1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat "Kicked Up A Notch": New eBook Now Available!

[John Stambaugh]

Well done. Both build and the informative tutorial.

Thank you sir, John 

[chuck540z3]

Thanks again Gents!

 

14 minutes ago, easixpedro said:

Looks amazing Chuck! Seriously, that engine is great OOB, and now it's really popping!

 

Am here to remind you as you move on with the assembly, take special care at step 200. I ended up throwing out that part as it put the whole engine assembly/cowling out of whack. (Page 6 of my build). Anxious to see how you tackle it!

-Peter

 

Peter, please post the link to your build again, because I seem to have lost it in my bookmarks.  I'm all ears when it comes to challenges that others have experienced with this kit, which can sneak up on you.  Just as I marvel at the beautiful fit of some assemblies, I find that other assemblies are not very good at all.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[JayW]

I forgot to mention Chuck - I appreciate how you always have the modeler in mind when you post your progress.  Do's and don't's, how you accomplished a task, etc.  Sharing the art so others can learn.  Not just showing your accomplishments perhaps looking for praise, or just to show eye candy.  All of us who are posting on their projects should be doing same - something I occasionally forget.      

[easixpedro]

Chuck, here you go.  Relative points are bottom of page 5 and top of page 6 (not sure why the link shows 4, but opens page 6?) Your wiring looks SO much better than mine--makes me wish I'd taken the time to get the AnyZ products!

 

1/24 F6F-5 Hellcat--In Flight - Page 4 - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

 

[chuck540z3]

40 minutes ago, JayW said:

I forgot to mention Chuck - I appreciate how you always have the modeler in mind when you post your progress.  Do's and don't's, how you accomplished a task, etc.  Sharing the art so others can learn.  Not just showing your accomplishments perhaps looking for praise, or just to show eye candy.  All of us who are posting on their projects should be doing same - something I occasionally forget.      

 

Thanks Jay, I try.  This is one of the things I learned when writing modeling articles for FineScale Modeler and now KLP Publishing.  While eye candy is nice to see, what all modelers want to know is how you did certain things, warts and all, which makes the post (or article) that much more interesting to read and see.  There's lots of other guys here that do this as well, so I'm not alone.

 

34 minutes ago, easixpedro said:

Chuck, here you go.  Relative points are bottom of page 5 and top of page 6 (not sure why the link shows 4, but opens page 6?) Your wiring looks SO much better than mine--makes me wish I'd taken the time to get the AnyZ products!

 

1/24 F6F-5 Hellcat--In Flight - Page 4 - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

 

 

Thanks Peter.  I still smile when I see that diorama, because it's so unique and well done!

 

I will pay extra attention to Steps 197 to 200, although since most of my engine will always be exposed, it's probably less of a concern.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[Michael931080]

Hey Chuck when are you going to do the test fire of the engine now that you have it all wired and plumbed?

 

My monies on it will start!

[spartacus2000]

GreatGreat job Chuck with the engine oob, for all my P&W I use the French blue from Vallejo which is appropriate in 1/48 scale, I think I will also use it for mine in 1/24 

[Rainer Hoffmann]

1 hour ago, JayW said:

I forgot to mention Chuck - I appreciate how you always have the modeler in mind when you post your progress.  Do's and don't's, how you accomplished a task, etc.  Sharing the art so others can learn.  Not just showing your accomplishments perhaps looking for praise, or just to show eye candy.  All of us who are posting on their projects should be doing same - something I occasionally forget.      

 

I 2nd that, Jay. I keep forgetting that most of the time, not only occasionally. I especially keep forgetting all the failures along the way.

 

Chuck, pristine work on the engine! I like it very much.

 

Cheers

Rainer

[John Stambaugh]

On 12/15/2021 at 12:10 PM, JayW said:

I forgot to mention Chuck - I appreciate how you always have the modeler in mind when you post your progress.  Do's and don't's, how you accomplished a task, etc.  Sharing the art so others can learn.  Not just showing your accomplishments perhaps looking for praise, or just to show eye candy.  All of us who are posting on their projects should be doing same - something I occasionally forget.      

Very good point Jay. As much as I like the pretty pics, I am mostly interested in the benefit of others experience. Chuck is doing a great service for us who wish to learn from such experts. 

[chuck540z3]

Dec 24/21

 

 

 

 

One last update before Santa arrives!  This step of adding the exhausts (Steps 172- 186) looks fairly simple, but it’s actually very hard.  As with the intake pipes, the exhausts are absolutely full of big seam lines and along tightly curved surfaces, fairly hard to remove cleanly.  There’s also a few big gaps when exhaust parts are glued together, but with lots of sanding and CA glue, you can get them looking fairly smooth.  Here they are after a coat of Alclad Steel and a hint of Alclad Copper, along with the big engine frame, Part J22, that is painted interior green after all the pin marks were removed.

 

 

 

 

Then installed, with not much to see from the front.

 

 

 

 

But a lot going on at the back, which is crowded enough already, but with spark plug wires, the installation is very tricky, so you need to take your time and go slowly, triple checking the instructions so that you don’t make any gluing errors.  Thankfully no two exhausts are even close to the same shape, so it’s probably hard to make a big mistake unless you force something.

 

 

 

 

The exhaust tips were drilled out before painting, but I found that they didn’t fit the pipes very well without leaving big gaps, so I used liberal amounts of CA glue and repainted them.

 

 

 

 

This angle shows why placing spark plugs on the back of the front cylinder bank is useless, because you can’t see any of it with all this spaghetti hanging out the back.  In order to not touch the engine more than I have to, some of the paint on the spinner and rear has eroded off as I handled it instead, which I will repair later when I’m not grabbing the engine any more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom view

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the wiring and piping finally done, I’ll be adding several parts to the back of the engine which sadly, will hide most of the rear of the engine and much of the extra work to make it look good.  Oh well, at least I’ll know it’s there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers and Merry Christmas to everyone,

 

 

Chuck

Edited December 24, 2021 by chuck540z3

[MikeMaben]

U2 Chuck  

[RLWP]

That engine has a nest of snakes on the back!

 

Thanks for sharing your work, Chuck, it's inspirational and informative. And occasionally jaw-dropping

 

Richard

[Oldbaldguy]

And Merry Christmas to you, Chuck.  Your builds are the best Christmas presents ever.  Thank you.  Ref the paint “erosion” on the accessory section and other places:  it looks to me to be in the exact same places you would expect to find wear on the 1:1 parts, so……

[JayW]

Holy mackerel Chuck.  And I thought mine looks like a spaghetti mess!  Well you still have that big Stromberg carb to detail and install, plus supercharger and carb air ducts.  Yes the engine will be a bit hidden but you and also we will know it's there anyhow.  Well done, and Merry Christmas! 

[Marcel111]

Wow the engine looks superb! The metallic finish you achieved just looks excellent, the orange wiring stands out beautifully.

 

Cheers,

Marcel