BrandonK

Here we go folks. The kit I have been Jones'n to build for sometime now. The Hobby Boss F6F Mk II Hellcat for the British Fleet Arm 1945. This is being done for the 1945 GB, but I am posting this WIP so those of you who don't follow the GB's can follow along.

I plan to build this OOB with no aftermarket or scratch items. With my initial inspection of the kit it should go smoothly, but you can never tell 'till it's done.

Upon opening the box I found every item neatly packed and rapped to protect it from damage. They even went further to protect the plastic parts by rapping them in foam and plastic bags. The glass is super clear and free of defects. ALL the parts on the trees are super nice, sharp, highly detailed and FREE of any flash. I am blown away by how clean this kit is. 

The paint call outs are for Mr Color, which is nice because that is my preferred paint at the moment, but Tamiya will have to fill in on some colors, NP. 

The instructions are easily the most understandable and most descriptive of any kit I have yet to work with. 

BK

 

Toshi

Very nice kit you have there.  I have the HSG in the stash and it seems like you are describing the same kit ie nce and clean and well packaged.  I'll be watching with interest and TY for posting.

Will be following along.

Mike

I have to say that the fit of the parts on this kit are exceptional. So far the kit has been a dream to work with.

I have managed to complete the cockpit which is painted Field Green. Funny thing is I knew I had some of that, but I just could not locate it. So, I used my iModelKit and mixed up some Tamiya XF-58 and X-3 in a 5:1 ratio and sprayed it on. I then found that I had missed two parts for paint and suddenly found my Field Green and it was a near perfect match. Lucky !!

I also assembled and sprayed the engine supports and bulkhead in Mr Color 27, Interior Green and the oil tank called for Red, so it got a coat of Mr Color 3. I completed the interior with hand painted switches and buttons from photos of some F6's and used the decal sheet for the instruments. The kit comes with decals for the whole cockpit, but I think they look better painted. I just hate painted gauges, and they weren't detailed up anyway, so a decal is what it got. I think it came out pretty nice. I also dry brushed some silver here and there, especially over the seat for wear and over the fuselage where the pilot climbs in and out.

I have dry fitted the two fuselage halves and they are very clean and tight. I shouldn't need any filler there. Next I am off to paint and assemble the engine, landing gear and wheels/tires as well as interior wheel bays. This thing should really move along now.

BK

BK

I'm following this one closely. I have been toying with the idea of getting this kit. I also want to do the Eduard kit with the bloodshot eyes and teeth.

-BD-

I gotta tell you guys that this Hobby Boss kit is just fantastic. It fits together beautifully and has nearly no flash to clean up. I am so impressed with the quality of this kit I will not hesitate to get another one and buy other HB kits in the future. Truly stunning quality here.

Okay, moving along now. I have the fuselage closed up and couldn't quite get rid of the seam to my liking so I used some Mr Surfacer 500 in the spots I could catch with my finger nail and smoothed it down. Once I primer I shouldn't have any seams showing.

I do have one issue with the kit that I think they could have avoided. Where the lower wing assembly attaches to the belly of the plane is an access panel and a panel line. In building the kit they could have made this seperation AT the panel line, but they made it at the PANEL instead and this gives you a seam that is not necessary and will require some work to remove it from view. 

With some work and to applications of Mr Surfacer 500 I was able to make the seam disappear and retain the panel and the panel line detail. Again, simply moving this in the design would have completely eliminated this issue.

Here are some shots of what the work looks like now that I am done polishing the surface smooth.

This update is gonna be a tad lenghty, but some folks keep asking me how I do the Nav light Mod. SO, I took extra pictures this time and I will explain it in better detail. 

Each time I do this I am blown away by how good it looks when done. Painted Nav lights just don't help the kit, any kit, look real, it kills the effect. I saw this technique somewhere that I just can't remember, so I am not taking credit for figureing it out, but I have done it several time now I am love the results.

Here goes. You will need to remove the area of the wing that is the Nav light using whatever means you like. I have cut them out, I've filed them off and this time I used sprue cutters and then filed it clean. Basically you only want to remove the LENS of the Nav lights and nothing more.

Once you have the cutouts cleaned up, drill a small hole in the center of the opening to hold just a dab of red or green paint. I use Tamiya X-7 and X-15, I find they give the best color for the lamps when lit. Let the paint dry completley. You can see the sprue I have cut and shaped in the shot with the paints.

Once the paint is good and dry you will need to cut clear sprue about 1/4 inch long, you need two. Using a flat sanding board place a flat spot along the cut sprue and then turn the sprue 90 degrees and do it again. This is the tricky part as this 90 degree flat area is where that will rest against the wing when attached, so it needs to be pretty close to your cutouts in size.

