IainM Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Hi all After lurking in the shadows, I've eventually got my act together and am starting a post regarding my first build here on LSP . I've built quite a few kits, but this one is going to be my first in the public domain.....I know that there is an "In the Navy" GB going on, but I'm not sure I'll make the deadline for that GB, so didn't post this there. It's going to be a kitbash of the Hasegawa and Trumpeter Hellcats - if it goes that far - but my plan is to use the Hasegawa fuselage mated to the Trumpeter wings, as both kits IMO have their good and bad points. I've got a fair bit of AM to throw at it, and I know there will be some scratch-building required as well.... My overall problem with the Trumpeter kit is the fuselage - it looks way too blown and rounded, it should be more slab-sided, and the Hasegawa fuselage is way better (not perfect) in that respect! I do however like the Trumpy wings more than the Hasegawa offering (sans the Trumpeter mad riveter offering which will have to be addressed), hence foray into a kitbash. If it will turn out that way we'll have to see, I might end up doing a full Hasegawa if it's going to cause to many issues. But I do enjoy a challenge.....(ask my Revell Ju88C-6...it lived - many times it came close to doing a first and final flight into a wall) Here's pictures of the Trumpeter vs Hasegawa fuselages and cowls - you can see how bloated the Trump kit is... Trumpeter left, Hasegawa right. Hasegawa is not perfect, but it's a lot better!! Hasegawa Left, Trumpeter right. The Hasegawa cowl is WAY better than the Trumpeter. Might have to work on the chin and grin a bit, but I'll have a look once I've checked it against my cross-sections and references. So here we go. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures as I go along If anyone has sage advice, please chip in!! Iain Anthony in NZ, Cheetah11, Fanes and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Cool! Kev Martinnfb and IainM 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted March 22, 2021 Author Share Posted March 22, 2021 Well well....as luck would have it..... I put up the Hasegawa fuselage against the Trumpeter wings, and something was WAAAAAAY off. The chord length of the Trumpeter wing is quite a bit longer than the Hasegawa one. So I downloaded some plans from the net, and offered up the Hasegawa fuselage to these plans, which I hoped I have scaled up correctly. Here what I got... As you can see, the fuselage falls way short of the plans, which would explain the longer chord wings of the Trumpeter kit. Perhaps they got that right? It looks as if the Hasegawa fuselage and cowl are too short.....so....options are to either scrounge another Hasegawa kit and cut/join to get the length to match the Trumpeter chord length and do some work on the cowl, or just go with the Hasegawa kit warts and all, rebuild the horrific gear bays, rescribe, etc, etc. Methinks the 2nd option might be easier in the long run. It'll still look like a Hellcat in the end. However, I'm putting this thing into hibernation for the moment, I've just ordered a book with decent scale plans from Hannants to see whether the plans above are actually correct. This will influence my decision....so hibernation begins! Anthony in NZ, Martinnfb, CShanne and 5 others 5 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themongoose Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) Will look forward to the reboot. It’s always something with these special projects Edited March 22, 2021 by themongoose IainM and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Andrus Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 Hi Iain Looking at your plans they appear to be very skewed. I did a quick fuselage length measurement of both the Has and Tru kits and they both come out pretty close to each other and the factory dimensions. Hope the book you get from Hannant's are accurate enough to put you back on the path to construction. I'm very much looking forward to your build! Cheers, Damian IainM, Troy Molitor and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted March 22, 2021 Author Share Posted March 22, 2021 40 minutes ago, D.B. Andrus said: Hi Iain Looking at your plans they appear to be very skewed. I did a quick fuselage length measurement of both the Has and Tru kits and they both come out pretty close to each other and the factory dimensions. Hope the book you get from Hannant's are accurate enough to put you back on the path to construction. I'm very much looking forward to your build! Cheers, Damian Yep, same here! With the Trumpy wings being MUCH larger than the Hasegawa one's I'll probably end up just going with the full Hasegawa kit, I think mating those two will be too much for my limited abilities. At least with the new book I'll be able to make accurate