Lorenzo's 1:48 Hasegawa F6F-3 Hellcat "USS Essex"

[Lorenzo]

That tall cockpit sitting on a sturdy fuselage, a big radial engine out front, straight wings with just a slight upward bend.... yup, this is the plane I used to draw in class when I should have been paying attention to my fourth grade teacher! The F6F-3 Hellcat will be my build for "Feline Fever."





As one of the most significant Allied aircraft types of the Second World War, there is a wealth of information available about the Hellcat. According to the Northrop-Grumman website, "Hellcat pilots account for 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed by the Navy and Marines in World War II."

Rugged, maneuverable, and fast, with a potent punch -- what more could an aviator want? A few more facts from WW2live.com show just how dominant the Hellcat was in its role. (The rest of the listicle is here.)

• The Grumman F6F Hellcat was faster at all altitudes than the Japanese Zero Type 52 Fighter.
• The Grumman F6F Hellcat accounted for 75% of all aerial victories recorded by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific.
• Grumman F6F Hellcats were credited with destroying 5,223 aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
• U.S. Navy and Marine Grumman F6F Hellcat pilots flew 66,530 combat sorties and claimed 5,163 kills (56% of all U.S. Navy/Marine air victories of the war) at a recorded cost of 270 Hellcats in aerial combat (an overall kill-to-loss ratio of 19:1 based on claimed but not confirmed kills).
• The Grumman F6F Hellcat became the prime ace-maker aircraft in the American inventory, with 305 Hellcat aces.

Grumman F6F-3 Specifications(from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida):
Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
Type: Carrier-based fighter
Crew: One Pilot
Powerplant: One 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W engine
Dimensions: Length: 33 ft., 7 in., Height: 11 ft., 1 in., Wingspan: 42 ft. 10 in.
Weight: Empty: 9,023 lb., Gross: 15,413 lb.
Performance: Max Speed: 376 mph at 23,400 ft., Cruise Speed: 168 mph
Range: 1,090 miles
Armament: Six .50-caliber machine guns

The kit I'll be building is Hasegawa's #09134, Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat "USS Essex" in 1:48 scale. The sprues are marked "F6F-3/5," but not dated. Scalemates tells me this kit dates from 1995. There's a bit of flash here and there, but the kit looks good and has a nice level of detail.













I haven't acquired any aftermarket parts for this, but that could change as I move forward. I also have not decided yet which of the two marking options I will choose; it seems that can wait until the very end as both marking sets are for identical versions.

One last note: I'll be trying out Amazon's Prime Photos service for hosting pictures; please let me know if that presents any issues to anyone. Thanks!
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UPDATE: Yeah, that didn't work at all. Neither did Google Drive. Back to Flickr I go....

[Tomcat64]

One last note: I'll be trying out Amazon's Prime Photos service for hosting pictures; please let me know if that presents any issues to anyone. Thanks!

Unfortunately I can't see any of the images mate - I just get the "broken image" symbol

[Lorenzo]

One last note: I'll be trying out Amazon's Prime Photos service for hosting pictures; please let me know if that presents any issues to anyone. Thanks!

Unfortunately I can't see any of the images mate - I just get the "broken image" symbol

Thanks for the heads-up! How about now? Meanwhile, can anyone else actually see the photos in my post?

[Lorenzo]

OK, never mind.... this obviously still needs a bit of work.

[Lorenzo]

All right, somebody please tell me that worked... can anybody see the photos now?

[Lorenzo]

And now, yesterday's meager progress:



One of the differences between the F6F-3 and the F6F-5 is the cockpit windows. This kit uses sprues common to both types. I'm building an F6F-3, so I need to create openings for the cockpit side windows. Instead of using a knife, I decided to try cutting the openings with a scriber. There's a nice little ridge to trace from the inside of the fuselage, so it was a pretty straightforward task. Once the scribed lines began to show through from the outside, it was a simple matter to gently push the piece to be removed loose





and clean up the opening with some files.



Also, in case anyone was wondering, this was the worst of the flash on this kit, and it all cleaned up pretty readily.

[Lorenzo]

So I found a great website for reference: The National Naval Aviation Musem. (They also have lots of other cockpit panoramas. Check the drop-down list for your project!) This was very handy as I put the cockpit together. Here are the parts dry-fitted this afternoon before they got a coat of gloss:



I used Stynylrez gray primer and Vallejo Model Air Interior Green, along with Black, Medium Yellow, and Silver. The seat belts were molded into the seat, so I used a bit of Light Gray on them.

The instrument panel and cockpit side panels got the same treatment, with the addition of red, yellow, and white colored pencils for the small details like gauges and knobs.



I also got the engine squared away with Vallejo Metal Color Steel over Black Stynylrez primer, and a bit of Vallejo black wash added.



Weathering these subassemblies will be next.

[Lorenzo]

Chugging along... Cockpit parts assembled and weathered with Tamiya panel line washes (black, brown and gray) and pastels, most of which have been brushed off. Then it all got a coat of AK Ultra Matte Varnish.





