Academy 1/72 Grumman F6F-3/5 Hellcat

Reviewer: Kevin Ronayne (kevin.ronayne@nuigalway.ie)
Kit Review submitted:  1 July 2001

Aircraft History

The most successful carrier-based fighter of all time, the Hellcat tends to be overshadowed by the Vought F4U Corsair. This is probably due to the striking appearance of the Corsair, not to mention its performance figures. On paper, the Hellcat couldn't even reach 400 mph, and is not the most visually appealing fighter ever built. Nonetheless, it was a truly war-winning aircraft, and in many ways was to the Pacific war what the Mustang was to the Western European theatre. The Hellcat was designed to achieve air superiority over the Zero and other Japanese fighters. In fighter versus fighter combat, the Hellcat achieved the same type of ascendancy as the F-86 would attain against MiG-15's in Korea. The F4U also had a great kill/loss ratio, but problems with carrier operability meant that it had a smaller, and later part to play. Of course, it should be pointed out that many of the best Japanese pilots had already been lost by the time the Hellcat entered combat in late 1943; then again, the same type of comment could be made about the Merlin-engined Mustang in Europe. Total Hellcat victories by all US and Allied operators exceeded 6,000. The Hellcat's most famous day was, of course, 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot', during the battle of the Philippine Sea, when the rebuilt and reequipped Japanese Carrier air arm was decimated in a single day.

The Hellcat was, in design terms, a progressive development of the F4F Wildcat - another much underrated fighter. The performance requirements of the Hellcat were reputedly derived, in part, from testing of a captured Zero. Development and production proceeded smoothly, and Hellcats began to leave a factory that was still not fully built! Grumman's production capacity must really have been stretched at that time, as both Wildcat and Avenger production were being farmed out to General Motor's Eastern Aircraft division. The first main production version was the F6F-3; the -5 version consolidated a series of minor improvements that had been gradually introduced into the production run. It also introduced the ability to carry underwing stores. Other developments of interest included the night fighter (FN) versions, with a radar pod under the starboard wing. In the limited night air war in the Pacific, the Hellcat was extremely successful. Late-war Hellcats had the inboard pair of machine-guns replaced with a pair of 20-mm cannon, which was an unusual modification among US fighters of the time. The only major criticism of the Hellcat design was the lack of rearward visibility. There does not appear to have been any serious attempt to produce a bubble canopy/cut down fuselage version, along the lines of the Thunderbolt or Mustang. Total Hellcat production was some 12,275 aircraft.

The Kit

This kit dates from 1992 - Academy helpfully stamps every sprue with the year the mold was produced. It's not the newest of Academy kits by any means, but it certainly compares very well with their recent efforts. The box is the usual spacious and sturdy two-piece effort. There are three main sprues in light grey (57 pieces) and one transparency sprue (8 pieces), all sealed in a couple of bags. The decal sheet is sealed in its' own, as is usual with Academy - although a second copy of this kit bought recently used the foil cover favoured by most other manufacturers.

The instruction leaflet is an 8-page foldout affair, slightly larger than A5. It is pretty comprehensive, with in-place painting instructions and full four-view painting and decaling guides for each of the two subjects offered. There are no model paint codes offered, just a mixture of FS and generic colours. This is not a problem in the context of this kit. Parts and decals are provided for an F6F-3 with the standard 3-tone navy camouflage, and an F6F-5 in late-war overall dark gloss blue. External stores comprise the distinctive centreline tank, two bombs, and six rockets. The price is a very reasonable IR£6 - about STG£5.

Kit Subject Accuracy and Detail

The overall level of detail and accuracy in this kit is excellent. The panel lines are finely but crisply engraved, and the level of detail is almost all that could reasonably want in a kit of this scale. The 'definitive' F6F-5 had the panels behind the cockpit removed, a windshield section with simplified framing, and modified engine exhaust. These are all catered for. Early -3's used a 'Wildcat' style forward-swept arial, but most Hellcats had the straight arial used here. The only major quibble I have is whether the -3 should be carrying underwing stores, as depicted in the box artwork and specified in the instructions. All the references I've looked at seem to be quite clear on the fact that only the -5 could carry underwing stores - the centreline fuel tank is a different matter. Remember that the Hellcat was designed from the outset (like many contemporary fighters) as an air superiority fighter, and the fighter-bomber role came later. The Hellcat had to use its engine's emergency war rating to get off the deck of a carrier when carrying underwing loads, and the modified engine was a feature of the -5 version. Even allowing for the fact that most of the -5 modifications were gradually introduced on the -3 production run, it seems unlikely that the earlier version would have carried bombs or rockets. It doesn't matter how many plates and illustrations show an F6F-3 in fighter-bomber configuration; you can never rely on these in the same way that you can on photographic evidence.

