**** DONE : 1/48 Hellcat Mk I JV-131 No 800 Squadron HMS Emperor

Airframes · Mar 14, 2010

Super job mate, the cowl flaps will look great when it's all together.

rochie · Mar 14, 2010

great job

Crimea_River · Mar 14, 2010

Thanks guys.

Here is what it looks like now. Actuators have been trimmed and the engine cowl slid into place and glued. Also seen are the drilled out exhaust stubs.

The grey paint is an old tin of Humbrol that mixed and sprayed up quite nicely. I painted the inside of the cowl with it and went along the seams with the leftover. However, the colour turned out much darker than on the label and it's still tacky after having "dried" over night. I'll need to wait now with other work until this stuff dries.

Meantime, I bought the colours, shown in the two pics at the end. The olive colour ANA 613 recommended on another thread just didn't look right to me in the Model master line so these are what I ended up with. It's back to oils for this one, not wishing a repeat of my Polly Scale challenges on my 262.

Wayne Little · Mar 15, 2010

Airframes · Mar 15, 2010

Really nice work on the cowl flaps Andy. None of those MM colours look anywhere near the actual shades, either Grumman 'Equivalent Colours' or British spec paints! You'd get away with the 'Sky', and the OD if darkened a touch, but the grey isn't near.

N4521U · Mar 15, 2010

Great work mate. So many of those on this site sure set s standard to build to. I do have a related but unrelated question regarding the Hellcat. I am starting a group of planes, USN WWII, CV5 and CV10 Yorktowns, as was on the CVS10 in the early 60's. I have just gotten 1/72 F6F and need to know the colour #'s for the three tone fuselage. Anyone know? cheers, Bill

Crimea_River · Mar 15, 2010

Terry, the pictures washed the colours a bit and they are actually a bit darker. I went with Wojteks response in this thread http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/painting-questions-tutorials-guidebooks/ww2-fleet-air-arm-camouflage-23052.html

"As memo serves the FAA planes were painted with Dark Slate Grey / Extra Dark Sea Grey on upper surfaces and Sky on undersides.These new colors became standard in March of 1941.

Dark Slate Gray - FS 34096
Extra Dark Sea Gray - FS 36099
Sky type S - FS 34424

Here the US equivalents....

Extra Dark Sea Gray - ANA 603 Sea Gray - FS 36118
Dark Slate Gray - ANA 613 Olive Drab - FS 34130
Sky - ANA 610 Sky - FS 34424"

I read somewhere else that MM Gunship Grey was the right equivalent to Extra Dark Sea Grey. The only colour I didn't get was the ANA 613 which looked more grey than green. Do you think they are that far off? What do you suggest as I do want to get this right? I normally lighten the colours a bit anyway to account for scale and as an allowance for weathering.

Airframes · Mar 15, 2010

I'd need to see the colours painted onto something Andy. As mentioned, the OD might do the trick as an 'Equivalent Colour', normally a Du Pont paint used by Grumman. The Sky should be OK, as Grumman used this and the equivalent Du Pont paint 'Sea Grey' in one of their plants, which looked between Sky and a blueish grey. For the Slate Grey, try adding a touch of the OD or a dark green to the mix, as the actual colour was a greenish grey. At certain angles, depending on the light, the two tended to almost blend into one colour.
The attached pic is a bit bright, but might give you an idea - I just mixed the paints until they looked more or less right, allowing for the darkening effect of the following clear coats, which haven't been applied in this pic.

Crimea_River · Mar 15, 2010

Terry, thanks for the quick response. I was looking at the below pics, courtesy of Steve and Corey, to make my judgement. the greens looked very "olivey" to me so I went that route. Also shown is a restored warbird and the colour profile provided by Eduard, although I'm loathe to rely on the colours depicted on restored birds. Coupled with wartime photos, film degradation and the variations in colours on my screen, I'm not sure what to rely on!

I think I'll try a few things out a see what turns up.

Catch22 · Mar 15, 2010

If I recall correctly, Vought used the real FAA colours, but Grumman did not, so be careful with those pictures of the F4Us. I don't remember the exact details, but I remember Terry and I went through this whole rigamarole during the PTO build, as I did an Avenger much like his, but it was a GM built one and used the FAA colours, while the Grumman used the US equivalents. Looks great so far though!

EDIT: Here's another couple photos. I believe the Avengers are GM built TBMs.

Crimea_River · Mar 15, 2010

Corey, love that first pic for the variety of a/c. Spit, Corsair, you know what, Barracudas and a Hurricane all in one shot. And each with a different camo.

What are your thoughts on the colours I picked? The grey will be darker than it appears in the photo.

javlin · Mar 15, 2010

Wow Andy some nice work on the cowl Sir

Catch22 · Mar 15, 2010

Crimea_River said:
Corey, love that first pic for the variety of a/c. Spit, Corsair, you know what, Barracudas and a Hurricane all in one shot. And each with a different camo.

What are your thoughts on the colours I picked? The grey will be darker than it appears in the photo.

It is indeed an interesting picture! I was quite pleased when I found it.

Well, having some Gunship Gray downstairs, it is much too dark.

The false canopy is Gunship gray on my CF-18. While the lighting isn't the best, it still gives an idea of how dark it is,

Without having access to the paint, I would say the Olive Drab seems too green from the photos, compared to Terry's model and the photos of the Hellcats on page 5. While the Slate Gray is really more of a green, it's a weird colour in that it's got a lot of gray in it and almost seems washed out. The Sky I think would be ok.

Airframes · Mar 15, 2010

That's a great pic of the mix of aircraft Cory. I think it might be at Stretton, which is about six or seven miles (as the crow flies) from where I now live, although now a BP fuel test centre, with a motorway running through it's north edge. Those black 'sheds', as the RN called smalled hangars, are still there.
Andy, I think you're right - have a bit of a play around with the colours until you're happy. There were variations, and being at sea would change tones considerably, so you have plenty of leeway.

Wayne Little · Mar 16, 2010

Some nice pics there Cory!

Catch22 · Mar 16, 2010

Thanks guys!

Crimea_River · Mar 21, 2010

Weekend work was concentrating mostly on the landing gear. Eduard's details in the landing gear is almost a bit over the top. Each gear strut is made up of 8 pieces, excluding the covers. The torque links are individual halves maybe 3mm long each.

The pic below shows the underside, drop tank, and wheel struts all painted Sky Type S as they look now. Close-ups of the wheel struts will follow later once the paint cures, brake wires are added, and weathering done.

Tail wheel looks a bit boring and will be detailed a bit. Pics of this later.

Airframes · Mar 21, 2010

Neat work Andy.

Wayne Little · Mar 22, 2010

Coming along nicely Andy!!

Crimea_River · Mar 22, 2010

Thanks guys. A bit of a boring pic really. I want to weather the underside a fair amount but decided to stay away from preshading as I think it tends to make thing look overdone. I'll stick with post-base coat techniques.

Here's on of the topside before I launch into the upper camo. The mid grey areas are just to test the seams.Canopy is masked and the interior green is applied to the frames before topcoat is applied. Engine area is masked off. I have to mask the demarcation with the Sky undersides, which look to me like a hard line (not sprayed). Stripes will be done after the camo is applied.

**** DONE : 1/48 Hellcat Mk I JV-131 No 800 Squadron HMS Emperor

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