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Grumman F6F-5(N) Hellcat Nightfighter


Phantom2

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  • 9 months later...

 

Hi All!

 

With the engine, cockpit and fuselage halves done, there´s only one thing left to do.

 

It´s time getting the fuselage together!

 

 

But, before that, there´s actually one, last thing to do on the Trumpy Hellcat.

As we all know by now, the fuselage Is a bit ”fat” , but the Hellcat ain´t fat, It´s a lean, mean cat.

The fuselage should be more of a triangular shape, sides should be ”slab”-shaped and the back should be more of a razor-back.

 

You can see that I have sanded down the sides on the fuselage formers to a more correct shape (as much as I dared to).

I also had to shave off a lot of  plastic (2-3mm in total) from the top as they now overlapped quite a bit,  to be able to close the top seam properly.

 

A very simple fix that takes about 10min to do, but the model looks so much better now!

Unfortunatly I forgot to take any pictures, sorry.

 

 45091004455_b35a81272e.jpg

 

Everything fitted as it should, excellent, even if I had to apply a bit of force in places.

 

 32131746628_35c077f73c.jpg

 

 

The new Resin wheels from BarracudaCast done;

 

 

44186616280_02087ecc9e.jpg

 

 

 

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A small gap in front of the cockpit that I filled with some plasticard

 

 

44186629970_ba70055b2b.jpg

 

 

 

31063605237_1e82b7021c.jpg

 

 

Test fitting of the cowl, now the prop is at a more correct distance from the cowl.

 

Trumpeters R2800 is a kit in itself and a very good one too, but it is about 2mm too long between the cylinder rows, thus the propeller also will sit too far from the cowl.

 

With this engine I have built six of these now, I have learnt that If I shave off 2mm of plastic between the cylinder banks, the props will sit correctly.

 

 

31063605327_2eeef2452f.jpg

 

 

 

 

44186629840_4ddeb4f333.jpg

 

We are getting close…

 

31063605087_e4b3d25efb.jpg

 

 

 

More to come soon!

 

 

Stefan

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Hi all!

 

OK, first of all, we´ll do a dry-run of the wings and cowl…..

 

This looks really good!

 

 

44186629680_c75b8cbace_c.jpg

 

 

Just apply liquid cement and a light squeeze….

 

 

31063604967_d233083707_c.jpg

 

 

Nice, tight fit, can you wish for more?

 

 

44186629180_0b328536b3_c.jpgFlickr

 

 

Stabs and elevators done…

 

 

46143493542_cb0a0e0735_c.jpg

 

A bit of deflection on the rudders…

 

46143494492_30d0592e25_c.jpgFlickr

 

 

Landing gears done (will add brake-lines later...)….

 

 

46143493472_8e0fda23e9_c.jpg

 

 

…and glued in place…

 

…everything will be Dark Ocean Blue anyway.

 

 

44376936370_bbe9221f3e_c.jpg

 

 

The cowl are only a push-fit for now.

 

 

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The stabilisators glued to the fuselage…

 

 

46143494242_9d8001b412_c.jpg

 

 

 

I almost destroyed the tailwheel (against my lamp…) and had to fix it with a bit of plastic rod and now it´s totally rigid again.

 

 

46143494292_8b901b3d8f_c.jpg

 

 

Rudder glued….

 

 

 

46143493972_7bd4043292_c.jpg

 

 

The Cat grows fast, now you can see how big this aeroplane relly was, It´s huge, as big as a P-47!

 

Alerions and flaps assembled….

 

 

46143493782_7a1674c238_c.jpg

 

 

More to come soon…

 

 

Stefan

Edited by Phantom2
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  • 4 weeks later...

 

Hi All!

 

 

This will be good, the nose of the gear housing almost in line with the cowl….

 

 

46143493242_6b411cc961_c.jpg

 

 

The engine masked off as I have to paint the firewall, I forgot that ”minor” detail, DOH….

 

 

46513509741_da661d7472_c.jpg

 

 

 

The windscreen glued and masked….

 

 

 

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The canopy masked….

 

 

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Rest of the cockpit masked off….

 

 

 

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The windscreen and canopy painted with interior Green (Hu226) and seam-check….

 

 

46884583541_1a20e4d97f_c.jpg

 

 

More to come soon…

 

Stefan

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  • 3 months later...

 

Hi all!

 

 

 

The cat is painted with Alclad Black Microfiller primer….

 

 

47981018821_239ec77be1_c.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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The radar pod was white, so that´s what I painted with Alclad White Microfiller Primer…..

 

 

 

48407028257_35dd4f3e10_c.jpg

 

 

More to come soon!

 

Stefan

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Hi All!

 

 

 

 

More seam-job, It never stops…

 

 

 

48826312726_2dd5a1b79c_c.jpg

 

 

 

Looking better….

 

 

48825939708_a8e1480e93_c.jpg

 

 

The Radar  pod masked and more primer…

 

 

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Painted in Glossy Ocean Blue, MRP-14…

 

 

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Marvellous paint!

 

It goes on very easy and super smooth and dries with a slight satin sheen.

I expected some problems with how well it would cover the black primer.

No worries, it covered perfectly well and I used only 1/3 – 1/2 a bottle, much better then I expected!

 

More to come!

 

Stefan

Edited by Phantom2
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9 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Great results! I will be using the same MRP color on my F7F when the time comes.....glad to know it sprays well!

 

Thanks Brian!

 

I think the color is spot on.

 

Just remember to give the bottle a THOROUGH shake before painting, and shake it between refilling your paint cup, the pigments sink really fast! 

 

Stefan  :D

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  • 6 months later...

 

 

 

Hi All!

 

 

Time for the exhausts!

 

First I started with glueing the exhaust stubs with their flame dampeners (pointy ends).

Then I could fit the lines between the tips and the correct cylinder, a rather backwards way of doing it, but It worked like a charm!

 

 

48920112851_fdf210b902_c.jpg

 

 

This job was a very fiddly undertaking, but the parts fitted very well, so one piece at a time, slowly and steady….

 

 

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Finally, all pipes in place!

 

 

 

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Some more paint touch-up and a final wash later;

 

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My camera gives too much light as the model is so dark, but it looks really good IRL.

 

 

More to come soon!

 

Stefan

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  • 10 months later...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi All!

 

DECAL TIME!

 

I have tried to get some better decals for the Hellcat and there´s a lot to the usual variants, but the night fighters are mostly forgotten!

 

Ah well, I´ll have to use the ones in the kit, they usually work really well, but may not be 100% correct.

 

There´s mostly white decals and they seem to be well porportioned to me and they are usually very easy to use.

 

IMG_5024

 

But it ought to be banned to print white decals on a white backing! :angry2:

 

 

 

This aircraft have nose-art which was very unusual on Hellcat´s.

 

The morale was very low in this outfit so nosse art was allowed to get the fighting spirit´s up.

 

Not too many decals to apply…

 

 

IMG_5025

 

First decals was the beautiful pin-up girl!

 

IMG_5027

 

All decals are on the kit….

 

IMG_5029

 

The decals were thin and they settled perfectly, even in the panel lines, wth some Micro-set and -sol.

 

No bleed trough in spite of the dark background color, Trumpeter´s decals are good!

 

IMG_5062

 

 

 

 

IMG_5063

 

I forgot to fill the holes for the extra tank, DOH!

 

A plastic rod of the correct diameter and some CA glue solved the problem!

 

IMG_5064

 

 

 

More to come!

 

Stefan

 

Cheers!

Edited by Phantom2
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