Airfix A19004 Grumman F6-F5 Hellcat

Product Information

Tail antenna should have been a separate part. It’s always in the way and I’m surprised I didn’t break it, despite banging it around many times Despite a combat introduction which took place relatively late in the war, the Hellcat would go on to be referred to as the ‘mount of aces’ as it wrestled superiority of the skies above the Pacific from the Japanese Zero during a frenetic two years of fighting. Posting some quite astonishing combat statistics, it has been reported that almost 75% of all aerial victories claimed by US Navy pilots were attributed to the Grumman Hellcat, which earned an impressive combat kill ratio of 19 to 1 in the Pacific Theatre. Although combat claims can be notoriously difficult to corroborate during times of war, this meant that on average, nineteen enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss on a single Hellcat, a statistic which could not be bettered by any other combat aircraft in WWII. Perhaps most significantly, the Hellcat made ‘Aces’ of no fewer than 305 US airmen, as this rugged and reliable fighter helped the Allies clear Pacific skies of enemy aircraft and speed them towards a hard fought victory. Obviously, the Hellcat’s naval aviation heritage allowed for some distinctive build options to be included in the new kit, as well as having wide international appeal for an aircraft type which saw service with the US Navy, US Marine Corps, Fleet Air Arm and French Navy. The LIDAR scan gives the development team access to an incredible amount of detail, however, this only signifies the beginning of what will be an extremely lengthy project for the design lead O, what can I say about this kit? Well, it is rather large and quite complex. The stressed skin effect is great! But some issues to be aware of:

For some reason, the oil canning was not carried over to some of the inboard wing sections. Some have it, some do not.

Airfix | No. A1371 | 1:35

The last photo is at an angle showing the oil lines into the firewall just left of the air intake I had such difficulty in locating earlier. Thanks to Craig’s help, I think we sorted them out correctly now. Full scheme details of ‘Paper Doll’, the Hellcat used by Lt. Carl A Brown to claim ‘Ace in a day’ status on 24th October 1944

Thats it for now.............more to come..............thinking I have lots of 'free time' due to the current corona situation Similarly, the tail wheel leg is a single piece. The tail wheel strut and its retraction struts are well detailed. Skeletal engine detail which whilst still impressive, represents a relatively early stage in the models development Well, this one is finally done! This model took me almost exactly a year to build, which is normal for my past efforts, including not much modeling during the summer months, which here in Canada isn’t very long. I really enjoyed this kit, because it had just the right amount of quality, details and flaws to keep me challenged throughout. Before I forget them all, here are a few of the main positives and negatives:

Why us

Scheme 1) gumman f6f-5 Hellcat 'paper doll' Aircraft flown by lt. Carl a. Brown Jr. Vf-27, USS Princeton October 1944. Scheme 2) GRUMMAN f6f-5 Hellcat vf-12 USS Randolph (cv-15) may 1945. Scheme 3) GRUMMAN Hellcat Mk II 'operation sunfish' No. 808 Naval air Squadron, fleet air arm, HMS khedive, East Indies, March-April 1945. Scheme 4) GRUMMAN f6f-5 Hellcat flotille, carrier arromanches (R95), l'aeronavaler, Indochina War 1953. Aerocraft has released a number of decal sheets for the Airfix 1/24 scale Hellcat - some US and some Fleet Air Ar, This change of mind return policy is in addition to, and does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law including any rights you may have in respect of faulty items. This next selection of images feature Paramjit’s latest Hellcat build, only finished a couple of days ago. He has finished the model in one of the scheme options included with this impressive kit, a VF-27 ‘Ace Maker’ ….. enjoy!

