Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat without uniform

Just cockpit for start 🙂

Sanded and fanned out the flaps on the engine cover

Drilled the exhaust pipes

I still haven't decided whether to make the model with atomizers or in a more interesting livery...

Cockpit assembled...

... and glued into fuselage

Halves glued and sanded - we'll see after the undercoat what needs to be corrected

Holes drilled (they were visible even after removing the atomizers) and places for armament filled and sanded

Today a little about counting... Maybe not rivets, but... ?

The tanks from RF-80F turned out to be completely wrong ? They are definitely too short ? So before I start buying more sets I decided to do a little counting ? I used a photo where the tanks are visible in full, as transverse to the camera as possible. I rotated the image to catch the level. Then, using the perspective tools, I tried to make the bottom and top edges of the tank as parallel as possible. Based on the image of the rim, I stretched the image horizontally so that it was circular.

Now it's time for measurements! I determined several lengths:
- the length of the tank pylon (blue);
- the length of the tank (orange);
- the height of the tank (yellow);
- height of the pylon at the leading edge (green).

(see next photo)

I measured the dimension of the length of the tank pylon on the model (gray). Based on the ratio formula, I calculated the remaining dimensions in 1:72 scale. These, in turn, I converted (for verification ) to "real" dimensions. The results are contained in the table

As you can see, neither of the proposed tanks fits exactly - in particular, both are too large in cross-section. I took similar measurements for yet another photo and there the maximum diameter of the tank is about 750 mm so.... still quite a bit too small (the length came out similar - about 5 m).

I'm stuck... I guess it will come to me to use the tank from the T-33A , lengthen it a bit and maybe grind it a bit in thickness....

Custom masks designed and cut with a plotter

Primed (now you can see all places for next layers of putty 🙁 )

Current status 😄

Draft on fuselage

Draft transferred to temporary mask

After scanning and redrawing the temporary mask, the target mask was cut out with a plotter

Preshading

Yellow - 4 layers. Still have a strong feeling than it needs 2-3 more... 🙁

Fuselage with a black painting - some improvements are needed, but I'm satisfied enough to do not wash a paint from model.

Time for wings and rudders - shades

Yellow. My "favourite" colour 😄

There's nothing like touch-ups on a painted part! 😉 Unfortunately I decided that I couldn't paint the imitation coloured lamp shades because there were none 😉 I cut out the space for the lamps, glued in the imitation bulbs, poured in clear resin, sanded and painted the frame.

Modification of rear wheel suspension

Thinned underbody cover (left). On the right, original

Thinned underbody cover (right). On the left, original

Engine ready for assembly

I spent a whole day trying to master a new toy - the vacuum chamber. So far the results are worse than without it, but I hope it's a matter of time before I master it.