Cockpit installed and fuselage halves joined. Dry-fitted the wings and cowl. I don't want to jinx anything, but this kit looks like it won't be throwing any major difficulties at me, which will be a welcome relief after my last kit.

[Tomcat64]

All right, somebody please tell me that worked... can anybody see the photos now?

All the photos are now showing up fine for me mate

Nice progress on the build too - that's coming together well. Another very tidy looking cockpit.

[Lorenzo]

All right, somebody please tell me that worked... can anybody see the photos now?

All the photos are now showing up fine for me mate

Nice progress on the build too - that's coming together well. Another very tidy looking cockpit.

Thanks! I was beginning to wonder if I'd actually successfully posted these pics.

[Lorenzo]

I'm really enjoying this kit. Everything fits so well! Almost no filler required:



I've masked the canopy, as you see, and painted it with Vallejo Air Interior Green. I'll primer over that, with the expectation that the green will show on the inside of the canopy. Hopefully, that will work.

Meanwhile, check out that wing root. I love not having to fight the styrene!

[Tomcat64]

Thanks! I was beginning to wonder if I'd actually successfully posted these pics.

Yeah - busy week last week and didn't get time to look around so much!

Great to see you still making decent progress and always nice when a kit behaves itself too!

[Quax]

Hi Lorenzo

I don't know much about Hellcats (apart from the ones with tracks and a 76mm gun....) but its looking one cool Cat so far!

cheers

Paul

[pourquoi61]

Good I like it when a kit goes together well, nice work.

[Lorenzo]

Primed. Or is that Primered?

[Lorenzo]

I probably should have mentioned that the primer I used is Stynylrez.

Meanwhile, I'm putting off the masking I need to do and working on the landing gear instead:



White Stynylrez primer with Vallejo Model Color Oily Steel and Model Air Tire Black, with Tamiya Gray Panel Line Wash in the tire treads and on the wheel hubs.

And the prop is almost done:



Because yellow (in this case Model Air Yellow) is so difficult to paint evenly, I primed the prop blades with white Stynylrez, then hit the tips with yellow and masked them off, then gave everything else a coat of black Stynylrez. The hub is brush painted with Model Air Chrome Silver and Intermediate Blue.

I'm starting to run out of things that aren't masking....

[Tomcat64]

Nice progress mate - that's some really tidy work on the prop & undercarriage.

[Lorenzo]

Did my masking, did my painting, and made a nasty mistake.



Believe it or not, the upper wing surfaces and the top of the fuselage are painted with the same color, Vallejo Model Air Signal Blue; the difference is that the fuselage had already been painted Intermediate Blue whereas the wings were still only in black primer. I haven't primed many previous projects in black before, and I simply did not realize that the difference in color would be so pronounced.

My plan at this point is to paint very thinned Intermediate Blue as a filter over the wings to see how close I can get the colors. If that doesn't work, the wings will get a full coat of Intermediate Blue and then a top coat of Signal Blue.

If anyone else has any suggestions, I'd love to see them.

[Tomcat64]

Did my masking, did my painting, and made a nasty mistake.



Believe it or not, the upper wing surfaces and the top of the fuselage are painted with the same color, Vallejo Model Air Signal Blue; the difference is that the fuselage had already been painted Intermediate Blue whereas the wings were still only in black primer. I haven't primed many previous projects in black before, and I simply did not realize that the difference in color would be so pronounced.

My plan at this point is to paint very thinned Intermediate Blue as a filter over the wings to see how close I can get the colors. If that doesn't work, the wings will get a full coat of Intermediate Blue and then a top coat of Signal Blue.

If anyone else has any suggestions, I'd love to see them.

Yeah the underlayer can make a big difference.

It might be worth laying down a couple of thin coats of the final colour on the wings to see if that'll pick it up.

[Lorenzo]

So I didn't actually do what I said I would do. Instead of trying to lighten the too-dark blue with a filter, I just went ahead and wiped all the paint off the wings with lacquer thinner, cosmetic pads, and q-tips. Messy, but effective.



Then a coat of black primer, then Intermediate Blue, and a top layer of Signal Blue. Now the top surfaces are a much closer match to the top of the fuselage:



I hope I don't make that mistake again any time soon!

[pourquoi61]

Looking very nice, hope that it makes you happy.
"now pay attention to the home work" LOL.

[Lorenzo]

My heavens, where was I?

(To tell the truth, I actually finished this bird a few weeks ago, I have just had zero time to update this thread.)

After repairing my painting mistake, the final stages of assembly went smoothly. A couple coats of Future, then decals, then a coat of Tamiya X-22.



After decals, some Tamiya panel line wash: grey on the upper surfaces, black underneath, and some very thinned Tamiya X-19 Smoke to simulate exhaust staining.





Then the engine and cowl, landing gear, and a stretched sprue antenna. All went very smoothly with no issues at all. Good kit!



Final reveal post coming soon!