twhite80 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 (edited) Hi all, Here is the beginnings of my sharkmouthed Hellcat. I can't recommend this Eduard kit enough. So far it has been a great amount of fun. And for under $30 you can't go wrong. Sorry for the grainy shots. I will make sure they are better next time. Edited July 11, 2011 by twhite80 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MIG Mikkel Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 great start the pit looks very nice Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 I could build these Hellcats all day long. What a great kit! Here is my progress. I think I am getting close to the painting, decaling, and weathering. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Nice work so far! And as promised --- less grainy pics! Pretty nice kit huh? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Thanks for the comments. I am having a hell of a time finding a bottle of paint that matches the color I need. You would think that "Navy Blue" would be easy to find. After spending time on the internet and at the local hobby shop I came away with Tamiya Royal Blue. I will be weathering it a bit so I will mix to the shade I need I guess. The challenge I see is getting the shark mouth inside the cowling painted correctly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Thanks for the comments. I am having a hell of a time finding a bottle of paint that matches the color I need. You would think that "Navy Blue" would be easy to find. After spending time on the internet and at the local hobby shop I came away with Tamiya Royal Blue. I will be weathering it a bit so I will mix to the shade I need I guess. The challenge I see is getting the shark mouth inside the cowling painted correctly. Tamiya do a Sea Blue XF-17 Stephen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I think I still have my Tamiya F4F-4 instructions, there's a Tamiya color mix on there that is real nice. I'll look and see if I can find it and post the mix here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Thanks man, that would be helpful if you can find it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well, I can't find my stash of built models instruction sheets, but I was able to find them on 1999. Take a look here I think the one you need is: XF18:3 + XF2:1 for the top surfaces and XF19:2 + XF2:1 for the undersides. I used the tri-color mix on my F4F, and the two color scheme on my Dauntless and was very happy with it. HTH Brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jminer Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Looking really nice, T! I like the engine work you've done. It looks like a really nice kit. Looking forward to seeing more! Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achook-achook Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Looking good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 here is a series of pics from today's painting (I took the afternoon off!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 Hellcats are like Onions.... and Ogres, they have many layers. Layers of shading and decaling, and washing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 NIce live the exhaust stains Cheers Neo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Your weathering effects are looking GREAT! Care to share some details on what you've done with it? Is it still in a gloss coat and will it stay that way? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the comments! The exhaust is not quite done. The black needs to be toned down and new grey and brown reapplied but I like it so far. What I did was layer on a little black around the edges then some light grey in between that. I then did some dark brown around the grey to make it look more warn then some black along the panel lines to make it look as though the soot has settled in. But if you look closely the black looks a little sloppy along the vertical fuselage panel lines. I will fix that. It's all glossy right now and I have looked at as many pics of the paper doll that I could find, and when it was finally pitched overboard it was still pretty glossy. So some of it will be glossy but some will be flat, especially the exhaust and the warn and bleached panels on the top of the aircraft which will be either flat or at least dull. That is unless someone has a better pic with more detail. What do you think? Less gloss? Edited July 25, 2011 by twhite80 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Impressive work... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Well personally i prefer Gloss and satin over mat but for stain and around the exaust mat sounds good Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Personally I'm not all that fond of a gloss finish on a warbird. One thing to consider is the effect the elements would have on the gloss of an aircraft finish. Being at sea, the salty air and sun would have it's way with the gloss rather quick I would imagine. A satin might be more in line with what it really was, but then again that's pure speculation on my part. I think maybe one thing that's throwing me off is that you have weathering (faded panels, darker panel lines, etc.) but the whole thing has a uniform sheen to it. I know you say some will get some satin to flat coated later, so perhaps that would fix it in my eyes. I would think the faded panel areas shouldn't be glossy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 Personally I'm not all that fond of a gloss finish on a warbird. One thing to consider is the effect the elements would have on the gloss of an aircraft finish. Being at sea, the salty air and sun would have it's way with the gloss rather quick I would imagine. A satin might be more in line with what it really was, but then again that's pure speculation on my part. I think maybe one thing that's throwing me off is that you have weathering (faded panels, darker panel lines, etc.) but the whole thing has a uniform sheen to it. I know you say some will get some satin to flat coated later, so perhaps that would fix it in my eyes. I would think the faded panel areas shouldn't be glossy. So I will sort of dull coat it and then hit the weathered areas with a dead flat. Some of those hellcats were very glossy and some were worn flatmand then some had a mix of both where some areas were worn and others stillmhad a bit of a sheen. This is a hard one to figure... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Im pretty sure these guys tried to keel them glossy. Some one told me Bearcats pilots use to was the leading edge to get more speed out of it. Being at sea, the salty air and sun would have it's way with the gloss rather quick Actually you would be surprised i live on a sail boat for 10 year in the Caribbean and out boat was gloss blue and it only required a wax 1 time a year and you could see you face in it all the time. Just a little wash with salt water and Dawn soap to maintain it. But our boat was Fiberglass and those plane where aluminium so there are differences Cheers Neo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 well crap. The dullcoat I used was testors can. It ate through the paint! Gonna start over. At least I have a second set of decals Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 well crap. The dullcoat I used was testors can. It ate through the paint! Gonna start over. At least I have a second set of decals has it damaged it badly? '' sorry t hear that... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 OUCH! Sorry to see that man! That's one of the reasons I prefer to use the Tamiya flat base mixed in with Future, that and I can vary my gloss/flat to whatever I feel I need. That's a shame, she was looking real good. What did you end up using for the color coat? Were you able to use that Tamiya color mix I posted? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I have never seen that happen. Wow. Can only suspect the paint had separated from it's mixing agent (or whatever it's called) inside and all that came out was that which then ate paint. Very weird. A tragic thing to happen to a stunning aircraft so far. Guess next time you'll keep it glossy. You hadn't put the decals on yet had you? I can't remember. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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