1/32 Trumpeter F6F-5 Hellcat

[Grunhertz]

Great work 

[GazzaS]

Neat Work, Ryan!

[Ryan]

Thanks folks, it’s been pretty enjoyable.

Ryan

[Ryan]

Anyone have any good cockpit or restoration links for the Hellcat?

Ryan

[BlrwestSiR]

The narrowed seat look so much better. 

Carl

[Ryan]

Thanks Carl, it probably is still a little plump, but it's in better proportion to the rest of the cockpit.

[1to1scale]

I like your progress, I guess OOB plan went out the window. 

Its sad that there are two models of a Hellcat, and it takes all this work to make a descent one. Good work with the seat. Whats with the giant rivets on the back armor plate? It really is true that Trumpeter has an "A" team and "D" team.

I always thought of combining the Hasegawa kit with the trumpeter wings, and a resin cockpit. 

[Ryan]

Yes, some details I just can't let go....

 

[1to1scale]

1 hour ago, Ryan said:

Anyone have any good cockpit or restoration links for the Hellcat?

Ryan

 

[1to1scale]

I have a couple books too, if you need specific info, I can take a pic of a few of the pages

[Ryan]

Many thanks 1 to 1.

[Ryan]

Looks like I need to address that head rest location and armor plating......

[1to1scale]

..and down the rabbit hole we go...

[Ryan]

A few punches and flat styrene is no big deal, but yes. 

[Ryan]

Excellent detail found here.

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f6f/f6f_pit.shtml

Ryan

[Ryan]

Ok down the armored headrest rabbit hole we go!

first up was to saw off the head rest and seat belt bar, this was done with a Techstar product. I wanted to retain the kit parts to stick in my new armored plate.

 

[Ryan]

Next I filled the hole and fabricated the new mount. I cheated a little and sharped the outboard corners to hopefully give a illusion the top fuselage wasn’t so pudgy.

[Ryan]

Almost done, but ran out of time, it looks ok for what it is, I had to make concessions and work with the parts at hand. Next I’ll attach the towel bar below the headrest and move on.

[Ryan]

I like the effect, with the canopy pulled back it will look good.

Ryan

[Ryan]

Probably should of asked this before I glued things up but is there a pic around of what structure holds that armored panel at that angle?

Anyone got the Airfix kit and can see if there is any thing behind it?

Thanks for any help.

[Ryan]

I found this video of a Airfix build that would be useful.

 

 

[GazzaS]

That looks really great, Ryan!

[Ryan]

Thanks Gaz, I need to fix my backer mounting points, I hadn't noticed they were off center. 

This will be visible and bug me, but an easy fix.

Hellcat by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

[Ryan]

Ok bear with me, but I reworked the headrest, this time 100% satisfied! It’s finished and I’m climbing out of the rabbit hole. You’ll note I also added the towel rack and some bolt heads.

 

[Ryan]

More shots.