Well gang, it’s been just over 6 weeks in the making, but I am proud to finally unveil the first real model I’ve built in 17 years (though I did build a 1/72 finescale TIE fighter a few months ago). This kit was a lot of firsts for me, including working with PE, resin and scratch building as well as modified designs.
The cockpit is a combination of verlinden resin and eduard PE. The machine guns are a combination of the stock guns, AM medical tubing and wire sheath. The port ammo bay, my own design based on photos, is scratch built using .030 styrenere sheet, styrene square rod, rectangular tubing and resin ammo belts. The gun bays are a combination of PE and styrene (bay hatches) and round and square styrene rod (diagonal braces). The engine is a contact-resine kit and .022 solder for the ignition wiring.
Anyway, enough with the chitchat and onto the pics
Lovely, clean build. Your photographic skills are wonderful too, I might add.
If I had any suggestions:
Did you finish with a spray can, final gloss clear coat, or airbrush the finish? It looks a tad pebbly as though the paint wasn’t thinned quite enough. Sometimes applications of FUTURE as a gloss, clear finish can do this if you don’t thin it a bit or the air pressure is a tad too high. This might be attributable to the photo resolution too, mind you.
An aircraft that has spent enough time in the Pacific to wrack up that many kills isn’t going to look factory fresh. You might want to fade out the paint and add some weathering to show it’s history and age in the field (or air in this case.[;)]).
Both are easy fixes if you concur they are necessary.
Welcome back into the hobby, Fred… [:)] You’re certainly off to a good start![tup]
[bow]That engine is some kind of SWEET!!![bow] The thing about fixing one up as you did, it’s going to be difficult to complete a build from here on out WITHOUT applying your own personal touch… and it just gets better and better the farther you go! [:D]
Sometimes if you get a grainy finish like that, before adding any of the accessories, you can use a cloth diaper and buff it out smooth, after the paint is completely set of course. This provides a satisfactory representation of a painted metal finish… (but with the outstanding detail you applied to this, who’s looking at the finish!) [;)] These forums are Goldmines of information and ideas, and I look forward to what lies ahead for us, from you! Thanks!
Nice build, congratulations. I think a clean unweathered build might be the appropriate way to go with this particular Hellcat, because one was done up for stateside in these markings, and I have read that it was the only one that had all of the pilot’s kill markings.
1/32 is pretty ambitious for a first time model. You did quite nicely on it. Large scale requires alot of work. I agree with the finish comments already stated. However, you have a very nice build there.
As for the finish, everything was airbrushed except for minor little touch-ups here and there. The grainy look started with the future coat. Before that, it was fine [B)]. But from a few feet away, it just looks like a satin sheen, which I’m happy with.
I have no idea how to weather this thing. I used an off-white art pencil in the panel lines to simulate some salt buildup (I figured a bird that just got back from a mission and is undergoing some maintenance would still have some dried salt caught in the crevices). I tried using tamiya smoke (X-19) to simulate exhaust, but the finish is so dark, it doesn’t show. I was considering using a lighter color, but I’m not sure which would work and I think the bird is a bit too far along to start experimenting with colors. If anyone has an idea as to what color would look good for exhaust stains, I’m all ears. And how would I go about fading the panels? I was thinking about preshading the panel lines, but again, the finish is so dark, nothing was showing.
Great job on your Hellcat! I would have to agree that this particular aircraft probably would’ve been kept in pretty decent condition due to the fact that it belonged to the commander of an air group.
I, like you, have had problems with Future giving a grainy look to my models so I stopped using it a couple of years ago. Now, I just use Gunze gloss for a gloss coat before the decals.
Keep up the great work, you are really on your way!
Nicely done, Fred! I think it looks great just the way it is…and the new engine really stands out. It was worth the extra effort. All in all, you put a lot of work into this bird, and it shows. [tup]
Nice way to get back into it after 17 years… with a very well done model. The engine is spectacular. I am Future Challenged and use Model Master Gloss lacquer, over enamel color coats, for the gloss. Weathering is with chalk pastels so there aren’t any worry about compatibility.
I think you’ve built a nice Hellcat. It’s really too bad that the finish is orange peeled. I think that you would have been better off painting the pit with interior green an not chromate zinc. It may be the photo, but I think the overall color is a little dark. I thought “minsi” was a later F6F, and didn’t have the -3 windows, but, I could be wrong. At the very least, maybe some exhaust staining would be appropriate, just to add a little realism.
Fred, what a smashing return to the hobby! I hope we see more of your work around these forums in the future…and more frequently than 17 years!
My only comment, and is more of an opinion, is that a sludgle wash around some of the wing compartments (the interior side) would really make some of the detail pop out and add to an already gorgeous model.
Very impressive model, Fred, especially the scratchbuilding and attention to detail! Whatever very minor issues with it have already been pointed out, but you definitely did a superb job on it all around.
Thanks again, everyone [:D]. The compliments mean a lot coming from you guys.
As for the orange peel effect, it looks worse up close because the camera really magnifies every frakin’ flaw there is. Unfortunately, it’s also the only way to show any detail. Guess you have to take the good with the bad. If I thought I could fix it with out causing damage, I’d consider it. But for now, I’ll just leave it as is. Though I still want to try some weathering, if anyone has any specific tips.
Crockett, the Minsi is indeed a F6F-5, but it still carries the -3 rear windows. I have looked over every picture I can find. It’s either a late model -3 with a -5 windshield, or a -5 with carry over -3 rear windows. Though all reference material call it a -5, so who am I to argue [8D]. As for the interior color, I used tamiya yellow-green. Tamiya doesn’t carry a specific zinc-chromate green and the only interior green they carry is IJN interior green. I figured this was the best offering they had.
mucker, there is quite a bit of a sludge wash in those gun bays, I just need to take more a top-down POV picture to show it off. I used a combination of black and burnt umber oil with some turpenoid and really worked into the crevices. Unfortunately, none of it shows from the angle I took the pic at.
For what it’s worth, the corner wing beacons are a scratch build. Since the kit doesn’t offer any glass for that and I couldn’t find an AM kit, I made them from a clear plastic knife (like the kind you buy in large boxes for parties). The aerial is a strand of copper wire from 18ga wire. I liked this better than string or fishing line becasue it holds it’s shape. I was able to wrap the wire around itself (not as well as I would have liked, though), to recreate the look of the real deal.
Hi Fred, very nice build. Like you im new back to modelling. I have a 1/32 Fw 190 that was my 1st model back. It could have been a lot better but i like the fact that i can look at it now and know that ive improved. As for weathering i was in the same position as you. searching for any info i could find. I found a very usefull site in www.swannysmodels.com Scroll to the very bottom and look in hints and tips. In there is ‘The basics of weathering’ That should sort you out for a while. Also http://www.hyperscale.com/ is a good place to look for references on all sorts of weathering techniques.
Hope this has helped and once again, corker of a build…Guy
