad

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13 minutes ago, Nenad Ilijic said:

I wanted to make this one very dirty, for a change. Maybe I went a bit too far.

 

No, it's spot on. The weathering is perfect. You've done a great job on this Nenad. Nice one.

 

John.

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Hi Nenad
This must be one of the most beautiful tank models I have ever seen. Looks really incredibly good. I really liked all the little things, the abundance of shades and colors, dusty and dirty surfaces. Congratulations, perfect job!

 

Vytautas

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I can only echo the previous comments. The weathering is spot on and reflects how the actual vehicle looks - lots of dust and dirt, in places rubbed off edges, and no unrealistic ruststreaks or chipping!

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21 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

 

No, it's spot on. The weathering is perfect. You've done a great job on this Nenad. Nice one.

 

John.

 

Thank you John! 

 

21 hours ago, kiwitrogg said:

Outstanding result.  I take my hat off to you. :worthy:

Cheers

Gaz

 

Thank you Gaz!

 

20 hours ago, Saeran said:

Really impressive work.. wish I had this skill :D

 

Thank you Saeran!

 

20 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Hi Nedad,

Looks nice!, the resemblance to the real model is very exact, I really like how the equipment is on the vehicle, natural and very well achieved.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

 

 

Thank you Francis! Hellcat is very interesting vehicle to model because of the equipment. There were no stowage space at all inside, so usually, there are all kinds of stuff hanging from the turret outside.

 

18 hours ago, Steben said:

Well done. Mud and dust are the top weathering elements.

Well done. Mud and dust are the top weathering elements.

 

Thank you Steben! Yes, I agree.

 

13 hours ago, vytautas said:

Hi Nenad
This must be one of the most beautiful tank models I have ever seen. Looks really incredibly good. I really liked all the little things, the abundance of shades and colors, dusty and dirty surfaces. Congratulations, perfect job!

 

Vytautas

 

Thank you Vytautas! I really appreciate your kind words!

 

13 hours ago, APA said:

Really great, moody and gritty build. Your canvas is excellent 

 

Andrew 

 

Thank you Andrew!

 

11 hours ago, edjbartos said:

Very nice Nenad, beautiful painting and weathering, looks absolutely gorgeous. Well done...👍

 

Ed

 

Thank you Ed!

 

10 hours ago, Carius said:

Top job Nenad, excellent build and finish indeed.

 

Cheers

Cesar

 

Thank you Cesar!

 

9 hours ago, sardaukar said:

wow that is excellent. very nice job.

 

Thank you!

 

2 hours ago, IanC said:

I can only echo the previous comments. The weathering is spot on and reflects how the actual vehicle looks - lots of dust and dirt, in places rubbed off edges, and no unrealistic ruststreaks or chipping!

 

Thank you Ian!

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It is a great art to make a vehicle so dirty that it remains pleasing to the eye. The dirt on your model looks very natural and suits it very well. Beautiful model, a true masterpiece.

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Fantastic Hellcat! You have captured the look of a well worn in service/action Hellcat, to my eyes, perfectly.

 

A masterpiece of modelling.

 

Terry

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23 hours ago, Stef N. said:

The dust and dirt effects are perfect. Another great model Nenad. Well done.👏

 

Thank you Stef!

 

22 hours ago, Tom W. said:

It is a great art to make a vehicle so dirty that it remains pleasing to the eye. The dirt on your model looks very natural and suits it very well. Beautiful model, a true masterpiece.

 

Thank you Tom!

 

21 hours ago, Alpha Juliet said:

Absolutely superb!  Weathering is excellent - well done!

 

Thank you!

 

20 hours ago, Longbow said:

Excellent Job !!

Love the Weathering... It’s very atmospheric. 

 

Thank you!

 

17 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Fantastic Hellcat! You have captured the look of a well worn in service/action Hellcat, to my eyes, perfectly.

 

A masterpiece of modelling.

 

Terry

 

Thank you Terry!

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Hi Nenad. I hope you are well. That is one of the most impressively painted and weathered AFVs I have seen. Absolutley superb!! :worthy:  :worthy:

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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On 6/7/2021 at 9:20 PM, bigfoot said:

Awesome build, I love a hellcat and you’ve done a fantastic job on that. The mud and weathering are spot on.

 

Thank you! I love Hellcat as well, one of my favorite vehicles. It was mostly hated by it's crews though :)

 

On 6/8/2021 at 3:19 PM, Muchmirth said:

I don't think you over did the dirt at all. Love the cutter at front, stowage and canvas. Looks great. Top job!

 

Thank you!

 

On 6/8/2021 at 10:11 PM, Buzby061 said:

You've made an excellent replica of an extremely weary Hellcat.

 

Pete

 

Thank you Pete!

 

On 6/7/2021 at 5:12 PM, PlaStix said:

Hi Nenad. I hope you are well. That is one of the most impressively painted and weathered AFVs I have seen. Absolutley superb!! :worthy:  :worthy:

Kind regards,

Stix

 

 

Thank you Stix.  Coming from you, that means a lot.

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This is simply a stunning model Nenad. You really have mastered how to make Olive drab look perfect at this scale. The stowage is also brilliantly portrayed not to mention the hedge cutter. Compared to the photo I'd say you've nailed it. Well done, can't wait to see what comes next.

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