¹⁄48

Hellcat Mk.I

Some notes on the kit

The kit is one of the two kits in Eduard's 1/48 Hellcat Mk I / Mk II combo. The kit is fantastic value for money. As well as two kits there are full coloured etched parts for each as well as canopy and wheel paint masks.

The fit of the parts is very good and only a small amount of filler was needed, mainly at the front of the wings-fuselage joint. I primed the kit with light grey and preshaded with black.

The underside was painted with Xtracrylics XA1003 Medium Sea Grey, the top camo was XA1025 Dark Slate Grey and XA1005 Extra Dark Sea Grey, the latter lightened slightly with white.

The camo was airbrushed freehand, first the undersides, then the slate grey and finally the dark sea grey. I thinned each colour with Tamiya thinners and sprayed light coats so as not to lose the pre shade. After each colour I lightened it and sprayed random patches to break up the colour.

I used the kit decals, this particular aircraft flying off HMS Emperor was used by Lt. Blythe Ritchie to shoot down a FW190A, one of the few kills by the hellcat against the German airforce.

The weathering was done with Promodellers dark wash and the final flat coat was White Ensign Enamel.