Hellcat MkI & Hellcat MkII dual build (Or have I bitten off more than I can chew?). *** FINISHED ***

[Thom216]

Those cowl flaps look good crank open.

[Grey Beema]

Hellcats are in the Paintshop and I’m on holiday this week!!!

 

Undercoated in Halfords Aluminium.

Sprayed Tamiya XF-4 Yellow-Green which I use to simulate Zinc Oxide Primer.

Bit a pre-shading on main panels and grubby areas.

Undersides are Xtracrylics Sky.  I’ll leave this until this afternoon and then I’ll Future it to harden it up before masking and spraying the upper colours.

 

Hellcat MkI FN411/5°E

General view.

 

 

Underside.

 

Hellcat MkII JW867/W116

 

General View.

 

Underside.

 

I’m trying to decide whether to put the C.1 Roundels on the underside then thinly overspray them with fresher paint or just go with a fresh paint spray of the same size.  I’ll use Hataka Sky for this which will be a slightly different shade.  Not something I have to decide on straight away..

 

Thank for looking in.

[Roberto]

Lovely work.

[Cookenbacher]

Yes, nice paint work Beema.

[Alan P]

Good progress, and great idea to use different manufacturers' paint of the same intended colour. There's always a slight variation which looks more natural than pre-shading.

[Grey Beema]

Bit of a Sunday night update.  Both Hellcats are out of the Paint shop and Initial decaling has been completed.

 

FN411/5°E has had its Roundels and Squadron markings put on.  It needs to go back into the paint shop now to seal the decals and to be weathered.  I was thinking about doing the over painted Roundels.  I have bee studying so IWM photos of (I think) 1839 and I can t see painted out Roundels but I think about it some more and may do them but not until the sealer coat is on.

 

After that we are into the fading, tidying, detail painting and finishing.  Still a good way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

JW867/W116 has also been through the paint shop and initial decalling.  The weathering regimen will be slightly different but back to the paint shop for sealing first then initial weathering, BPF markings will be applied them more weathering, tidying up, detailing and finishing.  Again, lots still to do..

 

 

 

 

All in all 

I’m about 50-60% of the way through I think..  Still lots to do and lots that could go wrong...

 

Thank for looking in.

[Bertie McBoatface]

11 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

50-60% of the way through I think

 

Looks 100% good though. Keep it up!

[shortCummins]

the camo' scheme looks really good on both Hellcats, I'll almost certainly be doing one for my next Hellcat.

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[DaveJL]

Just catching up on these, lovely work! Can I ask about the off set rudder? Would that be a common position when at rest?

[Grey Beema]

6 minutes ago, DaveJL said:

Just catching up on these, lovely work! Can I ask about the off set rudder? Would that be a common position when at rest?

I would be reasonably sure that the elevators were spring loaded in the neutral position and would guess that the rudder may be too in which case  ‘No’ they should not be off set.  Looking at my reference images, they are not off set either.  I might take them off and remount them, I have to lower the demarcation on the rudder anyway so could sort it out then.  

 

[DaveJL]

5 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

I would be reasonably sure that the elevators were spring loaded in the neutral position and would guess that the rudder may be too in which case  ‘No’ they should not be off set.  Looking at my reference images, they are not off set either.  I might take them off and remount them, I have to lower the demarcation on the rudder anyway so could sort it out then.  

 

Thanks for the info, was thinking of doing something similar myself as I noticed there appears to be a bit of gap at the top of the rudder and the tail part. Is that meant to be there?

[Grey Beema]

Probably not..

 

MEN OF AN ESCORT CARRIER IN EASTERN WATERS. APRIL 1945, ON BOARD THE ESCORT CARRIER HMS KHEDIVE.. © IWM (A 28751) IWM Non Commercial License

 

[Cookenbacher]

They're looking fantastic Beema.

[Grey Beema]

Bit more progress over the last couple of weekends.

 

JW867/W116 has been through the paint shop, had a fading filter applied and the positions of the delivery Roundels painted out.  BPF markings have been applied but not yet sealed and weathered.

 

 

 

 

I have bee studying so IWM photos and think this is the finish I want to go for.  The paint looks less worn and more covered in mucky hand prints

 

 

I started on FN411/5°E  with a small bit of foam held in tweezers dabbing at the areas around the cowling, steps and handholds panels and walkways to try and simulate the effect.  This is how far I have got.  It’s not there yet, I need to figure out where it’s going wrong?

 

 

 

 

 

Both together..

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

[shortCummins]

your "dirty" one is coming along, it might be an idea to try to build the grime in layers, perhaps using different colours for the dirt, highly diluted browns and black/dark grey?

 

you've achieved the sort of grubbiness I'd like to be able to 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

 

[dnl42]

38 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

This is how far I have got.  It’s not there yet, I need to figure out where it’s going wrong?

 

That looks terrific to me. Probably because I don't can't do weathering.

[81-er]

The weathering is looking pretty good to me also

 

James

[Christer A]

That grubby paint looks terrific!

How did you do that?

[Col.]

Both are looking great @Grey Beema and your style of display base really suits them - as well as giving enough information on the subject without distracting from it. Impressive stuff.

[Grey Beema]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:17 AM, Christer A said:

That grubby paint looks terrific!

How did you do that?

Thanks Christer.

 

I cut a very small piece of foam dipped in paint, dried on a tissue and basically dry dabbed rather the dry brushed along where I thought grubby hands would go..

 

Im going to do a panel wash, I used water colours with a little Tamiya thinners to break surface tension.  Still lots to do and plenty of opportunity to mess it up...  🥺

[Grey Beema]

On 8/25/2021 at 9:43 AM, Col. said:

Both are looking great @Grey Beema and your style of display base really suits them - as well as giving enough information on the subject without distracting from it. Impressive stuff.

