Eduard

1/48 F6F-5 Hellcat Profipack

Kit Numbers: 8222

Reviewed by  Bob Ulrich, IPMS# 35901

MSRP: $35.00 Website: www.eduard.cz This latest release in Eduard's line of Hellcats follows the Royal Class boxing, which included parts for both an F6F-3 and F6F-5. The kit is billed as an F6F-5, and it is, but it curiously includes a second complete F6F-3 fuselage. Also included are two typically superb Eduard photo etch frets, one of which is colored, resin wheels, canopy masks, and decals for four different aircraft. All the decal markings are interesting, and it will be a tough choice to pick just one. The basic kit plastic has been reviewed many times, and I have little to add to what has already been said.. Surface detailing is very well executed, including the overlapped panel effect on the aft fuselage. The various cowling variations are all included, so be careful you get the correct one. I will not stick my neck into the cowling 'grin' controversy other than to say it looks pretty good to me, given the limitations of injection molding. Eduard chose to mold each wing separately, which eliminates some tricky underside joints found on the Hasegawa kit. Each wing fits into a deep pocket in the fuselage side, and no filler was required. You will have to be careful to get the side-to-side alignment right, though. Of special note is the landing gear and gear well detail, which is easily the best in this scale. Hellcat landing gear is especially complex, and Eduard made a great effort to capture it. Even the brake lines are molded with the struts, although I scraped them off and added my own lines from soft wire. Everything goes together with little fuss. Eduard's basic plastic cockpit is OK. This boxing addresses that with a comprehensive color photo etch fret that replaces almost all the plastic detail. A total of 53 (by my count) separate pieces are provided, and they are beautifully rendered. Some are so small it is difficult to see them, much less handle them, and some experience with PE and a good magnifier are recommended. I have found that a two-step process works best for me: first I glue the PE piece in place with white glue, which allows me to correct the inevitable misplacement before the glue sets. Then I go back with thin CA glue applied carefully at the edges with a fine wire to lock the parts solidly. The PE control levers for the throttle and other devices consist of a thin lever section topped by a disc representing the knob. I mixed a small batch of 5-minute epoxy and applied tiny drops to both sides of the disc sections, forming perfect spherical knobs. Since you are using the kit plastic as a base, there are no fit problems with the cockpit. The R-2800 engine looks basic on the sprues, but once painted and detailed it looks fine buried inside the cowling. I did not use the PE ignition harness, but replaced it with fine wire. Eduard also includes the famous Pratt and Whitney logo badge for the engine, in both decal and color PE. Nice touch. If you simply must, Quickboost has a resin engine specific to this kit that looks terrific. As noted, construction presented no difficulties. The kit includes two sliding canopy sections, one for the closed option and one for the open position. The open canopy fits perfectly, as does the windscreen. The included masks made painting prep much easier. One note of warning: the instructions would have you add the tiny catapult bridle hooks to the wing bottom early in construction. Leave these off until the very end, as in handling the model during painting and decaling you will surely break them off. Guess how I know this. The markings options are all interesting, but as for colors, you better like dark blue. I used an old but never opened bottle of Aeromaster Gloss Sea Blue, thinned with lacquer thinner, and it came out very nice. Gosh, I miss that paint. I chose the markings for David McCampbell's 'Minsi III'. Other offerings include a cat mouth VF-27 bird (Robert Burnell's 'Paper Doll'); 'Death and Destruction' from VF-83; and Bob McCuddin's bird from VF-20. Also provided is very complete stencil detail. The decals went on without a problem, and worked as well as any I have ever used.

Eduard has provided the modeler with a highly detailed but easy to build kit, has added another feather in their cap with the Hellcat series, and at a price that by current standards is very reasonable. Highly recommended. My thanks to Eduard for providing the kit and to IPMS/USA for the opportunity to build it.