**** DONE: 1/48 F6F-5 Hellcat Capt D McCambell - Aircraft of the aces GB

[Nxthanos]

Username: Nxthanos
First name: Chris
Category: Beginer
Scale: 1:48
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Model Type: F6F-5 Grumman Hellcat
Details: Single seat Carrier Fighter/Fighterbomber
Aircraft Assignment: David McCambell USN
Accessories: None
Decals: Techmod

History of David McCambell USN
Captain David McCampbell

 

[Nxthanos]

After what seems like forever i have finally started to work on this kit, so let's see what we have.

First, the overall shot:

You will notice it says 'french navy' on the box, but its a standard Hellcat kit with french decals, and I have after market techmod decals for it.

Let's take a closer look at the sprue shots:

Unlike my normal practice, no pilot figure for this one so I will have to scratch build some detail into the cockpit which if it goes well I will leave open, otherwise I'll close it to hide my shoddy work!

The techmod decals as always are quite nice and have sevearl planes to choose from, I will build McCambell's 'Minsi III'.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good. However I would suggest airbrusing some of gloss dope on the Techmod decal sheet overall.

 

[Nxthanos]

Looking good. However I would suggest airbrusing some of gloss dope on the Techmod decal sheet overall.

That is a good idea, i always do with techmod decals as they tend to be VERY thin.

Looking at the sprues the cockpit is a bit spartan, so some reference material is consulted to get an idea for some scratch for the cockpit area.

 

[brucejscott]

Great choice! If you can lay your hands on it, there is a great interview with Capt. McCampbell in the back of the Detail and Scale on the F6F.

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice pick.

 

[Wayne Little]

Sweet!!

 

[Airframes]

Should be a good one, always liked the look of the Hellcat - unlike a certain other cat.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice choice Chris.

 

[brucejscott]

Should be a good one, always liked the look of the Hellcat - unlike a certain other cat.

Maybe I should put in another entry from the Grumman Iron Works so this kitty doesn't get lonely?

 

[evangilder]

I was hoping that someone would do this one.

 

[Nxthanos]

Having done all the prep i can for the hurricane, i sat down to work on the Hellcat, and so today's update;

The photos and painting I have of Captain McCambell's Hellcat clearly show the windows of the F6F-3, even though he was flying a F6F-5. It turns out he had one of the first F6F-5s, so the kit will have to be modified to include the windows. Luckily Hasegawa made the kit with this area already recessed 'in case' of this kind of thing:

taking a sharp xacto knife, I began to scribe the opening, eventually braking through, and it was a tad rough around the edges.

A fine nail file was then used to 'clean' the rough edges of the cut outs and they now look fine.

The next step was to paint the interior green color. I first lightly brushed in a medium dark green and when this had dried I used the more standard interior green. I considered zinc cromate but McCambell's plane clearly had a darker interior.

The next thing will be black and silver for the controls and building up the cockpit. Seatbelts are molded on so i may just paint these, otherwise i will scratch build some.

 

[brucejscott]

Looks good. Well done on the windows.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good start.

 

[Coors9]

Always loved the Hellcat, great choice and well done so far.

 

[evangilder]

Looking like it's off to a great start.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool choice, and nice progress so far.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Airframes]

Yep, good work so far.

 

[Catch22]

Cool!