Thanks Col.  I’ve kind of come to a house style for the bases.  I have them in PowerPoint so as to ensure I keep the same style.  I do have 2 Aircrew I cannot find pictures of, Sub Lt JA Cotching and Lt WP Lucy.  Simple bases but I think quite effective.

 

You might notice theses aircraft are numbers 28 and 36 in the collection of 39 still about 7 or 8 to go..

[Cookenbacher]

Very inspirational Beema, I love studying those colour IWM photos too, and you're making a fine go at replicating them!

[Col.]

On 8/27/2021 at 6:49 AM, Grey Beema said:

Thanks Col.  I’ve kind of come to a house style for the bases.  I have them in PowerPoint so as to ensure I keep the same style.  I do have 2 Aircrew I cannot find pictures of, Sub Lt JA Cotching and Lt WP Lucy.  Simple bases but I think quite effective.

 

You might notice theses aircraft are numbers 28 and 36 in the collection of 39 still about 7 or 8 to go..

Which aircraft did Cotching and Lucy fly?

 

I did notice the numbers were out of sequence and wondered about that. 

[Grey Beema]

4 hours ago, Col. said:

Which aircraft did Cotching and Lucy fly?

 

I did notice the numbers were out of sequence and wondered about that. 

 

I now have a picture of Bill Lucy.  Mrs GB found one yesterday.  Full dress uniform and all.

 

I still don’t have a picture of SLt John Cotching.  Cotching flew with 806 NAS flying Martlet IIs with A flight off HMS Indomitable during Operation Pedestal destroying a Re2001.  He also flew Wildcat Vs off HMS Searcher during Op Tungsten.  I have built his MkII (Model#17) and have a MkV in the stash (Model#23).  Mrs GB has done a tree for his family but still no picture...

 

I have just found a picture of Hellcat W116 taking a nibble at the barrier which I believe to be JW867/W116 being modelled above

 

I have 39 aircraft targeted for my collection.  3 WIP, 8 in the stash, 3 to procure 

 

Aircraft collection in rough chronological order of Air victory..(Bold complete).

1. Skua Lucy
2. Spitfire Paul
3. Skua Bruen
4. Sea Gladiator KP
5. Hurricane Jeram
6. Hurricane Gardner
7. Hurricane Cork
8. Spitfire Blake
9. Fulmar Orr
10. Stash Fulmar Sewell
11. Stash Fulmar Brabner
12. Fulmar Barnes
13. Stash Fulmar Bruen
14. Hurricane I Trop. Charlton
15. Sea Hurricane I Cork
16. Sea Hurricane I Bruen
17. Martlet II Cothching
18. Martlet IV Jeram
19. Procure Sea Hurricane IIb Bruen
20. Seafire IIb Buchanan
21. Procure Sea Hurricane IIb Crosley
22. WIP Hellcat I Orr
23. Stash Wildcat V Cotching
24. Hellcat I Ritchie
25. Seafire III Crosley
26. Mosquito XIII Price
27. Procure Seafire III Reynolds
28. WIP Hellcat I Wilson
29. Corsair II Hay
30. Stash Corsair Sheppard
31. Stash Hellcat II Wilson
32. Seafire III Reynolds
33. Stash Hellcat II Foster
34. Firefly Stott
35. Corsair II Sheppard
36. WIP Hellcat II Atkinson
37. Hellcat II Atkinson
38. Stash Walrus
39. Seafire III Lowden.

Thanks for looking in..

[Grey Beema]

Concentrated effort to get these finished yesterday.  Completing the paintwork and weathering, fitting lights, whip aerials where appropriate.  Mixing the finish, some satin, some matt (I still might adjust that a bit).

 

I took a few Picts but I’ll try some more in better lighting today for the gallery..

 

Grumman Hellcat MkI FN411 / 5°E.  1844 NAS HMS Indomitable October 1944.

Edward Taylor (Tug) Wilson SANF (V).  3 Confirmed Aerial Victories, 3 shared Destroyed.  

 

“In the meantime the enemy made an appearance over the fleet, but were met by our Hellcats and Vics’s Corsairs.  The Corsairs shot down four and the Hellcats three, all Oscars.  Tug Wilson destroyed two and (John) Smithwick one.  They were flying with Bing (John Hawkins) and Claude (Lt RC Westfield), who was just about to press the ‘tit’ when Tug nipped in before him and shot it down.  Bing got on a Jap, but his electrics failed so his guns failed to fire”.  SLt R McKenzie

 

19.10.44 (1010) 2 x Ki-43 ‘Oscar’ Destroyed 3m S of Car Nicobar.  Hellcat I FN411/5*E

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grumman Hellcat MkII JW867 / W116.  1844 NAS HMS Indomitable, May 1944.

William “Bill” Henry Isaac Atkinson RCN 4 Confirmed Aerial Victories, 3 shared destroyed, 1 probably destroyed

 

“21st May

The one success had been when Hellcats from Indomitable on a CAP, had been vectored out to investigate a radar plot at about 30,000 feet, 36 miles from the fleet.  They found a Myrt shadowing the task force and after a brief fight it was shot down.”

 

21.05.45 Nakajima C6N ‘Myrt’ Shared destroyed Grumman Hellcat II JW867/W116

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BIG thank you to @Col. for your work on this GB.  Thank you to all who have been building as part of this Group..I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

 

Next for me is a little break then maybe a Fulmar or a Corsair, or maybe a Wildcat....

 

Thanks for looking in...

Edited September 19, 2021 by Grey Beema