Eduard

1/48 F6F-3 Hellcat (or how to build a cat in four days)

Kit Number: 8221

Reviewed by  Rod Lees, IPMS# 10821

MSRP: $39.95 Website: www.eduard.cz Hmmmmm. Wonder how this will go together? Part 1- Day One The question on everyone's screen: "Why do we need another 1/48 Hellcat"? Eduard answers this question with another one and a statement: "Why not make a better Hellcat… we did!" First look: Excellent Box art. Inside the box: Five runners of finely detailed light olive plastic, (including three different cowlings), one runner of clear with two types of windscreen; One fret of Eduard's now-world-famous color steel photoetch with seatbelts, instrument panel details and other small items; a second fret with ignition leads and bomb fins; and an Eduard mask. The instruction booklet with painting instructions for Mr. Color, Gunze Aqueous, and generic names of the colors, unlike some who are bent on forcing you to figure out what the color is by a number… NICE! The booklet includes full-color four views of the five decal options in the kit; and last, a comprehensive decal sheet with everything in register.

First opinion: Typical Eduard, a class act with everything but adhesives and paint included. I am looking forward to this build. This is Wednesday night, 27 February 2008, 22:04 CST. As I am typing the paint is drying on the interior and engine; construction shall commence shortly. Before I do anything else, a huge THANKS to Eduard for (1) producing this kit and (2) providing it to us at IPMS for review… This hobby is far from dead, particularly if Eduard continues on this track. Yes, Dave has challenged me to "git 'er done". This is a "workbench review" without anything added from outside of the box other than what is required to assemble and paint the model. Hence the non-professional photos (because face it, I've been modeling for 44 years and intend to leave professional photography to those who do it). We'll see how I do … tune in tomorrow! Part 2- Day Two As a note, Eduard listened to consumer concerns out here with "all external panels off" ala the FW-190, and did not attempt to make this model a "display it open" version. There are options for control surfaces, flaps, and basic weaponry, but no super detailed cowling in several parts or gun bays. Fine by me; that's what aftermarket is for. Some will say the cockpit is too simple, but I believe Eduard wanted to provide the basics for those of us who are recovering AMS members … and the lower price is appropriate. The interior is basic for this kit; the photoetch makes the difference. I painted everything Polly S U.S. interior green with a bit of light gray and brown added. It was still a bit darker than the Eduard interior green, so I carefully painted the Photoetch parts that needed to be interior green after I installed them. These sets are simple but still come with microscopic red "T" handles and other items. The side panels have no photoetch attached; I can only surmise an expanded interior set will be available, but for now this one will do. The only things really missing are the throttle, mixture, and pitch controls, and some placards. The control stick is simple, accurate for the Hellcats I've seen. The Seat harness went together quickly; if you have not tried these sets, they are worth the money. They add quite a lot and are extremely realistic in this scale. Even the stitching is there… Next, I tackled the engine. Be very careful cutting out the ignition harness; it is fragile. I painted the cylinder banks Model Master buffing magnesium, the engine crankcase gloss grey, and the magnetos and pushrods black. The color callouts indicate a black harness, so gloss black it was. Assembly involved five minutes and some superglue. There are PE placards and Manufacturing plates (with the P&W logo)… nice touch. Next: Assembly of the main components! Part 3, Day Two- Later Back again! Family is in the slumber mode, time to model. The cockpit assembly fits nicely into place; the clear rear quarter panels have a photoetch brace that is supposed to (by the instructions) run diagonally across the window from upper front to lower rear. I'm building this like someone who has only the instructions for reference, so I installed them before closing the fuselage. The headrest is not listed as an item to paint, so I did it on my own, in black. The empennage is simply seven parts; upper and lower stabilizer halves, one piece elevators, and the rudder. I opted to leave them in neutral position; there are large tabs on the elevators that could be cut off if you wanted to cement them into a more animated position to match whatever position you put the control stick. The stabs fit into recesses; Tenax 7 had them firmly in place within a couple of minutes. The wings are upper and lower parts, with the .50 cal barrels attached to a large alignment block that goes in the lower wing assembly. There is also a large pin at the root of the wing to ensure a tight fit into the wing attachment sockets during assembly… don't get overly enthusiastic and remove or break these off, as they are essential to the fit of the wings to the fuselage. The flaps need to be installed before the wing is attached to the fuselage. (These are one piece, I was wrong before about them being options for up or down)… Those interested in dropping them could do so as they are molded as whole flap items, not split in half like on some kits. (You'll have to do a bit of scratch building or, if you have an old set of Medallion flaps from the early 1990s...) The ailerons fit nicely into their recesses. The really neat thing about Eduard engineering is they think of details like this; the separate control surfaces are all single part items, which means they have extremely fine trailing edges and you don't end up melting the thin sections with cement. Although I have not started on the landing gear yet, detail in the main wheel wells is extremely well done.

