**** DONE: 1/48 F6F-3N Hellcat - Night War of WWII

[JKim]

Username: JKim
First name: John
Category: Advanced
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Eduard
Model Type: F6F-3 Hellcat - Profipack Edition
Aftermarket addons: Quickboost F6F-3N Conversion, Owl "Marine Night Fighters" Decal Sheet

I will be depicting a F6F-3N of the VMF(N)-534 based on Guam in August of 1944.

 

[JKim]

Presenting the Eduard 1/48 scale Profipack Edition of the F6F-3 Hellcat. Cool artwork of the snarling Hellcat of the VF-27 piloted by Lt. Richard E. Stambrook.

I will be converting this F6F-3 to a F6F-3N night fighter, which was introduced in 1943 with an AN/APS-6 radar housed in the fuselage with the antenna dish in a bulbous fairing mounted on the leading-edge of the outer right wing. Approximately 200 of these were built, claiming their first aerial victories in November of 1943. The hardware required to convert the Eduard kit to a night fighter version is provided by this Quickboost resin set.

In addition to the prominent fairing on the wing, Quickboost also provides a set of gun barrels, exhaust pipes, small antennae and the radar display instrument housed on the instrument panel. The ends of the guns and exhaust pipes are already bored out so I can skip my customary first step.

I am specifically modeling White 10 of the VMF(N)-534 stationed on Guam in 1944, which is shown in my first post . Encounters with enemy aircraft for VMF(N)-534 were rare and the unit scored only one aerial victory, a Nakajima C6N Saiun shot down on February 10, 1945. The decals for White 10 are included on Owl's Marine Night Fighter decal sheet.

The kit supplied decal sheet has markings for five aircraft, including Stambrook's snarling face Hellcat. I've had very good experience with Eduard manufactured decals so I'm sure these will perform fine. Since my markings will be coming from the Owl decal sheet, I'll only be using the stencils from the kit.

Profipack editions typically come with "extra" stuff that is normally considered aftermarket. This most recent re-issue of the F6F-3, which was originally released in 2008, includes a fix of one of the kit's few shortcomings: a set of beautifully detailed resin wheels.

In addition to the resin, most Profipacks "pack" some photoetched parts that Eduard is so famous for. This kit has two PE frets, which include the instrument panel, cockpit details and a wiring harness for the big radial engine. As nice as the Brassin wheels and photoetched parts are, my favorite piece of the Profipack extras just might be those canopy masks!

The clear parts look good as usual. Two copies of the windscreen and canopy are provided. I'll have to take a close look at these as White 10 is noted to have had its original windscreen damaged in battle and replaced with one from an F6F-5.

While the clear parts are very clear, I am planning on dipping these into Future to further improve clarity and as insurance against CA fogging.

The first major sprue houses the fuselage components. This is one BIG aircraft. While the Bf109 and Spitfire were lithe and compact, the Hellcat is a beefy mofo which is apparent when looking at the parts. Three different engine cowlings are provided but all of them with flaps closed. If you want to show the flaps open, you'll have to go aftermarket or do some surgery.

The Eduard kit has been given kudos for its execution of surface detail, even incorporating the "lapped" fuselage panels. No complaints here!

The wing sprue shows nothing unusual. Control surfaces are provided as separate parts. The gun inserts will be replaced by the Quickboost units so I didn't take a close look at them as I normally would.

Surface detail on the wings is very good but probably a notch below what I saw on the Spitfire IXc in terms of sharpness. The wheel well details look a bit shallow and there is some scuffing on the bottom of the wing that needs to be cleaned up.

This sprue holds major subcomponents such as the drop tank, control surfaces, cowl face and some cockpit parts.

The Hamilton Standard prop could use a little work. The blades are thick and the detail on the hub is sparse.

The last sprue has all of the smaller parts including the engine, cockpit and landing gear details.

The molded instrument panel is nice but the instrument dials have no detail and interestingly, Eduard does not provide an instrument panel decal. So if you don't want to use the PE IP and decide to paint the molded IP, you'll have to look elsewhere for the instrument faces.

Looks like a great kit and I can't wait to get started!

 

[le_steph40]

8) good choice my friend

 

[Crimea_River]

A day early John.

 

[JKim]

I love the beginning of a new GB!!! I wanted to post this one up since I made the subject choice and the kit arrived early. But I still have some Flogger work ahead of me so I won't be rushing into this one just yet. Kinda doing my background research right now... checking out other modelers' builds of the same kit... looking at it and thinking how I want to approach certain things. I'd like to improve the propeller hub for one. The drop tank is another place for possible modifications.

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool, John.

 

[ozhawk40]

Those Eduard kits are nice. Great choice John.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Cool choice John and in the Pacific Theatre, great.

 

[T Bolt]

Good one John. I have this one in the stash and the surface detail looks real nice.

 

[Wayne Little]

are you finished yet? ...

 

[JKim]

The decals arrived yesterday so I'm set to go. I'll probably do a little more work on the Flogger before jumping into this one so I'm looking at a possible weekend start. Based on my experiences with the last two Eduard kits, I'm really looking forward to this one. And I've always been partial to the naval tri-color scheme so I'm glad to add one of those to my collection. Stay tuned!

 

[Crimea_River]

I'm tuned.

 

[fubar57]

 

[JKim]

I cracked open the kit, photo'd the sprues and opened up the build with some prelim work. The ceremonious first step of my builds usually involve hollowing out of the gun barrels and exhaust pipes but the QuickBoost set has already done that for me. So instead of jumping straight into the cockpit, I looked around for some other standalone piece to futz with. Ah... the prop!

The kit supplied prop is decent but could be improved. For one, the blades are really thick, especially on the trailing edges. The hubs are also a bit sparse-looking.

Here is a picture of a Hamilton Standard 13'-1" prop for comparison.

And a Ultracast resin Hamilton Standard 13'1" prop in 1/48.

First I shaved the blades down to get a nice sharp trailing edge.

And then I removed the hub detail.

Added some detail to the hub using pieces of stretched sprue.

Stopped here to evaluate. I think I'm going to do a little more to the hub.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Good start John

 

[Crimea_River]

Yes, it is.

Off topic: Question to the mods - why do John's photos posted on page 1 show up on every page but mine do this?

 

[JKim]

Yes, it is.

Off topic: Question to the mods - why do John's photos posted on page 1 show up on every page but mine do this?

View attachment 305184

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that mine is an external ref (photobucket) while yours is an attachment?

 

[Crimea_River]

Could be. You seem to be the exception as most pages go like mine.

You should actually rethink that John. If you or Photobucket ever move your pics or change the site name, they will be gone off of this site forever. I've had many frustrating searches on similar sites stymied when a pic that I needed was discussed but no longer available.

 

[Wurger]

Andy I have checked on the thraed and the profile is seen on each pages of that. So either it is your net borwser or your Windows and other soft need to be updated. However I can't see my siggy and it is probably a matter of the database refreshing. I hope Horse can fix that soon.