I have plans to start work on a 1/32 Hasegawa Hellcat kit that I bought back in the very early '80’s. I do have plenty of reference material for the real thing but I would like to know if there are any known problems with this kit before I start. Thanks in advance.
Bump.
I have no knowledge of the kit, but have you searched Modeling Madness?
I have the same “old” kit here and read quite a few reviews on it. Mostly not to bad, some say the pannels do not all line up exactly, the cockpit is slightly bare but I believe it to be a good basis to work from and for the price they surely offer bang for your buck.
I have long ago learned that some guys will go mad with rivet counting, but for me I want to enjoy the build as much as I can and if it looks like the plane I am modling then I am happy.
One thing I have to say is that it surly is a BIG model, pitty the wings cant be folded back to save on space, ah well still a nice looking project.
I believe the engine on it is also very nicely detailed. Granted it is not TamiGawa but nothing some wire can’t fix.
I will be starting on myne soon. Good luck with your build, will be following closely.
Theuns
Built the kit years ago. Don’t remember problems at the time. I didn’t seal the decals at that time and some have since dried out and curled away from the model.
Pardon me? I’m not aware of what “Bump” means… But I did go to Modeling Madness; thanks for that advice. I’m not too close to this build yet and I’m not much for taking photos along the way, nut maybe this will be a first for me. I do have some B&W photos from the Grumman History Center (including one with David McCampbell) of the gun bays, etc, but I won’t use any aftermarket stuff- I’ll stick with plain ol’ nice detail painting and creative gizmology.
“Bump” means someone is replying to the thread in order to “bump” it up higher in the list of threads so it gets more looks.
I built one a few years ago. The fit of the windscreen takes some work as I remember, I think it was a bit too wide and where it fits is not too well defined. The shape I think is very good, it is a nice kit. I filled in some of the panel lines, they looked too prominent to me. Here is my build log: