Hasegawa Hellcat – the 1/48 F6F-3 by Tony Prince
Being a lover of carrier borne aircraft & the USN WWII in particular, I built this kit a few years ago (pre Eduard), but noted the adverse comments regarding the 'smile' on the cowling ring. Being very happy with other aspects of the kit I raided an unused Otaki kit & amputated the relevant bit from that. Near perfect fit! The rest or the build went smoothly enough & I had a lot of fun with the weathering afterwards, so much so that I built another (a F6F-5) with a Quickboost cowling;
Hope you like it.
Very nice build Tony.
An excellent job on the finish, detailing and weathering...it really looks the part. But one thing has me puzzled - maybe you can tell me what I'm missing.
The area beneath the sliding canopy. Wouldn't it have weathered and/or faded the same as the rest of the skin? it appears as though it's much "bluer".
Thanks for the e-mail clearing that up...now I get it.
Tony,
Like so many other airplanes, the Hellcat is one of my favorites. Please don't hold me to pick my all time best as I can't. You have done an excellent job on this. I really like what you have done here. Isn't it amazing how the poor old Otaki kits are pretty much right on as to scale view.
Great looking model. Love the Hellcat- Big, Bad and Tough.
This plane seems so aptly named, Hellcat, you've done it justice.
Great build there Tony, what colour did you use for the interior?
I have got one on the bench and the colour called for does not match the decals for the instrument panels.
Very nice work, Tony. I particularly like the VF-2 markings, since that's the unit I'm writing about in the next Osprey release.