Posted by Don Murphy on October 19, 2010, 12:00:08
Here's the progress on the Hasegawa F6F-5 Hellcat. I'm using the Verlinden update set which is probably not the swiftest thing I could have done, but that's a long story for another day.
The plane would have been built completely had I not dicked with the update set. The cockpit in my opinion, is not really that much better than the standard Hasegawa one. The gun bay is nice tho. This must be an older Verlinden set as the gun bay is not nearly as detailed as the ones I've used of theirs recently for the P-51, etc. There's a chunk of engine to look at, but nothing you'd really want to tear the nose apart (and then have to make a panel!) for. Oh well. We live and learn...
Oh okay...the sidewall detail is pretty good but considering how little you see, it gets lost in the shuffle. The kit itself, pretty much builds itself with no fuss, no complicated instruction steps and no fit problems. Again, if you don't dick with it, you can pretty much build the whole thing in a few hours. There's no real options like flap dropping, wing folding, etc. Just the normal gears-up-or-down and canopy-open-or-closed. So you can pretty much bang the thing together in next to no time.
I'm using something different for my paint. I used the normal Polyscale Zinc Chromate for the green bits, but instead of stinky-worthless Testors Modelmaster Dark Sea Blue, I'm using Polyscale Flat Dark Sea Blue. Ummm...firstly, it don't stink so I can paint at work and I have to gloss coat it anyway, so no harm there either. For my blacks I used either Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black or Flat Black.
I have enough junk in my spares box to do an acceptable decal job for Eugene Valencia's bird, so that's who's bird I'll do. Eugene was the USN's third highest scoring ace and had a plain look to his bird, no nose art, etc. I'll use brass rod for the gun barrels when I get to that point.
All I have left to do at this point is touch up the paint, add the PE gun bay doors, make a cowling panel and then glue the pilot's seat and gun sight in. At my present rate, that will probably take the rest of the year... Oh yeah...and put the decals on.
I really like the engine - is that from the kit, or the Verlinden set? Or at least, I like the look of its crank case - which is about all I can see - in that last shot.
I'm having real trouble making out any of the details painted in that Tamiya "semi"-gloss black, which looks like full-on gloss - just like a black hole - from here. Likewise for understanding what I'm seeing in that open "engine" panel - it's 'way far back for the (main part of the) engine, and - between the shiny black and (severely) flat Polyscale green - I can't make out a single detail of it. A thin wash of dark gray "grime" all up in there - darkening recesses against the green, and lightening them against the black - would probably fix my problem completely.
Either way, she'll look spectacular - especially when gloss-coated and decaled - so definitely show us her final beauty shots, Donny!
Oh and I also note you've once again found an arrangement where you can build models at work - that's so awesome - and (again) cracks me up! Takes us back quite some years - four, at least - to when you worked for "The Rat". Who'd you con this time into letting you build models while collecting a paycheck - is that still Harris?
LMAO - More Power To Ya', Donny!
Cheers,
-Matty
You and me both buddy
Posted by Don Murphy on October 21, 2010, 11:31:12, in reply to "Looks great so far"
It took me probably an hour to figure out what those three parts were that the open engine panel shows. And then mounting them as well. You'll actually not see most of the black cuz there are some photo etched hoses that go over them. But the Verlinden call-out was for gloss black. Once the cowling gets glued down, you'll see hardly anything of the engine (sadly). My flagship Hellcat will be the Trump 32nd scale one and that comes with a see-through cowling.
Harris kind of leaves us alone. I.T. in general seems to have a hard time finding "24X7" workers. So they're just happy we're happy to work weekends. So most of us sit there and do online gaming, watch DVD's etc. Two of the old dears knit and crochet as well. So they're pretty much 'ok' with me building. Our pods are over our heads, so when we're sitting down, you can't see that we're actually in the room until you get close to us. And I'm using Polyscale/Tamiya paints so no one smells 'em.
The bird will be Gene Valencia's mount. He was the USN's third top scorer. This will be his last plane (Okinawa) so it'll be pretty clean as he didn't fly it long.