I needed something quick and easy...

  It's like Frank Sintra said, "Nice and easy does it every time."  Those simpler kits are a godsend, aren't they?  Every few years I seem to cycle through a modeling funk.  Whenever that happens, I step away for a few weeks and shove aside whatever I might be working on at the time.  That's when I break out a great, simple, little model kit to reignite the modeling spark.  For me, it's been the 1/48 Revell P-51B, the Monogram A-37, etc that have saved me in the past.  Great kits.  Good fit.  Low part count.  Those are the kits I can knock out of the park and get the *** flowing again.

Eric

PS.  Great looking Hellcat so far!  I've never built an Otaki kit before.  How are they?

I'm impressed with the quality of the mold and the detail and the fit. A very little bit of flash but not like an old Airfix. I don't know how old this kit is, but it's right up there with the more complex kits of today. Otaki also has an F4U-1 and a P-40E that might be worth a look.

Yep, when I get the stagnation funk I take a break for a week or two then grab a Tamiya kit from the stash.  One quick and easy build is all it takes to restart the ***!

I put the canopy on yesterday and spent this morning masking the canopy. I tried something new for me: I brushed on Elmer's glue for a few of the curved areas rather than try to cut masking tape to get the correct curve. We'll see. Later today I'll glue on the wings and the horizontal tail surfaces. Should be ready for primer in a day or two.

So far this Hellcat has been such a great build. I'm so glad I pulled it out of the stash when I did. It's almost ready for primer. I put the cowl ring on this morning but before I did I stuff some tissue over the motor to protect it when I paint. I'll shoot some green zinc chromate over the canopy before I shoot the gray primer. Man, this bird is going to look so good when it's finished.

It is sooo cold. Too cold to paint so the Hellcat hasn't been primed yet.

I've had enough of this cold weather. I'm moving to Florida.

Oh. Wait a minute. That's where I am...

yea, Me too Frank !  I have several models now waiting for the weather to turn back to Florida standards so I can get paint on them. I've never had so many undone and in the que. Yesterday i just couldn't wait and primered one by warming up the paint , the AB and the model in the house and running out to the shed to quickly spray it, then shuttling all back into the house. It seemed to work ok so far. Sheesh, I moved here to get away from Ohio weather. Yea,yea I know, it isn't exactly minus 7 degrees out but I didn't live in a Southern built  ,drafty trailer house up North either...BRRRRRR

It's going to be in the 70s this coming week, Rainy, but in the 70s. I may be able to get some painting done on the Hellcat drone if it's not too wet out.

So, I dragged this thread back from page three. After a three week struggle with the flu, I'm back building...finally. I thought I could build while I was sick but with a fever and just a general feeling of maliase, I couldn't concentrate on anything for very long. That's behind me now.

I now have two Hellcats going: the F6F-3K drone and a Monogram/Revell F6F-5. I think the F6F-5 is going to be one of the airplanes from "Flying Leathernecks." It might be "Big Joe," not sure yet. I shot some chromate on both of them this morning. On the drone I shot chromate on the canopy frame and on the F6F-5, the cockpit interior. Since there is no real cockpit detail on the F6F-5, I'm going to paint the pilot and glue him to the armor plate. After gluing the canopy on you can't really see the interior anyway.

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The F6F-5 interior.

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The drone canopy.

I just shot the first coat of primer on the drone. The primer is Tamiya surface primer in the bottle cut 50/50 with lacquer thinner. I'll let it sit overnight for the primer to cure the tomorrow I'll do a light wet sanding before some touch up and another coat of primer.

Please , let us know how the Elmer's glue masking work's. I think I may try that on my Renault Caudron.

( Most of the time I just "free-hand the paint on a canopy frame .... but my eye's ar NOT what they use to be ! ....... VIVA LE OPTIVISOR !!!  )

Yeah, littletimmy, I wear a pair of Walgreens readers and use my Optivisor over those. Anything closer than my hands is never in focus since cataract surgery.

I'll be sure to post my results with the Elmer's glue mask. Actually, my worry is getting the stuff off and not chipping the canopy frame paint.

No need to wait 24 hours to cure with Tamiya lacquer based primer.  I usually can do multiple coats within 15-20 mins of each coat with lacquer based primers and paints as long as they are not gloss.  

Did a lot of stuff today. Now I'm sitting back to watch the Rolex24.

So far the Ford GTs are doing pretty good...

So, I'm working on an F6F-3 and a -5 at the same time. The -3 is sitting on the sidelines right now as I do some stuff with the -5. I'm pretty sure the -5 is going to be "Big Joe" as seen in "Flying Leathernecks."

Since in the movie, the Hellcats were used to illustrate the practicality of close air support for infantry, I'm going to depict the -5 with a full ordinance load: Two 500 lb. bombs and six rockets. I know the bombs are painted O.D. but what about the rockets? The kit instruction sheet indicates that the rockets are painted white with an O.D. nose tip. Is this correct? Couldn't the tip of the rockets be red? Just curious.

Well, looks like white with O.D. tips is the way to go for accuracy.

Had a build day at the local hobby shop. I made some good headway filling and sanding seams on the -5. Of course there are some small pits in the body putty that must be attended to but that's no big deal. As for the pilot, he had to go in early in the build since this Hellcat is a vintage Monogram kit with no cockpit detail. The fit of the outer wing panels to the wing center section is really bad. Did a lot of sanding and shaping to get the fit better, but only some. Gonna have to use some white glue or PPP to fill the gaps. That's one more thing I like about the Otaki kit: One piece wings.

Some PPP on the wing of the -5 to fill the gaps in at the wing fold.

Almost ready for primer. As soon as I clean up the wing roots I can shoot some primer on the F6F-5. I really like using Perfect Plastic Putty. It really helps me preserve detail, especially raised detail like on these old Monogram kits.

This morning I polished the F6F-3 Hellcat drone with a 4000 grit Micro Fiber pad to smooth the primer (I use Tamiya's gray surface primer in my airbrush) and to get rid of lint that had stuck to the surface when I sprayed the second coat of primer. I had never had an issue with before so I was kind of startled to see it in the primer. The Flying Leathernecks Hellcat will get primered later this week. I think I'm going to use Model Master enamel primer on that airplane to see what kind of rresult I get.

Since the F6F-3 will be red with a yellow tail, Route62 has suggested that I spray the airplane with white enamel as a gray primer undercoat won't give truly bright colors. So I'm in the process of painting the airplane and all the little bits with flat white enamel before applying the red and yellow. Not a day goes by that I don't learn something new about this hobby. Probably stuff I knew forty years ago but I don't remember today.

Hi ;

 Well , it was the way the  " Ole Blue Eyes "said " Nice and Easy" . Although I kinda live like , Doing it " My Way "  . Great beginning ! 

Thamks, Tanker.

That's not quick and ez. The Otaki 109 would be quick and easy :-)

Well, cbaltrin, both Hellcats, Otaki and Monogram, went together a lot easier than the kit that preceded them, an Academy B-17C/D. Man that thing just beat me up. What's taking so long now is paint.

I over-sprayed the gray Tamiya primer with Model Master Flat Insignia White yesterday and today.  Route62 suggested I do this so that Insignia Red and Insignia Yellow really pop and aren't muted by the gray primer underneath. Tomorrow I'l begin doing some pre-shading before laying down the final colors.