Ooooooh! You're doing a Martlett?

LOL That's a bit too much to swallow. I'm thinking of something more catty.

Meow! This has the potential to get out of control...

Michael

Happy 4th of July


Was able to get some work done...
Painted Navy drone for some Pre-Shading:




Then was able to apply the final color coat:




This kit has been an easy build... not to many reference photos online. Some of my 'internal bomb-bay' scratch building was done out of guess work.....

TPC

It's clearly a Widgeon.

Actually only has 1/2 the engines of a Widgeon.

A half-Widgeon?

Michael

Well, much more like a Martlet, as in heraldry the Martlet is shown as a legless birt. My effort will have the gear up as a critical piece of the gear structure is missing.

OK, some progress over the last two weekends on the big Airfix Hellcat:


Cockpit components black based. This isn't all of them (it's a BIG kit!), but you get the idea.


Painted green and starting to come together.




How it looks sitting in the fuselage half.


Airscale instrument panel, illustrating my favorite motto that if something is worth doing, it's worth screwing up. In addition to the fact that the instruments are slightly off center (sigh), the sharp-eyed will note a slight difference in the upper left instrument (I believe it's the clock). While painting the edges of the etched metal sandwich, black paint got in between the instrument decal and the acetate cover. Ugh. So I used the separate instrument Airfix provided for the same position and covered it in gloss clear. Better than a black hole!

Here's a picture that highlights the one issue I have with the kit (so far):


That area circled in red, while devoid of structural detail, does not have pre-scribed lines to open up for the aft cockpit windows. Nor does the kit include clear parts for those windows. While this would normally not be a big deal, I'm about 90+% sure that the VF-27 cat's mouth F6F was an early enough -5 that it had those widows. So much for that decal option. It's a shame, as I probably would have done that one if it had the right set up.

The markings options are a bit slim. The window issue means only two of them are correct, the Royal Navy one or the VF-12 aircraft which appears to be based on a well known Hellcat on the airshow circuit. While I could probably do a different one given how easy it should be to paint the big geometric markings, I'm running into a real problem coming up with victory flags in this scale. Guess we'll see what the aftermarket comes up with before I'm at that point.

Michael

Some more progress on the big Hellcat:


Those are the kit-supplied plastic seat harnesses. Not bad, but I think I need to apply some sort of light wash.


As long as I have the Airscale set, I used it for the center console as well. It really does look very nice.

Michael

And here I am at the end of this weekend:





So far no real headaches that weren't user error.

Michael

".... Almost there..!!...."

Most all assemblies are done and painted...
just getting to some weathering and final placements soon...

Update pic:



Looking to complete this campaign on time...FINALLY!!!

@Michael: You are going really fast!!!! I will use your work as a reference of my 1/32 hellcat....

@Thomas: I like the aircraft........ I will considering seriously to buy it.

OK, fuselage interior ready to go:



Definitely ran into some trouble here. The bulkhead/frame aft of the cockpit (the one with the bare plastic edges) is definitely too big for the fuselage to fit together around it. You can either sand/scrape the edges like I did, which takes awhile; or just leave it out as it won't be seen on this version. I should have left it out. If/when the F6F-3 comes out, it will become more important due to the window aft of the cockpit.

Here's the starboard side:



I used the Airscale parts throughout. I can't deny, they're very nice! But whether they're worth the work involved is up to you. The kit parts are no slouches.

The fuselage is together now and somehow I still have a gap underneath due to that bulkhead. Shoulda left it out. Sigh. Onward and upward!

Michael

@Michael: You are going very fast!!!!!!

Maybe too fast! We'll see...

Michael

Hi Michael, not one to normally butt in on group builds, and happy to just be a spectator, but I've seen builds where, because tolerances are now so tight on the fit of parts, they've taken to masking off both sides of the fitment surfaces, as even just the thickness of the paint is enough to mess with the fit. Doesn't help you now, i know, but maybe for others treading this path

"It is Finished"

Freedom Models 1/48 X-47B UCAS...










This kit was a great build. Not complex and an ease to assemble.
I added aftermarket landing gear and Eduard Resin JDAM's.
All acrylic paint; Vallejo AIR with various Gray/White/Black base primer to be the 'pre-shade effect' on paneling.

To my surprise, it's a large kit, about the size of a B-25 WWII bomber in 1/48. I was thinking a 'drone' would be smaller.

Glad to be on time with this campaign......



Here's my entire photo build on SmugMug:
https://tobar-c.smugmug.com/TCs-Hobby/X-47B-UCAS/n-LKj7LP/

Thomas,

Very nice job!

Russell,

I understand what you mean, I've built Wingnut kits! That isn't the problem with the big Hellcat. That bulkhead part is just plain too big. I hope Airfix has heard about it and fixes it before the -3 comes out!

Michael

I started to improve the kit, the wings was the first place where I made the modifications and I'm still in the process....

04 by Shaky962, en Flickr

05 by Shaky962, en Flickr

06 by Shaky962, en Flickr

03 by Shaky962, en Flickr

Unfortunate, but at least fixable... Somehow though, I don't think Airfix will "correct" the issue

So I haven't posted for a bit but I keep soldiering (sailoring?) on with the big Hellcat:







Getting the fuselage together wasn't easy, even though I'd taken a fair amount off the edges of that rear bulkhead. The instrument panel coaming is not a positive fit to the front of the cockpit so care must be taken.

And then the wings. Sigh. There's so much detail for the wing fold, even if you're following the specific instructions for spread wings, that it all interferes with the fit of the outboard panels to the center section. There was some industrial strength pushing and shoving, let me tell you! And there was a fair amount of the same in joining the fuselage and wing. It all looks together now, but whew! The very sharp eyed might notice that there's a sliver of white plastic on the underside between the main fuselage and the separate forward part. There was a large gap there that luckily I noticed before I glued that forward piece on, and I was able to get some plastic card in there to fill it. Here's hoping that doesn't come back to bite me later.

I left one of the gun bays open for now. I'm not real thrilled with how it looks, but I can always add the closed doors later.

On to the engine!

Michael

Hi all,

I just had collected a 1/72 Grumman F11F-1 Tiger kit that made from Korea. On the google translate page, I knew the brand "세미나" is "Seminar" in English.



Cheers,
K.

I built a Seminar kit of the U-2 years ago, folks thought it was a knock off of an Academy kit. Good detail, good instructions overall a good kit. Good luck with your Tiger,

Moving ahead: