With what little modeling time I've had this year, I've been plugging away at the Eduard Hellcat. It says Weekend Edition on the box, but it has taken much longer than a weekend to get to this point. Expect about 14 or 15 more weekends until I get the blue on it. Heck, at this rate, I might even finish it by the end of 2013! It will be done up as a Gloss Sea Blue BPF Fleet Air Arm Hellcat II.

I tried the new Testors Model Master Lacquer Primer for the first time. It sprayed okay through the airbrush and left a nice flat even finish, but did string a little when sprayed. I was able to remove most of the strings with a quick brush of a large paintbrush and a polish with an old t-shirt. This finish is not as smooth as Mr. Surfacer, but looked after after the polish, but I liked it better than my one experience with the Alclad gray primer. Overall, Mr. Surfacer and Tamiya Fine Surface Primer are still my primers of choice, but this is an acceptable alternative when they occasionally disappear from stock.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

I'm interested in this one - I'm (very slowly) working on a collection of Grumman's Cats in 72nd scale and eventually will be getting to the Hellcat-- I'll enjoy following along with your progress on the Eduard kit. How did you decide which kit to build?

Tamiya Fine White, dunked in hot tap water (NOT BOILING, please don't ask me how I figured that one out...) is my absolute favourite! Stock is a bit erratic here in Sweden but I have solved that by picking up the cans whenever I see them at shows or in shops so I have a bit of a buffer stock at home. I spray it directly from the can standing on the front porch with the door closed. I once tried it indoors below the kitchen fan with disastrous results for the family relations, that smell is horrible! I think the only time my wife has been more angry at my stupidity was when I frayed her toaster when doing some vacforming...

I have been looking at that Hellcat since it was released but I still haven't bought one...

Magnus