1:48 F6F-3/5 Hellcat

A fighter built from combat reports

Grumman designed the Hellcat at a time when it already had in hand the reports of pilots who had met the Wildcat's opponents over the Pacific. The result was a larger and stronger aircraft with a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 engine, with the pilot seated high above the wing and with landing gear that retracted backward into the wing by a mechanism derived from its predecessor. The cockpit was formed by a long glazed tunnel with dense framing, exactly the situation in which working with stencils pays off most.

From Marcus Island to the Philippines

The type showed itself in action for the first time at the end of August 1943 during the raid on Marcus Island, and from that moment it appeared with practically every large operation of the US Navy. On the nineteenth of June 1944 it played the main part in the air battle over the Marianas, after which the Japanese lost the core of their carrier squadrons. The F6F-5 version was then given a stronger wing, a different shape of windscreen and the ability to carry rockets under the wing.

What the sheet covers

The masks fit the outer surfaces of the tunnel and its frames from the inside as well, so a cockpit left slid open looks just as clean as a closed one. Three insignia stencils match a greater number of positions than is usual with sets of this type.

Direct the spray in thin coats square to the edge of the film; a heavy coat is apt to tear when it is lifted. The model and paints do not belong with the set. The Hellcat is often built with the wing folded and the cockpit slid open, and it is precisely with such a variant that the inner covering is the difference a viewer notices first. It is worth keeping what is left of the sheet, because it can serve for masking the wheel rims too.