In-box Review of the Academy 1/72 F6F-3/5 Hellcat

 

Unboxing review of:

- Academy 1/72 F6F-3/5 Hellcat -

a peek inside the box.

    Time for another review. This week is Academy's F6F-3/5 Hellcat in 1/72 scale. A fantastic carrier based American fighter that dominated the skies of the Pacific front. So, without further ado, let's get down to the bench and see what's inside. 😁

Box art

front of the box.

    We'll start as usual by taking a quick look at the box first. In typical Academy fashion, the front of the box features a beautifully, hand drawn Hellcat, depicted here in flight. Probably just after takeoff or before landing given the open canopy. It's not overly exciting, but it still gets me excited to start building it.

    In the upper left corner we have the scale and the name of the model inside, and it tells us that we can build either the 3 or the 5 variant. In the bottom left there's some information telling us that the finished model might differ slightly from what's on the box. And in the right bottom corner we have Academy's website and their logo.

first long edge.

    On the first long edge, at the far left we once again have the name of the model inside. Next to that are three photos of a completed model. I always appreciate it when manufacturers include photos of a finished model, as this can give you a pretty good idea of what can be achieved. And it also serves as an inspiration.

second long edge.

    On the second long edge we have another photo of a finished model, followed by brief warning that the kit contains small parts and its not suitable for small children written in several languages. Then we have a warning telling us that the box does not contain the glue or paints needed to complete the model. We are also told that this kit is not meant for children under 14. And we also have a copyright date of 2019, although this is not necessarily the tooling date.

first short edge.

    On the first short edge we have the Academy logo, the item number, in this case 12481 should you wish to purchase this kit. A cropped in version of the artwork on the front of the box, the name of the model and the scale.

second short edge.

    On the opposite side, we have pretty much the exact same information, albeit in a different orientation. I said it before, but I feel like this space could be used a bit more smartly. Next, let's take a look at what comes inside the box.

Contents of the box

inside the box.

    With the lid removed, we are met by the familiar return policy warning, with the bag of sprues underneath and all the rest of the paperwork bellow that.

contents outside the box.

    This is everything that comes inside the box, and there is quite a lot here. In the top left is the bag of sprues, to the right is the instructions leaflet, below that is the return policy. The yellow paper is a general health and safety information leaflet. To the left of that is the decal sheet and to the left of that, is a hints and tips information page.

    Before we move on to the plastic, let's have a quick look at the paperwork. Since I've already covered these in more detail in a previous Academy review, you can find it here, I will only gloss over them, only taking a closer look at the decal sheet and instructions as they are only things new here.

Documentation

return policy.

    First up is the return policy warning which states that you can return the kit for replacement if you spot missing or damaged parts, but only if you do not open the bag of sprues. As mentioned previously, this is quite restrictive. If there are more than just 2 or 3 sprues, it will be quite difficult to spot any damaged parts. But at least you have the option should you need it.

hints and tips leaflet front.

hints and tips leaflet back.

    Next up, we have the hints and tips leaflet. This contains useful information for first timers such as using sprue cutters and other tools, as well as applying decals. A very useful peace of literature for those just getting started. 👍

health and safety leaflet front.

health and safety leaflet back.

    Then we have the health and safety leaflet written in several languages. This contains general information meant to keep you safe whilst building models.

instruction leaflet front cover

    Nest is the building and painting instruction leaflet. At the top is a black and whit rendition of the box art, below that are a finished F6F-3 and a finished F6F-5. This is followed by a bit of information on the real aircraft and some more health and safety information.

instruction leaflet opened up.

    With the instruction leaflet opened up, we can see that it's pretty large. It's bigger than my cutting mat. In fact it's taking up about 1/3 of my workbench. Really not ideal. Anyway, this side contains the building instructions.

instruction leaflet back side

    Flipping the leaflet around and we have the paint instructions and sprue maps. So now let's take a closer look at the instructions.

instruction symbols.

    We start off with a list of symbols you will encounter throughout the instructions. They exist to give you crucial information like; drilling holes, or to add weight. These are very important, and you should always study them carefully before diving into any kit.

cockpit assembly.

    So, we start this build with the cockpit, just like most other aircraft kits. We first add the instrument panel, control column, seat and rear bulkhead to the floor. We are also told to ad the instrument panel decal, and the key colors of the cockpit are also pointed out.

fuselage assembly.

    Next we need to assemble the fuselage. Depending on the version you are building you will either need to remove a small section in the aft of the cockpit for the F6F-3 to install some windows, or leave it as is if you are going for the F6F-5. We then add in some side instrument panels to the cockpit walls then we sandwich the cockpit and fuselage together. We also have to add 2 small transparent parts to the top of the fuselage aft of the cockpit.

wing assembly.

    Then we build up the wings which we then add onto the fuselage. We then need to install the horizontal stabilizers and add the position light in the tail of the plane. Then we add the radio antenna. And we have an option for two different cockpit canopies based on the version you are building.

engine and propeller assembly.

