My interest in building a Fleet Air Arm Hellcat started when I came across the out of production decal set by White Dog Decals, RCNAA Aces of the Pacific. Using this sheet, one can do two different Corsairs and Hellcats of the Fleet Air Arm. I chose to do a Hellcat Mk I, which reflected a typical aircraft as flown by 1839 and 1844 from HMS Indomitable during 1945. Such an aircraft would also have been flown by RCNVR pilot S/Lt. R. Mackie.

The basis for the kit was Hasegawa's USS ESSEX 1/48 F6F-3 Hellcat. It is actually quite an easy and fast build. The interior was painted U.S. interior green FS 34151. The instrument panel and side consoles were painted flat black. Drops of clear gloss were used on the instrument faces to simulate glass. Dry brushing was done with white and silver to highlight knobs and dials and for weathering. I also used a little of the cockpit colour lightened for additional weathering. The kit seat was replaced with one from Ultracast. When the cockpit components were ready, they were glued in place. I then glued the previously assembled horizontal stabs to their respective fuselage halves. The cockpit rear windows were installed at this time also. The fuselage halves were then cemented together. The upper wing halves were glued to the one-piece lower wing. When these were dry they were cemented to the fuselage. The centerline fuel tank was put together and set aside for now. All the landing gear bits and pieces were cleaned up and assembled as necessary as they would be painted when I sprayed the underside. I began to sand the seams from all the previous assembly work. Mr. Surfacer was used to fill any areas that needed attention. I used primer on all the seams to make sure I hadn't missed anything before moving on to the painting stage. I also assembled, painted and detailed the engine. The exhaust pipes were drilled out with a pin vise. The inside of the cowling was painted chromate green. When these were finished, they were glued onto the forward fuselage.

I blocked the engine area off with moist tissue. The rear cockpit windows were masked, as was the cockpit itself. The whole of the upper wings and forward fuselage was first sprayed with SNJ. This would be for the chipped paint effect later on. I cleaned up the clear parts and masked them, as these would be painted when I did the camouflage.

The underside was painted with Sky type S first. It was masked off and the topside Slate Grey was put on. I hard edge masked with frisket paper and pieces of damp paper to apply the Gunship Grey pattern. This was the first time I tried either one of these techniques.

What did Aerosmith say? Chip, chip away at the stone; I chipped away at my model instead. When I was satisfied with the effect, I gloss coated the model. Next, came the decals. Those !@#$%^ing White Dog decals. To say I used liberal amounts of Gunze Mr. MarkSofter, is an understatement. I could have floated a battleship with the amount I had to use to get them into the panel lines. With the decaling done, I gloss coated again. I then flat coated the model before doing the panel lines. These were done using a combination of artist's watercolors and pastel chalks, mostly pastel chalk. Exhaust stains and cordite stains were done in chalks. The control surfaces were done with black watercolors. When finished, all was sealed under another flat coat.

The underside lights and wing-tip lights were painted last. The final bits and pieces were added. Gunsight, windscreen, canopy, gun barrels, navigation lights, landing gear pieces, propeller. I think there is suppose to be another couple of aerials on the top and bottom of the fuselage, but I am not really concerned about it.

It makes for another interesting piece for my Second World War Canadian aircraft collection.