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

[John Stambaugh]

Throughout this build I  have been of the opinion that the work is too clean. Now I see what I could not see previously. This now to my eye looks spot on real! 

 I also agree with the assertion that too much weathering obfuscates less than optimal fit and or finish. This I myself have been guilty of. 

Bravo!

[Rocat]

Lovely update. Your canopies are always among the very best out there!

[Chek]

Salient question time: is it pronounced Groo-man (as in groom) or Grumman (as in duh).

I've always assumed the latter, but recently heard the former and it occurred to me I don't actually know for sure.

There wasn't a lot of US Navy traffic around RAF Wyton in the 1980s even though an odd Tomcat, Tracker or two would have been very welcome.

 

Usual well detailed build Chuck, although it's not convincing me to move up to 1/24 scale, even with the new Airfix Spitfire due.

(Though I might if in the impossibly unlikely event they ever did a B-I-G Phantom).

[Oldbaldguy]

22 minutes ago, Chek said:

Salient question time: is it pronounced Groo-man (as in groom) or Grumman (as in duh).

I've always assumed the latter, but recently heard the former and it occurred to me I don't actually know for sure.

There wasn't a lot of US Navy traffic around RAF Wyton in the 1980s even though an odd Tomcat, Tracker or two would have been very welcome.

 

Usual well detailed build Chuck, although it's not convincing me to move up to 1/24 scale, even with the new Airfix Spitfire due.

(Though I might if in the impossibly unlikely event they ever did a B-I-G Phantom).

GRUH-man.  I promise.

[D.B. Andrus]

Beautiful work, Chuck.

 

Cheers,

Damian

[LSP_Matt]

Awesome work Chuck...makes me want to get one!

 

Cheers Matty

[chuck540z3]

Thank you Gents!

 

April 9/22

 

 

As mentioned above, I’m running out of parts, so I must be getting near the finish line!    

 

The ending of any build is generally a big hassle for me, because a lot of what I’ve left to the end is either hard to do, or will break easily, so I need to be super careful with everything and this big monster is hard to handle in the first place.  Since my last update, I have installed the wingtip lights, guns, landing gear doors and ailerons, but the focus of this update is the bomb pylons and big drop tank.

 

 

With most of the cowlings left off the engine for maintenance, there’s no way that there would be live bombs attached to the bomb pylons, but the kit parts are made for using bombs only.  To create a strong attachment, the sway braces have a triangular insert that slips into the bomb, so it should be removed as shown below, in this case on the 1,000 lb bomb.

 

 

 

 

For reference, here’s a pic of the real deal, to show that this representation is reasonably accurate.  No circular brace pads in those early days I guess.

 

 

 

 

While the pylons above are on an F6F-3 that is light grey underneath, this 5 should have blue pylons underneath.  Thankfully the sway braces are a separate part, so it was easy to paint them a different color, in this case Alclad Steel.  They were probably blue as well, but I like the color contrast.

 

 

 

 

Now the big drop tank.  Pics of F6F-5’s in the war appear to have just as many white drop tanks as blue ones, so I assume the white ones are carry-overs from the 3’s that were already in service when the 5’s arrived.  I went with a white one, in order to show more color contrast with the predominantly blue scheme.  Note how dirty they are on this 3.

 

 

 

 

And just as dirty on 5’s….

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pic shows that I can get the tank really dirty, and still be realistic.

 

 

 

 

For some reason the kit tank has a huge insert for the front arm attachments, which is hard to fill cleanly with all the raised detail nearby.

 

 

 

 

Here’s what the tank should look like at the front, which only shows a circular reinforcement plate around each arm.

 

 

 

 

Here I have filled the big gaps with CA glue, then added circular styrene “washers” around each arm to retain some of that detail.  Since I wanted to paint the tank as a completed assembly, I also glued on the 2 U-shaped straps, which should be done while dry fitting the tank to the fuselage, to make sure you get the correct fit to the holes.  Note that the front strap is a bit longer than the rear strap, which is another reason to dry fit everything before committing to glue.

 

 

 

 

Painted with Tamiya gloss white lacquer, followed by a coat of X-22 to seal the paint.

 

 

 

 

The front fuel cap area should all be red, but I had already stuck on a red decal for the fuel cap only before I discovered this.  Oh well, good enough.

 

 

 

 

So yes, I’m preparing the tank for salt weathering to get the dirty and mottled look of the tanks above.  I considered salt weathering for the fuselage, but these late Hellcats usually weren’t that weathered, but the fuel tanks sure were.  Here’s the tank after a few iterations of salt and medium grey enamel paint, which can be wiped off with solvent if you don’t like the look, since the tank is sealed with acrylic X-22.

