F6F-3 Hellcat "VF-6"

When Eduard released the Hellcat in 1/48 scale, I had to get one. The Hellcat is one of my favorite WWII fighters and I had been waiting for for a decent kit for a while. I chose to get the -3 version because I like the 3-tone scheme much more than the 1-tone dark sea blue.

Everything is out of the box. The cockpit side consoles are not as good as some of the other Eduard offerings, but I couldn't justify spending money for something frivolous that I could update myself. The rest of the cockpit is very good, especially the seat. Everything fit perfectly and I only had to use a little filler at the wing joints, but I think this was probably due to my lack of proper test fitting before committing with glue. One of the easiest kits to build; I got the fuselage, wings, and empinage together in one afternoon. The "grin" of the chin intakes look very accurate and I especially liked the way that Eduard did the tie-down straps on the drop tank. I sanded away the seam on the drop tank before I noticed that this seem was very pronounced on the real thing, oops.

Of course I picked the markings of Lt. Alex Vraciu's aircraft after the "Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot"; who wouldn't with the options available in this kit. One note on the photos: the blue of the national insignias do not show as much contast against the sea blue paint in real life as they do in the photos; I attribute this phenomena to the camera flash. I decided to put a 250 lb. anti-personnel fragmentation bomb, but only one as the -3 carried ordnance under the starboard wing only. I figured this load out to be possible as the Hellcat often performed strafing duties on its missions.

I highly recommend this kit to all fans of easy, accurate, and detailed models. Hellcat fans rejoice.