Hi all,
Sharing some progress on my current build, depicting the 10,000th Hellcat built, delivered to VBF-87 aboard USS Ticonderoga in May, 1945. Grumman employees nicknamed it the "Hirohito Special," although that name was not applied to the aircraft. Here she is aboard Ticonderoga, pictured with Lt. Commander Charles Ingalls, Grumman tech rep Ralph Clark, VBF-87 CO, Commander Porter Maxwell, and CAG-87, Commander Everett Phadres.
The plan is to depict the airplane as delivered, so relatively clean, and sans drop tanks or rockets.
I'm using Eduard's Royal Navy Dual Combo boxing of their supurb little 1/72 Hellcat kit. If you don't go for all the PE and other bells and whistles, this is a simple kit with great detail and nearly perfect fit - stress free and fun to build. I, of course, suffer from too much AMS to go that route, so my build is getting Master brass gun barrels, Quickboost tail surfaces, the PE from the kit, and some scratchbuilt enchancements. Decals for this aircraft are on Iliad's "Milestone Aircraft" sheet, #72010.
The Master brass .50 barrels were the first thing to be added. They fit the wing insert perfectly.
Next came the engine. Basic painting, plus the PE from the kit, was all that was required. I like to wire up the cylinder banks seperately before joining any of the engine parts together.
The finished engine, after a dark gray oil wash. The data plate and PW logo are PE from the kit. The engine is totally out of the box. One of the better engines I've managed to build, I think.
In the cockpit, I went for high contrast, Spanish style. Main color is Gunze H-58. Since the kit PE only includes Sutton harnesses, I sourced a set of US-style belts from Eduard's "fabric" line. The printing was horrible, and the material is odd, a bit like a dry-rotted rubber band, but they were easy to drape in the seat and look OK installed, as long as you're not using an Optivisor...
Completed cockpit sidewalls, dressed up with some Mike Grant placard decals. You can see that I tried adding chips and scratches with a paintbrush, and went a little too heavy-handed. Again, without magnification it looks OK, but I'll be more subtle next time.
Left side console dressed up with a combination of kit PE and more MG placards.
Main instrument panel, something like 15 pieces of PE. Instument bezels were filled with Future to simulate glass, although they didn't catch the light well in this photo. The kit's triangular plastic lump of a gunsight was shaved off and later replaced with clear acetate.
Test fit into the fuselage. Everything fit perfectly.
Lastly, before the windscreen was attached, the replacement gunsight glass! Looks much better than a plastic lump.
Next installment will be exterior airframe details and getting ready to paint. Any and all comments or criticism are welcome.