Despite a combat introduction which took place relatively late in the war, the Hellcat would go on to be referred to as the ‘mount of aces’ as it wrestled superiority of the skies above the Pacific from the Japanese Zero during a frenetic two years of fighting. Posting some quite astonishing combat statistics, it has been reported that almost 75% of all aerial victories claimed by US Navy pilots were attributed to the Grumman Hellcat, which earned an impressive combat kill ratio of 19 to 1 in the Pacific Theatre. Although combat claims can be notoriously difficult to corroborate during times of war, this meant that on average, nineteen enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss on a single Hellcat, a statistic which could not be bettered by any other combat aircraft in WWII. Perhaps most significantly, the Hellcat made ‘Aces’ of no fewer than 305 US airmen, as this rugged and reliable fighter helped the Allies clear Pacific skies of enemy aircraft and speed them towards a hard fought victory. Obviously, the Hellcat’s naval aviation heritage allowed for some distinctive build options to be included in the new kit, as well as having wide international appeal for an aircraft type which saw service with the US Navy, US Marine Corps, Fleet Air Arm and French Navy.

This next series of images help to illustrate how Chris developed this Hellcat fuselage side piece from the basic, accurate shape, gradually building up ‘layers’ of additional surface detailThis fascinating screenshot clearly shows how Chris needed to accurately represent a multitude of different rivets and fasteners in the Hellcat’s development files Tail antenna should have been a separate part. It’s always in the way and I’m surprised I didn’t break it, despite banging it around many times This CAD screenshot image clearly shows the incredible level of detail which has been incorporated into the new Hellcat kit Casting of the brass parts is perfect, and the only cleanup required is the removal of a small casting stub on the top of the main legs. A figurine is a miniature-sized statuette that reproduces an animal subject or fictional character to scale. It is important to choose the scale of the figurine to ensure the realistic effect of the scale model. The Airfix catalogue offers products in a wide variety of scales:

For some reason, the oil canning was not carried over to some of the inboard wing sections. Some have it, some do not. The Airfix 1/24 scale F6F-5 Hellcat has been a welcome surprise to many large scale model builders, especially those interested in US carrier based aircraft. The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.Moving on to the main fuselage components, this next series of images show how distinctive shape of the Hellcat was fleshed out with the gradual build up of internal component sections Looking much more like a real Hellcat, this image has most of the surface detail applied, including rivet and fastener detail

This scan image shows the Hellcat displayed with one wing in its stowed position and several of the access panels removed The instruction manual follows the same format that Airfix has used in all their later releases. Each step is very clearly illustrated with the previously attached parts highlighted in red. There is typically only a few parts to be attached in each step. This makes for an uncluttered, easy to follow build sequence, but does make for a longer manual. I really like this format!

GMC Tank Destroyer

I ignored steps 44 to 51 as these pertain to building the aircraft in flight with the wheels up. However, in step 46 the main wheels are assembled for all versions. The hubs look great, but the tires could have better crosshatch tread detail. After joining the two tire halves together and dealing with the seam, I used my razor saw to reinstate the lost or soft tread pattern. Venue of England, Airfix specializes in the manufacture of plastic models available in several themes. All you can know about the manufacturer Airfix Who is the manufacturer Airfix?