Airfix 1/24 scale Hellcat.

[Defiant911]

Looking nice Barry, that green is quite different from the usual olive drab. As you have said before the detail on those large models is superb. I might go for one for my next plane build. I got a few models stashed now and the missus is starting to question why I need more than I can build ,lol

[BarryW]

Looking nice Barry, that green is quite different from the usual olive drab. As you have said before the detail on those large models is superb. I might go for one for my next plane build. I got a few models stashed now and the missus is starting to question why I need more than I can build ,lol

It’s US Interior Green not Olive Drab.

[Defiant911]

It’s US Interior Green not Olive Drab.

I seem to recall this discussion on here somewhere referring to olive drab as being a brown colour rather than green. Might be a daft question but was US interior green only uses on US aircraft?

[Guest]

I seem to recall this discussion on here somewhere referring to olive drab as being a brown colour rather than green.

That was probably me, the other day

Might be a daft question but was US interior green only uses on US aircraft?

US interior green is, well … a green finish used on many (not all) American planes. The story is a bit complex, so I’ll point you to this page for a lot of background:

https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/interior-colours-of-us-aircraft-1941-45-part-i/

In short, interior green was a standardised mixture of zinc chromate (not a paint, but a coating applied to aircraft for protection) and lamp black paint. It is, apparently a pretty green green.

Other countries also used green interior finishes at the time (especially the British), but those were likely of different shades to the American one, and for obvious reasons were not known as US Interior Green

[Defiant911]

That was probably me, the other day :smiling3:


US interior green is, well … a green finish used on many (not all) American planes. The story is a bit complex, so I’ll point you to this page for a lot of background:
https:tongue-out3:/www.ipmsstockholm...941-45-part-i/

In short, interior green was a standardised mixture of zinc chromate (not a paint, but a coasting applied to aircraft for protection) and lamp black paint. It is, apparently a pretty green green.

Other countries also used green interior finishes at the time (especially the British), but those were likely of different shades to the American one, and for obvious reasons were not known as US Interior Green :smiling3:

Thanks Jakko, I guess that’s where I read it. Anyway I like that green. il‘l have to build a US plane so I can use it I guess.

[BarryW]

Some shots of the weather cockpit parts...












Bringing out detail is about a wash first to create shadows and to take the 'newness' off the paint and then drybrushing a lighter colour for highlights.

Once I used to drybrush either a lightened shade of the base colour or a light grey, but I have found that when depicting painted metal it is far better to drybrush Uschi Metal Powders. Done carefully you can pick out the raised detail and give it an appearance of paint wearing off the edges. It is paricularly effective over a matt black but it works really well over any other colour. Only use it over painted metal though. If you are drybrushing a painted wood, then drybrush with a light brown coloured pigment.

Doing that I tend to go easy on 'chipping' as such but when doing that the metal powders work well, rubbed into the paint with a cocktail stick.

Applied over a black painted surface, well rubbed and polished, it also gives a really good matallic appearance. Some people even use then for NMF schemes though I think metallisers are better for that.

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
Looking very nice indeed. The weathering process is very effective.

I have tried out these Posca paint pens for the first time.

They certainly look useful. Which ones do you use? They seem to do a few types.
Jim

[BarryW]

Hi Barry
Looking very nice indeed. The weathering process is very effective.

They certainly look useful. Which ones do you use? They seem to do a few types.
Jim

These are what I got

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0747T85ZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Defiant911]

Looks good Barry, what process did you use to create the leather gator.?
Carl

[Jim R]

Thank you Barry. They certainly look to be a good buy with quite a few uses.
Jim

[BarryW]

Looks good Barry, what process did you use to create the leather gator.?
Carl

Colour brown leather, dark brown wash then Alclad Aqua Gloss, one thin brush allied coat only.

[BarryW]

On with the build and now I get to a few issues....

But first a pic the the i.p. which has worked out rather well


The instructions say that you need to use the fuselage side as a template the get the angles of the floor and forward bulkhead right..... That is all well and good, if the fuselage was not so badly warped. Consequently I just had to glue the bulkhead on judging it by eye.


note the piece broken off - that is what happens when you fight a warped fuselage.... another piece got broken off as well. Neither breakage will give me a problem to sort of course but even so.

I had other sub assemblies to add to the floor before fixing it to the fuselage side. Some pictures below illustrate the amount of warping that I have to contend with.

You can also see the cockpit detail now all ‘in-situ’.



.




I am having to cement the fuselage together in about four stages starting with the spine. I am having to use clamps and tape and let each section dry fully before moving to the next. Below you can see how much both sides are warped after cementing the spine and tail. Oh, I am using the black tinted cement for this.


Here is the bottom after gluing only the spine and tail. There is quite a gap but it will close.....



Also just to show that the front should close OK here is a dry run.


With closing the fuselage taking so long needing to be done in stages I am getting on with other areas. The wheels are nicely detailed and thankfully the hubs and tyres can be kept separate for painting.


But, then another problem. Part F30 was on the sprue and ‘F31‘ was loose.... Except it was another part F30...


So I have emailed Airfix and hopefully they will send me the right part. Normally they are very good at this.

So I will focus on other sub-assemblies while awaiting the missing part.

Like a wing...

I am getting a lot of use out of my clamps on this kit. I hardly ever use them on Tamiya.

Then I was able to cement the next section of the fuselage, part of the underside, and clamp that,


That is all for now....

[Neil Merryweather]

Very informative, Barry, thanks for taking the time to go into such detail

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
The cockpit looks superb. The warping is certainly bad although I know you'll cope. Is the warping caused when the large parts come out of the mould or is it due to bad storage conditions? Hope the part you need comes quickly.
Jim

[BarryW]

Hi Barry
The cockpit looks superb. The warping is certainly bad although I know you'll cope. Is the warping caused when the large parts come out of the mould or is it due to bad storage conditions? Hope the part you need comes quickly.
Jim

I really don’t know Jim. I suspect that it is when it comes out of the mould. Looking at the issues Airfix has had with kit production standards it is the most likely explanation. I did read somewhere that this kind of warping, along with sinkholes and shrinkage, can be caused by the too early removal of a part from the mould. I also believe that it is the poor quality soft plastic being particularly prone to these problems.

I dont remember see this kind of thing with Tamiya, Trumpeter, ICM, Zoukei Mura or Hasegawa. But both Airfix 1/24 scale kits I have built have had this.

I just don’t think that this plastic is suited to large models. What might be a minor irritation on a smaller simpler kit can be magnified to a massive problem on large scale.