Trumpeter F6F-5 Hellcat - Death n' Destruction

[Dave J]

So this is going to be my first entrie in the the Pacific GB... F6F-5, "Death n Destruction", BuNo# 72534, Ensigns Donald McPherson, Bill Kingston, Jr., and Lyttleton Ward, VF-83, USS Essex, May 5th 1945.

 

 

I will be using Trumpeters F6F-5 Kit and Avionix Cockpit set

 

[Daywalker]

Excellent choice Dave!
 

I'll be watching this one.

[harvey boyer]

Looking forward to it !...........Harv

[James H]

Great combo of kit and AM. I quite like the dumpy shape of this one, and the tail markings. Many thumbs ups!

[Mikester]

Nice, always liked those tail markings.

[Dave J]

So in my neck of the woods, its only three and bit hours til this GB kicks off... So started working on the Hellcat this evening.

 

So instead of hitting the resin pit... well I wasn't really in the mood to try to make everything fit... I am starting off with the lower wing centre section..

 

The inner wing framing needs a little bit of filling, but it fits pretty well.

 

 

The lower vent was thinned down using a half round file and knife for the corners.

 

 

Whole assembly taped up drying..

 

[Dave J]

Engine detail is ok.. The sprue was tooled back in 2003, so its nothing compared to today standards...

 

 

 

The engine is missing a few components from it.. I have been looking at my other options..... And I am thinking of trying to fit a R2800 engine from the Lastest and Greatest Tamiya F4U Birdcage in the cowl.. I think it can be done as there is plenty of room in the cowl!

 

Speaking of cowls... Trumpeter has blanked off the lower air intake.. So the plan is to prime it so I can see everything better and then using a Dremel tool cutting the intake open.

 

[beaz]

Hey, you're nearly a day ahead of most of the rest of us, no fair!

 

Nice progress and great scheme selection, Dave.

[Jamme]

HI dave.

Great start.

Already the 1st in N.Z., isn't it?

Cheers,

Jamme

[Dave J]

Vector is an option indeed... But I thought I would try my hand at getting an replacement sprue, one as its the detail of the engine is pretty damn good and the price would be way cheaper than the $30-40 Resin engine.

[Dave J]

So next up was the gun bays...

 

The Trumpeter .50cal barrels are.... Well, just crap! So I'm going to replace them with some Master .50cals. But they are are tad to short to have them sitting where they should be...

 

 

 

So I had to make a plastic shim to hold them into the position I want before Super Gluing them.

 

A quick dry fit of of everything, and its a rather large for a single seat fighter!

 

[Grant]

Before you get too far with the gun bays....

 

http://www.arrow-wolf.com/product/eduard-132nd-f6f-5-hellcat-gun-bay-detail-set/. Nice !!

 

Or

 

http://www.arrow-wolf.com/product/eduard-132nd-interior-set-for-grumman-f6f5-f6f5n-hellcat-trumpeter/

 

If I'd know I could have put them in the 'Schmitt box!!

 

Great choice Dave - I'm really looking forward to following this one.

[alpinestar]

Nice start Dave. I'm going to like this!

[Mikester]

Looking good, Dave!

[Dave J]

Time to tackle the resin pit.. I am using a Avionix pit, I was a tad worried how this was going to fit as I have never used a Avionix set, but I have some faith!

 

I breaking away from their way of fitting.... I have gone with fitting a side wall and rear pit bulkhead to one fuse half and the other side wall on the other. The the IP Panel and and floor to be fitted from underneath.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jamme]

Great job Dave.

Congrats,

Jamme

[harvey boyer]

Great work Dave. I must look into the pit.I like what I see...............harv

[Dave J]

The rear bulkhead and the IP Panel have been casted on the same sheet of resin, so you have to sand them quite a bit to get them to fit. I opted to cut off the bottom location slots from the bulkhead to make it fit without sanding.

 

The IP Panel looks to be a direct copy of the Trumpeter part, so I have used the kit part instead.

[nmayhew]

Cool Dave!!

 

Quick point about the Master Barrels: I would bet you a pint they are correct and that the kit is off

 

I you recall the barrels of the MG151 on my 190 Dora were spotted as too long - Piotr pointed out that the barrels were precise replicas of the real thing, but not necessarily a perfect fit for on the kit (I needed to chop a bit of the kit part back etc)

 

I simply cannot believe he goofed on probably the most famous MG of all time...

[rkranias]

Now that Barracuda is releasing resin wheels for the F4U, which are same used on F6F, I might have to cave in.

[Dave J]

Indeed Rick, I will be getting a couple extra sets for that reason too!

[Dave J]

Cool Dave!!

Quick point about the Master Barrels: I would bet you a pint they are correct and that the kit is off

I you recall the barrels of the MG151 on my 190 Dora were spotted as too long - Piotr pointed out that the barrels were precise replicas of the real thing, but not necessarily a perfect fit for on the kit (I needed to chop a bit of the kit part back etc)

I simply cannot believe he goofed on probably the most famous MG of all time...

Indeed Nick I believe the kit ones are too long

[Dave J]

Dave, question. Is the R-2800 with this kit the exact same as the one with the P-47 (and I'm assuming Trumpy's F4U-1D, as well)?

 

If so, I might be tempted to try one of Quickboost's engines when the time comes for my -3. They make them for the Jug and Corsair, but there can't be much difference considering I believe Trumpy uses a common R-2800 across kits.

 

It's the same sprue from the Corsair kit... Not sure about the Jug. I may take that option of quickboost

[Timc]

So next up was the gun bays...

 

The Trumpeter .50cal barrels are.... Well, just crap! So I'm going to replace them with some Master .50cals. But they are are tad to short to have them sitting where they should be...

 

 

 

So I had to make a plastic shim to hold them into the position I want before Super Gluing them.

 

A quick dry fit of of everything, and its a rather large for a single seat fighter!

 

Hiya Dave:

 

Little bit late to the party but I'm watching this build.  I had a Trumpy Hellcat a long time ago but sold it.  Has it been shelved for other projects as I haven't seen any updates since July of last year?  I know how that goes too.  Seems that one day we're plugging along making decent progress and then another project creeps in or life happens and the next thing we know, it's six months later and nothing's been done since. 

 

I have some information that if correct, might help with the short guns situation.  If you can find any photos of the guns installation on the hellcat, I am reasonably sure that the guns were installed into gun tubes (similar to the P-47) so if you can confirm that bit of information before I can, it might help with the installation issue.

[Dave J]

I'm not a 100% sure at the moment Tim... I have a couple of books at home that I was looking at, at the time of starting Hellcat.. But I do know that the 48th Eduard kit has them without tubes.

 

I was actually looking at this kit last night and thinking that I need to get back onto it.. I have a couple of things on the go for other people that are almost complete. So I sure I will be picking this up again shortly!