    We now move on to building the engine subassembly. We need to glue together the massive radial engine which comes in two parts, which we then slide inside the cowling after which we install the propeller. And if you're building the F6F-3 you will also need to add 2 small blanking plates to either side of the aft of the cowling.

engine to fuselage assembly.

    Next we add the engine subassembly to the fuselage and we're told to paint the machineguns and cannons in gunmetal gray.

drop-tank and weapon assembly.

    The next step sees us assembling the external fuel tank, rockets and bombs. Each of which come in several parts. We are also given the paints required to paint the weaponry and fuel tank.

landing gear assembly.

    Then we move on to assembling the main landing gear. Pay close attention at the painting guide here as landing gear doors have different colors depending on the variant being built.

final assembly.

        Lastly we need to add the landing gear, weapons, pitot tube, external tank, and arrester-hook to the model. Be aware, you will need to trim the arrester-hook if you wish to display your Hellcat with it retracted.

painting and decal placement.

    Then we move on to painting and decaling the Hellcat. We start at the front. This step is the same for both variants. We need to paint the tips of the propeller blades in yellow, This tells ground crew where the dangerous spiny bits are when the engine is started. We also need to add some decals to the propeller blades here.

painting and decal placement F6F-3 variant.

    The first paint scheme is for the F6F-3 variant belonging to VF-1 operating off of the carrier U.S.S Yorktown. It's a three tone paint scheme. with a light belly, a medium blue around the middle and a dark blue on the top. The paint instructions would have benefited from being printed in color for more clarity. But it's still usable.

painting and decal placement F6F-5 variant.

    Next we have the painting instructions for the F6F-5 variant flown by VF-17 operating off the carrier U.S.S. Hornet. The scheme for this is much simpler, just one color. In the bottom left of this page we also have a list of colors required for this build.

sprue maps.

    Lastly we have the sprue maps. Avery welcome addition as this helps you more easily identify parts on the sprues and they also help you identify whether or not you have any missing parts. With the instructions covered, we can now move on and take look at the decals that come with this kit.

Decal sheet

decal sheet inside protective film

    The decal sheet comes inside a protective film. I really love this touch as it prevents the decals from damage during shipping. I just wish more manufacturers used this approach.

decals sheet overview.

    With the decals out of the protective film, I'm honestly not blown away. The quality is not bad, but it's not fantastic either. Colors look alright, and the details don't look half bad. But the decals themselves are quite thick, which will make settling into the small details on the Hellcat quite difficult. I really am not impressed with these decals.

F6F-3 roundels.

    The first set of roundels look quite decent, although there are some small printing errors. Nothing that's going to be obvious from normal viewing distances, but the top of the inside of the white rectangles are a bit wonky.

F6F-5 roundels

    These are the roundels for the F6F-5 variant. These ones actually look OK. although a bit hard to see on this light blue backing paper.

tail numbers and instrument panel.

    Next we have the tail numbers and instrument panel. These look pretty decent, with a fair amount of detail for the instrument panel.

fuselage numbers, stencils and markings.

    Then we have some fuselage numbers, markings and some general stencils. These seem quite OK, however the really small ones are near impossible to see on the light backing paper. This could make it a challenge only to cut them off the sheet. They really should have used a darker color paper. 

a closer look at the small decals.

    With a closer look at the small decals we can see how difficult is to make out the small white stencils against the light blue backing. We can also see that the decals are not in perfect register. The yellow of the badges for the propellers bleeding out a bit, which is not ideal. All in all the decals leave quite a bit to be desired.

    Anyway, with the paperwork covered, let's take a look at the plastic.

The plastic

bag of sprues.

    The bag of sprues of course contains all of our parts, ad it looks like there's quite a bit here. I was also happy to see that the transparencies were stored in their own little bag. This should help protect them from damage.

sprues out of the bag.

    With everything spread out, we have three sprues of light gray plastic and our small bag of clear plastic. Just by looking at this I can tell that there's good detail here, but let's have a closer look, shall we?

sprue A overview.

    The fist sprue contains the propeller, engine components, cowling, tail wheel, cockpit components and the fuselage. 

propeller.

    Taking a closer look at the sprue, we start with the massive three blade propeller. It seems decently molded with a bit of detail at the shaft to represent the pitch control mechanism, which is nice. There's also a little bit of flash on one of the blades, but nothing a quick sanding can't solve.

cockpit floor, bulkhead, antenna, yoke, instrument panel.

    Next we have the cockpit floor which presents absolutely no detail. To the right is the aft cockpit bulkhead with the head rest. The molding is decent although lacking a bit in detail. Below the bulkhead is the instrument panel devoid of any detail whatsoever, so you will have to rely on the decal to add detail. This will displease those who like to paint their cockpits by hand. To the left of this is the antenna and above that is the control column or yoke, which is molded quite beautifully.

engine, cowling tail wheel.

    Then we have the first bank of pistons of the massive Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. With a decent amount of detail. Below that is the tail wheel, again with quite a bit of detail, it even has a representation of lightening holes, although they are not fully drilled through. I might try to do this myself, although I don't think I have a small enough drill bit. And to the right is the massive engine cowling with a nicely molded air-intake.

cockpit details, seat, engine.

