Kit: No. JT34
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Hasegawa, distributed by Marco Polo Import Inc., 532 S. Coralridge Place, City of Industry, CA 91746
Price: $32.98
Comments: Injection molded, 84 parts, decals.
FOLLOWING INTERVIEWS with Wildcat combat veterans, Grumman engineers shelved their plans for an updated Wildcat, opting to create a totally new fighter. The XF6F Hellcat first took to the air July 30, 1942, and proved so effective that eventually 12,275 airframes were made. The Hellcat became the plane that took the Navy to victory in the war against Japan.
Hasegawa’s Hellcat kit is molded with recessed panel lines and glasslike clear parts, and includes decals for two aircraft, No. 17 from VF-9 of the USS Essex or No. 13 from VF-16 of the USS Lexington.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow. They provide a parts map and history, along with a paint chart matched to Gunze Sangyo colors. No FS equivalents are noted, but the flat sea blue, intermediate blue, and white needed for this scheme are available from other paint manufacturers.
Assembly was straightforward, with a couple of snags. In step 2 be careful when trimming the openings for the rear windows — test fit them as you go. One of mine managed to pop out well after the fuselage halves were together, making replacement difficult.
Mating the wing assembly to the fuselage required a little green putty along the aft seam on the belly, and a fine bead of super glue between the top of the wing and the fuselage.
I opted to leave the belly tank off until after painting and decaling. It’s better to leave off the straps until the tank is attached to the fuselage. The straps were a little short.
I painted my Hellcat with Testor acrylics. Hasegawa’s decals are crisp and the correct size, but any air trapped beneath them shows up as light patches over the dark paint. I omitted the instrument-panel decals and painted and dry-brushed the raised detail instead.
The finished Hellcat scales precisely to the dimensions in Terry Treadwell’s Ironworks — Grumman’s Fighting Aeroplanes. I spent about 20 hours on this project and enjoyed every moment. Any modeler with intermediate skill should be able to produce a fine Hellcat from this kit.
Gerald Voigt