Hell-o-Kitty

Bernhard Schrock
One of my favorite Iron works. 🙂 A front seat please. 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Bernhard, welcome and take a 360° premium seat - I hope I won´t butcher your image how a Hellcat is supposed to look like! 🙂

I had a thought what to do next, wanting to keep the mojo uninterupted and noursihed, but still not really in a mood to look at the WIP MiG-31´s - so it was basically what´s in the stash (not much), which quickly narrowed the choice to a MiG-21 and the Hellcat and another hard thought led to the start of this little project...

This is the Eduard Profipack, and I am building pretty much what´s in the box, no additional aftermarket, so +/- same as the Wildcat - closed plane, open canopy, gear-out... The kit is what Í´d definitaly buy (weekend edition) to someone new to the hobby - simple but still reasonably detailed, no traps, straight forward, great fit, robust parts... It´s nowhere near the Wildcat kit in terms of finesse, but I have a feeling we´ll still come along nicely... 🙂

Robert Podkoński
Grabbing a seat too 😉

Bruce Huxtable
Watching with interest, and anticipation 😉

Nathan Dempsey
You're going to like this one Slavo. Can't wait to see your build.

Jos Jansen
Iam in Slavo...a nice start!

James C
Off to a great start already! In with a grin! 👀👍

Andy Ball
From Wild to Hell. Will my "access-all-areas" still work?

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Robert, Bruce, Nathan, Jos, James and Andy!

Happy to have you on board - building props somehow has an entirely different dynamic then jets - all goes somehow faster..! I closed the fuselage and checked what remains of the cockpit visibility - seems fair, with open cockpit, probably made sense & all 🙂

Also the clear parts on this kit are not benchmark-setting, closing-up would cause some rather visible warping, so keeping a flow of fresh air (as on the Wildcat) seems the go-forward choice. So far & all-in-all a happy little build!

Maciej Bellos
Hey kitty kitty!

Ludvík Kružík
Great start! I can't miss the dressage of this wild cat.

bughunter
Oh, Slavo on SPEED 😉 The next prop bird has a nice looking cockpit 👍

David Taylor
Mind if I sit in Slavo.

Erik Leijdens
Great start Slavo 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Maciej, Ludvik, bughunter, David, Erik!!

Happy to have you on board! If things go as they do now, it´s gonna be a (relatively) fast one... 🙂

I had a little mishap yesterday - I broke off (and lost) the OOB gunsight (was a thick and not very realistic piece of kit anyway...) So I put together some old PE and clear foil and tried to rebuild something in that direction... Was fun 🙂

bughunter
This way is called "Improvement by accident" which I have done multiple times. Looks better than before.

bughunter
And again a confirmation: do not get a notify for new uploaded pics at 13:44, only with new comment by Slavo at 14:07.
Anybody else?

Slavo Hazucha
Frank - 😉

Progress with +/- the whole model built - and the engine - built in a really dirty way, with details for whatever will remain visible in the closed cowling. I still kind of enjoy what I do, but definitely will do a jet next... 😄

Also a question for those with much more knowledge than I posses in this field - I want a ´43 Hellcat (red-outline insignia) - what color should the inside of the cowling be? Green or light grey? From color photos I take at least a portion is grey, but many indications seem to point into the "green" direction...

Thanks for advance for leading me to the right path!

Bruce Huxtable
Wow! That engine is a thing of beauty.

Andy Ball
Engines are your forté

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Bruce & Andy - I really made this one 'for the cowling view'... Looking forward to my next jet engine already... 🙂

Anyone having some hint on the correct color inside the cowling?

Slavo Hazucha
So - had nothing but trouble with this one... Got the paint on + the decal - the insignia on the sides of the fuselage got damaged during foil removal, tried to repair > failed, tried to spray > failed harder... 😄 I filed the rather battered surfaces and re-done the paint-job again...

So now I am contemplating to get new decals and in the meantime doing some business on the underside... Not finished and not all too happy with it but it will be what it is...

At least the cockpit details remain somewhat visible in the intended final form 🙂

Marcel Klemmer
Just for all the trouble described, the bird looks damn good 👍

Pietro De Angelis
Wow,
what details and what a finish,
congrats!

Marius
Great shading and weathering! It can only become a great model at the end!

James C
That's a shame about the decals, but stunning paintwork mate. Looking fantastic 👍

Nathan Dempsey
I'm definitely going to mirror Marius & James. That paint work is looking awesome. Those pesky decals can be replaced! 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Slavo, difficulties are meant to be overcome. And you are doing very well! 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Marcel, Pietro, Marius, James, Nathan and Ludvik!

I sorted the decal topic by borrowing some from a Tamiya Corsair - size is +/- sort of OK-ish... And anyway, just looking at the pics, you cannot unsee I am not aiming for any kind of "to the rivet realism" here - building and painting more of a "Hellcat Spirit" image in my head - the rugged warrior shrugging off all kinds of adversities & wrongdoings while ruthlessly shredding the unbeatable aura of the Zero over the Pacific... 🙂

Paintjob not finished, after the decals I plan to add some final touches of weathering high & low, definitely some proper exhaust streaking - but definitely approaching some kind of a finish now...

bughunter
Even though it's not finished yet, it already looks very nice with this blotchy paint 👍 I really like it!

James C
Looking stunning with the markings applied Slavo 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Love how that weather blending flows right into the markings.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks bug, James and Nathan!

This got really difficult in the end and transformed to some sort of a psychological staring-contest between me and the cat (good I did not choose the "eyes & jaws" version offered by the kit & box-art... 😄 I was like "I really want to be done with this & the cat like "yeah, then try!!"... Things broke, got lost, surfaces got damaged & fixed, but in the end I wrestled it so some kind of a conclusion...

SCM Newsfeed

- if you mind checking - I still don´t know what to think, atm feeling just happy it´s done (which it´s kind of not, .50 cals missing, the kit material took me nowhere and proper ones will be ordered later... to be honest I don´t feel like arming thins one yet anyway... 🙂 )

Ludvík Kružík
Looks very nice with applied decals and stained paint. 👍 I like it!