Online Review
   Kit: MH2121 F6F Hellcat 1/72Scale
 

   US Navy pilots shot down 6,477 Japanese aircraft during WW II. Pilots flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat claimed 5,156 of these victories, despite not making its operational debut until mid-1943.    The Hellcat, with superior speed, armor, and armament over that of its predecessor, the F4F Wildcat, quickly became the dominant US naval fighter of the Pacific War. A total of 12,275 Hellcats of all variants were manufactured before production ceased in August of 1945.    Hellcats continued to serve in reserve squadrons after the war and were used as remotely guided flying bombs against North Korean ground targets during the Korean Conflict.

   Academy's 1/72nd scale F6F-3/5 kit is an excellent kit both in dimension and detail. Panel line scribing is very fine and accurate with the control surfaces having slightly heavier scribing.
   Construction began with all of the transparencies being dipped twice in Future acrylic floor polish. This makes the canopies crystal clear and allows the use of super glues without the problem of crazing.    This was followed by the removal of all aircraft panels, scoops, and flaps. The engine cowling is one piece unit that presented quite a challenge in removing all of its panels.

   After all of the panels were removed, they were checked for alignment and sanded to a near scale thickness. All interior detail was removed as well. I also opened up the rear windows behind the cockpit. These windows were a common feature on the F6F-3, but were deleted early in the production run of the later 'dash 5'.

    Next, came the build-up of the interior. The Aires Super Detail Set provided a complete resin and photo-etched interior. Construction is straight forward, but you must be able to work with small - and I mean SMALL - levers and switches.    I applied a small drop of super glue to each lever to give a better knob effect. The overall interior color was Zinc Chromate Green (TS1734) toned down with Flat White (TS1768).    All of the switches, knobs, and levers were then detailed. All parts were then lightly drybrushed with Flat White. The floor and seat was lightly drybrushed with Flat Aluminum (TS1781), then everything was given a black watercolor wash.  
Both the cockpit and gunbays were extensively detailed using the Aires Super Detailing Set for the F6F. The set uses a combination of resin and photo-etch parts to build a truly outstanding replica.

   Finally, the resin aft accessory bulkhead was sanded to fit and the oil tank glued into place. The fuselage halves were mated and glued together using gap filling super glue. The fuselage fit was excellent with only minimal sanding with sanding sticks required.    The resin forward engine firewall was a poor fit; consequently more sanding and carving was needed in the forward fuselage and wing area to get a proper fit.    The wing assembly was built next. This is where all of the scratch building took place. The access panels for the machine gun bays and ammunition cans were removed with a Dremel Tool and cleaned up with jeweler's files. The flaps were carefully removed and set aside for later.    The intercooler door panels were also removed with the Dremel Tool, while the oil cooler door was carefully removed with an X-acto knife. The wing tip navigation lights were also removed at this time.    My next task was to thin both upper wing halves, the lower wing, and the bottom of the resin gun bays to achieve a better fit between the components. The gun bays were then super glued into the upper wing halves.

   The kit wheel wells are sparse at best - these were completely scratch built. First, I removed the mounting sockets for the landing gear struts. The wheel well bays were then enclosed with pieces of .005" sheet plastic sanded to the proper weight and contour. Styrene rod (both round and square), .020" sheet, and assorted diameters of fine copper wire were used to build the second spar, ribs, uplock hook assembly, strut pinion points, and hydraulic lines. The forward landing gear doors and uplocks are supplied in the Aires detail set.

   The mounting tab on the struts and the oleo scissors links were also removed. The scissors links are also supplied in the Aires set. Fine wire was added for the brake line.    After the wheel wells were completed, the wing sections were carefully aligned and cemented together with gap filling superglue and the seams sanded smooth.

   At this point, I began trial fitting the major components together. This revealed large gaps in the trailing area between the wing and fuselage. These were closed off with square rod styrene contoured to fit the fuselage and wing shape.
   Once this was finished, the oil cooler waste gate door ­ removed earlier ­ was thinned down and .005" styrene pieces cut to fit. These were given a single .072" hole and fine wire for the stringers. The intercooler doors were also built of .005" sheet styrene with fine wire added for the linkage rods. These assemblies were then added to the lower wing.    Now the wing and fuselage assemblies were ready to be glued together. I used gap-filling superglue and accelerator to hold everything together and minimize any seam cleanup. The only work came in the aft wing and fuselage in the area of the open flap bay. It took a lot of time and patience to get this area cleaned up due to its small size.    The flap bays were next on the list. Square styrene rod was glued into the wing opening and holes were drilled for the flap tracks. Small return springs (four each) were made by wrapping fine wire around a larger diameter copper wire. These were glued into the flap bay using thin super glue.    The flap-to-lower-wing panels were measured and cut from.005" sheet plastic, while the flap-to-landing-gear bay splitter panel was made from thinned 'L' angle rod. All were glued into position using thin super glue.    The flaps sections, removed earlier, were now brought out and carefully aligned with the wing. I used assorted styrene strip and round rod to build up each flap. Again, thin super glue was used to glue the parts together. I used flexible sanding sticks to thin and contour each flap section.    I was constantly dry fitting to ensure the proper thickness. A razor saw and X-acto knife were used to cut the flap track slots in each flap. These slots were then drilled out to hold brass rod for the tracks. These rods also allow the flaps to be attached to the wing.    Next the horizontal stabilizers and the kit windscreen were attached to the model.