Other accuracy concerns are minor:

• The propeller blades should taper much more gradually to the cuff at the base.
• The machine gun barrels are overly long - I had to trim the middle and outer barrels, which was quite straightforward.
• There should be some panelling on the upper rear wing surface inboard of the wing fold joint.
• The rockets - if you use them - should be spaced more closely together. The forward painting and decal views (bottom of page 5) give a much better indication of where they should be located.

Building the Kit

What can I say about building the kit, except that it was pretty much of a breeze. The cockpit construction was very straightforward, with seat, rear bulkhead, instrument panel (with decal), stick and floor completing the main sub-assembly. There were two instrument panels to be attached to either side of the fuselage cockpit walls. These did not fit quite flush against the fuselage walls, which was a bit disconcerting. Also, it wasn't clear from the instructions how the port-side panel should be oriented. I persevered, and the result looked - and fitted - fine. The entire cockpit assembly fitted very snugly within the fuselage halves. Strange as it may seem, that doesn't happen as often as it should, even with newer kits. As I was building the -3, I cut away the panels behind the bulkhead and replaced them with the transparencies provided. The main cockpit colour was specified as FS 34151, which Academy calls Chromate Green. FS 34151 is Humbrol 151, and this seemed fine to me. FS 34151 was also specified as the engine cowling interior. Although Yellow Chromate primer was more commonly used here, green primer was sometimes used. The cowling to fuselage join didn’t seem absolutely right, although I didn't need to use any filler. The engine itself was fine, with the second layer of cylinders being molded onto the engine bulkhead wall. The propeller simply fitted onto a peg at the front of the engine - no retaining mechanism was used, and was not needed, as the fit was tight enough.

The wing assembly was the standard one: a single lower-piece wing, with two upper wings. No provision for folded wings - only the old Airfix kit had that, as far as I know. The wings looked very good, reflecting not only the plan of the wings, but also the distinct vertical 'kink'. Only the tiniest bit of sanding was required before mating the wings with the fuselage assembly. The main undercarriage legs were single-piece affairs, yet fully detailed. They fitted into the undercarriage bays with exactly the correct amount of forward sweep - no need to agonise over the angles, or to leave to set overnight. The wheels had excellent cross-hatched treading detail, marred a bit by the sprue attachment points. Rather than use yellow or green chromate, the instructions called for the wheel bays to be painted the same colour as the undersurface of the wings. For the F6F-3, this was white. This policy may have been a wartime expedient, and is being reflected increasingly in USN kits of the era. The standard undercarriage doors were provided for. I built my kit 'wheels down', but the kit does not make specific provision for a version with retracted undercarriage. Nor would this be a straightforward matter, because of the unusual retraction method used by the Hellcat.

The rest of the kit consisted of the various bits an pieces such as the tailwheel and arrestor hook - the latter can simply be cut to the retracted length if required, as the instructions illustrate. There are three transparent lights provided - two for the fuselage spine, and one above the arrestor hook. The centreline fuel tank was reproduced very well, with the correct amount of 'droop' relative to the fuselage. I left the completed tank off my kit, although I may fit it later - I want to have one completely 'clean' Hellcat in my collection.

As a final step, I had to fill in the bomb and rocket holes, as they are on the outside of the wing surface, instead of on the inside, where they could be drilled out. Wierd. As I already mentioned, the rocket holes are in the wrong place anyway. The rockets themselves have a bulbous warhead, with stubs molded to the rocket, and a separate fin piece. The Hellcat did indeed carry these type of rockets, and did use stub launchers. Oddly enough, some Hellcats had rail launchers fitted. The bombs (probably 1,000 LB weight) and pylons look OK to me.

Painting and Decals

Overall painting was no problem, as I had the appropriate Humbrol shades: Hu 34 (White), Hu 144 (intermediate blue) and Hu 181 (dark sea blue). The last is the gloss finish which would be used for the overall finish on the F6F-5. Since Humbrol discontinued this shade in any finish, I had to use whatever was available. At least the Humbrol Matt Cote was well up to the job. The painting guide suggests very straight demarcation lines between the colours for the F6F-3. In practice, there would have been a huge variation in the position and 'hardness' of the demarcation, not least due to weathering and other effects. Decals were generally very good, although not quite opaque enough - you can see the dark blue/mid blue boundary underneath the white star on the fuselage sides. Also, they were slightly - only very slightly - too thick and glossy for my liking. In general terms, the decal quality was fine, although not quite up to the standard of the best Revell or Italeri decals.

Final Comments

All in all, a very good kit and a very enjoyable experience. I liked it so much, I went out and got another one! This could be the best 1/72 Hellcat kit on the market, with the possible exception of the Hasegawa kit. That may change though, when the Italeri kit becomes available in late 2001.