Hello everyone.

While my P-38 Build Log is stalled I thought I would start on my next project, a 1/32 Trumpeter Grumman F6F-5N Hellcat Night Fighter. Won't be using quite as many photos in this one as I am running out of space.. :-)

This one is going to be totally OOB using nothing but what Mr Trumpeter deigned to give me in the nice sturdy box. It says on the front of the box that there are 374 parts to be assembled for the kit. I won't be using all of them as I don't think that night fighters used many 5 inch rockets in their mission, or 500lb bombs for that matter.

Surface detailing looks good to me. If there is a problem with the shape of the fuselage behind the cockpit as many people believe it still looks an aweful lot like a Hellcat to me.

As a bonus you get a tow tractor and towbar. May have to get a diorama going for this one of the plane being towed by its tail wheel.

Anyways, I started at Step 1 of the instructions (really? That's original) which covers the cockpit of the aircraft. As usual I have done it in a slightly different order so I could get some of the detail painting done but still be able to glue assemblies together without having to wait for paint to dry.

Overall no real fit issues so far, but as usual there has been some head scratching over some of the locations of parts, and the painting information is a bit sparse.. but that is what Walk Arounds are for I suppose. But for the price you pay for these kits... but I digress..


The paint still needs touching up in this shot. Just a little scuffing of the paint under and on the rudder pedals.


And this one as well.. :-)

So far so good. I haven't seen a build log on one of these kits yet so I hope you all enjoy this one.

Cheers

Just what I need. I also hav the same kit and I will refer to your post and learn from your build. Thanks for sharing.

I will do my best not to lead you astray..

Hi Warren!

I have been following your P-38 build blog with great interest as I have that kit in my "to-do -soon" pile!

I also have the F6F-5N, altough I will build it as a F6F-5 with new decals and some other AM bits!

I will follow this build too, please lead the way!

I noted you have problems with your photos?
Do you store them in you alotted Kitmaker section?

I use Photobucket as photo-host, It´s free and you can upload as many pictures as you want, and link to them from this site.

You won´t see any difference, you can take and upload your pics in any resolution you desire!
Likewise you choose the res. when you want to show the pics on any forum.

Cheers!

Stefan E

Nice looking cockpit you have there.

Am I seeing things, but does that gunsight sit a bit low on the instrument panel?



Photobucket's very nice indeed. But you can't upload as many pics you want, as there is a 1GB limit for free accounts, 5GB for pro accounts. I wouldn't worry about it though, even 1GB is quite a lot.

While you can upload the full size photos and then edt them in photobucket (resizing, cropping, the usual stuff), I prefer editing them to size before uploading.

[quote]Nice looking cockpit you have there.

Am I seeing things, but does that gunsight sit a bit low on the instrument panel?

[quote]

Hi there.

That is the radar scope mate.. not the gunsight.. :-) I will put the gunsight in today sometime probably.

As for Photobucket, thanks for the advise but 1 GB sounds a lot of space, but it isn't much when you have big photos. The answer for me has to be reduce the size of the piccies using Irfanview. Problem is some of the older piccies are too big and I need to replace them with smaller ones. Not even my ISP gives you any space which has me a little peeved.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. I started on the engine today after doing some more filling and cleaning up of the Lightning. I am not 100% sure that the R2800 in this kit is totally accurate. I think that the cylinder banks may be too far apart. Have a look at the photo and then have a look at pictures of the real thing. Tell me what you think.


See how far apart the banks of cylinders are? Is this correct R2800 gurus? And is the picture too small?


Another view of the R2800. It has had one light wash so far.

Work continues in fits and spurts as I fit this one in with the P-38.

The rocker covers have been painted black since last time, the gearbox and associated parts have been painted and attached. Pushrod tubes are on. One problem I have found so far is that the rocker covers don't always sit correctly, or may have moved while they were drying, as I have found that even though all the pushrod tubes look the same length on the sprue, the pushrod tubes don't alway fit under the rocker covers. Some where so far out I had to trim the tubes to lt them fit.

R2800 coming together.


Supercharger and stuff..

I also assembled the supercharger assembly but am not painting it as it will not be able to be seen once the fuselage is bottoned up. This is the same with the engine cradle and engine ancillaries and the radio racks in the rear of the aircraft. What is the use of building and painting them if you can't even see them when the model is finished?

Bye for now!

