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1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat


Gisbod

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On 6/30/2019 at 10:21 AM, Gisbod said:

Thanks Ryan and Wingman ;)

 

I’ve made a start this morning and it’s going together surprisingly quickly. I’m getting as much sticking together done on the interior as I can before paint. 

 

As mentioned before, the plastic is fairly soft, the cockpit floor seems a teeny bit warped - but should squeeze into shape ok. I’ve done a test fit of the fuselage halves and it goes together - with the internals fitted - with some pressure. I’ll have to keep an eye on that as I progress. Not quite a snap build.

 

That said, it’s a fun build already - it’s a lovely scale to work with ie it’s not too fiddly.

 

Here are some progress pictures.

 

 

ECF4-DF8-E-1884-417-E-9-DCB-AC932738-C73

 

 

A few sink holes to fill:

 

 

7-D8513-D0-3-BF5-4-E99-987-B-61-C917412-

 

 

27-BB3-B1-D-E6-D2-494-F-BDB2-A688-DD62-B

 

 

50058-F0-F-518-E-4-FE0-91-A7-570-D1-D167

 

 

The first part of the Airscale set fitted (kit detail sanded off)

 

9867311-C-E10-C-4-AA4-AF0-D-E0-F307569-A

 

 

BA259-F70-EFB7-4597-9865-CD286-B9799-F1.

 

 

 

I’ll need to add some kind of seat cushion to replace the kit one moulded with straps.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

 

Guy

looks great so far. the seat cushion you're referring to was actually the pilot's life raft or "dingy" as referred to in the U.K. 

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Hi All,

 

Thanks for the great input. I think my idea of a 3 tone is dwindling, but the midnight blue will be a challenge which could be interesting , and still the option of the FAA scheme.

 

Back from Holidays, but away this weekend then straight back into a 5 day work trip, so this won’t be an overly quick build. 

 

I have, however, completed most of the internal structure of the wings, most won’t be visible and credit to Airfix for the level of detail here. It is though, fairly complex, compounded by having one wing folded - it’s a bit of a nightmare flicking back and forth through endless instructions to accommodate this, it was for me at least! 

 

Everything has fitted very well, although a few parts have come slightly warped, so a bit of gluing & clamping required in places...

 

Guy

 

 

A110-DC38-E849-4136-A921-EB57822-EDE15.j

 

 

Nice view of the stressed skin effect:

 

 

292-F5-E01-5460-4-C7-F-A888-DCEC7418-EFC

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Gisbod
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On 7/14/2019 at 12:40 PM, Randy said:

       Detail & Scale had a simple line drawing of an F6F-5 showing these plates, but I would never consider that an accurate resource.

 

Why not ? The drawing is by Dana Bell , I don't think he would hypothesize on something like that. 

 

:shrug:

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I’m back for a few days :)

 

I’ve spent quite a lot of time cleaning up the engine parts and I’ve finally got a coat of primer on. The engine parts fit is very good, but very tight! Hoping to get some colour down before I’m away again.

 

Guy

 

 

A319175-F-CF1-A-481-D-BA17-D1-A70524-CD9

 

 

 

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18 hours ago, Gisbod said:

Well, I’m back for a few days :)

 

I’ve spent quite a lot of time cleaning up the engine parts and I’ve finally got a coat of primer on. The engine parts fit is very good, but very tight! Hoping to get some colour down before I’m away again.

 

Guy

 

 

A319175-F-CF1-A-481-D-BA17-D1-A70524-CD9

 

 

 

Hey Gisbod

 Is the engine glued together? If it is you are never going to get it onto the cowl mouting part.

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Looks great Guy! 

 

According to this website, the NAVY switched to the overall gloss sea blue right around the same time as the F5 variant was released, but it mentions that some of the very first F5 variants had the older paint scheme.

 

If that is accurate, I would say you have some license to deviate away from an all blue look if you don't like that.

 

http://christophe.arribat.pagesperso-orange.fr/profil/f6f/f6f.html

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On 7/7/2019 at 7:07 AM, Madmax said:

Looking good Guy!

 

I think the debate over stressed-skin is going to become a matter of taste. Depending on light source, period photo's do seem to support Airfix's approach...

 

Stresskin-M.jpg

 

wing-XL.jpg

 

Sean

the skin was definitely stressed out of the factory. it's just that Airfix has overdone the effect by making it too uniform and ubiquitous. it's a great first step on their part and the kit seems excellent overall

Edited by thunderbolt1988
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