Hobby Boss F6F-3 Hellcat (Late) (80359)
On first inspection Hobby Boss's F6F-3 Hellcat looks to be a gem, nice well moulded detail inside and out, well detailed cockpit, separate flaps and choice of wings folded or straight all at Hobby Boss's wallet friendly pricing. On build however a few problems arise...
While Hobby Boss have included plenty of cockpit detail and included decals for instrument panels if inclined (though not entirely accurate), their typical poor colour callouts show again. These consisted of suggesting a couple of base colours for the entire cockpit leaving the builder to source references for more accurate painting or proceed with a bland waste of nice detailing.
Hobby Boss did well with the general cockpit, engine, fuselage and inner wing design with it all fitting very well requiring very little sanding and no loss of surface detail.
While Hobby Boss have included plenty of cockpit detail and included decals for instrument panels if inclined (though not entirely accurate), their typical poor colour callouts show again. These consisted of suggesting a couple of base colours for the entire cockpit leaving the builder to source references for more accurate painting or proceed with a bland waste of nice detailing.
Hobby Boss did well with the general cockpit, engine, fuselage and inner wing design with it all fitting very well requiring very little sanding and no loss of surface detail.
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The largest issue and one that may cause problems for the inexperienced builder is the wing options. As previously mentioned the builder has the choice of building with wings folded (for better shipboard storage) or extended inflight position. I elected to go with the wings extended option and found a less than positive fit requiring three sets filling and sanding, this inturn led to loosing some of the lovely detail around the sanded area.
After this obstacle was overcome the rest of the build was completed with no problems. I painted the Hellcat with Mr. Color's (Mr. Hobby/Gunze enamel branding) US Navel Aircraft Set which went on very well providing an excellent base before gloss coating, decaling and sealing with a satin coat.
After this obstacle was overcome the rest of the build was completed with no problems. I painted the Hellcat with Mr. Color's (Mr. Hobby/Gunze enamel branding) US Navel Aircraft Set which went on very well providing an excellent base before gloss coating, decaling and sealing with a satin coat.
