Grumman F6F-5 'Hellcat' Trumpeter 1/32 Scale

[scottie3158]

Steve,
Nice idea of the reversed masking.

 

[stona]

I've done it before for white markings on US aircraft, and I think I did it for this 'Natter', black being much easier to apply over white than vice-versa.



You obviously need to be careful not to build up paint against the masks, but that applies the other way around too.

I will hopefully be unmasking the 'Hellcat' in the morning. I sprayed the GSB colour this afternoon. I very nearly used an entire 14ml tinlet of the paint!

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

Excellent looking masks Steve , I’m sure it’s going to look great . , cheers tony

 

[stona]

Early start to get the masking off, and it has come out quite well.




I have done the very minor touch ups required, basically spotting a few drops of white paint using the end of a cocktail stick, and will leave this for a few hours before a quick rub down and varnish.

In the meantime I might make some bombs...

Cheers

Steve

 

[Vaughan]

Very smart looking Steve the reverse masking of the stars and bars looks very crisp.

 

[stona]

They were easy to do Vaughan, all straight lines.

I chickened out of the numbers, I'll use the decals for them, and obviously the innumerable stencils.

Painted markings will always look, well, painted on and even I can't make them silver.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Vaughan]

Did you have wide masking tape as the stars are large I've only got 18mm tape which won't be wide enough. I could overlap but might bleed on the joins. The thing is the Trumpeter decals are very fragile and splinter and fall apart hence the reason I used bought masks for the Dauntless.

 

[stona]

I cut the markings from Tamiya masking sheets. I just measured one and they are roughly 250mm x 180mm. I bought a pack of five years ago for about a fiver, and I've still got four unused ones after this and other efforts.

I had to cut more than just four stars, not because the cutting was difficult but because I wasn't happy with the placement and didn't want to risk moving them and applying them twice. The edges need to be firmly 'stuck' to get a good crisp edge. It is my experience that Tamiya masking, whether sheets or tape, sticks much better than other brands I have tried. That AK Interactive stuff virtually falls off if you turn the model over
I still use old fashioned enamels and paint lifting with masking is not something I have to worry about; I can't remember the last time I experienced that problem.

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

Here is one for the old codgers like me.

Like us, the Americans had yellow propeller tip, but theirs were only 4" rather than our 4.5". At 1/32 scale, I thought to myself, that would be 4 1/32s of an inch or 1/8". Being familiar with the imperial system I am now off to see if I have a ruler with which I can measure 1/8". The old system was not as bad as sometimes portrayed, try measuring 6.35 millimetres with your steel rule!

How very convenient and forward thinking of our American friends, making masking scale model propeller tips such an easy task

Cheers

Sir Isaac Newton (mathematician and physicist dec.)

Edit:
Lovely Jubbley

 

[Vaughan]

Steve, just found the sheets for £7 on Amazon plus I've ordered a cutting compass for cutting circles arriving Friday. Lots to do before I get to the stage where I need to apply the masks.

 

[minitnkr]

Still think in miles/yards/feet/inches & still have the hand tools from restoration work on old US & UK vehicles. Still have my 74 vette. Crazy. PaulE

 

[stona]

I'm happy in either system, which is probably a reflection of when I was growing up, but all my tools are metric these days. We recently had to source some non-metric bolts for a sort of ladder system that came over from the US and managed to have them delivered the same day. The stuff is obviously still available, though it might help that I'm in Birmingham. If they haven't got them they can make them...for a price!
Cheers
Steve

 

[Jakko]

the Americans had yellow propeller tip, but theirs were only 4" rather than our 4.5". At 1/32 scale, I thought to myself, that would be 4 1/32s of an inch or 1/8". Being familiar with the imperial system I am now off to see if I have a ruler with which I can measure 1/8". The old system was not as bad as sometimes portrayed, try measuring 6.35 millimetres with your steel rule!

Only because you’re staying within a system of measurements in the first case (because weird scale ratios like 1:32, 1:48 or 1:72 make sense in Imperial and US customary units), but not in the second. You’d have the same issues, but the other way around, if you have to, for example, mask a band that’s 145 cm wide on the real thing, on a 1:100 scale model. 14.5 mm is easy then, 0.57 inches becomes a little more difficult to do accurately.

 

[spanner570]

Only because you’re staying within a system of measurements in the first case (because weird scale ratios like 1:32, 1:48 or 1:72 make sense in Imperial and US customary units), but not in the second. You’d have the same issues, but the other way around, if you have to, for example, mask a band that’s 145 cm wide on the real thing, on a 1:100 scale model. 14.5 mm is easy then, 0.57 inches becomes a little more difficult to do accurately.

Yer wot?!

 

[minitnkr]

Tis moot with metric/inch digital calipers . PaulE

 

[stona]

DECALS!!!!!

Lots of them, even though I did the special and national markings by masks. There seem to be innumerable little stencils and placards, rather like a modern aircraft. I used a 2.5x magnification to place them!

There are nearly as many on the bottom as you can see on the top, here:


The end is in sight. I expect that I'll have this finished in the next couple of days.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Jakko]

Always fun, all that stencilling. At least in 1:32 scale they’ll be of a more manageable size than in 1:72

 

[stona]

I'm not a huge fan of heavy weathering, but VF-29 was pretty busy in early 1945, operating its 'Hellcats'from USS Cabot (CVL-28) and attacking the Japanese home islands in support of the Iwo Jima invasion. (The instructions have the unit on USS Marcu [sic], a ship I don't think existed).
I've done a little bit of roughing up and applied the rather characteristic exhaust stains. Glossy Sea Blue is a bit of a conundrum. It didn't seem to weather badly as some paints did, probably because it was designed and formulated for use on carrier and other USN aircraft operating in tough circumstances. I've just knocked back the gloss unevenly, matting down fabric, high wear, leading edges or hot areas. It looks okay to the naked eye, but I can't really discern the effect in my lame photographic attempt!



I've only got the lights, wheels, ordnance, auxiliary fuel tank (?), propeller and, everyone's favourite, the antenna and wires to do. That might be tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Cheers

Steve

 

[topgazza]

Just right for me Steve. Looking really nice

 

[stona]

I'm calling this done.

I'll take some 'proper' pictures a bit later.



What next, I wonder? It's not like I don't have time on my hands!

Cheers

Steve