F6F-5N Hellcat - Hobby Boss 1/48 Kit

[rm6239]

Hi guys

Thought I needed some more practice with wingy things, so I dug this out of the stash.



All the various pieces.



Parts of the engine.



Some artistic licence on the bombs and missles.



Floor of the cockpit.



The office itself, sorry about the shadow, just couldn't get a good photo without it.



From another angle, I'm quite happy with the cockpit.



Some other bits and pieces, the prop is almost done, interestingly Hobby Boss provide decals for the yellow tips. I just painted the prop yellow and then added the black later.



All comments welcome.

cheers

Rossco

[TRM]

Hiya Rossco!! Can't go wrong with a Hellcat!! She has some great lines!!! Seem to be making some great progress there too!! Looking forward to following along!!

[rm6239]

Hi T

It's a nuggety little plane but it did it's job in the Pacific. Plus it has a naked lady on the front .

cheers

Rossco

[TRM]

Work horse just the same...and how in the heck can you go wrong with Nose Art!!!!

[zlikovac]

Oh man, same model lay beside of me, only Italeris 1/72. Very nice to see your work.
Cheers

[robbo]

Nice choise of wingy thing you've got there Ross, got to build up my wingy stash

Looking forward to seeing this one take shape

[`Boots`]

Great choice Ross and sterling work so far.................carry on No1, all looking first class matey

[406 Silverado]

One of my fav aircraft. Great start so far Ross

[rm6239]

T, I agree mate

Z, welcome mate, 1/72 that's a scale I'm staying away from, old age and poor eyesight you know

Chriss, yeah mate just can't stop , have to have something on the go.

Robbo, don't have much of a wingy stash myself but it's growing and they are a nice diversion from the AFV's and I reckon you learn some different techniques from building and painting a plane.

Boot's, cheers mate, going to be fun to see what I can do with the simple paint scheme.

Rob, yeah there's something about it that catches the eye, it's not as glamorous as the Spitfire or Mustang but as T said above it has nice lines.

cheers

Rossco

[406 Silverado]

Yep, something about the Hellcat and Wildcat. Not to forget the Navy dive and torpedo planes as well.

[Mence]

Looking very good so far!

[rm6239]

Cheers Prof

Well I don't know if I jinxed it or not but things were going fine until it came time to attach the wings. Note to self, if they provide a wings up option take it.

If you look at the wings you will see the strut type things that are supposed to fit inside the middle fuselage piece, well they fit great, only problem is they need a fair bit of muscle power to keep them there.

After an undisclosed amount of time holding them in place and then leaving them overnight, I could see daylight through the joins, it wasn't really terrible but if you held it up to the light it was very noticeable.

So I've spent the last week trying to correct the situation.









Luckily one side was worse than the other, so with some careful work I should be able to use the good side as a template when I have to try to rescribe the panel lines.

So a bit a work still required, so a lot more filling and sanding to keep me occupied. Still apart from that little problem all seems to be going ok.......... oh darn jinxed myself again ;D.

While doing some reading trying to discover why there seemed to be an extra clear piece to add to the front of the canopy, it seems as it was an internal piece of bulletproof glass, which was interesting and saved you coping a bullet in the face at least.

cheers

Rossco

[Mence]

Sorry to read you had fit issues but good that you appear to be overcoming them!

Keep it up matey, I'm keen to see the next stage!

[TRM]

Hi Ross! Sorry to hear...but yeah, you are grabbing the reins pretty tightly now!!! Nice fix!!!

[406 Silverado]

Yep looks pretty good to me...nice fix there Ross

[rm6239]

Sorry for the late reply guys.

Prof, thanks mate, slowly getting somewhere.

ChrisS, thanks mate, ahh never seen it in other kits before.

T and Rob, thanks guys trying ;D

Well a slow week, filling and sanding then adding some primer to see how it's coming along, this morning finally decided to give it a base coat.

