Elite Forces 1/18 F6F Hellcat Part 10 - Cockpit

By Rodney Williams

The first two photos in this story show a very nice cockpit with some fine looking dials and other items. However I am amazed to see that the gun sight is painted a light grey color. Researching my F6F data from my WWII scrapbook photos I note that all of the gun sights are painted what appears to be a semi-dull looking black color.

The third photo shows that the backing plate for the instrument panel is of a bronze looking color. I mixed up some of my 20 year old "SnJ" Bronze polishing powder with some Future Floor Wax then added lots of Denatured Alcohol to this mix. Of course I mask off the rest of the cockpit before I air-brushed on my bronze paint.

There were two big raised round items on the right cockpit sidewall which just had to be removed. After I fixed this problem I re-painted the area with my Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green paint which matched up with the factory paint job.

Since I thinned the inside of the instrument cover I now had to add additional material to the backing plate to fill in the large gap. Naturally, I messed up my bronze paint job and had to do some re-painting. A photo of the finished item will be forthcoming.

Alas, the seat belts and shoulder harness straps were nicely molded into the cockpit´s seat. My client wanted them removed so I cut them out and made some new ones.

FUNNY...BUT...my copper 1:32 scale buckles are as big and/or bigger that what the company put in the model. I re-built the seat and removed the molded in horizontal bar and replaced it with .062" round styrene rod which was attached just below the head rest on the armor plate. The shoulder straps looped around this bar.

For the seal belts and shoulder straps, I use my 20 year old white ribbon material. This ribbon was purchase at a shop in San Jose, California that specialized in sewing stuff. It was made by "Offray" and is called "Double-Face Satin~100% Polyester." It comes is a small package which gives you 9.5FTx1/16"W, (2.9mx1.5m). I have this material in white, black, red and yellow. Back then it cost USD $1.15 + 5% sales tax. I have used this material on about 30 models and still have enough left to put into another 75+ models. FYI: This strapping material is wider that what the company put into the model.

I revised the kit´s cockpit backing plate by making a cut out template and then applying it to the plate and cut it out. This was done on the (-3) models so that the pilot´s could look over their shoulder and out the side windows.

Other research material showed that I had to build in the rear deck that is behind the cockpit and add the round container. I just looked at my 1:32 scale F6F-3 photos then built the same thing into this model.

The side windows were cut out next by just looking at some photos and a semi-accurate side view fuselage drawing. After I finished this segment I eyeballed it for size and location and said: "That looks A-OK in my book."

Next I recessed the inside of the window frames so that when I installed the .030" thick clear plastic windows that they would fit flush with the interior inside wall and a bit recessed on the outside of the fuselage. (Just like on the real airplane).

The cockpit was dry-fitted back into the glued together fuselage. I had to do a bit of cutting and sanding hear and there to get the "tub" to fit back in its´ original location. Then I dry fit the windscreen and canopy back onto the model.

Stay tuned in for the next segment...yeah, the ENGINE.

Elite Forces 1/18 F6F Hellcat Part 10 - Cockpit

By Rodney Williams

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