10,000th Hellcat "Hirohito Special"
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Master brass gun barrels mounted in the wing inserts. Fit was perfect.
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PE ignition harness from the kit.
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Completed engine, came out looking very nice, I must say!
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Right fuselage sidewall.
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Left fuselage sidewall, dressed up with a placard decal from Mike Grant.
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Left cockpit console, detail is a combination of kit PE and decals.
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Instrument panel, built up using kit PE. I filed down the plastic lump of the gunsight; will replace later with clear acetate film.
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Instrument panel again, showing 3D PE detail, such as gun charging handles.
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Cockpit. Went for hight contrast, Spanish style. Eduard fabric belts were badly printed, but easy to shape.
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Test fitting cockpit.
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Tail control surfaces were separated with a JLC razor saw.
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Replacement control surfaces from Quickboost, which were installed with approx. 10 degree offset.
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Another view of Quickboost tail feathers.
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The Eduard kit is covered with gorgeous detail, but they completely omitted the formation lights on the belly. I scribed the locations, lights will be added later.
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Acetate gunsight glass.
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Another view of scratchmade gunsight.
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Eduard molded the wingtip lights solid, but they should be clear. Removed kit lights with a razor saw. Drilled into squared off sections of clear sprue and filled with Tamiya clear Red/Green paint. CA glued to wing and sanded to shape.
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After rough sanding new wingtip lights to shape.
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Head-on view of wingtip lights. I also added the landing light in the leading edge of the left wing, but forgot to take pictures.
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Ready to start painting - my favorite part!
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Primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black from a rattle can, then preshaded with Tamiya XF-66 and XF-9
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Preshading on underside.
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Basic Gloss Sea Blue in place. Used a mix of Tamiya X-8 and XF-17.
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The shiny exposed oleo strut was "painted" with a Molotow marker, then masked and the strut sprayed GSB. Brake lines added from copper wire.
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Decal madness beginning!
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I used a sheet from Iliad Decals called Milestone Aircraft. It includes the 5000th P-38, 1000th B-17, etc.
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Decals sealed with Tamiya clear, weathering started with Mig Ammo Medium gray panel line wash.
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Going for minimal weathering, trying to depict the aircraft as it was delivered VBF-87. The medium gray came out nice, quite subtle.
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I wanted to try emulating this photo, where oil and grease have leaked back into the exhaust stream.
![Album image #34 Album image #34](/albums/img/3/4/8/469348-17864-72-720.jpg)
Tamiya black and buff provided the starting point for the exhaust stains. You can also see that I tried airbrushing on some cordite streaks aft of the guns, but I didn't like how they turned out, so I went back and overpainted them with the base color.
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A few of the bottom exhaust stains in progress.
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Next, I used an Ammo of Mig black Oilbrusher and a Tamiya fine brush to paint in the oil patterns around the exhausts.
![Album image #37 Album image #37](/albums/img/3/4/9/469349-17864-73-720.jpg)
After letting the oil paint dry for a few hours, I blended them with a soft brush and a tiny bit of thinner. It didn't come out exactly how I wanted, but I am still fairly happy with the effect, for a first-time effort.
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I may go back and tone down the contrast a bit with some extrememly thin paint - haven't decided yet.
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I went back and reworked the exhaust stains a bit. I did a second round of oils, and knocked back the overall size of the stains a bit with the airbrush. I like it much better now.
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I had a last-minute disaster involving spilling thinner on the right wing, because of course I did.
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I wisely put the model down and walked away for a bit, reasoning that it would just be eaiser to repair once dry, but while it dried the thinner ran under the leading edge of the wing and along a panel on the underside, almost to the gear bays.
![Album image #45 Album image #45](/albums/img/0/8/0/478080-17864-91-pristine.jpg)
With the gear already attached, I was afraid sanding was too much of a knock-everything-off risk (remember, I’m the klutz who spilled thinner on this thing in the first place) so I used alcohol to strip and repaint the affected area.
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Some sanding turned out to be necessary to feather everything together, but in the end, after a coat of Tamiya X-35 Semi-Gloss to match the rest of the airframe, the repair is hard to see.
![Album image #47 Album image #47](/albums/img/0/8/2/478082-17864-28-pristine.jpg)
I've posted photos of the process so you can see how much work my clumsiness cost me!
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With that behind me, small exterior details are all that's left!
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1.3mm MV lenses for the formation lights. I didn't realize it until I went to install them, but these lenses are rounded on the back, so they need to sit in a small recessed hole in order to mount properly.
![Album image #52 Album image #52](/albums/img/7/9/3/478793-17864-79-720.jpg)
Whip antennae are from copper wire.
![Album image #53 Album image #53](/albums/img/7/9/4/478794-17864-10-pristine.jpg)
Tail nav light and dorsal strobe are resin CMK items. Not as sparkly as the MV lenses, but still look great after a coat of clear varnish.
![Album image #54 Album image #54](/albums/img/7/9/5/478795-17864-95-720.jpg)
The resin CMK items were very easy to work with and attach with PVA glue.
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I used Uschi van der Rosten elastic thread for the aerial wire.
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The insulators are small blobs of PVA glue, left to dry, then painted with Gunze Off White.
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A minor miracle: this tiny antenna mast survived the entire build without ever being broken off!
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Some quick finished photos.
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I'll go back and take some higher quality photos soon.
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In the meantime, here's some iPhone shots taken in my paint booth.
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Can you spot my stupid, unfixable mistake? :/
![Album image #67 Album image #67](/albums/img/8/0/8/478808-17864-82-720.jpg)
Komentarzy
12 January 2018, 21:27
![](/profiles/img/10792-966-s.jpg)
Very nice work at the cockpit and interesting pre shading technique 👍
13 January 2018, 18:19
![](/profiles/img/17864-664-s.jpg)
Thanks, everyone! I have moved on to the weathering - just uploaded a few more photos.
28 April 2018, 19:11
![](/profiles/img/23938-707-s.jpg)
Looking awesome. Great recovery at the end, I think we have all been there 😄 👍
29 May 2018, 12:25
Album info
Known as the "Hirohito Special," the 10,000th Hellcat built was an F6F-5 delivered to VBF-87 aboard USS Ticonderoga in May of 1945.