PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Looks nice Bakster.  Looks like you and Joe will finish up before the end of the deadline.  Lookin' forward to the finished product.

Craig

Thanks Freddie and Joe.  Nice of you.  Hey Freddie...how much snow are you supposed to get out there?  Maybe a snow day for you tomorrow.  How awesome that would be.  You could stay in and work on models all day.  Unless you have to shovel that is.

Joe...I am lookimg forward to seeing your oil wash!

Oooooooooh this looks nice!!!  Very well done Hellcat, Joe.  Just beautiful, Sir.

Way to go Bakster!  Cowl looks very nice, and I think you did a great job fitting in that rear gear door.  She's gonna be a beauty when she's done!!

"Fairly well" and "so-so" are unacceptable terms to be used on your build Steve. Everything looks absolutely excellent. Please do not short yourself on the really sweet work you are doing there. Your patience and perseverance is paying off in spades my friend.

I had designs on applying the oil wash to the Hellcat today but, that was negated by the need to do some auto maintenance on the wife's vehicle prior to her long awaited return.

Hey folks, a small update.

The front cowl ring is on. It came out fairly well.

Below: Here again, the plane was made for wheels down so it took some mods. The door cover fit so--so. I am not particularly happy with the final fit but I think its close enough. It was a bit challenging to find an aerial view of this bird showing the rear wheel up. I managed to find one though and I think I have the orientation fairly close. The wheel assembly had to be cut down in order to fit it into the fuselage. I then epoxied it in place onto the other side of the wheel door cover.

Unless I find more stuff to repair, masking is next. I will start that this week.

Hey Freddie...I agree with everyone-else here that the weathering you did looks really great. I really like detailing on those guns too.Great job and congratulations!

Joe..looking good sir!  The decals look perfect.  Thank goodness the light coat of clear went ok.  Awesome!

Joe: I am glad to see you recovered from your painting woe's.  That Hellcat is looking very nice, and I keep having to remind myself it is a 1/72!

Freddie: I am again impressed with the way you weather your aircraft, that Hellcat looks well worn.  I cannot wait to see what you do with the Corsair.  At the rate you build that should be a couple of weeks.

Steve/Freddie: Thanks for the info on the Accurate Miniatures instructions and especially the links you posted Freddie.  I have never built one of their kits so I didn't realise the instructions were a weak point, and that the ones in the re-pop were even worse.  Good thing, because in addition to the Avenger I also have the re-release of the SBD-2.  I was able to grab the files for the original kit instructions for that plane as well.

Excellent!  Looks great.

The decals are on. Without a doubt the easiest decaling effort I've had so far. Reference of my aircraft reveals that there were no stencils on it. At least from what I can observe. I then had to submit a short prayer prior to applying a light gloss coat to seal the decals. YESSS! It went on just fine. Tomorrow will be the oil wash session. Thanks for taking a look guys.

The F6F-5 is fantastic. Your weathering is excellent. You definitely have a nice touch there. Also, very good progress on the Corsair. You've definitely nailed it in your analysis of the Eduard Hellcat and the Tamiya Corsair. Both are without a doubt the class of their respective subjects.

Wow Freddie, that Hellcat looks great!  You really have that weathering down pat.  Well done!

Nice progress on the Corsair.  You are a modeling building machine.

Craig

Well, last night was a busy one on the ole' modeling bench for me.  After finishing the F6F-5, I got right onto the F4U, and made huge progress on her.

I finished off the cockpit, tail planes and got the wings attached.  Even the engine!  I posed the last couple of pics, with her standing on her landing gear, just to see how it all lined up, they're not attached yet.

Anyway, Tamiya makes a great kit of this famous aircraft, and if you have not had the pleasure of attacking one, then by all means pick one up and give her a whirl.  Great kit, great model, excellent build!!

Anyway, that's all for today folks.  Tonight will be cleaning up a few seams and getting her ready for paint and decals, WHICH, hopefully will happen next weekend.  Now it's on to another project, weathering and finishing a 1:32 scale Hobby Boss Stormovik.  (BIIIIIIG Model)

Have a great day everyone.

Regards

Freddie from LI

Okay Folks,

I'm calling this one DONE!!  Eduard 1:48 scale F6F-5 "Hellcat" is FINI!! 

Here are a couple pictures of the finished model.  It's a great build guys and gals, probably the best "Hellcat" model out there, even with it's shortcomings.  Hasegawa is still a great kit too, but I think Eduard's offering just beats it by a nose.

Here are the pictures, and now it's off to hit the F4U!!

Thanks for looking everyone, Have a great day!!

Regards,

Freddie from LI

Thanks mucho Joe. I'm certainly feeling much better about it now.

Way ta go there Joe!! Givin' er the ol' one-two! 

Well now. Ain't that the darndest thing you've ever seen. Whoda thunk it. Thank You very much flyer. You have put my mind at ease

It sure was.  Like you, I was wondering what was going on.  I slapped it on there and it looks fine.  It looks fine on the dark blue upper wing surface.  Here is a not so good pic of mine?

Craig

JOE RIX

Hey fjs3 and flyerduke, I have a question for the two of you concerning the decals on your Hellcats. Was the insignia for the upper wing colored gray on your kits? I was a bit taken aback when I went to start cutting my decals and found that the insignia for the upper wing on my sheet was gray rather than white.  So, I'm curious as if this is done so it will appear white when applied over the dark blue? I notice on your kits that your insignia is insignia white as it is suppose to be. I've never encountered this before. Thanks for any help.

