Eduard

1/48 Hellcat Mk.I & II 'Dual Combo'

Kit Number: 8223

Reviewed by  Fred Amos, IPMS #6672

MSRP: $49.95 Website: www.eduard.cz,   Direct Link to Kit Over the years of model building I have had the pleasure of building the F6F Hellcat in 1/48 scale by Otaki, Hasegawa, and Monogram but I must say none of them came close to the amount of detail in this Eduard kit. There is so much small detail in photo etch that building is going to be a real challenge. The box contains two full F6F kits, one for the Mk.I with the fuselage window behind the cockpit, and one without. When I volunteered to build this kit, I was told that someone else had started building it and life interferred so the review was late so I jumped in to help. When I received it I found that work had been started in the cockpit of the Mk.II and that many parts had already been cut from the parts sprue. One set of the wings had been assembled and the gun barrels were broken off. The previous builder chose to build the Mk. II version and had painted the cockpit and interior a shade of chromate green that I couldn't identify or match with the paint in my collection. Several photo etch placards had already been glued in place so I couldn't paint over it. So with all this in mind I will proceed and do the best I can. I have been known to build more than one kit variant at a time so that's the way I will do this one. Cockpits Starting on the second cockpit I cut all of the pieces from the sprue and lay them on blue tape, sticky side up. The instructions call out Gunze H 58 for Interior Green but I don't have any so I went for the MM equivalent #1715 which is a Bronze Green I have used in P-47 cockpits. Checking my Squadron Signal Walk Around for the F6F I found about four different pictures with different colors in the cockpit so the MM 1715 will do for me. After a few hours I sprayed the parts with MM semi gloss coat. While this was drying I started assembling the seat belts. This is a very tedious job what with all of the small parts. I find that using MM canopy cement to attach small photo etch parts to other photo etch parts or plastic will work just fine if there is no stress on it. And it gives a little more time to set the part in place and doesn't leave a mess like superglue tends to do. The larger photo etch parts are for the tops of the cockpit consoles and the instrument panel and the very small parts are for details like levers, switches and such. I found I had no real problem with the placards and face of the instrument panel but handling the very small pieces was so frustrating that I finally gave up on using them. With the assembly of both cockpits completed I test fitted them to the side of the fuselage. When I was satisfied with the fit I placed a dab of tube glue where the cockpit floor would make contact with the fuselage and held it tight for a few minutes. Tube glue you ask? Yes, I am using tube glue more and more when the opportunity presents itself. I don't have to worry then about over run or blistering the paint. A prime place for using tube glue was when I had to place part G-2, an air vent, in the bottom of the right fuselage half before the fuselage halves were joined. In order to get a straight fit I was then able to place an old dental probe into the hole opened for the drop tank and wedge it into place after the fuselage halves were joined. When I had it in place I could apply liquid cement from the outside. The fuselage halves had a good fit, almost seamless. A little putty was needed around part G-2, but that was all. While the glue sets up I will proceed to the wings and stabilizers.

So far the only problems I have had with this kit has been the missing pieces and the very tiny photo etch pieces which I find very difficult for me to see and handle. Keep in mind the fact that this is my problem. It may not be yours. If you have the patience and talent more power to you in getting it done. The fit has been very good and I am looking forward to the rest of the kit. General assembly The wings went together with no problems. Be sure not break the post on the inside as I believe this will correctly set the thickness of the wing at the root. I am not 100 per cent sure but I believe the instructions may be wrong when placing parts G 37 and 38 in the wheel well. There is a notch in the parts that lines up with the gear strut. I got it wrong and it made getting the strut in place just a little too tight. Here is an oddity. As I said in the First Look, I have built several F6F's over the years, and until I was masking the wings for painting I had not noticed that the wing panels on the Mk I (F6F-3) and the Mk II (F6F 5) are different. The wings fit into a fuselage socket but the end of the wing has no flat area or tabs to glue into the fuselage. So to insure that I would have enough area to get a secure glue bond I shaped some one-sixteenth inch sheet styrene and glued it into the wing before I glued it to the fuselage. The stabilizers are pretty much the same but there was plenty of surfaces for gluing them in place. The detailing of this kit is far beyond anything I have attempted in the past. This is especially true of the landing gear struts. I have attached a part of the page of the instructions dealing with this subject so you can see for yourself. The photo etch parts and some of the plastic pieces are so itty-bitty small that in some cases I can't see them, let alone handle them for assembly. The same goes for the metal pieces for the engine and the cockpit interior. A drop of super glue used to attach the parts would be larger than some of the parts. Needless to say I did not make use of a lot of the metal. I did use the seat belts though. Painting The schemes I chose to paint were the Fleet Air Arm colors. I have a limited supply of Gunze Sangyo paints that didn't include the colors called for in the instructions. So I did some cross-referencing and came up with the three colors in the Humbrol line of paint. The bottom called for H 74 Sky, I matched that to Humbrol IAF4 FS 35622. It looks white but has a tint of blue. The top colors called for H 52, which they called Olive, and H 305 Gray. For the H 52 I used Humbrol 102, Matt Army Green witch is a good match for Slate Gray. For H305 Gray I used Humbrol USN 1, 36118 Gunship Gray. After I had painted the bottom of both airplanes FS 35622 I masked it and painted the top the Slate Gray. While that was drying I went to the Wal-Mart fabric department and bought a piece of clear vinyl, 12 inches by 54 inches for .98 cents. From that I cut a piece about 10 inches long and lay it over the wing and/or fuselage and drew the green parts of the camouflage with a felt tip pen and cut that out with a sharp number 11 blade on a piece of scrap hard wood. I carefully placed small pieces of Handi-Tack on one side and stuck the down to the plastic and painted the FS 36118. This way I was able to get the same pattern on both airplanes. This may sound like a lot of work but it gets a better soft demarcation between colors than trying to do it free handed. The models were then given a liberal spraying of Testors Gloss Coat to prep them for decaling. Decaling There are enough decals for all six schemes featured in the instructions. And I believe that includes the stenciling as well. The decals are in perfect registry and the ones I used were not translucent. That is the light colors were thick enough not to show the different colors underneath. I admit I didn't use all of the decals available for the subjects I built, but enough to determine their quality. In conclusion For the modeler with Advanced Modeler Syndrome, better known as AMS, this model has everything he or she could ever desire in a kit. The photo etch and small details are exquisite. The fit of the parts is superb and the decals and schemes add that much more to an already great kit. And the price seems to be very nice too considering there are two complete kits.

However, for the casual modeler such as myself, this kit presents a big challenge. The basic Eduard F6F kits are in themselves very complete and well worth the money. So then, if you do like the quality and selection of finishes then the Eduard kits are for you. You make up your own mind. As for myself. I will definitely be looking for and buying more Eduard kits in the future. Without fail I would like to thank Eduard for providing this kit to the Reviewer Corps. for review. You can visit the Eduard website to see their complete line of models and accessories.