--> **** DONE: 1/48 F6F-5K HELLCAT DRONE - Post-War Warbirds

[fubar57]

Username: Fubar57
First name: George
Category: Advanced
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Revell
Addons: Lots of plastic, Alley Cat Decals

The subject of the build is a Hellcat Drone stationed at Point Mugu Training Center, February 1950. I could only find two photos of this aircraft and they have big ole copyright water marks on them. If you want to see them...

The pic source.... 1950 China Lake Photo Gallery

Geo

 

[fubar57]

Let's get this nightmare started. The kit is from 1963 and it shows. No interior save for a bulkhead to which a pilot and seat "attach", more on this in a bit. A decal is used for the IP and fits on some plastic at the front of the "cockpit". The plastic surfaces are pummeled with raised panel lines and rivets. The kit features operational retractable landing gear and folding wings, these will be slathered in glue to ensure the lack of operationalism. The wheel wells...what shall we say about the wheel wells? We won't, it's a dogs breakfast in there to accommodate the retractable feature. I'm not good enough yet to attempt a solution so I'm going to live with it and you're not going to see it. I also have to lengthen the tail wheel strut and add a cross member to the tail antenna post for the extra antennae the -5K carried. The kit.....

The decals...

The reason I bought these decals was because it offered 8 different aircraft, all red with different colored tails including a pink tailed "13" for Jan. The advert said they were all -5Ks, HOWEVER....upon researching, it seems they are all for the -3K version save for the one I'm building.

Geo

 

[fubar57]

All right....here is the start, a shot of the innards or lack thereof...

The red line represents how the rear bulkhead would sit, totally unacceptable so I'm going to remove the attachment points, install some plastic card as a backing and glue the bulkhead to it when the time comes. The second order of business was to see how this fuselage matched up the the Eduard -5 as I will be using the innards from that kit as a guide to scratch building for this kit. Not too shabby...

Now wait a minute, you handsome stud, I can hear you all saying. You have an Eduard kit and you're using this catastrophe? "Yes", quothe I. As a matter of fact, I have 2. The whole raison d'etre for this build is too push my scratch building to the max. Once the innards are out of the way the rest should be a snap. I'll be looking for any and all advice here. My only other concern will be the 4 piece wing set up

Geo

 

[Wayne Little]

A serious challenge there George....go for it.

 

[Wurger]

Looking forward to the assembling.

 

[Wildcat]

Very cool Geo. I've always liked these red Hellcats.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

You are either very brave or very foolish! Best of luck as I do not think you are a licensed AME.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[fubar57]

Thanks gents...

You are either very brave or very foolish! Best of luck as I do not think you are a licensed AME.

Cheers,

Jeff

... I think it's a lot from Column B Jeff, what with 2 perfectly awesome Eduard kits within arms reach. I'll probably stare lovingly at them as this build progresses. Anyhoo.....baby steps ahead. The aforementioned pilot/bulkhead fiasco. What was Revell thinking and what is the pilot looking for or is he preparing for a catapult launch ?

Fix #1...

The next step is to dry-fit the Eduard floor, bulkhead and side consoles, offer them up to the Eduard fuselage and then take some measurement to transfer to this freak-show.

Geo

 

[Donivanp]

Such a cool subject, and as for the S&M issue, if you don't build it who will. Now I do have an F-89D you could present beside the Hell cat when done, then you would have the principle players in the battle of Palmdale.

 

[fubar57]

Always liked the looks of the Scorpion Don. Anyone care to estimate the length of the cross piece on the tail antenna post. I'm thinking maybe a foot. I haven't found a really clear photo or drawing of this area.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Geo. Should be fun to watch the transformation.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Andy. Went off to find some other builds and could only find one...
Monogram Classics 1/48 F6F Hellcat
...I haven't really gone over the instructions yet, just cleaning up parts and this isn't what I wanted to see: the landing gear has to be attached to the lower center section first, the top center section glued to the lower section, the landing gear swung into the raised position, center section inserted through the joined fuselage halves, landing gear rotated down and outer wing parts joined to center section. I think this is part of the "fun" you mentioned Andy. However, this is later. For now, I did test fit the center section and not too bad. Keep in mind that this is just a loose fit. The builder in the above link said the fit was excellent and all he did was add glue. I also found out that the top of the center section acts as the cockpit floor so that saved me the problem of having to try scratch build one and then try to slot it in.

A little stress trying to keep the hole centered and not break the post.

Geo

 

[JKim]

Looking forward to your ambitious reclamation project Geo! You are inspiring me to steam ahead with my resin cockpit.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks John. I had thought about buying the True Details cockpit set. It's only 15$CAN but it's made for Hasegawa and it might get ugly trying to shoe-horn it into this kit

 

[Donivanp]

In case you missed it,

Battle of Palmdale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Good story Don. Lessons to be learned there. The Eduard consoles.....heavy sigh....

Every thing seems to line up...

Geo

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

Have you thought of making moulds so as not to loose parts for your Eduards? You could replicate these parts and keep the originals.

 

[Catch22]

I think if there was any doubt before, there's finally proof that you've lost it.