Hello fellow imodelers,
It's been a long time since I posted a work in progress thread. Actually, it's been a long time since I built a model; I started a lot but couldn't get my stuff together enough to finish anything to a standard that satisfied me. A while ago I packed up all my tools and equipment, threw out most of my paint (it was old and nasty) and junked all the stash items which had had their bags opened. The remainder of the collection was within a whisker of appearing in my local charity shop!

But then...

I couldn't quite finish the clear out either. Can I ever finish anything again? I finished my lunch so there's some grounds for hope. This project is my last attempt to get back into our wonderfully absorbing hobby; if I fail, it's all over and I'll trade the stash for jigsaws.

I'll be spending the summer in Hellcat land. I had four in the wardrobe. A Hasegawa French version with unusable transfers, an Eduard Weekend version (USN) and a Dual Combo Profipack of Hellcat I and II versions of the Fleet Air Arm. The FAA schemes are fab, and I'm a Brit so I'm going to build all four kits as Royal Navy aircraft starting with the one shown in the picture below.

I opened holes for the rockets. The aircraft was used in Operation Balsam which was flown from the Carrier HMS Khedive over Malaysia in June of 1945. The Eduard instructions say this was a reconnaissance op but there was a lot of ground attack work involved too.

This shows the difference between Hasegawa's highly polished plastic and my dulling down with 1000 grade.

I've also re-profiled the paddle blade prop to the earlier type. The F6F-3 (Late) version is the Hellcat I (I think) while l'Aéronavale flew the F6F-5. I'm reading the history at the same time as building which is not the best way to avoid mistakes. Yell out if you see me making a major mess of things.

I read that the Hellcat was pretty much ‘right’, right from the start. There were very few modifications made during its service life. However, these don’t seem to come in a sensible chronological order. Windows appear and disappear behind the cockpit, a few changes come and go on the cowling, there are some minor armament changes and that’s about it.

Glad you're back. I also had a period where I got burned out on models. I adopted a "keep it simple" plan for my models. I build a lot of old Monogram, Revell, Tamiya, and Hasegawa, usually using just the kit and going for a good paint job and finish. I will usually buy a set of masks for the kit, but that is about it. I build for fun and modeling has become relaxing again.

Thanks guys. AMS or Perfectionism certainly played a part in my plastic paralysis. And I notice that my plan, to get ever-more complex as I work through these four kits, is heading me right back into that situation! D’oh! Maybe I’ll build them all OOB. Or just enhance one aspect of each for a bit of variety.

Curiously my problems coincided with retirement. Having much more time available didn’t increase my output as I’d expected and I got completely bogged down in trying to be perfect. It’s almost as though I turned a fun hobby into a miserable job of work to replace the one I’d just left. How crazy is that!

Hi Tom.

I play that game in my head too. My models are items in my very own museum. I remember as a child imagining that they were my own personal Air Force but that meant that they didn’t last long before they were shot down, blown up, set alight, trodden on by Mum etc.

I certainly wasn’t bothered by AMS in those days. Perhaps I’ll forgo the airbrush for this one and brush paint with Humble enamels. At least on the inside.

Cheers Erik.

Is there a way to sign up to a thread so that I get notifications of new postings? I can't find out how.

Thanks Erik, I think I have it now. I’ve also found the tutorials (with a little help) and will be able to format my posts in a more readable way in future.

Imodeler has changed and improved in a technical sense since I was last here, it’s taking me a little while to catch up. It’s actually a very user friendly site though. That’s good because I don’t want to spend more time editing than modelling!