Using thick CA glue I apply the sprue into the cutouts and let them dry overnight. The next day I double check they are good and secure and begin sanding them to fit the wing profile. I start with by applying tape over the wing to prodtect them during the sanding process. Using medium sanding sticks and getting the correct shape I then go to find to perfect the lens shape and then I move onto the 3 stages of polishing the wing and lens. I have the tape removed at this stage.

Once I have completed the work the new Nav lights look real and lit up. The only thing left to do is mask them up for painting. Make sure that the size of the mask matches the other wing. This is your chance to make them the EXACT same size. Any paint that shows on the wing under the edge of the light will be painted over and disappear. Any size variation in the cutouts you made will also be eliminated by your masking efforts here, so be precise. 

Once you have this done it will make you kit look just that much more stunning.

Thanks for looking guys,

BK

Unreal progress, thanks for sharing!

That's very cool! Thanks for walking through it. Great results!

Ty for the excellent explaination on the nav lights and well done as well.  I'm adding this to my bag of tricks.

Good progress so far. I thnk the Hellcat looks great in FAA scheme. I can't wait to see the paint.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the postive comments. More to come soon.

BK

lawdog114

If I'm not mistaken, the HB kit is the only one you fold the wings with out of the box. Looking good and I'm looking forward to your progress.

 

You can indeed fold the wings. I think, now that I've built it with wings down, that it is truly engineered for wings folded. It has a decent fit with them down, but I'm not perfectly happy with that fit. Had to use a bit of filler. It looks good, but like I said, when I do another one of these I will certainly fold the wings instead. I just think it will build better that way. Save the wings down for the Eduards kits.

BK

Very cool BK, I still haven't built any Hellcat, Wildcats, etc in the British scheme- she's going to look very cool completed. 

And thanks for the tip on the wing lights. I've seen you or someone here do this before but haven't had the guts yet to try it. 

I going to build one of these soon so I'm enjoing learning from your wip

Well, I am making some progress. I am really starting to get busy with work and my builds will slow greatly in a few days so I pushing to get this one done soon.

I managed to get it fully assembled, primed and sanded to a baby smooth finish. I sat and pre-shaded it today and I hope to get the Sky belly painted this afternoon.

BK

You should check with FSM and see if they have done an article and how to on the nav light upgrade....if not write and article and submit it with your pics for publication in the mag..........  I'm adding it to the bag as well.  I noticed you said you use CA, any issues with fogging with it, if not, which one do you use.  I'll probably go with 5 min epoxy just as a preference and not take a chance.

Nice work so far. 

goldhammer

You should check with FSM and see if they have done an article and how to on the nav light upgrade....if not write and article and submit it with your pics for publication in the mag..........  I'm adding it to the bag as well.  I noticed you said you use CA, any issues with fogging with it, if not, which one do you use.  I'll probably go with 5 min epoxy just as a preference and not take a chance.

 

Nice work so far. 

 

No fogging because there is zero air space against the wing. The rest of the sprue is sanded down and polished till it's crystral clear. I use a thick CA from ZAP because I need it to fill the gaps to to an unperfect fit. Thin CA would leave gaps and ruin the effect.

BK

lawdog114

Looking great Brandon. Digging the navigation light trick too and I may try it. What grade sanding sticks do you finish with? The finest grade my paper goes is 2000 grit I think. .I usually paint the light silver then add the appropriate Tamiya clear color over it.....but I like your idea better. Joe

 

I'm not sure what grade that sanding sticks are but the ones I use are made to sand and polish plastic like canpoies. So when you  are done there is no haze and no scratches, perfect clearity.

Here is the name of the one stick that does all the final polishing in 3 steps, works fantastic.

Revell flexible sanding stick 3-way rmxr7010

BK

that's some nice cockpit detail. Is that straight from the box?!

CallSignOWL

that's some nice cockpit detail. Is that straight from the box?!

 

Yes sir, other than the Nav lights this kit is 100% OOB. It is one of the finest quality kits I have seen to date. It it easily as good as the Tamiya Corsair. 

One thing I haven't mentioned yet it the clear parts. They are exceptional. In that they are super clean and clear and THIN, almost vacumn formed thin, but not quite. Easier to work with but they really are very nice.

BK

Update:

I managed to get all the white bands painted and masked off. Today I sprayed the Sky on the belly using Tamiya XF-21 and X-2 in a 5:1 ratio to fade the color a bit. I then reduced the XF-21 further with more X-2 and faded the fabric control surfaces just a bit more.

I don't know how long you guys spend painting, but I think I finally found my method. It took me 2.5 hours to spray the Sky on the belly. I filled each panel seperately and reduced the pre-shading until I was happy with the panel and moved on. Once I had it all covered I painted it overall, faster and from a greater distance to further reduce the pre-shading. I am finally pleased with my results. It takes me quite a while, but if that's what it take, then that's what it takes. 

I may get some time Monday to shoot the first upper color, but then I'll be quite busy and will have to set it aside for the rest of the week. More updates as time permits.

Thanks for looking,

BK