F6F-5N - Work in progress

Sam S
With the Clarktor only pending weathering I started working with the engine, pretty much ready for priming after some more clean-up. The volors Trumpeter is suggesting for the engine seems to be quite different to what can be found online, hence I will go with the coloring found online.

Sam S
Priming both the engine and cockpit with AK 471 Extreme Metal primer followed by AK 479 Aluminium.

Some Vallejo masking fluid on chosen spots in the cockpit and other suitable spots before the interior green top-coat. Then some chipping…

Any ideas on what would be the best option for the engine gear-box in Tamiya? Should be Engine Gray (FS 16076), according to a few convension tables Tamiya option would be XF-63 German Gray. In my eyes it's too dark and not blue enough 🤔

Sam S
Interior primed with Vallejo black primer. Tomorrow I might have time to put the top-coat on the internals. Cockpit interior green (XF3 & XF5 1:1) and non-sunlightexposed parts with XF4 (Yellow Green).

Desert Marlin
Looks great so far! I like the yellow/orange finish on the tractor! Very nice!

Sam S
Interior painted with a 1:1 mix of Tamiya XF-3 (Yellow) and XF-5 (Green). Engine parts with flat light blue, the color is close enough to what I wanted.

Interior and engine parts chipped with Vallejo masking fluid, came out ok.

Sam S
@Desert, the color on the Clarktor is really nice. I think I made a mix of 4 parts Tamiya Lemon Yellow and one part Orange.

Desert Marlin
I agree that online sources for painting seem better than the Trumpeter suggestions.

Sam S
Repainted the cockpit panels and instruments, looks a lot better now

Palo M
looks fantastic.

Sam S
Thanks @Palo 🙏🏻 The cockpit is pretty much ready for some panel liner, ois etc to make it look properly used.

Desert Marlin
Very good! I like the chipping!

Sam S
@Desert. The chipping came out ok, maybe a bit too much in some places. Now I have a dilemma on the fuselage… Should I go with marbeling as I planned, or should I go with aluminium base and chipping 🤔

Desert Marlin
Tough call. I think that the combination of dirt/exhaust but some chipping is probably best. The planes were pretty dirty and worn, but not to the point of appearing unserviceable. I like to imagine how many sorties the aircraft may have flown over a given combat cruise...

Sam S
Engine and exhaust parts painted dark iron and bombs and tips of the rockets olive drab.

Sam S
@Desert, decided to go with chipping for the exterior. Looking at pictures of well served Hellcats the chipping becomes mandatory 🙂 They really look "well used" and worn in most pictures