Hi Warren,

What deco are you going to do? If you do the VMF(N) 541, do not follow Trumpeter instructions! That particular aircraft has 6 x '5 machine guns (no cannons), the side windows need to be opened (this is an early F6F-5 model) and finally, do not put any rockets (or their attachment stubs for that matter)... But you can put the boomb attachment points (with no bombs!).

Chris

OKay.. then I won't do that one.. :-)

I was thinking of doing the nose-art one actually. So either I ignore the inaccuracies or mod it alot... Think I will do the other one.. :-)

Thanks for that!

Hi Warren,

I actually build it, but got the info on the side windows too late... And it hasn't really bothered me (with the hood slid back, you cannot notice it that well)! The rest is easy, you already have the 6 machine guns, just install them as for a normal F6F-5 Hellcat and finally, do not put the rockets and just fill in the holes unde the wings... And voila! If you need more info, just let me know.

Christophe

Oh yes, of course, this is a night fighter that tended to have those things installed. I should have noticed that...



I'm no guru on things R2800, but currently building a Hellcat myself as well, I've been looking at many reference photos. Yes, there's definately too much space between the cylinder banks.
Here's one walkaround --> **Click!**
But then, I don't know if the kit's been designed so that the first sits properly with this spacing; removing the excess plastic from between the banks might require building up the engine mount some more to achieve a correct position.
IICR from reading some reviews, this same thing was reported on Trumpeter's F4U Corsair. I guess they used same engine parts on this one as well.

I don't know if it's worth the trouble to fix that issue, especially if you're not going to open the cowling (or use the clear version provided), the cylinder bank spacing won't probably be that visible in the finished model.

Sounds liek it is a good plan Christophe as I rather like the nose art supplied with the kit. A night fighter would never have had the rockets fitted anyway. I also believe that the cannons MAY have been retrofitted later on.. Well that is the story I may use as an excuse to fit them.. :-)

Thanks for that info!

I'm no guru on things R2800, but currently building a Hellcat myself as well, I've been looking at many reference photos. Yes, there's definately too much space between the cylinder banks.
Here's one walkaround --> **Click!**
But then, I don't know if the kit's been designed so that the first sits properly with this spacing; removing the excess plastic from between the banks might require building up the engine mount some more to achieve a correct position.
IICR from reading some reviews, this same thing was reported on Trumpeter's F4U Corsair. I guess they used same engine parts on this one as well.

I don't know if it's worth the trouble to fix that issue, especially if you're not going to open the cowling (or use the clear version provided), the cylinder bank spacing won't probably be that visible in the finished model.[/quote]

Regarding using the same sprues as the F4Us, yes, that is correct as it has F4U-1 Corsair moulded on the back of the sprue. And yes, you are correct again about not worrying with modding it as you won't see anything but the face of the motor when the cowling is on. Good call Sir!

I have also found that the fit of the intake manifold is not good, and it is very easy to stuff up the supercharger assembly if you are not VERY careful.. As I wasn't.. woops! Luckily you won't be able to see the assy as all once the fuselage is built.

Hi everybody.

Just a quick update in between all my other jobs.

Does anyone know why My Trumpeter decided to redesign Mr Grumman's plane and add a stringer on the outside of the fuselage? None of my reference photos show the item as a raised part, just a strip of metal between the fuselage and the wing. It makes the fit of the wing way too tight and tends to splay the wings downwards. Not a good thing.


See that line? That is the offending raised detail.

Anyway, after I carved it off the wing centre section fitted very nicely and may need no filler after a few more tweaks, whereas it would have taken lots of filler etc the way it was. Pity I forgot one of the tail-hook guides on the inside of the fuselage.. That's OK as the tail-hook is supposed to be stowed, not hanging in the breeze for people to trip over etc. (Showing OH&S touchy feely side now!)


See. The wing fits great now!

I love it when a plan comes together! And finally a dodgy photo of the almost complete cockpit, minus the gun-sight reflector, the first thing to break off in the build so far.



Until tomorrow... maybe!

Hi Everyone.



A couple of shots of the completed cockpit. Remember, OOB.

Time for another update on the Hellcat. I have been doing bits and pieces in between the 1/32 Mirage IIIR for the Paparazzi build, and a 1/48 F-111 for the Swing-Wing build. Both of these kits have caused much angst, but the Hellcat was almost falling together, until the latest step in the instructions.. the dreaded attaching of the wings of a carrier aircraft with folding wings….
As you may or may not recall I am building this beasty totally OOB.. I was going to add a couple of straps to the belly tank from scrap PE, but then it wouldn’t be OOB.. That iis also the reason for using the pretty ordinary seatbelts. I have a feeling they saw a picture of the Hellcat in one of the collections with the lap belts removed, and being the inscrutable Chinese persons they are they copied this, hence no lap belts. OOB remember so no added belts..

