PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Well, heck, EVERYBODY needs a US marked Corsair. That's simply a moral imperative.

Sorry for the late reply.  Thanks Bakster and Joe. I've got at least one more Hellcat to build, a Wildcat to finish, and I think I need a US marked Corsair.

Alright Lew! You got your "Little Joe" done! You have done a spectacular job on it. The paint work is very well done. I sure hope to see you producing some more choice USN aircraft.

Hey Lew, great job sir.  It is great to see it finished!  I love it!  Thanks for posting an image of it.  So what is your next build?

Steve

I just have the one pic, but she's done.  I give you Academy's 1/72 F6F-3/5 in the markings of Little Joe, VF-51.  Thank you Clemens for running this build.

Great to see you back, mate. back

Good to see you back in town Clemens!!

What a grand day to have your presence back around Clemens. You were greatly missed but, by gum, we certainly didn't forget about you. It is indeed good to see your return to the realm of styrene.

Hey everyone!

I'm terribly sorry for my long absence. I had not time for anything the last couple of months...

Things got better around here though, so I should have some spare time for this hobby again.

Give me a day or two and I'll catch up on this GB and update the front page.

Hey Joe.  I'm a little late to the "your Hellcat looks fantastic" party.  You really did an amazing job on the kit.  Eduard kits a fun to build.  Lookin' forward to the next GB with you.

Craig

lewbud

Joe, since you had no problem with it, I stuck with my original plan to do Little Joe, only in 1/72

Very Cool!! I am highly anticipating seeing it done.

Joe, since you had no problem with it, I stuck with my original plan to do Little Joe, only in 1/72.

Mustang, it's possible.

Joe,

lewbud

I live in Arlington, TX, which is between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Whoops, sorry lewbud. I forgot that you had mentioned that you were going to decal yours as VF-1 from Yorktown. Is that still what you are doing?

Well, it's good to hear that you're staying relatively dry. Not sure how your 1/48 scale decals are for "Little Joe" , but studying the one photo of that F6F it appears to me that there are few if any stencils. Thus, that is how I decaled mine. I loved it as it made for a quick and easy decal session.

Joe, I live in Arlington, TX, which is between Dallas and Fort Worth.  We've had a lot of rain, and more is coming.  It's not as bad here as it is in South and Central Texas, where over the weekend some areas got over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours.  I gave up waiting and shot some gloss coat last night.  My version of Little Joe has the port side decalled.  Now to watch an episode of Band of Brothers, then the starboard side.  The fuselage should be done this evening.  Pics will have to wait until I can get to a computer.

Hey lewbud, Thank You very much for the kind compliment. I am anxiously waiting to have a look at your finished product. You'll nail it, I know. Where exactly do you live? Sounds like some epic rain there. We've been having an unusually wet spring here in Utah, but it's no where near enough to make up for the unfortunately dry winter. Thus we're into the 15th year of drought conditions.

Joe, beautiful work on your Hellcat.  I wonder how many times she flew escort for then Lt.(jg) Bush?  I'm still working on mine, basically waiting for the heavens to close for a while.  We had lakes in the DFW area that were less than 25% capacity that are now full, most lakes are shut down for the weekend because they are 10 or more feet above flood stage and no one can get to them.  The parking lots have standing water 2-3 feet deep and it's raining heavily as I type this.

Gentlemen, I am very grateful for the rather glowing accolades. It is indeed immensely rewarding to make such an impression upon ones piers. As such, for me, this Hellcat wasn't so much the finished product , but rather that I finished at all. Under normal circumstances I'd have probably set this aside to remain unfinished. Yet, it was your encouragement that provided me with the impetus to carry it through. Finishing this kit, more specifically this Hellcat, was doubly important as it is the first model I have built of one of the aircraft my father flew. And now there are a few more to go. It's a hell of a start. Thank You again.

Well worth the effort, Joe.  You've achieved great results!  It's a very appealing plane.

Joe your Hellcat looks fantastic! It was well worth the wait see how wonderfully it turned out. I know I said it before, but I just can't believe that's 1/72. Congrats on a great build.

Your patience paid off, Joe. Really nice looking hellcat. Surely like the subtle weather streaking on the wings.

Thumbs up indeed.

It looks gorgeous, Joe.  Your patience, and perseverance, really paid off.  I love the weathering around the guns, and all the chipping.  The paint, decals, and joins, all look tight.  Well done sir!  Like other have said, you should feel really good about this build.  Fantastic work....

Thanks for hanging in there on this.  It's been great watching your build progress, and seeing your dogged determination!!!    Very impressive sir!

Wooooow!!! Man the weathering and paint AND detail all rolled into a nice lil' 72nd scale package. Spectacular build Joe. Man you should really treat this thing to a nice display area!!! You should really be proud of this future trophy winner bud!

Joe,

If you didn't tell anyone, no one would ever know you had any issues building this Hellcat. It looks fantastic! Great job, and even greater perseverance on your part!  

The 1/72 Eduard Hellcat is done! FINALLY!!!!!!

It definitely took some patience, perseverance and creativity to get past the mishaps, but in the end I feel that I recovered quite well.

Thank You Clemens for putting on such an excellent group build. And Thanks to each one of you for for continually providing me with the enthusiasm and confidence to stick with it and work through the issues.

Overall the Eduard Hellcat is simply one sweet kit. The detail and engineering are absolutely to notch. The only real issue I have with the kit is that the open canopy sits a bit too high. I'm not real happy with my antenna. The EZ line is bit big for scale and my CA glue work turned out a bit messy. I'll likely redo that in the future

So, enough babbling, let's have a look at some pics shall we.

And now for some pics with a little added touch:

Thanks again guys. And i hope you have enjoyed my lesson on "Don't give Up".

Cheers to you all and happy modeling.

   Joe

Thank you Checkmate. Kind words indeed.

Joe, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer. I've finished it up and took some pics. It's just that it is now late and I'm ready to auger in for the eve. Maybe I'll get them posted in the morning before I head to work.