Spruemeister Posted August 29, 2013 Report Posted August 29, 2013 Thought maybe I could breeze through this one fairly quickly and just have a nice relaxing no pressure build. Like they all should be! It's just a hobby... Great kit. Sufficiently extolled elsewhere on the interwebs. Work begins, as usual, in the cockpit with its tiny photoetch. Why do I continue to torture myself with this stuff? I modified the bars on the back bulkhead (the kit didn't have any) for a more authentic seatbelt attachment point. Some of the seatbelt bits were omitted for reasons of clarity and sanity. The kit instrument panel had a bogus gunsight which I cut the top part off, and used a disc punched out of clear bubble pack to represent the reflector. And now that its together and looking acceptable.. its completely hidden inside the fuselage. For not having any alignment tabs other than the small air outlet in the belly, it all fits together remarkably well. I just have to clean up the joints on the fuselage and the wing assemblies and I can have the major portion of building finished. Test fitting of the wings to the fuselage show it to be a very nice tight fit. Rick L.
Guest PetrolGator Posted August 29, 2013 Report Posted August 29, 2013 Rick, I own this kit. I keep wanting to build this kit. Count me in as a close watcher of this build.
Spruemeister Posted September 5, 2013 Author Report Posted September 5, 2013 This kit is really nice, but there is some room for improvements with a little light modeling. There are no clear wing tip position lights or landing light on the left wing leading edge. They will be made from some clear sprue as such: I've finished the cleanup of the major seams. No problems at all. It's just a bit tedious because of the stair step effect caused by the overlapping panels on the Hellcat fuselage. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 5, 2013 Author Report Posted September 5, 2013 Left wing light finished. Rick L.
dmorrissette Posted September 5, 2013 Report Posted September 5, 2013 I LOVE the wing tip lights. Always been one of my screw ups Dave
Spruemeister Posted September 5, 2013 Author Report Posted September 5, 2013 I used a #74 bit to drill into the side of the clear piece of sprue, then put paint in the hole so it looked like a colored bulb. Glued it into the corner with CA. Left it over night, then taped around it to protect the fine engraved lines and rivet detail. Profile the tip down with the Dremel followed by sanding sticks to finish shaping, then polish it out with super fine sandpaper, and a few minutes later its done. Really one of the simplest ways to add detail. A little "light" modeling. Rick L.
ghodges Posted September 5, 2013 Report Posted September 5, 2013 Nice touch! Are you doing an all GSB, or a tri-color Hellcat? GIL
Spruemeister Posted September 6, 2013 Author Report Posted September 6, 2013 Tri color with red surround insignia. My all time mostest favorite paint scheme on an airplane. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 6, 2013 Author Report Posted September 6, 2013 Drilling out 50 cal. gun barrels in 1/72 is nuts I'm nuts. Rick L.
Mark Deliduka Posted September 12, 2013 Report Posted September 12, 2013 Welcome to my world Rick! Awesome job on this little model. I love the landing lights; I did that with one of my models as well. I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Guest PetrolGator Posted September 12, 2013 Report Posted September 12, 2013 I may have to steal the landing lights idea when I finally build this.... love the look.
Spruemeister Posted September 12, 2013 Author Report Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) Similar treatment for the leading edge landing light, except I cut out the space with a micro file and then drilled into the wing. It's not nearly as noticeable, but still better than the nothing that was there.I've scribed three small circles under the fuselage for the three color signal lights, but these will be represented later with Tamiya clear tints over the white. I've also drilled out the shell casing ports under the wing. Shoulda done that before assembling the wing halves. Doh! Exhaust stubs are also drilled out.Working on the cowling now. Engine next.Rick L. Edited September 12, 2013 by Spruemeister
Spruemeister Posted September 13, 2013 Author Report Posted September 13, 2013 Now you tell me! Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 22, 2013 Author Report Posted September 22, 2013 The engine parts. Painted the cylinders with a very thin black enamel. Then dry brushed with equally thin aluminum enamel. Need to drill 18 holes for plug wires yet, then assemble. Not really making the kind of progress I had hoped for lately. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 22, 2013 Author Report Posted September 22, 2013 18 "spark plugs" on the front faces of the two cylinder banks, ready to be trimmed to length and painted. Each is a short piece of 10lb monofilament glued into a #80 hole. Rick L.
Mark Deliduka Posted September 28, 2013 Report Posted September 28, 2013 Man, I am blown away. I just build them OOB, I would never have thought of doing all that. You are a true Master!
Guest PetrolGator Posted September 28, 2013 Report Posted September 28, 2013 Now THIS is how you detail!
Spruemeister Posted September 28, 2013 Author Report Posted September 28, 2013 Not really liking the Eduard ignition harness, but its too late to do anything different. It looks way out of scale for this small of subject, and it was a bit difficult to work with. Maybe their larger scale sets look better. The flat 2D effect is detracting from overall look too. Real wires would have been better. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 28, 2013 Author Report Posted September 28, 2013 The bumps over the side exhaust stubs are molded solid. A couple minutes with a half round file fixes this pretty easily. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted September 29, 2013 Author Report Posted September 29, 2013 On to the paint! Finally! Some underside pre shading layer. Not real big on the process, but under the white it should help dirty up the look. A little up the sides. The topside will see some post shading only. Rick L.
Spruemeister Posted October 3, 2013 Author Report Posted October 3, 2013 Topside with some lightened dark sea blue post shading. Still a skill I need more practice at. Rick L.
Guest PetrolGator Posted October 3, 2013 Report Posted October 3, 2013 Three tone looks so good. I'll have to bug you one day on how you do it.
Spruemeister Posted October 3, 2013 Author Report Posted October 3, 2013 Mixing up some pastel chalks to make custom weathering powders. Rick L.
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