Clunkmeister

Hataka? Never heard of it.

And now the GREAT news! A couple minutes with some putty, plus a shot of prime,.. literally a three minute investment, aaaaand, it’s fixed. At least 99% of it, at least.

OK, here’s the bad news. Those aren’t flow lines, they’re sink marks. I looked at it under a good light and yeah, there’s some significant depression there. BUT, it’s on the tailplane, so it’s small, and a bit of elbow grease fixes it. pics to follow after the primer dries.

Same as the rest of us, my friend. I’m still grinnin’ from ear to ear that you’re back! Hoorah!

Food for growth. Hahahaha. Oh well, I just feel sad for these folks. Life’s so much simpler over here. You know what this means, right? Build another T-28!!!

I still seem to stir them up over there. How sad.

Cat, ya know, I was just sick and tired of the whole thing. Maybe my requesting threads being deleted was a bit over the top, and smacking of immaturity, but at the time, I was hop-skippin’ mad. Im actually working on rebuilding those threads to the best of my ability, and will post them here on LSM as soon as able. I agree with Mark in that there should be no reason to deprive the world’s builders, though a couple or three builds, of the various pitfalls of a certain kit. But, isn’t my yellow T-28C build up here on LSM? That’s got most of the pitfalls listed and documented.

I know that several companies have already announced decal sheets for this kit. Personally, I like the FAA scheme, although for me, when I think US built FAA fighters, it's either the Martlet or Corsair that spring to mind. yeah they were the glory birds, but the Hellcat was utilized as well.

No Iain I haven't. That's why I said that I want to shoot a thin shot of primer on it to see if it goes away. My gut tells me it's just a simple flow issue that gave an unsightly appearance, but on other kits I've seen sink marks develop in these places as well. I'll let you know. What I can say is that this kit looks to be a serious bargain for what you actually get in the kit. Our local Hobby Shops seem to be quoting $169.95 as a retail price, which is alot of money, but still about on par with the latest Tamiya F4U Corsair release. So far, I'm really liking what I see.

Ok, this is my one big concern. These might be mould flow thing, but I’m going to look closer tomorrow. More to follow tomorrow....

The instruction book is well laid out, and generally easy to understand.

The major airframe surfaces are moulded with “oil canning” effect, which is a neat effect. It looks overdone on the sprue, but should settle right down under a coat of paint. I love this effect, and it can be fully utilized to great effect in these larger scales. Grumman fighters were notoriously well built, strong and tough and not many pictures show oil canning, so again, check your references and further research on your specific prototype is certainly warranted. One of the oft quoted quotes regarding these Grumman fighters is that upon return to the ship, mechanics would comment that there's a lot of holes where big parts of the airplane used to be.

Airfix gives us four different schemes on the decal sheet, two US Navy schemes, an FAA scheme, and one French scheme. We are also given a full stencil placement guide, although with the postwar French version one may want to check references in cas stenciling had been overpainted.

Now for some Sprue shots.... The big top opening box is nicely packages with all sixteen sprues individually bagged and sealed in the standard clear poly. Clear parts are wrapped in soft tissue and wrapped in bubble foam before being bagged and sealed. They are well packaged to prevent scratches and damage. My kit showed no shipping damage whatsoever, although I expect the sturdy box would protect the parts nicely. Pour biggest sprue consists of four parts: fuselage halves and upper wing halves. These big molding look stunning on the sprues. A dual sprue! A beautiful and complete R2800 engine one one, and landing gear on the other. Well, we have two sprues in one mounding. Armaments on one, and cockpit internals on another I hope you like building internals, there’s plenty of it here. Wing structure. More cockpit and structural components. So far, the parts are presenting clean and free of flash. A few mould marks and possible low spot are present in the stabilizers. More on this in a bit. The clear parts are definitely,.. umm, clear. On mine I see no sign of crazing, blushing, or fogging whatsoever. But like all other transparencies, a dip in Future will make them sparkle. So far, I'm really liking what I see!

Airfix 1/24 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat This kit was announced with much fanfare at Telford, and has been eagerly anticipated ever since. With this kit, Airfix fills a huge gap in the Large Scale Model world, as a decent modern kit of the Grumman Hellcat has been missing. The 1/32 Hasegawa kit is generally accurate in shape, but is sorely lacking in detail and modern refinement. The big question was, could Airfix follow up on the home run they hit with their masterful Hawker Typhoon. i’m here to tell you that from what I’ve seen so far, the answer is a resounding YES! The history of Grumman’s F6F Hellcat fighter has been discussed and rediscussed now for decades, and launching into a detailed history of this big, tough fighter is redundant here, other than to say that the Hellcat, along with the Vought F4U Corsair helped the Allies finally gain complete air superiority over Japan’s much vaunted A6M fighters. Creative parking space. Pack ‘em and stack ‘em. Check out the bootfull of right rudder that pilot is holding in. To counteract the huge torque of that massive R2800. Without that rudder, it’d roll over and die.

Mike, we’re BOTH in a race to the finish! I’ll be cheering you on, mate!

The tape test was successful, so tomorrow, I dig into my special stash of these, and paint the fuselage underside Mwahahaaaa! I bought up every bottle I could find after MM discontinued the color

Alright, an old 109 airframe took the brunt of my test shots, and I was happy enough to give it a go on the Lanc. MMP aluminum with a light misting with MMP chrome after the fact. The aluminum over grey gives a nice High Speed Silber appearance, and the light mist of chrome gives the bare metal look. Not too shiny, but not a painted look, either. After a dull oat and a bit of weathering, it’ll look the part. I purposely tried not to make it super smooth the aircraft were pretty used in the 1960s, with all kinds of warts and bumps. This is a MAJOR milestone for me. Now I’ll give it time to set, hit it with the coffee filter and maybe a dryer sheet to knock off any fuzz, then mask and paint the rest. I hope to have some decals on her by next weekend. Then on to the wings. Block tread wheels hopefully are coming, and then we be home free.

Same as me then. 65 was a good year, eh? I’ve heard how east Berliners saw the planes leaving Berlin and bought about the “sound of freedom”.

It’s great to have you back, man. Seriously! Now build something and show us that magic, man!

You were in the East, Rob? I’ve talked in depth to Martin and to some semi distant relatives who grew up in the USSR, and I still can’t fathom being forbidden from leaving, especially when you’re told you’re free. Pugh!

Brian, Tony and I scoot d out of there for lunch at Tolbert. We lifted a few in honour of those who couldn’t be there.

So Paper Doll looks cool, but I’m drawn to the FAA bird, of course. But when I think FAA fighters, I think Martlet and clipped wing Corsair, not Hellcat so much.

Well, I just laid down the aluminum. I’ll let it dry overnight then mist it with chrome as recommended. Right now it looks like RAF high speed silver.

Hobby Bunker in Malden, Ma