   Now the tri-color camouflage scheme can be applied. I first covered the cockpit with masking tape, and windscreen and rear quarter lights with Testors Parafilm (TS5641).    I started painting by toning the down the Flat Sea Blue with a bit of white and applying it to the upper fuselage and the tops of the wings and horizontal stabilizer. This was followed by toned down Intermediate Blue along the fuselage sides.
The highly detailed engine bay is backed by an equally detailed accessory bay. A Squadron vacuform canopy tops the cockpit. The engine consists of 62 parts - over half being simple pushrod tubes. The wheels are True Details flattened and bulged resin tires.
    After the paint was dry, I covered the two blues with low-tack masking tape and frisket paper and painted the under surfaces Flat White. The wheel wells and flap bays were then given a heavy black watercolor wash.    The weathered upper surfaces were achieved by masking various panels and painting them with Flat Sea Blue with more white added to the mix.    The last batch of toned down Sea Blue was also used to paint the canopy. The gun bays were tackled next. The bays were painted Interior Green, drybrushed with Flat White, and given a black wash. The guns were painted Gunmetal, drybrushed with Flat Aluminum, and then cemented into the bays.    Aluminum ammunition chutes were then added, connecting the ammunition bins to the guns. The machine gun rounds were painted Brass and washed with black watercolor. The gun bay panels were painted and weathered, but not added to the model until it was nearly complete.

   The forward accessory bay was masked off and painted Interior Green, toned down with Flat White. The details were hand painted, drybrushed with white, and then given a black watercolor wash.    I accented the panel lines with a.3mm medium lead, Koh-I-Noor Rapidomatic pencil and then sprayed three thin coats of Testors Gloss Clear Lacquer over the model.    The model was set aside to cure, while I worked on the engine firewall and resin engine braces.    These were painted toned down Interior Green, detailed, then drybrushed with Flat White and given a heavy wash of black watercolor.

   While all the painted parts were drying, I moved on to building the engine and cowling. The cowl panels had already been removed, but everything behind the oil cooler intake had to be removed and thinned down with a motor-tool to accept the resin scoop supplied in the Aires kit. I also thinned the cowl ring and added small bits 'L' angle rod for mounting points. Once completed, these parts were painted in the same manner as the airframe.

   The engine is a 62-piece affair, but it's not that daunting. The engine crankcase was painted Light Gray and the cylinders painted Flat Aluminum.    Once dry, each cylinder was carefully removed from the resin sprue and super glued to the crankcase. 		   Next, each pushrod tube - all 36 of them - was cut from copper wire, painted Gloss Black, and added to the cylinders.    Next, the photo-etched ignition harness was attached to the crankcase. Each ignition wire was then positioned and glued to the cylinders. The harness was painted Flat Copper.    The gear reduction housing, magnetos, and oil return line were the last items to be added. These were painted and detailed before the engine was given a heavy black wash and drybrushed with Flat White.

   While the engine dried, I attached the forward firewall, engine braces, and oil tank armor to the airframe. Nut plate strips, used to hold the accessory bay cowl panels in place, were made from thin strips of .005" sheet, drilled out with an .080" drill bit, and attached to the front fuselage.    Next, I installed and weathered the main landing gear struts, the tail wheel assembly, and the remaining photo-etch airframe parts. The True Details resin wheels were also finished and installed at this time.

   The engine and painted exhaust stacks were installed next. There was a minor fit problem with the resin exhaust on the upper right bank of cylinders that required the removal of the top cylinder pipe and replacing it with a piece of shaped copper wire of the same diameter. All of the other pipes had to cut down for proper fit as well - this was a one shot try. Lastly, the engine cowling and photo-etch framing details were added.

   Finally, all of the markings were applied. I used all kit markings with the exception of the US insignia and assorted stencils from the SuperScale sheet.    The entire model received two light coats of Testors DullCote and then pastel chalks were used to apply smoke and stain streaks.    The Squadron canopy was added to the fuselage spine, along with the kit spine and tail lights.    The wingtip lights were made from clear sprue, sanded to size and shape, then drilled out with an .080" bit. The holes were filled with clear red (port light) and clear green (starboard light), sealed with Chrome Silver, and attached to the wings. One thread of a nylon line was used for the antenna wire. The propeller was the last item to be finished and installed on the model.

   Despite the scale, and the seemingly endless array of detail parts, this kit was a pleasure to build and offered a real challenge.                           Gary Thompson