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D-Day build – 1/48 Hellcat Mk.I

Started by Dmitry Stropalov · 33 ≡ · ↻ 10 years ago · 1/48, D-Day, D-Day Group Build, Hellcat, WIP

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Dmitry Stropalov said 10 years, 2 months ago:

First question about this HobbyBoss kit - markings. There is a single photo (attached) of this particular aircraft. This shot was made sometime between August and October 1944 near Greece or Italy. You can see that invasion stripes are corrupted. Stripes on the decals "corrupted" too. Anyway I was not going to use decals for invasion stripes (painted it will look better), but I was thinking about this photo. So, I think that this aircraft was repainted after some repair - area from canopy to national insignia looks lighter than others and cleaner. I'm going to paint stripes entirely to represent the possible look of an aircraft during invasion.

I've started with dry assemble to check the fit. Then I glued together main wheels, stabilizers with elevators and fuel tank - to test plastic and fit. All is good, but not excellent.

PS. Sorry for my English - I'm not a native speaker...
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Tom Cleaver said 10 years, 2 months ago:

This is actually "the other D-Day" - the invasion of Southern France in August 1944. 800 Squadron aboard HMS "Emperor".

I could do an F6F-5 of VOF-1 without invasion stripes and it would be right for this group build!
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Jaime Carreon said 10 years, 2 months ago:

That's an interesting photo, Dmitry. This is my opinion, and I could be wrong about this, but I think the lighter color you see aft of the cockpit could be the lighter (or badly faded) of the two upper camouflage colors. You can see a patch of the lighter color on the wing just below the roundel as well. If I'm correct they should be FAA dark slate gray and dark sea gray on the uppers with sky lower surfaces. It looks like the invasion stripes on the upper fuselage and the aft part of the wing were not very well applied and peeled off! They also don't appear to carry around to the bottom of the fuselage.

It looks like you have a good start to the model!
Dmitry Stropalov said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Hi Jaime! I was thinking so, but I can't answer a question - why stripes were not peeled of from the wings too. Anyway, we can only assume about how it was - maybe you're right.

This kit includes rockets and bombs, but I decided not to use them. So, I closed mounting holes with a stretched sprue. I drilled out exhausts too. Next, I partially assembled cockpit - both parts of fuselage have ejector pin marks in that area, so I've used to fill them.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Gregor d said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Looks like a great kit from your photos Dmitry. I look forward to seeing your Hellcat progress.
Simon Whitney said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Nice Dmitry , I like what I am seeing.
Tom Cleaver said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Grumman did in fact use correct FAA colors (Dupont mixed) for their Martlet/Wildcats, Tarpon/Avengers and Hellcats. The lighter color in the photo is Dark Slate Grey, the darker color is Dark Sea Grey. The invasion stripes were likely distemper applied over the factory-painted lacquer, which is why with water and brooms the stripes came off as easy as they did. This was likely the end of August/early Septemer, before Emperor left for the Pacific with her Hellcats.

I have an Eduard kit with the full invasion stripes on my blog here, if you want to check it out.
Dmitry Stropalov said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Thank you guys! Tom, I've checked out your Hellcat - good job! I decided to paint stripes fully.

I moved to painting. I've started with pre-shading with black colour, next I applied main colour and then I painted instrumental panels. After applying gloss varnish I moved to decals and that was disappointing - it seems that I have a defective decal sheet in my kit - there is no protecting transparent film over the images and when I put it into the water decal broke into pieces. I have Microscale's Liquid Decal Film and it helps me with small decals for interior, but I think that it will not work for a large ones - like insignia, numbers, etc.

After decals I applied a layer of satin varnish and pigments. Also I painted cowl inside.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Gregor d said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Wow! You are really getting going with this build. Looks great.
AL HOFFMAN said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Your making great progress. Looks like I need to get going.
Rick Wilkes said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Dmitry, you are going to be finished before the rest of us get started...lol
Very nice work indeed
Tom Cleaver said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Very nice work there, Dmitry.
Dmitry Stropalov said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Some build updates. I made a masks for windows behind canopy, pre-painted tail wheel and hook and glued fuselage. Also I pre-painted main wheel bays before assembling wings - I've started with pre-shading with black colour and then I used a darker variant of a base colour (RAF Sky).
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Dmitry Stropalov said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Some updates - navigation lights replaced with a custom parts made of coloured sprue.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Gregor d said 10 years, 2 months ago:

Cool! That's what I call attention to detail 🙂

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