The USS Princeton (CVL-23) was lost on October 24th, 1944 at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. A single bomb hit the aft elevator and ignited several 'locked and loaded' Avengers, causing a huge inferno. At the time, eight F6Fs based on Princeton were on patrol and engaged around 80 Japanese planes; horrible odds, and despite their heroism their home ship was lost and the group dispersed amongst other carriers.

The 'Catmouth' Hellcats.

My plan is to build a diorama with two Cats on board the USS Essex, where several VF 27 kites landed shortly after the Princeton was lost. This build will give me the chance to model a bird from the Fighting 27 and another of my favourite air groups, Essex's own Carrier Air Group 15 (if you haven't read Tom Cleaver's great book, 'The Fabled 15' then you are missing a treat).

After landing on the Essex, Admiral Sherman was so incensed by the nose art of the 27th's Hellcats that he ordered the planes to be repainted that very night. So the build will showcase the very last moments of those infamous Fighting 27 Catmouths.

The Grumman assembly line...

I've never built two of the same kits simultaneously before (albeit different manufacturers) and it will give a great chance to appreciate their relative merits. I shamelessly ripped this idea from fellow iModeler, Louis (hi Louis).

After the attrition of my last build (an ancient Revell P38) I chose two easy builds, the Eduard 1/48 Hellcat (weekend edition) and the (rather infamous) HobbyBoss F6F5.

After just a weekend I have almost got to the stage where I'm ready to button up the fuselages and so far it's been nice and easy with both kits.

The photo of the Hellcat (above) comes from the incredible book, 'The Great Book of World War II Airplanes' illustrated by the amazing Rikyu Watanabe. This book is as close to modeler's heaven as it is possible to get. It is huge, crammed with unbelievable technical drawings, more detail than you could dream of, and beautifully painted colour schemes. Also full of historically accurate and passionate love of history, it's a must have (this is less a build in progress and becoming more of a book review...)

Although the photo below is of the USS Yorktown, I couldn't resist adding it as a great example of the gorgeous drawings in the book.

Louis, I'd expect nothing more from a 'Pacific' guy.

This morning took advantage of a quiet Sunday morning (oh the joy, I woke at 05:20 thinking it was a work day) and did some work on the cats. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there's a whole day ahead; cooking, model making, messing around with the kids, and a nice glass of something cold at five bells!

Next phase is rubbing these kites down and getting some primer on. Have to say that I'm impressed by the wing fold mechanism on the HobbyBoss cat, it's very solid and seems to get the angles all correct - which has to be a bit of an ask in the numbers that they've produced this kit.

Hope you are having a great weekend, wherever you are.

Looking at the first picture I think I need a little more filler...

Good looking pair of Hellcats coming along! I did a 2-build project not long ago also (Soccer War Adversary Corsairs) and really enjoyed it. I may do it again sometime, once I have a good idea for some contrasting builds of the same aircraft. Oh yeah - forgot - I've got a pair of F-5's in my 2017 build plan...now where did I put that plan...?

It looks like your Hellcat builds are really taking shape ! You have definitely made some great progress. I really like the wing fold on the HB 'Cat.

Yes I have one of those build plans too... So many choices, so little time... at least that's how it seems on occasion.

Great job Dave !

Man I would not have wanted to be onboard the USS Cowpens when that picture was taken... There has been times in the past where planes were lost overboard... some smaller ships even capsized.

My Dad told me horror stories about how so many GI's got sea sick during several of his overseas voyages on troop ships during some of these storms back in the day. He said the smell was absolutely horrible...

Now days we are very fortunate to use planes to transport our troops overseas instead of using ships.

Today I was supposed to work. But no, the cats were calling; "David", they said, "call work, tell them you have a couple of important things to take care of and need some leave". So I did.

And I painted one Hellcat...

There was a disaster, a loss of confidence, a good self talking to, but at the end I painted a second Hellcat...

And look...this is a colour of sky we don't really see much in London...and it was warm. And sunny. My second son popped around and he seems happy and healthy. My wife scored a great result in her degree course. Some days just work out. Maybe should have bought a lotto ticket today.

I primed the carrier deck base and I'm looking forward to painting and weathering it. I have some techniques I want to try in preparation for the Enterprise (I think you can just see the plans on the wall).

I'm really enjoying this build. I'm enjoying the iModeler community even more (Rob's Friday briefing is now a highlight of the week) and it's a great motivator to build.

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend!

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.

We used to call them mental health days. Both looking good, David!