Final matt coat using Tamiya TS-80 flat clear decanted from the can and thinned with Tamiya lacquer thinners. Several thin coats are misted on to give a nice finish. For years I have battled to find a matt varnish that works. This one definitely does!!! These are a very simply relacement for the kit's plastic tyres, which have a join line down the centreline and detail is a bit soft. As you can see from the image, I built this with one wing folded. I'm not sure that was standard ops procedure, but I have seen one or two photos in that configuration. The reason for this was twofold: 1) to save space and 2) to show of the wonderful wing fold detail.Then used MIG washes - starship grime and dark wash - I like these products as they are actually quite oily. Let them dry and then work them in using a soft brush with a small amount of turpentine or white spirits There are a lot of parts and detail that will never be seen again unless you open up extra panels, etc. (eg. Behind the seat radio and tanks) The instructions should alert to this, before you put in a lot of wasted effort If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you. Occupying a unique position in the history of military aviation, the F6F Hellcat has long been a source of fascination for enthusiasts and modellers and the announcement that we had already started a new tooling project to produce a highly detailed 1/24th scale kit of the aircraft was the cause of great excitement within the hobby. As we had been working on the Hellcat for quite some time before its official announcement at last year’s Telford Scale ModelWorld show, we had quite a lot of detailed and rather advanced project information to share at that time, with much of the initial research and development detail effectively bypassed. As this is such a significant project for the Airfix team, we thought it important to share this information in advance of the new model’s release, as this helps to tell the full story of how a relatively small team of Airfix professionals immortalised this aviation classic as a 1/24th scale model kit, the latest addition to our popular range of large scale aircraft models. The surface texture is quite rough so a good sanding with Tamiya sanding sponges (or similar) will go a long way - I did not quite sand enough ...

Colours were difficult to find out the bottle. I do not like Humbrol and our go to paints in South Africa are Tamiya for which one usually must concoct one's own mix. So, these are the recipes I used based on some really fine colour photos of various FAA aircraft from WWII. I think they look OK. Another view of Paramjit’s latest impressive Hellcat build, featuring the scheme worn by Lt. Carl A Brown Jr. when he downed five Japanese Zeros in the same sortie, to gain the coveted ‘Ace in a day’ status

What are the specialties of Airfix?

The rather aggressive scheme carried by F6F-5 Hellcat ‘White 7’, which was selected by Paramjit for his second Hellcat build, is a VF-27 aircraft, which made a significant contribution during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24th October 1944. ‘Paper Doll’ was the usual mount of Ensign Robert ‘Bob’ Burnell, but on this fateful day, it was being flown by Lt. Carl A Brown Jr. from the US carrier Princeton, known to all who served on her as ‘Sweet P’. After taking part in effective air strikes against targets in Formosa earlier the same month, USS Princeton was part of Task Force 38.3 and VF-27 were engaged in heavy fighting with large numbers of Japanese aircraft. Determined to prevent the enemy strike planes from reaching the Task Force, the pilots of VF-27 fought heroically against superior numbers and during the ensuing dogfights, no fewer than 36 Japanese aircraft were destroyed at their hand. Astonishingly, during this fighting, five VF-27 pilots achieved the status of ‘Ace in a day’, with five aerial victories to their name, one of which was Lt. Carl A Brown Jr., who claimed five destroyed and one badly damaged during a frenetic few minutes of combat. Unfortunately, his aircraft sustained significant damage during these actions and he himself had been wounded by shrapnel, a situation made all the worse when he noticed four Zeros on his tail, all lining up for an easy victory. He immediately pushed the control column forward and entered a tight turning dive, in one final attempt to shake off his pursuers, which miraculously worked – despite the damage to his aircraft, the manoeuvre could not be matched by the Zeros, who were later engaged by other US Navy Hellcat pilots. This fascinating screenshot clearly shows how Chris needed to accurately represent a multitude of different rivets and fasteners in the Hellcat’s development files Accomplished modeller and Airfix Product Designer Paramjit built this beautiful representation of the new 1/24th scale Hellcat, which was displayed on the Airfix stand at the Shropshire Model Show The big question was, could Airfix follow up on the home run they hit with their masterful Hawker Typhoon. i’m here to tell you that from what I’ve seen so far, the answer is a resounding YES! Just about every join is too tight, so most joins need to be altered by sanding and trimming to fit