Trumpeter 1/32 F6F-3 Hellcat By Chris Banyai-Riepl

Overview

The Grumman F6F was a development of their F4F Wildcat, with Grumman utilizing the combat knowledge gained from the Wildcat to produce an all-new fighter. The result was the Hellcat, easily the most successful Navy fighter of the Second World War. Flying with both the US Navy and the Royal Navy, the F6F flew from carriers all around the globe, and were even used as flying bombs during the Korean War.

In an interesting anecdote, a Hellcat drone, unpiloted and having lost ground control, managed to successfully evade repeated rocket attacks from two F-89 Scorpions over Palmdale, California in 1956. Whether that was due to the performance of the Hellcat, or the lack of performance of unguided rockets fired from the Scorpions, or a huge amount of luck, I’ll let you decide. Regardless, the Hellcat was incredibly successful in combat.

The Kit

Trumpeter’s new kit of the F6F Hellcat is a welcome replacement for the old Hasegawa Hellcat, with much better detailing throughout. Molded in gray plastic, the kit has recessed panel lines throughout, a detailed engine, a folded wing option, detailed gun bays, and much more. The decal sheet provides markings for a couple early Hellcats, and as an added bonus the kit comes with a nice little tractor model.

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Construction, like with most kits, begins with the interior, and this one really has one that will shine. There’s not many kits out there that start out with a five-piece gunsight, but this kit has just that. The cockpit detail is like that throughout, and together with the engine take up a full seven pages of the instruction book. While some might be tempted to go with a resin replacements, the parts out of the box will look outstanding.

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With the cockpit and engine done, the only things left for inside the fuselage are the radio shelves and tailwheel assembly. With those in place, the fuselage gets buttoned up and your Hellcat begins to look like a Hellcat. The lower fuselage under the wings is molded with the bottom wing stubs out to the wing fold, providing a solid attachment as well as good alignment for the landing gear. The wheel wells are made up of several side pieces, all of which need to be put in place before the upper wing sections can be fitted. These also provide the exposed wing structure for the folded wing option.

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Moving outboard, the outer wing sections have open gun bays with detailed machine guns included. All of the flying surfaces are separate as well, a nice touch. For underneath, the kit includes a couple of options to hang under the wings, including rockets and bombs. For the centerline there is the almost standard drop tank. The landing gear is nicely done, with vinyl wheels having two-piece hubs and sturdy struts with multi-part oleo scissors. With the tailplanes in place, the remainder is straightforward, and the kit is ready for paint.

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The two decal options are both finished in three-color camouflage, which makes for an attractive Hellcat in my opinion. The two choices are both for well-known Navy pilots. The first is Lt. Cmdr Alex Vraciu of VF-6 off the USS Intrepid. Coded Black 19, this option does not have much else, just a black 19 on the fuselage and tail. The second choice is David McCampbell’s aircraft from CVG-15 off the USS Essex. This option is even more plain than Vraciu’s Hellcat, as it only has the “Minsi” name on the fuselage.

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Conclusion

This should build up into an impressive model of the Hellcat, and I’m sure that we will see quite a few of these on the contest tables in the future. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.