Airfix A19004 Grumman F6-F5 Hellcat

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Only issue I faced was when I joined the fuse and wings together and found the fuse was slightly larger than the gap in the wings!

Then used MIG washes - starship grime and dark wash - I like these products as they are actually quite oily. Subsequent images represent this gradual building up of fuselage information and how the various components relate to the overall shape of the Hellcat and connecting areas of its internal construction. Continuing the Hellcat exclusives theme of this latest blog and courtesy of Paramjit’s modelling talents, we are pleased to bring you a selection of these fantastic build images now. We then go on to look at the design of the wing and whilst the first skeleton image still includes quite a lot of detail, it is still more about the accurate placement of components than the level of detail itself. The fit of the wings is complicated by numerous internal ribs, many of which in retrospect are unnecessary and impede a clean fit.It's the oil cooler but all the oil cooler assembly sits behind the firewall so presumably all the oil pipes from the oil tank and the engine which are in front of the firewall have to get through there somehow. Was wondering though, was it a deliberate decsion on your part to go with what looks to be an RAF day fighter colour scheme topside, instead of the naval colours of the FAA (Extra Dar As this is a 1/24th scale kit, Chris knew that he would be able to incorporate much greater levels of detail into this project than is possible with smaller scales, following the actual construction details of the Hellcat much more faithfully. The kit plastic seat belts were absolutely fine, and I had already painted, weathered, and installed them on the seat. From the pilot’s perspective, as well as equipping him with a devastatingly effective fighting aeroplane, the engineers at Grumman had not neglected pilot protection and included armour plating and self-sealing fuel tanks in the aircraft’s design, something Zero pilots would have loved on their aircraft.

The cockpit is really hard to photograph but can be seen very well with the naked eye at this large scale. This model took me almost exactly a year to build, which is normal for my past efforts, including not much modeling during the summer months, which here in Canada isn’t very long.I wish the rocket stubs had been provided separately as these were often mounted whether or not rockets were carried. Next up are the wires for the control surfaces and the pipework going out from the firewall to the wings.

With recent 1/24th scale projects such as the de Havilland Mosquito and Hawker Typhoon raising the modelling bar in terms of detail and accuracy, the team were once again looking to present modellers with a stunning kit featuring one of the world’s most famous aircraft, but which one should they do? I've wondered about this kit and it was very nice to be able to watch a well-done job and learn a little about what the big kit is all about. Yes I believe that Airfix has selected 1/24 as its big scale of choice and sees no strategic reason to step into the competition in 1/32.We have the Hasegawa 1/32 F6F with soft detail (for the age of the kit- it is pretty good), and a Trumpeter 1/32 "F6F" with a wacky extra wide fuselage. Gradually, more components are added to the skeleton model, in preparation for the detail to be applied to individual sections of the aircraft and important features, such as the cockpit and engine.