determination of the panel lines etc I'll be having to rescribe, etc. D.B. Andrus and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hansen Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 On 3/22/2021 at 4:43 PM, IainM said: Yep, same here! With the Trumpy wings being MUCH larger than the Hasegawa one's I'll probably end up just going with the full Hasegawa kit, I think mating those two will be too much for my limited abilities. At least with the new book I'll be able to make accurate determination of the panel lines etc I'll be having to rescribe, etc. Hi Ian, I just saw your comparison of the Hasegawa fuselage to the drawings made by Junpei Temma. I think there may have been distortion caused by the enlargement process. Now i personally feel the Hasegawa kit has got some issues with the profile of the windscreen and the length of the canopy, but those are the only issues that really jumped out at me. Having said that, Junpei Temma is a very thorough researcher (not to mention a hell of a model builder), and if the 32nd scale Hasegawa kit was *that* far off in length and chord, i think we would have heard about it already. IMHO it is still a better starting point than the Trumpeter kit. Just my thoughts. Don't be discouraged. -d- Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 G'day Iain, Firstly, congratulations on posting your build here! I look forward to following along as I have the Hasegawa kit in the stash too. Secondly, comparing kits to drawings is always at the least a challenge, at the worst, downright confusing! It truely amazes me how kit manufacturers can go so far wrong at times but they do. Quite often, the most reliable resource is the Mk1 eyeball and sound judgement. Where I need further clarity (depending on the subject) aircorps library goes a long way to helping out with specific shapes. Here's a quick set of screen grabs from their Hellcat folder: The dimensions may be hard to read as these are screenshots, but happy to provide some clarity on dimensions if you need them. At the end of the day, it's up to you how far you go. I personally have no issues cutting kits into many pieces (if you've seen my builds ) but there's nothing wrong with building from the box either, or somewhere in between. Whatever path you go, I look forward to seeing your progress! Cheers, Craig Madmax, MikeMaben, Troy Molitor and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 @brahman104 Thanks Craig, that'll be a BIG help! Yep, I don't have an issue with destroying a kit to make a better one either, but I've got to have certainty I'm doing the right thing . My bias is leaning heavily towards the Hasegawa kit on it's own though.... brahman104 and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 5 hours ago, David Hansen said: Hi Ian, I just saw your comparison of the Hasegawa fuselage to the drawings made by Junpei Temma. I think there may have been distortion caused by the enlargement process. Now i personally feel the Hasegawa kit has got some issues with the profile of the windscreen and the length of the canopy, but those are the only issues that really jumped out at me. Having said that, Junpei Temma is a very thorough researcher (not to mention a hell of a model builder), and if the 32nd scale Hasegawa kit was *that* far off in length and chord, i think we would have heard about it already. IMHO it is still a better starting point than the Trumpeter kit. Just my thoughts. Don't be discouraged. -d- Hi David! Thanks for that input. Yep, totally agree with your comments regarding Junpei Temma, have seen what awesome work he did with his 1/48th F6F build, hence my path down this road. If the Hasegawa kit turns out to be a couple of mils out here and there, plus the windscreen/canopy issue, that's something I'll be able to live with. I don't have a second kit to graft together like he did, and yes, the Hasegawa kit is way better than the Trumpeter offering... Cheers Iain Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Glad I could help! Craig IainM and Martinnfb 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 I am also very keen to see this project come out of hibernation Iain! The 1970's Hasegawa kits certainly are surprising for their age - but understandably not all good surprises... . IainM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorvi Posted July 27, 2023 Share Posted July 27, 2023 My vote goes for the Hasegawa kit. Easier to correct . Some of Trumpeter flaws are too much to correct and the price difference in the kit too?? Steve, IainM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hansen Posted July 27, 2023 Share Posted July 27, 2023 Iain, the plans from England you spoke of- Would those be the A.L. Bentley plans? I've seen a scaled down version and they look very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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