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1/24 Hellcat NF Mk II, 892 NAS, 1945 *Finished!*


Alan P

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Hi all, great to be part of a BM groupbuild again after almost a year. 

 

This time it's an ambitious punt - going to bring the Airfix 1/24 behemoth with an Aerocraft conversion set for an NF II based at Drem in 1945.

 

KD127+X+P.png?auto=format&fit=max&h=1000

 

It's KD127 which is quite well documented and beautifully built in smaller scale by @tonyot here:

 

Luckily the aircraft was a brand new example and so my weathering skills (or lack thereof) will not be challenged!

 

This will be an OOB build apart from the ignition cables and HF radio wire (there, I've said it now, so inevitably it'll end up with tons of added detail 😂)

 

Will be starting this on Monday, hope everyone enjoys their Hellcat building 🔥🐱

 

Alan

 

 

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Welcome back to the GBs Alan and good luck with this project. Sure you'll get plenty of attention from us all :speak_cool:

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13 hours ago, shortCummins said:

hope you've ordered enough paint 😄

I think Dark Sea Blue is available in a rattle can depending on your taste in paint. My HP-TH was not quite up to the task of painting a 1/48 X-47B; I'll look for a good sale on one of those Iwata airbrush guns next time I paint something like that...

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12 hours ago, Dandie Dinmont said:

I can see Drem’s hangers from the end of my road so I have a particular interest in this. Looking forward to seeing how it all goes together!

 

Craig. 

That's a cool connection,..I'll try to keep it as real as possible 👍

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All right, I made a start! First a little refresher on the contents as you don't see many of these being built:

 

First of all, this is a real quality kit with very nicely produced documentation.

tn_Hellcat (1) tn_Hellcat (10)

The instruction booklet is A4 size and runs to 72 pages and 310 construction steps!

tn_Hellcat (11)

Also included is the giant decal sheet and special Airfix Model World construction mag:

tn_Hellcat (7)

...and these glossy A3 decal sheets for all four versions included in the kit:

tn_Hellcat (9)

...plus an additional stencil placement A3 sheet!

tn_Hellcat (8)

 

The box contains tons of plastic, and the surface detailing is absolutely top class:

tn_Hellcat (5)

This is the first time I've seen such faithful rendering of the surface skin stress on a monocoque aluminium fuselage.

tn_Hellcat (6)

This will look superb under a Glossy Sea Blue coat!

 

Anyway, what about the build? :hmmm:

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tn_Hellcat (4)

The cockpit parts are very detailed with excellent rivet and access panel detail. Also the ribs and strakes fit perfectly with zero fuss.

 

tn_Hellcat (3)

There are some ejector pin marks to fill if you feel that way inclined - personally I will leave them alone if they're not immediately visible. The only part I did rectify was the headrest piece which needed the rear face covering with a piece of thin plasticard.

tn_Hellcat (2)

Because I'm lazy, I like to complete as much of the construction as possible before painting, so much of the cockpit detail is assembled already. Apart from sanding/scraping the seam lines and sprue gates, this was a pleasant hour and a half's work. The parts test fit the cockpit/fuselage perfectly so far. The build progression is just the right balance of challenge and simplicity for an average modeller, making this big, detailed cockpit a very satisfying build!

 

Really looking forward to more of this, damned work keeps interfering with my modelling time!

 

Alan

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Aha, it's the weekend, it's chucking down with rain, that means modelling time!

On 7/2/2021 at 3:50 PM, Col. said:

Nice start Alan :) 

Thanks Col 👍

1 hour ago, dnl42 said:

Great start on this beast! 

 

I too have managed to fill far too many well-hidden ejector pin defects over the years.

Thank you, life's too short to fix every single defect, I agree!

 

tn_Hellcat (14)

I think that's most of the cockpit and interior components done. Parts are generally well-moulded with just a bit of cleanup required, mostly moulding lines. Lots of ejector pin marks, but mostly designed to be out of the way or hidden.

 

Decided to go with the full installation rather than the basics. Don't really care that a lot of it will be invisible. I've paid for all this plastic and I'm going to get my money's worth, as the actress said to the cosmetic surgeon.

tn_Hellcat (16)

This is my first 1/24 kit and it is very big! Lots of detail in here. I'm not going to dirty it up with wear and tear, this will be a pristine machine. Just needs a wash and dry brush to pop up the detail.

 

tn_Hellcat (17)

None of this will be visible but I thought it was worth doing, what the hell.

tn_Hellcat (12)

It all looks very impressive, can't wait to get stuck into the engine and wingfolds/wheelwells.

tn_Hellcat (15)

There are still lots of decals and placards to add in the cockpit, should look nice and busy. The separately-moulded seatbelts are a really nice touch, they look very natural.

tn_Hellcat (13)

You'll notice I went for the Interior Black upper sidewalls - as this was a late-production nightfighter and it seems to be consistent with Grumman's late-war production, as with the Bearcats and Tigercats produced around the same time. This may not be correct, so don't regard this as a reference! 

 

On the credit side, the moulded instrument panel in the kit appears to be for a -5N as it has the prominent radar scope in the centre instead of the flush-panel radio nav gauge. So that's a win!

 

Well, so far this is a real pleasure to build. Going to be a good one!

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

 

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19 hours ago, Alan P said:

I'm not going to dirty it up with wear and tear, this will be a pristine machine.

Everything has to be new at some point :) 

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would it be rude to ask for a guide to just how big this is? perhaps put a bottle of paint or extra thin next to the cockpit for comparison?

 

looking really good

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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This looks fabulous! :clap2:

 

I truly do NOT want something like this in my display cabinet! But you are making this look soooooo very good!  Worse still, the LHS has it. :huh:

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1 hour ago, dnl42 said:

This looks fabulous! :clap2:

 

I truly do NOT want something like this in my display cabinet! But you are making this look soooooo very good!  Worse still, the LHS has it. :huh:

The wings do fold up remember ;) 

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Thanks very much, glad you're enjoying the story so far! I'm not getting much time to model and so it's unlikely there'll be much change before next week 😔 

17 hours ago, shortCummins said:

would it be rude to ask for a guide to just how big this is? perhaps put a bottle of paint or extra thin next to the cockpit for comparison?

Thanks John, I'll add something next round 👍

17 hours ago, dnl42 said:

This looks fabulous! :clap2:

 

I truly do NOT want something like this in my display cabinet! But you are making this look soooooo very good!  Worse still, the LHS has it. :huh:

Collector's item? 😇

16 hours ago, Col. said:

The wings do fold up remember ;) 

Yep! Just like the real thing, if you have both wings folded, it's relatively compact. But I'm going halfway and only folding the left wing. Even then I'm going to need about a 2ft square shelf though 🤔

 

Thanks very much again guys.

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