 

 

 

 

Unlike porous masks, salt can give you much finer and more importantly, random staining.  Rather than maybe fill in that flat spot forward of the front strap, I left it as is, as an area that may have been randomly wiped off for some reason.

 

 

 

 

Installed on the fuselage along with the bomb pylons, which really shows that I need to do more weathering to the undersides, which are far too clean.  This area won’t look as dirty as this old tank, but it still needs something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all of the holes pre-drilled, installation was easy with Gator glue, so that I didn't make a mess of the paint.

 

 

 

 

Those wheel wells need more grime as well.

 

 

 

 

While weathering is always subjective and not to everyone’s taste, I think this tank really looks the part, based upon the pics of the real deal above.

 

 

 

 

I also used a dark wash to make some of the recessed detail to pop a bit more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few additional tips:

 

Due to the variable nature of how far the front nose cowling can be installed, the cross braces usually don't fit very well.  That is why I trimmed the front tabs on the engine, to allow the nose cowling to fit more rearward, which makes the lower intake fairly flush with the bottom.  The lower cross brace (M4 & M5) should be trimmed at the front before painting, so that it inserts into the nose cowling flush and not stick out.  This will ensure that the middle tab aligns with the engine.  The side braces (M1 & M2), have a notch in them that should align with the vertical cross brace.  Mine didn't on both sides, so I trimmed them with a knife so that they would.  I also added an additional fastener to the rear of the braces, which is missing.

 

 

The brass landing gear appears to be interfering with the fit of the front gear doors (L26 & L45), which according to the instructions should fit into the slot just forward of the gear legs.  If you do that, the doors are at an extreme angle of maybe 45 degrees to the gear legs as they hit the brass, which is wrong.  The solution is to glue the doors out of the slots and directly to the leg instead, with an angle of maybe 20-25 degrees to the leg.

 

 

I still have a few more things to make up and install, like the canopy, prop of course, dorsal light and the dreaded antenna aerial which is hard to do cleanly, but I have some ideas that might make the installation not as hard as it could be.

 

 

My next update will be the completed model, maybe in a week or so.  Thanks for your continued interest in this build of 1 year.

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited April 9, 2022 by chuck540z3

[JayW]

The fuel tank really does look the part Chuck.  A show winner this will be!  

 

[CraigH]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:28 PM, Oldbaldguy said:

some of the hardware in common use today did not exist 75 or 80 years ago when WW2 era airplanes were built: Orange silicon fire sleeve is a good example, ditto worm screw hose clamps

The wormscrew hose clamp was invented in 1921 so would be entirely consistent with a WWII fighter. I shall definitely be sourcing from Chuck's source. 

[Rocat]

Beautiful and realistic work!

[crobinsonh]

Great work and the weathered tank really sets off the whole aircraft IMO.

[bdthoresen]

On 4/7/2022 at 2:34 PM, Chek said:

Salient question time: is it pronounced Groo-man (as in groom) or Grumman (as in duh).

I've always assumed the latter, but recently heard the former and it occurred to me I don't actually know for sure.

There wasn't a lot of US Navy traffic around RAF Wyton in the 1980s even though an odd Tomcat, Tracker or two would have been very welcome.

 

Usual well detailed build Chuck, although it's not convincing me to move up to 1/24 scale, even with the new Airfix Spitfire due.

(Though I might if in the impossibly unlikely event they ever did a B-I-G Phantom).

I worked for them. It is Gruh-man…….

 

Thor

[tomfomes]

Beautiful work so far (as always)! And amazing photography. Thanks for sharing with all the details and information!

 

Tomas

[chuck540z3]

Thank you Gents!

 

Well, I'm finally done!  I need to take a bunch of RFI pics in a much larger photo-booth, which I hope to do real soon- maybe even tomorrow or the next day at the latest.  I think this model turned out better than I had hoped for and although not perfect, the flaws are minimal.  Until then, here's a teaser, just 'cause.....

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[CraigH]

5 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Thank you Gents!

 

Well, I'm finally done!  I need to take a bunch of RFI pics in a much larger photo-booth, which I hope to do real soon- maybe even tomorrow or the next day at the latest.  I think this model turned out better than I had hoped for and although not perfect, the flaws are minimal.  Until then, here's a teaser, just 'cause.....

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Beautiful