John Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 This will be my first entry. Placeholder for now. John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Hi John Lovely to see a hellcat joining the GB, I built one during the recent Single Type GB, have you decided on a colour scheme yet ? Cheers Pat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Great to see you taking part in another Matchbox GB John. We will look forward to seeing a few photos and watching this Hellcat come to life. Cheers, welcome aboard and best of luck.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Excellent choice! Always in for a Grumman aircraft! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 These are a fun model to build, as I found out in the recent Hellcat STGB. I look forward to seeing this one. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 This is a bit of a strange one. Pics below: The box assures me that it's a 1986 Matchbox kit, but it isn't. Both sprues are moulded in light grey, like a Revell produced kit. It's not unheard of to have later sprues put into earlier boxes, but that's not all. The plastic has a strange, slightly rough texture that's completely different to any Matchbox-produced or Matchbox-derived kit I've seen before. I assume this is actually a Chinese-produced kit. Nothing that suggests it won't build well enough though, so looking forward to getting a start. John 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 On 12/26/2021 at 12:29 PM, JOCKNEY said: Hi John Lovely to see a hellcat joining the GB, I built one during the recent Single Type GB, have you decided on a colour scheme yet ? Cheers Pat Well, I've always operated on the assumption that Hellcats are blue, so I'm going to move a bit away from my comfort zone here and do this one: Yes, I know that isn't a Matchbox kit 😀 The last time we were at the Scottish Nationals in Perth (sobering to realise that was in 2019) my son picked up the Eduard 2-in-1 boxing of Royal Navy Hellcats. He's built one as an Operation Tungsten aircraft, and gave me the rest. I'm going to build the Eduard kit as a MkII, so I'll do this one as a MkI. Should be fun. May well change! John 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share Posted January 3, 2022 I've had a closer look at this kit. What I thought was a rough surface texture turns out to be what looks like an aerosol primer sprayed across both sprues. It might need a bit of a polish down but it shouldn't be a problem. The underlying plastic is dark grey for the fuselage sprue and light grey for the wings. I'm reasonably sure my convalescence build back in the day was 2 shades of green. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 And probably the brightest greens imaginable ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventora3300 Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 On 03/01/2022 at 11:30, John said: I've had a closer look at this kit. What I thought was a rough surface texture turns out to be what looks like an aerosol primer sprayed across both sprues. It might need a bit of a polish down but it shouldn't be a problem. The underlying plastic is dark grey for the fuselage sprue and light grey for the wings. I'm reasonably sure my convalescence build back in the day was 2 shades of green. John The colour issue caught my eye so I rushed off to the loft to check my own copy of the kit - it is in the earlier Matchbox boxing and is indeed the two colours of green. However, I found an additional two sprues of wings in even darker green, brown even! What is going on here?? Suddenly, I've got a lot of spares! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 All you need now is two more fuselage sprues Mike @Ventora3300, there's a good carrier deck diorama in the making there! Cheers.. Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 That's pretty much how I remember it, sort of pea green and olive drab. J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 Or the first Hellcat Biplane, it does seem a shame to waste those extra wings 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 Righty ho then, let's get going. Wings first. The engineering leaves a gap on the top surface and on this example at least, it leaves quite a gap: My favourite method of filling long thin gaps is to let in a bit of Microstrip: Much better! I'll go on with painting the other parts. Apart from the markings this build will be OOB. That's the plan. It may well change 😀 John 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 A nice quick build of the airframe: You can see the filled joins in the upper wing. The wings aren't a particularly good fit, the joining face of the wings seems to have a slight curve. This needed a bit of filling but it's all on the underside. First thin coat of Humbrol 27 Sea Grey as a primer. Doesn't half show up the depth of the Matchbox panel lines. John 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Good progress John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimJ Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 That's come together quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Crickey… this Hellcat is almost done John… excellent progress. Looking good. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 I've been throwing some paint at the 'Cat. It needs a bit of a tidy up. Colours are Humbrol 27 Sea Grey for the...Sea Grey and Humbrol 108 RFC Green for the Olive Drab. The Sky is Humbrol 23 and the insides are 151 Interior Green. Once I'm happy with it I'll add the decals. John 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Looks good John, coming on nicely. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 I was going to use some of the decals from my Eduard Hellcat for this build, but naw: Oot the box 😀 As usual, old Humbrol square bottle Decal Cote that's gentle on the old sheets and they work fine. John 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Good call on the decals John, they look beaut. 👍 Steve. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 I agree, those kit decals do look great and the overall model is turning out beautifully John. Well done. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 Just about there: Apologies for the stark photo. I left my Lumix at work and I've been relying on my Samsung Galaxy which, while a good camera, isn't in the same league. The model needs aerial and prop finished and a few paint touch-ups then we'll call it done. Good fun, but there have been a lot of much better Hellcat kits since the middle 1970s. John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now