Heaven hath no sadness like love to hatred turn’d, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorn’d.
That’s the original quotation, it put me in mind that the collective noun for Hellcats could be a ‘fury’.
So, the Hellcats in the OCD-level super-detailing kits. Well, the kits are stunningly good.
The cockpit detailing is exquisite. The lap straps are three pieces each, the shoulder straps two pieces each, all pre-painted. I managed to get the instrument panels and the throttle quadrant installed, but the smallest levers defeated me. But then, I have a life outside all of this madness.
The detail of the engine is cool, with a photo-etch of the wiring loom that goes over it. The canopy masks are excellent too. The first layer you then add is the chromate green primer, then the exterior colour. That way, the primer shows from the inside. Clever.
So, here they are. On the left is a Hellcat II painted in Far East colours from October 1945 when 800NAS was based at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Note the lack of any red in the roundels and the 5″ HVAR rockets under the wings. At right is a Hellcat I painted as an aircraft aboard HMS Emperor during the D-Day landings. There is another Hellcat I in production…
This one is from early 1944, again from HMS Emperor. You can see the detail from the tiny support arm visible through the tiny window behind the cockpit. Anyway, this one is awaiting a set of folded wings, so we will return another time.
2 thoughts on “A fury of Hellcats?”