Monogram F6F Hellcat--finished

[the Baron]

'Ev'ning, everybody!

Well, here it is, right at the deadline, my completed Hellcat:



I almost gave up on finishing at all, when I had problems touching up the paint where the tape had pulled it up. I had some overspray, D'OH! I went back and forth, masking, touching up, then masking again, until I decided I'd had enough. So, there are still patches where you can see some overspray, but I can live with it.



The national insignia are from Bare Metal Foil, and they went on without problem, except for the one on the underside of the starboard wing, which split into three pieces. But I was able to line them up and then let them alone. The BMF decals settled down nicely, and I used no setting solution.



I decided to use the kit sheet for the aircraft number, however, and I probably should have found some other numbers. The sheet was damaged, and if you see silvering, it's not under the decal, it's the surface, the carrier film turned a little milky in places. Also, they're pretty thin. But with the weathering, they don't look too bad.



Weathering was carried out with chalk pastels, for the exhaust staining, and the blast staining for the 6 .50's; with acrylic washes for the oil and fuel staining; and with a kind of filter of white acrylic, to fade the blue upper surfaces. I used about 2 oz of water and 1 drop of white acrylic (99-cent Michael's on-sale white acrylic), and used a broad brush to apply it, in several layers.



On the white undersides, I used acrylic burnt siena for the washes, because it would stand out so well against the white. And my modified tires turned out pretty nicely, with a coat of paint (NATO Black is my color now for rubber in scale).



The masking came of the canopy relatively easily, though there was some adhesive left behind. I tried diluted Windex, and then broke out the WD-40, which worked better. If you look closely, you can see some paint flaking off the canopy frame, but, don't look closely Oh, and I used white glue to fill the worst of the gaps between the canopy and the fuselage. I used a toothpick to apply it into the gaps, and I dipped my fingertip in water and used that to smooth it out. It worked out pretty well.

The markings aren't based on any specific aircraft, but just represent an F6F-3 at the end of the summer, 1943.

I enjoyed building this kit, and accomplished what I wanted to do--to backdate the Monogram kit to be a -3, to add cockpit details, and to do the two-tone blue over white camoflage. I had to give up on retaining all of the operating features, but that's not really a negative. It was another fun trip down memory lane, but I am ready to pick up the Eduard Hellcat and give that a whirl

Thanks for looking, as always, comments and criticisms are welcome!

YbiC
Brad

 

[Quaralane]

Looks pretty good.
Nice work on this

 

[13aceofspades13]

looks really good, i like the weathering, especually at the gun ports, what do you to weather?

what i did to my Tank P-47D Thunderbolt, and Ace Of Spades P-51D Mustang was took some Flat black Acrylic paint and thinned it out really good with water, then applied really smooth to make it look like weathered paint smoke trails. it looks ok but it could be better.

 

[the Baron]

Thanks, guys, much appreciated!

@13aceofspades13--I use chalk pastels to do the muzzle blast smudging, as well as the engine exhaust staining.

For both types of smudges, I follow a pattern to make the smudge darkest at the center and lighter at the edges. For the muzzle blast, I put down dark brown first, then black over that. I used photos (eg, Squadron's "F6F Hellcat--In Action") to eyeball it. And I usually make the blast smudges mostly black, with just a little of the light color.

For the engine exhausts, I use some lighter colors, white and yellow at the outside, through browns, to a little black closest to the center.

I've found the chalks easier for me to work with than drybrushing, and it looks as close to an airbrushed job as I can get. I scrape the chalk into little jars, and keep a supply on hand for ready use.

Not to say I don't dry-brush, or wash, either, but for the exhausts and blasts, this gets closest to what I picture in my head, the easiest. I'm still learning how to work with washes and not make a mess

Thanks for looking!

 

[13aceofspades13]

Thanks, guys, much appreciated!

@13aceofspades13--I use chalk pastels to do the muzzle blast smudging, as well as the engine exhaust staining.

For both types of smudges, I follow a pattern to make the smudge darkest at the center and lighter at the edges. For the muzzle blast, I put down dark brown first, then black over that. I used photos (eg, Squadron's "F6F Hellcat--In Action") to eyeball it. And I usually make the blast smudges mostly black, with just a little of the light color.

For the engine exhausts, I use some lighter colors, white and yellow at the outside, through browns, to a little black closest to the center.

I've found the chalks easier for me to work with than drybrushing, and it looks as close to an airbrushed job as I can get. I scrape the chalk into little jars, and keep a supply on hand for ready use.

