Grumman F6F-5(N) Hellcat Nightfighter

[pacificmustang 87]

Great work Stefan. I’m building this kit at the moment, almost finished in fact. It goes together well. The only issue I had was fitting the exhaust pipes to the engine. I just could not get them to line up. In frustration I cut just the ends off and glued them to the sides of the fuselage. I hope you have better luck with them 

keep it going

Bruce 

[Phantom2 718]

Thanks Bruce!

 

Yes, so far it has gone together very well indeed, and it has been a really fun build so far.

 

The exhausts are the next step for me (I´m a little ahead of the tread...) and it looks overly complicated.

 

I´ll see how (IF???) it goes together as intended, otherwise I´ll do as you did.

 

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Stefan 

[dennismcc 4,002]

This is looking great, the cockpit looks very realistic, neat work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Phantom2 718]

3 hours ago, dennismcc said:

This is looking great, the cockpit looks very realistic, neat work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

Many Thanks, Dennis! 

 

Stefan 

 

 

 

[Phantom2 718]

 

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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

The new Resin wheels from BarracudaCast done;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are getting close…

 

 

 

 

More to come soon!

 

 

Stefan

Edited September 19, 2019 by Phantom2

[Out2gtcha 31,267]

Very cool, looking good

[LSP_Kevin 27,818]

Stefan, if this build is still a going concern, we'll move it over to the WiP forum, as the GB has now finished.

 

Kev

[Phantom2 718]

18 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Stefan, if this build is still a going concern, we'll move it over to the WiP forum, as the GB has now finished.

 

Kev

 

Yes, please do!

 

Thanks!

 

Stefan 

[Phantom2 718]

 

Hi all!

 

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

 

This looks really good!

 

 

 

 

Just apply liquid cement and a light squeeze….

 

 

 

 

Nice, tight fit, can you wish for more?

 

 

Flickr

 

 

Stabs and elevators done…

 

 

 

A bit of deflection on the rudders…

 

Flickr

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

…and glued in place…

 

…everything will be Dark Ocean Blue anyway.

 

 

 

 

The cowl are only a push-fit for now.

 

 

 

 

The stabilisators glued to the fuselage…

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Rudder glued….

 

 

 

 

 

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….

 

 

 

 

More to come soon…

 

 

Stefan

Edited September 29, 2019 by Phantom2

[Phantom2 718]

 

Hi All!

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

The windscreen glued and masked….

 

 

 

 

 

The canopy masked….

 

 

 

 

 

Rest of the cockpit masked off….

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

More to come soon…

 

Stefan

Edited October 23, 2019 by Phantom2

[Phantom2 718]

 

Hi all!

 

 

 

The cat is painted with Alclad Black Microfiller primer….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

More to come soon!

 

Stefan

Edited January 27 by Phantom2

[Phantom2 718]

 

Hi All!

 

 

 

 

More seam-job, It never stops…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking better….

 

 

 

 

The Radar  pod masked and more primer…

 

 

 

 

Painted in Glossy Ocean Blue, MRP-14…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 February 14 by Phantom2

[Out2gtcha 31,267]

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

[Phantom2 718]

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  

Edited February 14 by Phantom2