Hey fjs3 and flyerduke, I have a question for the two of you concerning the decals on your Hellcats. Was the insignia for the upper wing colored gray on your kits? I was a bit taken aback when I went to start cutting my decals and found that the insignia for the upper wing on my sheet was gray rather than white.  So, I'm curious as if this is done so it will appear white when applied over the dark blue? I notice on your kits that your insignia is insignia white as it is suppose to be. I've never encountered this before. Thanks for any help.

Excellent Job!!  Glad to see you kicked that paint issue right in the a.... I mean butt!!   Can't wait to see her done, because it's all downhill to the finish line from here!!  

Great recovery Joe! I've been watching and waiting to see how it would turn out. Way to stick with it

Thank you flyer d and Steve.

flyer, I am using the markings for "Little Joe" of VF-51 aboard USS San Jacinto (CVL 30)

Hey Joe....way to go buddy!  You pulled it off man and it looks great! Way to stick with it Joe. It was worth it...

Well done Joe!  It's all gravy from here on out.  What squadron decals are you using?

I GOT IT! I GOT IT! It definitely took some elbow grease and a heavy dose of patience but, I finally got the underside repainted and a nice gloss coat on. Whew, now I can move on to the decals. So, after sanding the extra heavy coat of white down and cleaning out the panel lines I masked around the afflicted areas with Silly Putty and hit it with a coat of Tamiya white primer in order to facilitate solid coverage. I then unmasked and sprayed on a new coat of white. The coverage overall is a little uneven over both wings but, it is acceptable. I then sprayed on a quick light coat of Mr. Super Clear flat. My hopes were that this would eliminate the orange peeling effect of the gloss paint. Then it was time for the moment of truth. After the first couple of light coats of gloss I knew I was in the clear. Thanks for pushing me forward on this gents. I'll let everything cure for a bit before I start on the decals. My next worry will come when I apply a gloss seal coat over the decals. Here's where I'm at now:

Hey Freddie, Lol.  Well, it's good to know that it's not just me.  

Ok then, I will take your advice.  That makes sense. I will wait until I have it all cleaned up, masked, and ready for paint.  Then I will reattach it.

"Laboratory'hey?   I like the sound of that.  I think it would be kind of fun to one day post pictures of our work stations.  

The Midway version sounds interesting.

Hello Schatten,

Are going to do another one of these group builds for the new year?  

You know Steve, if I don't break off ALL the antenna during a build, then I'm doing something wrong!  LOL!!   I would reattach just before painting, so the paint will match.  It is still possible to break them again during the painting process, but that's what touch ups are for...  

I have to head down to the "laboratory" and put some time in on my F4U.  Fuselage is done and I'm working on the wings

Also started the Great Wall TBD, Midway version.  Looks complicated as all heck, but the details are awesome.   Ill post a few pictures.

Greetings Joe.  Thanks for the opinions and advice.  I will take that all into consideration.

I will update you with regard to the masking method and once I get there.  I really want to give that a serious look.

On a different note.  Yesterday I discovered that two of the tail rudder hinges had broken off during the course of this project.  I had to fabricate a new one out of sprue.  It's glued in and I need to do a little shaping to one end of it. Overall, it came out pretty good.  I plan to glue the tail rudder in place today as well.  If time permits, I may tackle mounting the front engine cowl ring.  Engine cowl Ring may be the wrong name for it but but that's all I got. Maybe someone can educate me on that.  I am fearful of mounting the ring because it will take some patience to get it right.  It does not fit very well and I will have to glue it on in sections to try and get a nice flush join. It is a very visible part of the plane, so I don't want to mess it up.

Speaking of breaking.  I also broke off the antenna. I am debating if I should reattach that now or after painting.  Chances are pretty good that it will get broken again during that process.

Like I said to you, "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."

Thank you sir!

Steve

Hey Steve, I regret that I'm a bit late on getting back to you on this. I'll impart what experience I have and maybe you can glean out something that might help.

Yes, It is fairly normal for aircraft decals to have carrier film encompass an area such as yours does. It appears to me that the decal set you have there ( Which set to you have by the way?) is rather nice in that there is very little excess carrier film around the outside edge. Cropped nice and tight, very nice. The best advice I can give you is to select a decal from the sheet that you will not be using, preferably the larger the better, and test it on something that, at the very least, has a similar gloss coat and also has some texture or relief to it. This will certainly give you an idea of how the decal will react to Micro Set/Sol. Also, you will be able to discern if the decal is going to silver on you and if the edges will be readily apparent. I personally use Solvaset for my decals as it tends to be a bit hotter then Micro Set. But, I always test it on a new or unknown set of decals to ensure that the Solvaset will not adversely damage the decals. Thus, I have Micro Set/Sol on hand just for those occasions where Solvaset will not work.

Another tip I offer up is prior to applying the setting solution and after the decal has dried, take a round tipped Xacto blade, like the one you used for your canopy mask, and gently roll it along the panel lines under the decal. This will cut the decal along those lines and allow the decal to more readily conform to recesses and relief.

My hats off to you for your endeavors to create a mask and to paint the insignia. I'll be quite interested to see your results should you pursue that to the end. Glad to see that you are discovering all the advantages that Tamiya tape offers. The stuff is nothing short of pure gold to us modelers.

I hope this helps you out a bit. Good Luck My Friend.