1/72 Blue Angels Hellcat

[Roadkill2525]

In April 1946, Lt. Cmdr. Roy Voris was made Officer in Charger and Flight Leader of the Navy's new flight demostration team. Voris selected three fellow instructors to join him; Lt. Maurice Wickendoll, Lt. Mel Cassidy, and Lt. Cmdr. Lloyd Barnard, all veterans in the Pacific Theater in WWII. The team trained and perfected its maneuvers in secret over the Florida Everglades to which Voris said "...if anything happened, just the alligators would know."

On June 15th Voris led a trio of Grumman F6F-5 Hellcats specially modified to reduce weight and painted sea blue with gold leaf trim in a 15 minute long performance at their home base of NAS Jacksonville. A SNJ Texan was painted like a Japanese Zero for use in aerial combat demostrations, later repainted all yellow and called the "Beetle Bomber."



I'll be using a Hasegawa 1/72 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat to replicate the plane used by Lt. Cmdr. Voris, the decals are from DRAW Decal and wheels/tires from True Details.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Roadkill2525

[Roadkill2525]

Got the major body parts removed from the trees and removed the guns from the wings

[Harry P.]

Hey, that's a first! An "Other Models" WIP!

[Agent G]

I'll be watching. This is one of my favorite subjects.

G

[Roadkill2525]

Painted the cockpit, firewall and inside of the cowl with Mr. Color Green Zinc Cromate

The True Detail wheels were removed and cleaned, the tires show weight on them

[Roadkill2525]

got the cockpit decals on, waiting on the second Hellcat so I can copy the seat for this one

[Roadkill2525]

My other Hellcat showed up today and got started on it.

The engines need the gear reduction box painted and then a wash

[whale392]

Cool! I was stationed at NAS Pensacola from 1997-98 (actually, NATTC. Same base) and got to see the Blue Angels for some of that time. When they were home, 0700 was go time and we would be on our way to school. Over the barracks they would shoot, with #5 inverted! I miss those days.

Looking forward to seeing these come to life.

[Roadkill2525]

Engine is complete, working on the leading edge of the wings now.

[Roadkill2525]

Fuselage, wings and horizontal stabilizer glued together

Propellers painted

[Wagoneer81]

Very cool! I've been on a 1/72 aircraft/armor kick here, recently and I really can appreciate this build! Lokking forward to seeing it finished!

[Roadkill2525]

Its been a while since I updated this, both Hellcats have been painted Mr Color #71 Midnight Blue and then cleared with Future.

Canopies painted with Mr Color Green Zinc Chromate and then Midnight Blue

[Harry P.]

Nice job painting the canopies!

[Dr. Cranky]

Enjoying this one! Nice work.