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

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[Crimea_River]

I agree. How did you do those insulators Geo?

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. Andy, I wrapped a piece of wire around another piece the same size, threaded onto 2lb. fishing wire and painted it with a heavy coat of Citadel Runefang Steel. Not sure what gauge it is or even where I got it from. In the photo a few failed pieces. Not shown, the half dozen or so the carpet monster got while trying to thread them onto the line.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Geo.

 

[Wayne Little]

Done good there George.

 

[Thorlifter]

Good work on the wires and tensioners. My fat fingers and shaky nerves could not do that.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. On finals now. The decal instructions shows a black stripe between the hand/foot holds but is not included. The pic on page 1 of this thread shows another aircraft without the stripe but I went to the website and lo and behold, there is a B&W photo of the aircraft I am modeling that I never noticed and it shows a black stripe...

Now I needed to find a black stripe. Most decal sheets with multiple options are divided by black lines and most of these are decals themselves as are the small letters and numbers. Problem solved, a wee bit wide but close enough....

Getting back to the B&W photo. I was mortified to see that the wheel hubs and struts were in a darker color, probably the original blue the Hellcats were painted in. The photo in Pg 1 of this thread shows yellow on the "D" aircraft but if you go to the website, a second photo shows the two aircraft from the other side and the "D" aircraft has a blue hub and yellow struts. and the "B" aircraft is yellow overall, probably taken a bit later than the B&W photo. Speaking of wheels, not happy with the kit rendition. They seem too tall and skinny but I'm going to leave as is, I might get some aftermarket ones later so these are just press fit on. The axles are also too long so they will need to be trimmed.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far George!

 

[fubar57]

Thank you Dr. Gnomey and Wojtek. Final touchups(Ihope) are done and if nothing else needs fixed, I'll post the ****Done photos in a bit. Flaws? yep, there's more than a few but putting this dog's breakfast together was about challenging myself. Scratch built most of a cockpit, lots of practice needed. My first airbrushed paint job, looooooooooooooooots of practice needed.

Thanks to all for any advice and thoughts

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

I think it turned out very well Geo.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work George!

 

[Wildcat]

Looks great Geo!

 

[fubar57]

Thank you very much gentlemen