1:48 F6 F5 Hellcat

The vanished windows behind the cockpit

The Hellcat was built so that its pilot would survive even what another machine does not withstand, and in the Pacific that earned it an exceptional record. Version number five brought a detail by which it is recognized from the older three at first glance: the small glazed panels disappeared from the side walls of the fuselage behind the cockpit. The designers judged that nothing could be seen through them anyway and replaced them with solid skin. Anyone building the Five thus has two fewer areas to varnish, but one worry more, because they have to make sure that none have appeared on the model.

A flat pane in the windscreen

The windscreen carries in the middle a thick flat pane of bulletproof glass set between rounded side parts. It is exactly this passage from a flat surface into a curve that tends to be the weak point of hand masking, because tape lifts in it. The set contains covering for both sides of the glazing, so the frame can be visually closed from inside as well. The sliding section above the seat has only a few frames and the surface between them is smooth.

Scope

Alongside the panes you get a pair of sheets with the markings, which is a wider scope than most goods of the line offer. The cut follows the plastic of the Hasegawa company. The aircraft itself is missing from the box.

Work procedure

First comes the turn of the inner covering, which is inserted before the halves of the fuselage are joined. The outer films come in turn only once the surrounding skin is varnished. The markings are sprayed onto a dried base and the film is removed from them with a pull from the middle outwards, so that the edge stays sharp.