The attachment of the wings has been a bit of a pain in the bottom as they don’t fit as well as most Trumpeter parts. I resorted to tacking them with CA and Accelerator to get them in position, then I flowed some Extra Thin Tamiya cement n the cracks to add strength. The bottom panels are especially painful as there is really no support for them when you have the wings spread. For this task I used ordinary Revell Glue in the blue squeeze bottle to hold the doors in position. Then I tacked them with CA and accel. Then, again, I flowed extra thin cement around them. If you try it using ordinary cement then the thin stuff as soon as you apply the thin stuff it normally dissolves the ordinary glue and the part falls into the fuselage/wing/nacelle you were trying to glue it into..





Here are the two joins on top of the wing..





And here are the two under the wing showing the difficult panel.
The other badly fitting part in the radar pod on the starboard wing. There is a large gap around the pod/wing join that is going to need filling. Not sure how I am going to do that yet. Thick CA maybe? I clamped the pod while it dried and looks as though it may have come out better than I thought it would. Luckily it won’t need much filling at all by the look of it.




The pod top and bottom.

Did you know that CA releases lots of heat when you spray it with accelerator? I found this out the hard way and the part I was holding in my fingers got very heavy all of a sudden and I had to drop it.. ie it got hot..


As it looks at the end of the session.

Hope you are enjoying this little build log. More anon!

Hi All!

Well, the Grumman is ready for decalling even as I type this. I ended up mixing my own version of Navy Blue. I had a look at a colour chart on another site and they recommended Model Master 1717 as the colour. I do not like using oil-based ppaints as their cleanup is normally a pain in the butt so I consulted my various references for the correct colour and it gave me Tamiya XF-17 or Gunze 54 as the colours required.

I didn't have any of the Gunze 54 but I had XF-17 so I pulled the har out of the rack, a large jar so it must be a little old, and stirred it up for a minute or two. I then srayed some on the plane and thought to myself that it looked a little too green to me. I continued though and decided if nothing else it owuld be a good undercoat for the final colour.

I then started mixing in varying quantities of Tamiya X-4 Blue to give the paint a low-gloss sheen and a bit more of a blue tone. All the pictures I had seen of the F6F-5N showed that the paint was not full gloss therefore the choice of XF-17, which is very flat when sprayed, further puzzled me.

Then yesterday I went to the hobby shop and purchased a pot of the Gunze 54 but to me this one looks much too grey. Oh well. I am happy with the colour I have got. The other puzzle for me was what to paint the undercarriage etc. Trumpeter had no call outs during construction. It finally dawned on me after I had read an article saying that the wheel wells etc were painted the same colour as the undersurfaces that the colour painting guide in the kit showed this correctly but it hadn't even dawned on me to have a look there. Derrrr..

Then I masked up the radome and sprayed it white.

I tried to upload a photo but it keeps showing the wrong picture after i upload it in the main area, but the correct one in the thumbnail.. weird..

Looks like the file system has fixed itself and here is a piccy!

The journey is finally at an end and the Hellcat is finished. After a few last minute hassles with one of the transfers that necessitated me painting my own 'star and bar' here it is!













I think you can see a larger version of the picture if you click on it, but don't quote me on that!

So there you have it. Turns out it wasn't totally OOB as I added the aerial antenna and the aforementioned sprayed on marking. But other than that OOB.

Hope you enjoyed. Will have more photos in my next edition as I have found an online storage place that is free! Yeehaa!!

Gee Warren , it was just the other day when I saw this thread and now you are done !!!!!

what ever drugs you are on ..............Can you share them with the rest of us ? There has to be LHS some where that sells them !

Viagra for modellers !!!!

Another awesome job done , she looks fantastic !

All I can think of is the Coke Zero I drink.. The paint on this one was pretty simple as everything is the same blue, undercarriage, doors etc. The only detail stuff are the few white parts on the prop hub, radome and pitot probe.

Next to be finished will be my RAAF F-111C for the swing-wing campaign, Just needs decalling and a little matt black paint now.

And I have just started a 1/35 Academy Bell UH-1C Huey Gunship for the Vietnam: Total War campaign. SHould be another easy one as it is, like most Army things, Olive drab..

And for the next build log? How about a Trumpeter (what else?!) 1/32 Mig-21 two seater for the Twin Seater Campaign?



Thanks again Terri. Glad you enjoyed.