Thanks George, for taking the time to read all of this. It has been a journey for sure. Yes you are absolutely correct about the assembly line process. It works great for the initial steps, where pretty much everything is the same. Where this build has slowed down tremendously is getting things ready for the paint and masking everything off for spraying. Since these builds differ so much, this has been the most time consuming. If the builds were all Glossy Sea Blue they would have probably been done by now.

But I'm having fun at this and really enjoying myself.

I just got back home a few minutes ago, and worked on the resin cowling for the Target Tow plane...

Now it fits great.

You can tell it's a replacement part by the following:

1. the cowling vents are now opened
2. the color of resin is a little lighter in color than the kit plastic
3. the engine opening diameter and "Hellcat Grin" are a little different than the kit supplied parts.
4. the filling in of existing panel lines and re-scribing are no longer needed, since this part better represents a late model F6F cowl.

Here's a close up of the so called grin...

But it isn't all done just yet as there was a (hopefully) minor problem... It can be seen in this photo. Look just below the cowling side vents just where the exhaust would normally exit.

The resin was paper thin here and split...

I'll have to see what I can do to fix this...

Then we should be ready for some "Engine Gray" very soon...

Thanks again for looking, and comments are encouraged.

Thanks Allan... Sorry, but not much to report.

We have been visiting occasionally with my step son, who was admitted into the hospital several days ago. He had to have a diabetic related partial amputation... so needless to say the work bench time has not been happening as much as it was in the recent past. But I did manage to squeeze in about 30 minutes worth of work earlier today... not on the 'Cats though.

Thanks for the compliments, and Merry Christmas my friend.

He's 41 Allan. Thank you. You're a good man...

Today I had the chance to get busy in the hobby room, so I took full advantage of the opportunity...

I started out by drilling out the exhaust pipes for the Daytona Beach NAS plane... Once this was done, I brushed on some home brewed Model Master "Metalizer" mix I made up to represent exhaust pipes after they have been exposed to some heat...

Then I used a toothpick and applied some dark gray paint into the areas I had drilled out earlier.

Here's how the exhaust turned out after they were installed:

Then I glued the cowling on. I have decided to go with the solid Gloss Sea Blue without the red speed ring for this plane after closely studying some more pictures of planes from the Daytona Beach Naval Air Station.

Not too much is visible of the exhaust pipes after the cowl was installed... but I think the efforts were worthwhile.

Here's how the plane looks from under the wing, between the landing gear.

along with a final parting shot as it sits right now...

Next I turned my attention to the "Target Tow" plane and finished up the cowling. It's ready for paint now, plus I decide to re spray the interior of the cowling in my rendition of "Grumman Gray".

I was not happy with how the leading edge of the wings looked. Up close photography I had posted here earlier during the build showed there was a slight gap along the leading edges on the inboard wing sections.

So I applied some Tamiya putty, and sanded the area after it dried.

Then next step was masking. Here it's ready to spray.

A light coat of white was sprayed on...

Followed by the Yellow...

Here's how the area turned out after I removed the masking:

I'm very pleased...

This next picture shows the repaired cowling temporarily placed in position. If you look closely you can see the primer paint indicating the repair area just below the cowling vents.

This last picture shows the plane from the other side. Next step will be some more masking in preparation of the "Engine Gray" color...

Calling it a day...

Thanks Allan. I'm getting closer...

This is tonight's progress. It doesn't look like I got very much completed. But in reality all the wheels are done now. I even managed to get the wheels and propeller finished for the P-40 L that's being built for the Kasserine Pass GB.

I also drilled out the remaining exhaust pipes and painted them too.

Hopefully tomorrow I can apply some decals ...

Calling it a night.

Happy New Year !

This all looks fantastic, Louis! I'm really a big fan of the entire 'Cat series from Grumman, with special interest in the F6F series, as well as the F8s & F7 series. Beautiful planes all! Yellow isn't everyone's favorite color, but the target & drone planes plus the old "Yellow Wings" era look awesome, especially when done as well as yours are.

Tonight I sprayed a clear coat on three of the four Cats.

Since it's fairly cold down here (especially for Florida weather) I moved the planes inside our house and they're all sitting on the formal dining room table. The misses must really love me to put up with my antics...

Here's how the Blue Angels F6F looks like now. It's ready for decals once the clear dries sufficiently.

Next up is the NAS Daytona Beach plane. I'm not too sure about the decals. They looked ok prior to the clear. Now the letters are wrinkled. The numbers look like they have tiny bubbles under them now ... Hopefully this will straighten up some as the clear dries.

Last is the Drone plane. It's also ready for decals now.

I'll let these dry for a day or so just to be safe. Then I'll start putting on some stickers !

Calling it a night.

As usual comments are encouraged.

Here's to a great New Year.

Thanks Allan !

I was very fortunate to find a photo of the unit patch... I like it too, especially since Daytona Beach is my home town... so I'm probably a little biased... 🙂

Earlier today I finished the Daytona Beach NAS 'Cat...

Here's a sneak peak...

The article will be on it's way in a few minutes for posting in the "Headlines" section.

I also managed to get some more work done on the other 'Cats too. I hope tomorrow is another good day at the "Iron Works"...

As usual, comments are encouraged.

One down... Three to go !

* UPDATED ***

Here's the link to the posted article on the first completed F6F from this set of four builds.

Hasegawa 1/48 “Year of the Cat” NAS Daytona Beach F6F-3 Hellcat “Flight 138” 1945