1:72 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat

The last and most numerous form

Grumman built the Hellcat with a single brief: to outdo the Japanese carrier fighter in performance, armament and toughness, and to do it without long refinement. The F6F-5 sub-version closed the whole line and was at the same time the most numerous. You can tell it by the smoother cowling without the side panels, the deletion of the windows behind the cockpit and the lightened ailerons with trim tabs. The machine weighed over four metric tons and could take a hit that would have put a lighter structure into the sea.

Four decks, four pilots

• white 9, Charles Stimpson of squadron VF-11, November 1944
• number 71, Leo B. McCuddin of squadron VF-20, October 1944
• the machine named Minsi III of David McCampbell, October 1944
• white 25, Bruce Williams of squadron VF-19, October 1944

The set is put together in an untraditional way: instead of the machines of one unit it offers four different squadrons and with them four different aircraft carriers. On one sheet you can thus see how the practice of individual decks differed in the same month in the placing of the numbers and in the width of the bands on the tail. For a collection that is to stand on one shelf, that is more practical than four almost identical pieces.

The gray-blue finish of carrier machines is dark, so the white markings on it have to have good coverage. If the base still shows through under the edge, a second coat of varnish applied before the marking is laid down, not after it, will help. Over riveted joints it is a good idea to prick the film with a pin so that it settles. The package contains only the sheet of markings.