No filler has been needed; I use Tenax or Weld-on, so a bit of rubbing down with wet/dry is required to eliminate the glue ooze. When working on the Hellcat, remember the rear seam lines overlap like on home shingles; if you are careful you can maintain this feature, and remove only minimal rivet detail. BTW, the exterior of this model has exquisite rivet, fastener, and panel detail, restrained and appropriate for the scale. The basic model, when viewed from all angles, certainly has the appearance and lines of a Hellcat, including the much examined cowling. I personally don't think an aftermarket item is needed for this, particularly since the chin scoop has a PE grate installed… It looks perfectly "Square jawed" to me, when referring to reference pictures. Time to get to bed; 0430 comes way too soon… Part 4, Day Three A comment: Eduard are to be commended with taking the lead in research and delivery of an excellent product which requires few, if any, additions. There are no spurious details in the cockpit or other locations; this is in contrast with other companies who charge us over $150.00 USD for a general (and often wrong) shape with a requirement to replace the entire cockpit, wheel well area, etc. in order to achieve basic, simple accuracy. Eduard are staffed with modelers who know what we need and deliver to the best of their ability. (No, I'm not on their staff!) I'm just enthusiastic that Eduard continues to flourish in the modeling market. This kit is almost an anti-climax; the Hellcat is a simple kit with unlimited potential for those who love the contest circuit. Build it out of the box and be happy… There were no fit issues, no filler required, and the model is truly an improvement over past Hellcats. Eduard: Mission accomplished. I'd buy more! I finished the model with Krylon white for the undersurfaces, and Model Master Intermediate Blue and Non-Spectacular sea blue for the upper surfaces. I don't preshade, None of the real aircraft I have worked on are preshaded. I did use pastels for weathering and exhaust/gun staining effects. Final analysis: It looks like every real Hellcat I've seen. No resin replacement cowling required. Cockpit has the added plus of the Eduard color-etch process for the instrument panel; that, and the seat harness. The only issues are the cockpit is a bit basic on the plastic side (In my opinion); black box or similar cockpit details, combined with Eduard Panels and seat harness, and perfection is close at hand. The sliding canopy option is just sexy. Every kit before this one has had an issue with requiring the Hellcat lover in us to purchase a Squadron (Read "Falcon") replacement. I don't have a problem with that, except it would be nice to not to HAVE to resort to aftermarket canopies. The Eduard kit readily handles that issue. I have not used the new Eduard canopy masks with Kabuki tape before, but these worked perfectly. MUCH improved over the original masking material (the green vinyl-type stuff for those who are uninitiated). Decals. I applied them without setting solutions to see how they would react. Almost perfect; I coated them with Micro Sol and life was grand. I opted for the Lt Vraciu markings, as I had previously done the "cat mouth" version of VF-27 on the Hasegawa kit and didn't want to duplicate previous work. In the historical details on the markings, Eduard notes that Vraciu's aircraft currently flies with "The Fighter Collection" in the UK. Cool…

Things I have seen on other websites: Wheel and tire assemblies may be narrow for later subjects. I concur. But the kit items are well done. They even captured the castor of the wheel assemblies. The .50 cal weapons have cooling holes in the jackets. They are not hollow, but y'all know how to fix that. Exhaust pipes are not hollow either; same thing. Modeling skills required. The bombs are a bit spurious to my mind; the PE fins are nice but I've not seen 500 LBS weapons with large cones over the fuse assemblies. Maybe the big bulge on the front is a protective cap, but I didn't use them. Also included are what appears to be Photoflash bombs. I'll save them for another time. In the final analysis, I personally believe the Eduard team has succeeded in yet another outstanding example of modeling bliss. Petite detailing on the exterior, excellent interior details out of the box (Keep those instrument panels and harness parts in all your kits!) and perfect fit. A well-researched instruction sheet, and markings are accurate. The on-line translator says "výborne! For our "Well done!" Eduard continues to provide excellence where others fear to tread. I look forward to their next project… A sincere thanks to Eduard for the review kit!

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