F6F-3 Hellcat Cowling

Cutting Edge Modelworks

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Meteor Productions

Meteor Productions delves back into WWII with this one. Cutting Edge CEC48479 contains a corrected cowling for the Hasegawa Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat.

Personally, I have built three of the Hasegawa Hellcat kits to date with plans for a further three. When I heard that Cutting Edge were to release a resin update for this kit I was somewhat bemused as, to be truthful, I was happy with them as they appear in the box. Boy was I wrong! When you compare the Cutting Edge corrected cowling with the kit's cowling it is immediately obvious that Hasegawa's efforts is very underdeveloped.

Fortunately, the kit cowling is supplied as a separate piece and the fault can be easily corrected. Cutting Edge has recognised this and has come up this update set as a solution to the problem. Having said that though, you are not being handed heaven on a stick as you will have to do a bit of tricky filling and sanding to blend the two parts together.

The set is all resin and comprises two separate parts, the cowling itself and the intake vanes. All of the panel lines and rivet detail are engraved and to add even greater detail, Cutting Edge has cast the cooling flaps in the open position. The inner faces of the cooling flaps also exhibit detail and the original attachment aids that Hasegawa incorporated have also been cast in place.

The parts are cast in the familiar grey non brittle resin that Cutting Edge favours. This is a bonus as you will have to do some careful scribing to remove the casting block from the parts. This is no problem with the intake vanes but can be tricky around the rear of the cowling as well as the cooling flaps. Cutting Edge has recognized this and has cast a definite groove between the pour block and the parts. This makes removal relatively easy as the back of your modelling knife already has a place to sit when you begin the scribing. The casting is excellent and there are no pinholes or miscasts.

No instruction sheet is provided but I don't see this as being a problem at all.

The parts come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag with the familiar black and yellow striped header.

Recommended.

Footnote

Some of these updates escaped the Cutting Edge factory minus the separate intake vanes. If you happened to score one of these contact Cutting Edge and they will forward you one free of charge.