FAA F6F Hellcat help

The numbers were originally put on during flight testing at the factory, they just weren’t cleaned off properly & tended to show up for quite some time.
Dave

Ahhh, the other “paint scheme” decision…
pristine factory paint-job or worn, “in-use” look.

BSG

I too have wondered about the scrawled serial number on cowlings myself, they tend to appear on both Hellcats and Corsairs. But I have a theory. RN aircraft tended to have the serial nos stencilled on the lower rear fuselage sides. Maybe when the aircraft are packed into a below decks hangar, a large serial on the cowling enable the maintainers to pick them out without having to scramble to the rear every time.

The numbers were originally put on during flight testing at the factory, they just were’nt cleaned off properly & tended to show up for quite some time. The FAA museum’s Corsair still has its number on its cowlings. Any squadron codes tended to be applied underneath the cowling,
Dave

BSG

I too have wondered about the scrawled serial number on cowlings myself, they tend to appear on both Hellcats and Corsairs. But I have a theory. RN aircraft tended to have the serial nos stencilled on the lower rear fuselage sides. Maybe when the aircraft are packed into a below decks hangar, a large serial on the cowling enable the maintainers to pick them out without having to scramble to the rear every time.

Eyes Of The Phoenix

A couple of plates in here, and a copy of a Grumman “instruction” sheet on one the RN schemes. I never realised how many different variations of national markings there were either.

Always curious about the rough spraying on the nose of a few numbers from the serial – but a nice piece of detail for a model maker maybe?

Good luck with it anyhow.

Hi Francisco,

Thanks for the link – the colour plates are really good. There are a couple I quite like. Still not 100% decided, but got plenty of time for that. Sometimes I decide on which aircraft to build almost straight away, but I think this one might take sometime.

TTFN,
Neil

HELLCAT COLOURS

Neil

You might find this link useful: www.eduard.cz. They do an excellent 1:48 scale FAA Hellcat. The kit instructions are downloadable from their website and include colour plates of five different FAA colour schemes for the aircraft.

Hi Ant,

Thanks for the book info I’ve got the Hellcat Aces, which doesn’t really show much in the way of FAA Hellcats – not really surprising really. However, managed to find 1 copy of the RN Aces – so I ordered it. Hopefully this will give me more options.

As for Freddie? When I get round to making some scale props the Mossie off to the Mosquito Museum. Turned out a bit heavy to fly & I couldn’t be bothered to rebuild another. Since then I’ve built a P-40E (88″ w/s) in the colours of Billy Drake, a Cirrus SR22 & nearly built a 1/5th scale Tempest V. The Tempest would’ve been finished by now, but had to remake the wing because; a. the centre section was 2″ short (fault with the plans) b. wanted scale ailerons – plans showed ‘sports scale’ – basically hinged in the middle & I wanted proper top hinged scale ailerons. I thought I would be able to adapt the original design but this proved impossible because of the position of the hinge line. So you can see why I don’t come on the F/p Forum very often to busy building large scale models.

Keith; Nice looking model of the Hellcat.

TTFN,
Neil

Hi Neilly,

It might be worth picking up copies of Osprey’s recent books “Hellcat Aces of World War Two”, which includes FAA aces, and/or “Royal Navy Aces of World War Two”. Both have a good amount of colour scheme ideas. Good luck with the model!

How is your Mossie doing by the way?

FAA Hellcats

Just finished this 48th one in FAA markings if thats any use. I’ve also got some decal sheets and various books on FAA Hellcats too if you’d like to PM me. Can’t scan tho as I don’t pocess one.