Used Vallejo Model Air Aluminium and got corrected by the wife who says it's A loom min um for some crazy reason. Had the most trouble I've ever had spraying Vallejo paints with this stuff, finally worked out the thinner ratio that would give me a reasonable spray.

So here it is at the moment. more work to do to fix up the filling work, but its getting there and it's kinda shiney now







You can really see the work needed on this pic.



cheers

Rossco

[TRM]

Certainly getting along on this one Rossco!! I like the Al-u-min-e-um...LOL!!! Aluminum is a tough color, shows just about everything. I use it on ship work to show where I missed seems. Looks like you have a nice coat down!! You seem to have it all under control too!! Keep it rolling!!

[406 Silverado]

Very nice, won't be long til the blue paint goes on.

[rm6239]

T, thanks mate, like the look of Aluminium but tough to get it there.

Rob, the blue is on, pictures forthcoming.

ChrisS, cheers mate, we will see how it turned out soon.

jackwagon, , not 100% happy but thought I better quit while I was ahead.

cheers

Rossco

[robbo]

Looking good and shiny Ross

[`Boots`]

Good perseverance with the strut prob Ross , she looks good with the ally on matey and i`m looking forward to seeing the Blue in place bud................top work sir and keep it rollin` ;D

[rm6239]

Robbo, cheers mate.

Boots, thanks mate, well didn't quite get the rescribed lines as prominent as I thought they were, as you will see.











I was trying to allow some of the Aluminium to show through, didn't quite get it exactly as I wanted but its pretty close. Still thinking I might have to go a bit heavier as the preshading is showing through a bit much.

Waiting on some Pro-Modellers wash to arrive (the lighter ones), meanwhile will get the decals on and begin some oil work and it should start looking ok.

Any comments appreciated.

cheers

Rossco

[rm6239]

Chris, thanks mate, hopefully it will.

cheers

Rossco

[Mence]

Looking excellent Ross, great work!

[robbo]

Ditto what Chris said, washes will do a grand job on this mate, looking great, keep it coming

[zlikovac]

I love your pre shading. Wich color you use for highlight? and second, wich version you make, night fighter or recon?
Looks great!

[406 Silverado]

looks ok in the dark blue...actually it looks great. I'm still for the two tone Navy planes. Very nice work on the pre shade

[rm6239]

Chriss67, cheers mate, I'm looking forward to it as well ;D.

Prof, thanks mate. Hopefully I don't stuff up the decals.

Robbo, looking forward to trying some Pro Modeller washes on it.

jackwagon, cheers mate, that's what I was aiming for, it's kinda worked out.

Z, Night fighter mate, though it is loaded up for a daylight raid. Paints used were, Vallejo White primer, Vallejo Model Air Aluminium, Vallejo MA Black for preshade, then Vallejo MA Blue Angel Blue for the main colour.

With the Blue, I then sprayed very thin coats and deliberately concentrated it more on some areas (that gives the patchy effect) while still using the main base colour. It's something I've been playing with last couple of builds. If you look at the drop tank you will see some of the underlaying Aluminium showing through, I sprayed a very thin coat of the blue on it. Kinda looks like the metallic paint used on cars I think.

Rob, I know what you mean, I like the two tone Navy planes as well but the one colour overall was another thing that attracted me to this build. I'm finding that I'm enjoying the mono colour schemes, whether they be Axis or Allied, the challenge being to give some life to the model.

Starting on the decals, will get some pictures up when I've got them all on. The "nakid" lady went on tonight

cheers

Rossco

[rm6239]

jackwagon, lol mate, if I paid to much attention to nakid ladies I would be the one "knackered" .



Here she is, jackwagon.










A few decals to be added underneath. Then time to begin some weathering. Waiting on some Pro Modeller washes to arrive from Hong Kong, hopefully they will arrive before Christmas.

Comments appreciated.

cheers

Rossco

[TRM]

Looking fine Rossco!! Really like the shading on this!!! Can never go wrong with nose art!!!! Get that weathering down!!!