I'm calling this one DONE! Here are a few final detail shots. Official GB Finished shots are in a separate thread.
Pic 1 shows the finished weathering and general crud around the engine. The photo does not pick up the glossy buffed areas at all. You'll have to come over to my house to see. Seen to the top right are the two whip antennae.
Pic 2 shows the whip antennae and upper signal/nav lights. Eduard pushed the envelope and provided clear parts to insert into these holes but just try trimming the excess plastic off after cutting them from the sprue. Boing - off into the ether. Instead, I filled the holes with several droplets of Future after painting. The antennae are stretched sprue inserted and glued into tiny predrilled holes.
Pic 3 is of the drop tank and the nifty PE straps with tensioning buckles and all.
Pic 4 - completed landing gear. Quite a few tiny parts here. Missing and presumed dead are two PE attachments between the oleo strut and gear door that I accidently flipped into oblivion when I dropped my knife on the container in which they were put so I wouldn't lose them.....
The added brake line can be clearly seen.
Pic 5 shows the similar treatment of the underside signal lamps. Drops of Future make up the lenses in lieu of the kit-supplied clear parts.
In
Pic 6 we see a detail of the RN call letters that were masked into the stripes.
Pic 7 is a final look at the finished pit with all the PE stuff that made up the various levers. the throttle quadrant is entirely PE with separate knobs for mix, throttle and pitch. Also seen are some PE placards that were added on the canopy rail to finish this area off.
Finally,
Pic 8 is a nose on shot showing the engine and prop details. A nice PE grille was provided in the kit in the lower intake. A little silvering on the prop decals but what the hey.
The fit on this model was excellent and fortunately very little filling was needed. I'd recommend this kit to anyone. There's a second Hellcat in the box that I'll get to after I get this one out of my system. One is enough for now. Thanks to all of you for watching this build and for your kind comments along the way. Looks like I'll be back onto my Bf-110 to finish that off.