Looks great!
Only thing is, it looks like it's belly is flat white, and most people use Gunze 57 (aircraft gray - us navy aircraft)
including myself... I know most pictures show a white belly, but it is wrong...
but it is a choice of flavour offcourse.
Also, i don't know if it's the lights who cause it or it's just like that but it has this kind of shine...
Nothing an extra layer of .. can't fix! (can't remember the name at this moment).
But anyway, it looks like one fine model!

Regards Ninetalis.

Nicely done!

Nice clean build.  I've been looking at getting this kit and you just helped me along.

Mike

Ninetalis

Looks great!
Only thing is, it looks like it's belly is flat white, and most people use Gunze 57 (aircraft gray - us navy aircraft)
including myself... I know most pictures show a white belly, but it is wrong...
but it is a choice of flavour offcourse.

You're correct about the grey.. That is, until 1942 when ANA 601 Insignia White was ordered painted on the undersides of all US Naval Aircraft and the undersides and lower horizontal surfaces of the aircraft operating over the Atlantic, and overall on US Army OA-10s (PBY Catalina) operating in both theaters..

For that camouflage scheme,  which was in use from 1943 to 1944, Insignia White is the correct color.. We know it's a 1943 color-scheme from the use of red-bordered Star & Bar insignia, which was short lived, but was painted US aircaft in August of 43, and ordered painted over with Insignia Blue in September of 43,  due to US-gunners still "Seeing Red" and  firing on US aircraft they had mistaken for Japanese fighters.. 

Insignia White remained in use as the underside color until the overall-blue camouflage was put on in 1944..

Hans von Hammer

For that camouflage scheme,  which was in use from 1943 to 1944, Insignia White is the correct color.. We know it's a 1943 color-scheme from the use of red-bordered Star & Bar insignia, which was short lived, but was painted US aircaft in August of 43, and ordered painted over with Insignia Blue in September of 43,  due to US-gunners still "Seeing Red" and  firing on US aircraft they had mistaken for Japanese fighters.. 

Insignia White remained in use as the underside color until the overall-blue camouflage was put on in 1944..

Okay, we have learned another thing today!
I just checked a couple of my books to look if you were right, and indeed, you are right,
In september 1943 they changed the color on the belly's from the F4U corsairs from 'non-specular grey' to 'non-spectular gray'.
My bad...

Regards Ninetalis

I'm in the process of building the Eduard -5N (which also contains a -3N fuse & glass).  It's a profipack kit, and I must say, it's one of the nicest kits I've ever worked on.

I plan on painting it as a -5K drone controller with the yellow wings.  I really like your paint job on the -3.

Reid

The Profipak is a great deal.  I put together the -3 version a couple years ago.  Eduard does have a great kit and concept with the multiple kits-in-one.  Great look.  Once you get a little weathering on it, she'll look like a grizzled combat veteran.  Ya gotta dirty one up that has that many kills.  Rick

I really appreciate everyone's comments.  I always learn something new from all the info that people contribute on these forums.

 One of the issues I ran into in marking this kit for Lt. Van Haren is that there are only two known photo's of him in or around a Hellcat.  One shows him by the tail of a plane with the round white circle representative of the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-12).  The other photo is a longer distance shot of him flying 'White 32', but there are no squadron markings, or natrional insignia (Stars & Bars) on the airframe.  In the book 'Hellcat Aces', the author does mention the fact that squadron markings were removed from the airplanes when the carriers got to the Pacific (maybe to provide less intelligence to the Japanese if one got shot down?).

Finally, in looking on the internet at images I saw all styles of tri-color camo, squadron markings, and national insignia on Hellcats from late '43 to early '44.

Nice build of a really great Eduard offering...a tad too glossy but very nice...

Nice build. Love me some Eduard stuff.

Manstein's revenge

Nice build of a really great Eduard offering...a tad too glossy but very nice...

Ditto on the gloss. The tricolor camo tended to go dead flat very fast in the sun and salt of the Pacific.

Also if it's a carrier plane, when you come around to weather it, no chipping. Chips were tenaciously touched up to keep corrosion at bay. 

Kevin,

Beautiful build of a beautiful aircraft! Yeah, she could use a little matte varnish but I'm just nit-picking. Great tribute to a vet too, I hope lots of people in the library see and appreciate her.

As to the flight photo- I don't know about the squadron markings but I'd guess the national insignia may have been on the actual aircraft but removed from the photos for censorship reasons. My guess anyway, others here know more about the subject than I do.   

Hello Everyone,

   I do plan on weathering the paint (exhaust stains, etc) and toning down the gloss a little bit after the model is no longer in the library on display.  One reason I did not flat coat the model after the decals is that I might try and remove the Stars & Bars with the red surround.  Those with the red surround result from a little mistake on my part - however I might just leave well enough alone and just build another model of Lt. Van Haren's Hellcat in order to get it more accurate.

 Anyway, I thought I might pass along the two pictures I did use of Lt. Van Haren as well as one of a restored Hellcat:

  My Paint scheme and decals are a combination of info from all three photos.

 You'll notice a different number on each aircraft (2 & 32)  as well as no squadron markings on the tail in the second photo.  The top photo was taken before deployment while the second was taken in the Pacific (although the sons and grandson are not sure where). 

Both photos appear to show the tri-color camouflague, but again both of Van Haren's sons and grandson (the main researcher) all think the lower photo was taken after the Battle of the Phillipine Sea (mid 1944).

Also there are no kill marks on 'White 32' in the second photo.  Eric Halvorson (the grandson) says that his grandfather was proud to serve, but not 'flamboyant', and seldom talked about his combat experience in later years.  I added the kill marks to the model because my own research leads me to believe that 'kill' marks were "suggested" to the pilots  as a way of building moral among ships crew even if the pilots preferred not to have them.

What Lt. Van Haren preferred I have no way of knowing, but in conversations with Eric the markings on the model are what we came up with.

A restored Hellcat with the tri-color camouflage and the red surround national insignia.  The '31' is sooooo close to the '32' that I was modeling!

One last photo:

 Lt. Arthur Van Haren.  This photo is from the Life magazine (Oct 1944 ?) story on the 'Rippers' of VF-2 aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-12).

That's it for now - Thanks again for all the comments.

Kevin

my only disappointment too on clear finish but you planned to do, then perfect build

bsyamato,

No need to be disappointed - I need to fix it!! 

I put one of the national insignia on upside down - then tried to hide it using the ones with the red surround - then saw that you can see one star underneath the other!!

sooooo - next step is to try and strip the wrong decals and redo it right.  So I never overcoated with Future.

THEN it's back to Japanese stuff so I don't have to worry about up/down/right/left with the hinomaru.

I did learn from one of the other posters here not to add paint chips, just fade the paint and add exhaust & gun stains.  paint chips were quickly fixed to prevent corrosion in the saltwater environment.

Kevin

Very nicely done Kevin!

Thanks Reasoned,

  Looking forward to seeing your Val.  When I get back from a little vaction I'll get back to my Nichimo B5N2 Kate.

AZKevin

THEN it's back to Japanese stuff so I don't have to worry about up/down/right/left with the hinomaru.

 

LOL the advantage of hinomaru microscale superset probably help to remove the wrong decal (at least instruction says so )

Me too get back soon with my japs