Not to say I don't dry-brush, or wash, either, but for the exhausts and blasts, this gets closest to what I picture in my head, the easiest. I'm still learning how to work with washes and not make a mess

Thanks for looking!

you're welcome, chalk pastels seem to be a very popular method of weathering. i use Flat black Enamel and water it down really good, then dry brush it on, its easy to do, thing is if you mess up it dries really fast and its a pain to fix. i have used this method on the P-51D Mustangs, P-40 Warhawk, and P-47D Thunderbolt.
i really don't use the chalk pastel beacuse im afraid i will smudge the chalk when i apply clear coat. i don't have a air brush so i cannot spray future on or anything.

 

[Anedg003]

Looks good!

 

[the Baron]

Thanks, guys, much appreciated!

@13aceofspades13--I use chalk pastels to do the muzzle blast smudging, as well as the engine exhaust staining.

For both types of smudges, I follow a pattern to make the smudge darkest at the center and lighter at the edges. For the muzzle blast, I put down dark brown first, then black over that. I used photos (eg, Squadron's "F6F Hellcat--In Action") to eyeball it. And I usually make the blast smudges mostly black, with just a little of the light color.

For the engine exhausts, I use some lighter colors, white and yellow at the outside, through browns, to a little black closest to the center.

I've found the chalks easier for me to work with than drybrushing, and it looks as close to an airbrushed job as I can get. I scrape the chalk into little jars, and keep a supply on hand for ready use.

Not to say I don't dry-brush, or wash, either, but for the exhausts and blasts, this gets closest to what I picture in my head, the easiest. I'm still learning how to work with washes and not make a mess

Thanks for looking!

you're welcome, chalk pastels seem to be a very popular method of weathering. i use Flat black Enamel and water it down really good, then dry brush it on, its easy to do, thing is if you mess up it dries really fast and its a pain to fix. i have used this method on the P-51D Mustangs, P-40 Warhawk, and P-47D Thunderbolt.
i really don't use the chalk pastel beacuse im afraid i will smudge the chalk when i apply clear coat. i don't have a air brush so i cannot spray future on or anything.

That's a very good point--Even with a sprayed-on clear coat, you have to take into account how the pastels will look, once that coat goes down. I've found that the darken colors hold up better, or rather, stronger colors. Clear coats tend to tone down or negate the subtle effects that you can get. I know some who use them, who don't apply another clear coat over the pastels, and just don't handle the model very much, once they're done. Of course, that means no imaginary dogfights

 

[the Baron]

Looks good!

Thanks! Next up is a pair of Ponies in 1/48, P-51Bs from ICM and Monogram.

 

[13aceofspades13]

Thanks, guys, much appreciated!

@13aceofspades13--I use chalk pastels to do the muzzle blast smudging, as well as the engine exhaust staining.

For both types of smudges, I follow a pattern to make the smudge darkest at the center and lighter at the edges. For the muzzle blast, I put down dark brown first, then black over that. I used photos (eg, Squadron's "F6F Hellcat--In Action") to eyeball it. And I usually make the blast smudges mostly black, with just a little of the light color.

For the engine exhausts, I use some lighter colors, white and yellow at the outside, through browns, to a little black closest to the center.

I've found the chalks easier for me to work with than drybrushing, and it looks as close to an airbrushed job as I can get. I scrape the chalk into little jars, and keep a supply on hand for ready use.

Not to say I don't dry-brush, or wash, either, but for the exhausts and blasts, this gets closest to what I picture in my head, the easiest. I'm still learning how to work with washes and not make a mess

Thanks for looking!

you're welcome, chalk pastels seem to be a very popular method of weathering. i use Flat black Enamel and water it down really good, then dry brush it on, its easy to do, thing is if you mess up it dries really fast and its a pain to fix. i have used this method on the P-51D Mustangs, P-40 Warhawk, and P-47D Thunderbolt.
i really don't use the chalk pastel beacuse im afraid i will smudge the chalk when i apply clear coat. i don't have a air brush so i cannot spray future on or anything.

That's a very good point--Even with a sprayed-on clear coat, you have to take into account how the pastels will look, once that coat goes down. I've found that the darken colors hold up better, or rather, stronger colors. Clear coats tend to tone down or negate the subtle effects that you can get. I know some who use them, who don't apply another clear coat over the pastels, and just don't handle the model very much, once they're done. Of course, that means no imaginary dogfights

yea... if i was a kid it would kill me, i played with everything when i was a kid! now i dont mess with it.