Grumman Hellcat

2022 Model Build #2 - 1/72 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat

Having just finished the Grumman Wildcat, it was time to move on to the Hellcat. This time I chose an Eduard profipack so had to enjoy doing photo etch again. I now have 3 of Grumman's 'cats' (Wildcat, Hellcat and Tomcat) in 1/72 scale. I'm looking for a Bearcat and Tigercat to join the gang. The Hellcat proved much more successful in WWII than the Wildcat. It was more heavily armoured and much more powerful. It finished the war with a kill to loss ratio of 19:1 which is an incredible statistic.

The kit is the Eduard 7077 kit from 2012. The fit was really good, but being only 1/72 scale meant some of the photo etch was tiny and just disappeared. I was looking for a mostly clean kit, but decided to add the drop tank. It's painted with Vallejo acrylics. The weathering is done with oil paints and AK Interactive panel liners. Being so dark, it's not too obvious which I think is good. I'm not so happy with the paint chipping though as that went on a bit heavy in parts and my attempts to fix it didn't make it any better.

The decals were really nice. I used Microscale Micro Set and Micro Sol. I'm really happy with the result as there's almost no silvering. I dipped the canopy in Gauzy Agent, and the result was really good. This is the third kit I've dipped the canopy in Gauzy Agent and I can't think of anything I'd want to try in future. It just works so well. The kit came with the masks which meant covering the windows was very easy. I initially fitted the 'closed' canopy for painting, then swapped it for the 'open' one once the painting and matt coating was done.

The markings used are just the kit ones representing Lt Carl A Brown Jr's Hellcat from VF-27 onboard USS Princeton (CV-27) in October 1944. During one mission he downed 5 enemy aircraft but was hit and injured. He landed on the USS Essex and the plane was pushed overboard to make way for other returning aircraft. Overall this was on the bench for around a 1 month. I'm quite happy with the end result.

The lessons:
- A simple photo etch bending tool is incredibly useful
- Be careful with the detailing of smaller kits as it's easy to over do things.

The firsts:
- Painted ezy line for the HF antenna

The good:
- The decals were really nice
- The overall fit was good

The bad:
- The paint chipping isn't great

I'm not sure what I'll move on to next. The options are a B-17 (unlikely), Sopwith Camels, a McLaren MP4/6, or a couple of Tomcats.