Rick’s 1/24 Airfix Hellcat

[rickoshea52]

Started this the other night.

 

[papa 695]

Nice Rick.

 

[scottie3158]

Count me in.

 

[yak face]

Nice , big old beast in 1/24 too. Which version are you leaning towards rick? ( fingers crossed its the Royal Navy one !)

 

[rickoshea52]

Some assemblies built.

 

[rickoshea52]

Nice , big old beast in 1/24 too. Which version are you leaning towards rick? ( fingers crossed its the Royal Navy one !)

It will be a fishead kite but from the Pacific Area of Operations. I have an aftermarket paint mask set; first time I will attempt painted on markings.

 

[adt70hk]

Rick

Will follow with interest......before you go much further you might want to check out Barry's build of this.....it went in the bin....there were a number of fit issues including a warped fuselage.....not sure if he got a dud kit though.

ATB

Andrew

Airfix 1/24 scale Hellcat.

So why this kit? This is a departure from my usual 1/32 scale aircraft, though a welcome return to WW2 subjects after a run of modern jets. I have little or no interest in the Hellcat, to me it just looks like an oversized Wildcat, a fat one at that and pretty ugly. That overall blue scheme...

www.scale-models.co.uk

 

[rickoshea52]

Rick

Will follow with interest......before you go much further you might want to check out Barry's build of this.....it went in the bin....there were a number of fit issues including a warped fuselage.....not sure if he got a dud kit though.

ATB

Andrew

Airfix 1/24 scale Hellcat.

So why this kit? This is a departure from my usual 1/32 scale aircraft, though a welcome return to WW2 subjects after a run of modern jets. I have little or no interest in the Hellcat, to me it just looks like an oversized Wildcat, a fat one at that and pretty ugly. That overall blue scheme...

www.scale-models.co.uk

Already bookmarked and read, thanks.

 

[rickoshea52]

Nice , big old beast in 1/24 too. Which version are you leaning towards rick? ( fingers crossed its the Royal Navy one !)

This is the scheme I’ll use. I was hoping I’d get some tips from @BarryW in his build but it didn’t work out for him.
I got the etched seatbelts but might just use the kit parts instead.

 

[papa 695]

Nice start.

 

[rickoshea52]

My first major problem with this kit; a wonky duct. A bit of dry fitting shows I might get away with just cutting this off, the exhaust flap that covers it can be posed open or closed.

 

[rickoshea52]

The cockpit is almost ready for closing up the fuselage. All painted, decals applied and a wash.


Now...the fuselage. It fits together nicely with the exception of the underside just in front of the access panel; there’s a big gap. No amount of squeezing or clamps would close this, not even filing off a large area of the frame behind the cockpit bulkhead. My best option was to cut out a section of the frame so I could squeeze it close enough for the fuselage halves to be glued. That will be for another night.


I’ve also been building the wings and centre box section, these too are not the best fit.

This kit is flirting with the shelf of doom.

 

[Waspie]

The cockpit is almost ready for closing up the fuselage. All painted, decals applied and a wash.
View attachment 499482View attachment 499483

Now...the fuselage. It fits together nicely with the exception of the underside just in front of the access panel; there’s a big gap. No amount of squeezing or clamps would close this, not even filing off a large area of the frame behind the cockpit bulkhead. My best option was to cut out a section of the frame so I could squeeze it close enough for the fuselage halves to be glued. That will be for another night.
View attachment 499488View attachment 499489View attachment 499490View attachment 499491

I’ve also been building the wings and centre box section, these too are not the best fit.

This kit is flirting with the shelf of doom.

Shelving it would be a shame considering the effort you have put in and the actual detail. Hope you manage to salvage the situation Rick.

 

[rickoshea52]

A fair bit of progress since my last post. The cockpit is done and the fuselage put together but it needed a bit of persuasion, the surgery on the frame helped close the gap.
However, I had to take a bit of time off from this when it came to the wing centre box section attachment. Some alignment issues in earlier steps caused a few gaps between the wings fuselage join. I finally worked up the will power to join these two bits together.
Steady work on the engine has been continuing, it’s very detailed.




The pesky wing joins.


The engine build first steps.

And some of the sub assemblies painted and ready for build up when dry.
That’s probably all I’ll get done for a couple of weeks; a work trip to Amsterdam this week then Heathrow the week after will take priority☹️

 

[rickoshea52]

Engine assembly and painting has progressed. The MIG Ammo paint I used is so fragile and needs touching up here and there.

 

[papa 695]

This is looking very good even with the fit issues your having Rick, a testiment to your building skills.

 

[Flip]

This is looking very good even with the fit issues your having Rick, a testiment to your building skills.

Firmly echoed!

 

[minitnkr]

Nicely done.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Looks good. Never done a 1/24 meself, but always been tempted

Part of me wishes Airfix had done a Wildcat, then I could have done 'Winkle' Brown's Condor killing Martlet...