Eduard 1/48 Hellcat F6F-3, USS Princeton *FINISHED!!*

[djktrumpet]

Well, here we go! Looking forward to this one. I'll be building Eduard's1/48 F6F-3, pretty much OOB. I do love a sharkmouth, so it has to be the USS Princeton markings. I'll hope to start snipping later.

[djktrumpet]

Started putting the cockpit together - floor and bulkhead placed into the fuselage while the glue dries to make sure it aligns properly.

[Col.]

Who can fail to love a shark mouth!  That box-art makes the most of it as well

Good to see you getting straight into this one.

[djktrumpet]

Getting some colour on the insides.

[Col.]

That's looking good  

[djktrumpet]

Cockpit all assembled and painted, and washes and dry-brushing applied.

I do quite like these Eduard pre-coloured PE sets, even though it feels a bit like cheating! I especially like that they provide duplicates of the very small parts for ham-fisted modellers like me. 😁

Assembly test-fitted in the fuselage and seems to work OK.

Engine next!

[Col.]

You've made a great job of bringing out that cockpit detail

[djktrumpet]

Inspired by various other people's builds, both here and elsewhere on the interweb, I'm experimenting with adding some extra detail to the engine. I've drilled holes in the cylinders to accept the ignition wiring, and have started adding the various hoses across and between the cylinders using fine solder wire.

[Col.]

Tidy start to the additional engine detail

[djktrumpet]

I've sealed up the fuselage, and started building the wings and stabilisers. All going together nicely so far - this seems to be a really well-engineered kit. I've done a bit more to the engine - although Eduard include a PE part for the ignition wiring, this looks a bit too flat for my liking, so I'm attempting to scratch-build something - yikes. The ignition ring is made from ~1mm solder, and I've drilled holes to accept the wires later. I've added some bits of fine plastic rod to the crankcase and the distributor housings to simulate bolt heads, and also used some scrap plastic to modify the shape of the distributors. The engine bits are ready for some primer and paint, which will hopefully cover a multitude of sins!

I think I'll try and crack on with main airframe, as I can get that built and painting started while still messing about with the engine.

[Cookenbacher]

Very impressive engine detail!

[djktrumpet]

Gluing some bits onto the fuselage. I'm a bit suspicious of the butt joints for the horizontal stabilisers and wings, but we'll see how it goes.

Also have got some paint on the engine - Alclad dark aluminium, black for the push rods, and a dark wash followed by dry brushing with Humbrol polished aluminium on the cylinders. I've used Humbrol brass and copper on the ignition rings and intra-cylinder tubes - possibly a bit bright but I'll tone it down with some satin varnish, and it'll probably all get a very light misting with black/brown at the end. Now steeling myself for the wiring!

 

[shortCummins]

that radial engine looks very nice

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[djktrumpet]

8 hours ago, shortCummins said:

that radial engine looks very nice

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

Thanks! It's all a bit of a learning curve as I've not tried anything quite like this on an engine before. I've got a few other birds with P&W R-2800 engines in the stash, so will have plenty of opportunities to refine methods in the future!

 

[djktrumpet]

I've got the wings on. It's a big beast, even in 1/48!

[djktrumpet]

Slow progress over the last few days, but I have managed to get the landing gear installed. I would normally do this after painting but I've decided to try it this way round here, especially as the Hellcat undercarriage is quite a robust assembly. Famous last words! Now getting close to putting some paint on. I'm afraid I lost patience with the tiny little hooks just inboard from the main gear legs - the kit parts were just too small and awkwardly shaped to handle comfortably (for me, at least!) so I've replaced them with bits of fuse wire, which meant I could drill out the holes to create more positive location points. What are those hooks anyway - something to do with catapult launching, or something more prosaic like tie-down attachments?

[shortCummins]

I can't make up my mind about when to install the landing gear, unfortunately I'm not going to get any bench time this week so I'll keep an eye out for how you get on.

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[djktrumpet]

The engine is pretty much done - I may 'dirty it up' a bit, but otherwise it's complete. Next time I'll use slightly thicker copper wire and drill the holes slightly smaller, but overall I'm fairly happy with it and I think it'll look OK from the front in the finished model.

I've started the main painting - underside white is done, as is the intermediate blue, both with a bit of pre-shading.

So far I haven't knocked off the undercarriage or the guns!

[Col.]

Looking rather smart and you've imparted a nice sense of depth through your paintwork

[djktrumpet]

All wrapped up and nowhere to go...

I may have gone overboard on the masking tape 😜

Reason tells me I ought to be able to airbrush the three-colour USN scheme freehand, but I just feel safer doing it this way. Plus I want to get sharp demarcations on the wing and tailplane roots, but a softer transition on the fuselage, hence the blu-tak sausages.

[dnl42]

This is looking great! 

 

On 8/1/2021 at 8:25 AM, djktrumpet said:

...

I'm afraid I lost patience with the tiny little hooks just inboard from the main gear legs - the kit parts were just too small and awkwardly shaped to handle comfortably (for me, at least!) so I've replaced them with bits of fuse wire, which meant I could drill out the holes to create more positive location points. What are those hooks anyway - something to do with catapult launching, or something more prosaic like tie-down attachments?

I didn't dare attach those hooks either figuring knowing I'd eventually knock them off. I do like your idea of replacing them with some wire. 

 

I assume those are the attach points for the catapult. 

[djktrumpet]

Bah. Went into the workshop to do a bit more spraying, and my compressor is not holding pressure. Pretty sure it's the pressure switch that's failed, which is fixable but I'll need to take it apart and order a replacement, so will probably have a few days downtime. Just when I felt as though I was on a roll! 🤬

[Bertie McBoatface]

52 minutes ago, djktrumpet said:

Bah. Went into the workshop to do a bit more spraying, and my compressor is not holding pressure. Pretty sure it's the pressure switch that's failed, which is fixable but I'll need to take it apart and order a replacement, so will probably have a few days downtime. Just when I felt as though I was on a roll! 🤬

 

Oh bad luck!

[Col.]

Aww  Time to start another kit  

[djktrumpet]

Got my compressor back up and running after a bit of delay waiting for Machine Mart to deliver a replacement pressure switch, and have finished off the basic paint job. Demarcations are a bit harder than I was shooting for, but I think I'll live with them as it'll all look a bit softer after some weathering. Colours are White Ensign enamels (now Sovereign Hobbies, but I've had these pots sitting around for a while!), and I'm quite pleased with the look of it so far - the blues are a bit greyer than I've sometimes seen, but I find that quite convincing.