1/48 Arii Hellcat F6F-3N

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

The Hellcat will be a Nightfighter from VFN-76, flown by 'Buck' Dungan who in a single mission, destroyed a Japanese Destroyer with the help of his wingman and then went on to destroy five Japanese floatplanes on his own. This combat vent is shown in the Dogfights episode Nightfighters.

These are the custom Nightfighter add-ons I got for it. They are made by Quickboost.

 

[Lancaster630]

looking forward to seeing this complete and welcome to the forum 8)

 

[B-17engineer]

Can't wait!

Also, would like to see how the ARII kits are because I have the P-51D

 

[Wurger]

Nice beginning. Keep working....

 

[Airframes]

Should be good, and welcome to the fold.

 

[Crimea_River]

Welcome to the zoo! Never built an Arii kit before. Any good?

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent! I watched and loved that episode.

 

[Crimea_River]

Wah?

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

Welcome to the zoo! Never built an Arii kit before. Any good?

The kit as a whole looks well made. I don't know much else as I havn't started building it yet .
Got more pics of what I did last night,
This is the start of the wings, done both top halves and the undercarriage bays

One of the Halves of the fuselage is done, the other is being painted tonight...

The other side of the fuselage with the interior painted and the tailplane

One side of the third sprue with the painted cowling and cockpit sections

The other side of the third sprue

Thanks for all the welcomes!

 

[Wayne Little]

Welcome to the zoo! Never built an Arii kit before. Any good?

The Arii/Otake kits are pretty reasonable basic kits, the Hellcat, Corsair and 109 are probably the best of the crop.

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

I'm back again with more pictures! Now both fuselage halves are done, the radar pod has the blue coat on it, the cockpit panels are awaiting details, the bottom halves of the wings are done and the propller blades have been painted.

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

sorry its been so long since I put some more pictures up, Photobucket has been being a pain.
The Hellcat is now almost finished, only needing a touch up coat, transfers and cockpit glass.

As you may have noticed there is a big crack in between the two halves of the fuselage, this was sorted out quite quickly and is now a smooth finish.

 

[Wurger]

These fuselage and wing seams don't look good.Unfortunately a putty and sanding are needed.That's way I always suggest dry fitting and assembling without painting that should be made at the end of a build.But not when parts are still in sprue frames.It doesn't matter if these are the main parts or small pieces.

Anyway the model take a nice shape. Keep working.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Hey VMF,

This is the first I've seen of this thread. I like the subject. What color did you use on the fuselage? Those are some serious gaps between the fuselage halves. Are you going to attempt to fill them in?

I look forward to seeing the completed product.

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

After taking another look I noticed the gaps in the model. I can't belive I didn't notice them before .

@DirkPitt: The colour is Tamya Acrylic XF-17. I didn't know what colour to use to start off with so if you need alternatives there are suggestions on this thread: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/pa...ur-hellcat-nightfighter-21832.html#post591348.

Thanks for the comments guys

 

[dirkpitt289]

Don't get me wrong I like the color a lot. Did they use a different color for night fighters cause I don't know?

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

oh sorry I thought you needed the colour for a nightfighter you were going to make. My mistake .
According to different sources they did and didn't have different schemes. I don't properly understand it myself so I can't really help you

 

[B-17engineer]

Comparison...I don't really know..

 

[vikingBerserker]

I believe it was the same color.

She's shaping up nicely.

 

[VFM-76 Hellcat]

I'm extremely sorry for the massive wait. But the hellcat is finally finished! I've only got one picture at the moment cause the others came out bad but I will get some more up soon. I have applied the transfers which were strong and easy to apply and glued on a canopy. As no canopy came with the kit I managed to come across a set of two vacuform ones designed for the Arii kit.