A US Hellcat
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May 24, 2020The construction has begun. The usual start with the cockpit. Everything fits nicely.2
May 24, 2020Testing the fit of the RB seatbelts3
May 24, 2020One of the smallest parts I've ever used on a 1/24 model: the buckles of the seatbelts. Unfortunately I took me three buckles to discover that the the pin that goes inside the buckle, needed to be bent to fix them. But you won't notice it once inside the plane.4
May 24, 2020One piece of the belts, made of paper. It is tiny!5
May 24, 2020The lapbelts. If only the locking clasp would be move-able, the seatbelts would have functioned as if they were real.6
May 24, 2020A last picture of the cockpit bulkhead, without the seat.7
May 24, 2020The parachute really looks nice. The decals are made to look as if part of it is covered by the parachute harness,8
May 24, 2020One of he instrument panels, with very tiny decals. One of them is missing. I lost it somewhere in the process, but it was so small, I couldn't find it anymore.9
May 24, 2020The seat with seatbelts in place.10
May 24, 202011
May 24, 2020The front bulkhead in place12
May 24, 2020Some shots from the cockpit13
May 24, 2020Cockit showing the seatbelts14
May 24, 2020Close-up of the seat.15
May 30, 2020The cockpit glued to the fuselage. The fit is perfect!16
May 30, 2020In the rear fuselage there is a lot of detail, most of it will not be visible. 🙁17
June 1, 2020The fuselage halves went together well. Only a very tiny gap forward of the hatch on the underside, no problem at all.18
June 1, 2020I decided to use the original decals for the instruments and the look nice! Even the map isn't forgotten19
June 1, 2020And then I made a serious mistake: I glued one of the bulkheads upside down. I was trying to add the tripod shape and it didn't fit.20
June 1, 2020After turning the bulkhead, the tripod easily slipped in place!21
June 1, 2020The result of a day's work. I'm very satisfied with it. Everytime, I'm surprised by the perfect fit of all the pieces. Sometimes you wonder how pieces will go together and suddenly they fall in place!22
July 9, 2020The gun bay assembled23
July 9, 2020The wings put together24
July 9, 2020Wings mated with the fuselage. Again I discovered I had a small misalignment in an earlier stage and this meant a bit more work to get them together.25
July 9, 2020Top view of the kit, I already used some primer.26
July 9, 2020Rudder and elevator. even the trim tab is movable27
July 9, 2020The parts of the engine. They fit together perfectly without glue. Only added a little glue to make sure they stay in place.28
July 9, 2020The engine with ignition cables made of copperwire.29
July 9, 2020The engine with ignition harness30
July 9, 2020Some extra parts added to the engine.31
July 9, 2020The intakes and the first of the exhaust in place. It is not easy to get everything in place. The ignition wires sometimes prevent the proper fit of the intakes and exhausts. But by trial and error, they slip in place32
July 17, 2020Fitting some more parts, testing if the exhausts fit.33
July 17, 2020All exhausts in place. It is a tight fit, so the paint got damaged and needs touching up.34
July 17, 2020All parts fitted to the rear of the engine, including the intake ducts.35
July 17, 2020A rear view of the engine.36
July 17, 2020Front view of the engine with all the ignition wires37
July 17, 2020Test fitting the engine38
July 17, 2020The other side of the engine.39
July 17, 2020It's beginning to look like a real plane.40
July 17, 2020And this is all there will be visible of the engine, once the plane is finished. This plane will be fully closed up, hiding most of the engine. But my second cat will be fully opened up, with wings folded so I used this first engine to find out what would likely cause problems in the build, and it was helpful!41
July 21, 2020Starting to close the panels and hiding away the beautiful engine! But the second one will be better with more details and all possible panels opened up.42
July 21, 2020These panels fit nicely.43
July 21, 2020The impressive mouth needs a bit more attention44
July 21, 2020And then suddenly there was a problem. For some reason the air-intake doesn't fit as it should, leaving a gap between the panels. It's only at the underside of the aircraft and if necessary, I can always remove the intake, as it won't be visible anymore.45
February 28, 2021A last glimpse of the engine of this cat. Since I want to build two different cats, this one will be almost fully covered up, while the British one will show everything. But it was nice to build this as complete as possible in order to learn from the mistakes I made46
February 28, 2021Engine covers in place. I had to remove some parts of the air-intake to make the covers fit. Again proof that the new Airfix models don't tolerate mistakes47
February 28, 2021Inside flaps installed48
February 28, 2021All flaps ready49
February 28, 2021She is beginning to look good!50
February 28, 2021First time on her legs. I didn't glue them yet, since I think it's easier to fit them in the end51
February 28, 2021First decals applied. Makes her really look great. I discovered I made a stupid mistake. For the first time I used masks for the inside and the outside of the canopy. After painting, I removed the inside masks and yesterday I wanted to remove the outside masks, only to find out I never used them! Fortunately a bit of alcohol removed the paint and this time I made sure I used both sets of masks!52
March 20, 2021And she's ready for take-off!
(An airbrush provides the necessary headwind)53
March 20, 2021View from starboard. One gunbay opened54
March 20, 2021Top view55
March 20, 2021Close-up of the canopy56
March 20, 2021gunbay57
March 20, 2021Pilot's domain58
March 20, 2021Cockpit inside
Kommentare
11 24 May 2020, 19:40
Project info
58 Bilder