My most recent build was Academy’s M-18 Hellcat. The kit wasn’t bad but was lacking when compared to newer Dragon and Tamiya models. The biggest gripe I had was with the kit’s soft plastic. The kit came with two track options and I went with the rubberband style. These ended up being too short but I was able to make them work with some extra plastic. I replaced the kits two piece barrel with an extra threaded 76mm single piece barrel I had from Dragon’s M4A1 kit. Vallejo acrylics were used with MIG pigments and washes. Some extra kit and MG’s were added from the spares box. Thanks for looking, and comments and critiques are always welcome[B]
This is going to be the next kit I put together, so it’s interesting to read that the vinyl tracks are too short – I’ll look out for that during the build.
Great to see how it should end up looking. That’s a very nicely finished model.
I’m looking for some advice on painting the fighting compartment of this model and can’t seem to find what I’m looking for on internet searches.
Floors and other interior surfaces should be an off-white – yes? But what about the gun breech? Should the basic color be olive drab, or should I just go for shades of gunmetal?
In open-topped vehicles the US regulations prescribed OD on all surfaces that can be seen from outside, so as not to compromise the camouflage. That also means all the parts of the gun, with the exception of surfaces that have to be bare metal to let the gun work normally.
That M18 looks really good! Thanks for sharing and have a nice day
That’s interesting and controverts some of my original assumptions. Okay, the fighting compartment should be olive drab seeing it’s visible from the air then.
Yes, the M18 looks beautifully finished. I also like that other vehicle in the last photo; M10 is it?
