A kit I have had in the stash since the mid-90's, A perfect choice to honor Jim Sullivan. This is the Night version with the resin wing mounted pod. Will use that on another Hellcat, will build this as a standard carrier fighter.
Lets see whats in the box. Popping the lid with the typical Hasegawa instruction fold out sheet on top.
The instruction sheet is typical with a bit of history of the Hellcat, parts map and paint call out list with Gunze as the suggested paint manufacturer.
The paint scheme are 3 Glossy Dk Sea Blue, late WWII and post war.
The clear sprue is contained in a baggy along with the decals, the resin wing mounted radar pod, and the poly caps for the propeller.
Eduards Zoom set for the cockpit.
A separate cowl is supplied that I believe is more accurate than the one that is originally suppled within the kit. I believe there was a report that the early produced Hase Hellcats had cowls that were inaccurate in shape not by much but enough that some would rather use a resin replacement. I built a -3 in the mid 90's not aware of this until it was pointed out by a review. Still the shape is not that noticeable too me.
The second sprue contains the fuselage halves, typical Hasegawa light grey plastic. Fine engraved panel lines, well defined which was a hallmark for Hase in late 70's into the 80's, still an excellent kit.
The forward section of the fuselage, well defined panel lines, clean smooth plastic, this is an early production kit bought a couple of years when it was first introduced by Hasegawa based on the earlier -5 Hellcat with added parts for the Night Fighter version. There was a time this particular kit was difficult to find as I believe Hasegawa did only one run on this. Don't know if it has been re run or reboxed with different markings. In the cockpit interior, detail is ok,
The next sprue is the upper wing panels, no option to fold them. The ailerons are moulded with the wings.
The inner part of the wings again fine panel lines, and a great attachment point into the fuselage side. Under side some details are provided for the roof of the wheel well bay.
The next sprue contains the lower 1piece wing center fuselage section, drop tanks, straps and fuel feed lines.
The lower wing has the flaps moulded in place, wheel wells are deep.
The center drop tank, including the straps which are unique to the Hellcat.
The fuel lines and center wing insert panel.
The next sprue contains the interior components, engine, propeller and landing gear struts.
The Corsair is not the only plane with a large prop, the Hellcat is a good sized one as well.
The cockpit floor has the oxygen bottle moulded in place and looks simple yet the details are well done.
The rear bulkhead also has a separate upper armored headrest.
The firewall and rear bank of the radial engine.
The landing gear struts are sturdy and have an excellent mounting pin to slip into wheel bays which will keep this standing on the wheels for years to come.
The last sprue contains the horizontal stabs, the wheels and a nice set of rockets, which I won't use but will save for a future project.
The horizontal stabs has the elevators moulded in the neutral position, will need to cut them off to pose them drooped.
Finally the wheels are actually nice from the kit, resin set not necessary.
Next up is to paint the interior components US Interior Green,
More to follow...
