Finally finished - a 1/32 Hellcat - lotsa pics

[Gigatron]

Hey gang,

Well, after 6 weeks of work, she's finally finished, my hasegawa 1/32 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. It's a combination of stock, resin, photoetch and scratchbuilt parts.

Except for the 1/72 FineMold Tie fighter I knocked out a couple of months ago, this is the first model I've built in 17 years.

Anyway on to the pics

Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

-Fred

 

[Tordoc]

If that's your first model in 17 years, I want some of what your smoking!! Excellent job. :thumbsup It's seems you have the same problem that I do. If you sprayed future as your clear coat, it seems a bit bumpy. Try some fine steel wool or even a cotton cloth and try smoothing it down. If anyone has a better idea I'd love to know.

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

I'm pretty sure thinning the future with water works for smoothing it out.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Superior.
Master job.

My father worked on Hellcats.

You have done the Grumman bird justice.

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, guys !

On another board that I frequent, somesone suggested that the orange peel effect may be caused by spraying the Future at too high of a PSI.

I wonder if I can respray the future and fix it.

CessnaDriver, that really means a lot, thanks :$

-Fred

 

[Smiling Demon]

WOW, that is beautiful.
I love old plane models.

Good job!

Kenny

 

[OhioAstromech]

WOW! I thought people only did Sci-Fi themed kits in the RPF but this prooves me wrong.
I'm a firm believer in if it looks good leave it alone.
I'd hate to see you take the next step and end up unhappy.
You could always build the kit again and improve on your technique.
HECK!...I've built three 1/72 B-52D's and I'm getting ready to build my 4th for a friend and each one looks better than the last.
Keep up the good work.

Scot

 

[Robert McLain]

Nice Work! I've always been fond of the late war all over Dark Sea Blue Paint job.

Robert

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks again, guys. For as frustrating as some parts of this build were, I really enjoyed doing it. I don't know If I'd build another right away though. Especially since there are so many aftermarket parts on there (cockpit, engine and photoetch all over the place). I may take a few weeks off and then start looking at my next build, a Trumpeter 1/32 P-38 Lightening.

BigVade, the monotone dark sea blue was one of the factors as to why I chose this variant. I was a bit hesitant to try my hand at a tri-color sheme, especially knowing the amount of detail I was going to be putting in. I didn't want to go through 6 weeks of scratchbuilding only to destroy it with a terrible paint job.

The kit gave enough parts to do either a -3 or a -5 and decals for a few different -3s, -5s and a Royal Navy fighter, so if anyone is interested in any of those variants, I highly recommend this kit.

-Fred

 

[SmilingOtter]

Beautiful job!

 

[Hollowdimension]

Nice work. I like the weathering on the exhaust manifold.

 

[Tosprops]

Spectacular!

 

[swfan]

Awesome job. I have that kit too. I need to make it some day. Its among the other boxes of unfinished models.

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks again, guys :cool

I'm going to try and add some pastel chalk weathering this weekend and see if I can't enhance the exhaust stain that is really, really hard to see.

I'll post new pics if it works out :confused :confused

-Fred

 

[mjhenks]

Very nice. If you do the P-38 please post pictures.

 

[pghfett]

Excellent job - very nice detail ! :thumbsup

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, guys :thumbsup

I've had to put the Lightning on hold for now, until I find it at a decent price.

Right now I'm in the middle of an OOB Hasegawa A6M5c Zeke. And next up is going to be a hyper-detailed 1/48 Hasegawa F4U Corsair Though I usually don't purchase a new kit until I'm finished with the one I'm building, I needed some supplies to finish the Zeke, so I threw the F4U and detail set on the list.

-Fred