Three Hasegawa 1/32 scale
FAA Hellcats

by Robert Taylor

Trumpeter's 1/32 scale Hellcats are available online from Squadron.com

Here are some pictures of my three 1/32 scale Hasegawa Hellcats + aftermarket stuff and a lot of time!

This has been my first serious attempt at scale modelling for something like 30 years. An interest rekindled after some mates of mine persuaded me to go to the Flying Legends show at Duxford in the early 90’s. Blown away by the whole experience, I simply couldn’t believe how many types were still extent and flying! The Bilboa finale was amazing and resembled my bedroom ceiling from the 60’s and 70’s. That was it. I had to buy some plastic.

What to do with this plastic now? After trawling the internet and studying sites such as this, it became quite clear that things had moved on a bit since my Airfix and Frog days. Several years on eventually I decided it was time to take the plunge and put into practise all those hints and tips acquired over time.

My inaugural efforts have been based on the old Hasegawa 1:32 kit, cheap off ebay, augmented by the True Details resin cockpit, ancient Eduard PE set, Quickboost’s gunsight and .50 cal guns(P-38 set), Heritage Aviation wheels some scratch building and a big dose of understanding (sympathy) from my wife and kids. Born again modeller is much safer than a biker reincarnation.

This has proven to be an interesting project; I’ve found that not all methods and/or media are a ‘one size suits all’ affair and you do discover your own personal comfort zone, for me this has probably been one of the most important things I have gained from this venture.

Being English I have always had a liking for FAA subjects – Hearts of Oak and all that, so this for me was the way to go and I find US types in British markings a bit more interesting/unusual. Paints are airbrushed acrylics of various brands and the transfers (when did this become decals?) are from Techmod’s FAA Hellcats and Corsair sheets which performed very nicely. As for the historic authenticity of the markings, the 800 sqdrn machine was real the other two are fictional; based on similar well documented aircraft. This was done purely for economic reasons using what transfer sets I had, and for my part it was the ‘look’ that was most important

I hope you like them.

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Images and Text Copyright © 2012 by Robert Taylor
Page Created 3 January, 2012
Last Updated 3 January, 2012

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