Hellcats, Hellcats, Hellcats, and MORE Hellcats...

December 5, 2016 · in Aviation · · 16 · 1.6K

A few of the models I've built over the years. All are 1:48 scale and they list as follows:

1st two pictures are 's F6F-3/5 kit, built as a -3, flown by Lt. Alex Vraciu of VF-6, off USS Intrepid, (CV-11) Feb 1944.

2nd two, are a F6F-5N, of VF(N)-90, Flown by Lt.(jg) Charles Wattenburger, off USS Enterprise, (CV-6), March 1945

3rd is an kit, F6F-3, of VF-16, flown by Cdr Paul Buie from USS Lexington, (CV-16), March 1944.

Last two are also of an Eduard F6F-5, flown by Cdr Hugh T Winters, CAG-19 off USS Lexington, (CV-16) November 1944.

Reader reactions:
3  Awesome

7 additional images. Click to enlarge.


16 responses

  1. Outstanding ! Man I love it... Good stuff here.

    Are you up for a possible "Group build" in the future ? I have some unbuilt kits and have been itching to build one as a tribute to a VF-16 pilot I met about 8 years ago.

    • He flew from the Lexington from 1943 to 1945. He shot down a single zero. His name was Arthur Payne Whiteway and was a kind gentleman. Unfortunately he passed away about 2 years ago.

    • Thank you, Louis. Not sure about a group build though. I'm not opposed to it by any means, I'm just not sure I can be the guy running it. I'm not a very technical guy, and it's a small victory that I can even turn the darn thing on...

  2. Good weathering/detail work on those last two and in the second two, are those 20mm cannons I see?

    • Thanks Craig. Yes they are, some Hellcats were fitted with the 20mm as an experiment, but it proved to be a failure with jamming issues being tops on the list. I think logistics played a role as well because ships had to store 20mm ammo as well .50.

  3. Hellcats galore. Nice series of Grumman's best in WWII (the Wildcat was very good also). Louis you may have an idea for 2017 for a GB. Got one in the stash though just one an F6F-5N. It has been way too long for a USN/USMC WWII build for me.

  4. Nice contribution to the current Hellcat theme, not sure about the group build, you may have to define it.

  5. Amazing, that's a hell of a lot of Hellcats!

  6. Very nice cat, Frederick. Love the worn look.

  7. Nice cats Frederick, didn't realize there was so much interest concerning Hellcats when I posted my -3.

  8. Can there ever be "too many" Hellcats? Of course not! More great looking Grummans there Frederick. Thanks for posting those. 🙂

  9. Very nice collection - some great work there! And since I've been teetering on the brink of pulling a Hellcat from the stash, I'd be open to a GB in January (gotta get past the Water Wings build first...)

  10. We've all gone to Hellcats, great builds.

  11. Thank you to everyone for the kind words.

    As far as a group build goes, does anyone have any experience running one? I do not. I do however, think Louis has come up with a great idea!
    I have a bunch of F6F's in the pile, and one I had been working on, is a 1:32 scale Hasegawa kit. I have to replace the cockpit and gun bays, but otherwise the kit is pretty solid. Beats the hell out of the Trumpy kit in my view. What say you all?

Leave a Reply