    Then we have a couple of parts that go inside the cockpit, this is the side that gets glued to the cockpit wall so there's no need for any details here. To the right is the second bank of pistons, although, once again we are seeing the back side. And above this is a rather simplistically molded seat. There is a small amount of flash here, but nothing serious.

left fuselage.

    Next is the left fuselage. It presents a good amount of detail, with the ribbing clearly visible, although I feel the details are a bit shallow, so you will have to be careful when painting not to flood all the fine detail.

right fuselage.

    The story is the same for the right fuselage half. A good amount of detail with visible ribbing, but again, the details are a bit shallow so care must be taken when painting.

back of engine and tail wheel.

    Turning the sprue around, the detail on the front bank of pistons is simplified, but that's OK since you can't see this area anyway. And the tail wheel presents the same detail on this side as on the other.

second bank of pistons.

    The back row of pistons do present a little bit of detail, although not as much as the front row. This might not be a big deal as it will, for the most part, be hidden behind the front. But I think those who like to super-detail their models will want to address the shortcomings.

side instrument panels.

    Then we have the instrument panels mounted to the side walls of the cockpit. There is a bitt of detail here, but nothing mind blowing. I can also see some ejector-pin marks on the top part which will need sanding down.

sprue B overview.

    The second sprue contains the top wing surfaces, horizontal stabilizers, arrester-hook, drop-tank, drop-tank mounts, cowling blanking panels and rocket fins.

arrester-hook, drop-tank mounts.

    The arrester-hook looks really odd, I'm pretty sure this is not what it looked like on the real thing. It reminds me more of a walking cane than a part you'd find on an aircraft. But I'm sure a skilled builder, will be able to make it look proper. For the rest of us, we'll have to live with a cane posing as an arrester-hook.

    Below that are the drop-tank mounts. There's really no detail to be found here other than the general shape.

right drop-tank half.

    Next is the right half of drop-tank. This presents a bit of flash, nothing too bad though. There's also some detail here, should be fun to weather.

upper wing halves.

    The upper wing halves are also beautifully detailed with a lot of crisp panel lines all around. But once again, the details are a bit shallow. The machineguns and cannons are also molded straight into the wings.

a closer look at the wings.

    Closing in on the upper wing surface, we can really see the nice details molded into the surface.

horizontal stabilizer.

    The horizontal stabilizers, also present some really nice details albeit just as shallow as on the rest of the model. Now it could be argued that this is more scale accurate. Personally, I'd rather have slightly deeper cut details, than risk flooding them during painting. Thin coats of paint will be your best friend with this kit.

rocket fins, cowling blanking plates.

    Then we have the rocket fins, and the blanking plates for the engine cowling. There's hardly any detail here, But I'll give it a pass given the size of these components.

left drop-tank half.

    The left drop-tank half is molded the same as the right, with a good amount of detail allowing for some nice weathering. 

horizontal stabilizers underside.

    Flipping the sprue around, we come back to the horizontal stabilizers. The detail here is just as good as on the opposite side. Lines are crisp, albeit a tad shallow.

opposite side of rocket fins and blanking plates.

    There's a bit more detail on this side on the rocket fins, however, the blanking plate remain the same. But the blanking plates are supposed to be panels, so there's really no need for a lot of detail, maybe some rivet detail wouldn't hurt. Although, I'm not entirely sure, if there should be any rivets here.

sprue C overview.

    The third sprue contains the wheels, gear-bays, landing struts, pitot tube, bombs, bomb-racks, rockets, lower wing half and a few small fins and doors.

wheels.

    The wheels are very beautifully molded, with nice crisp detail both on the wheel hubs and tire treads. It's actually almost unbelievable how much detail Academy managed to squeeze into such small parts. But that's the benefit of modern tooling.

landing gear gays.

    Then we have the gear bays. This is the area that gets glued into the wing, so naturally there are no details here.

lower wing half.

    Then we have the lower wing half. Like most of this kit, it presents really nice detail all around.

lower wing half close-up.

    Taking a closer look at the wing details, there's nice crisp panel lines, representations of the flap and aileron actuators, leaving a lot of room for weathering. One small gripe I have, however is that the holes that need to be drilled for the bomb racks and rockets, are molded into this side instead of being hidden on the inside. This means that should you want to display a clean model with no weapons, you will need to fill in these holes. Not a major issue, just something to watch out for.

landing gear struts, pitot tube, and doors.

    Next up are the landing struts, which are nicely molded. above are two small parts that I believe are to secure the drop-tank. To the right is the pitot tube, and underneath are the landing gear doors. 

general purpose bombs.

    The bombs are fairly simply molded, with a bit of detail represented around the mounting point and stabilizing fins.

bomb racks and rockets.

    Then we have the racks for the general purpose bombs, two parts, that I believe are not used for this build and the HVAR rockets. These are all nicely molded, although the rockets have a bit of flash on them. But once again, it's nothing some quick sanding wouldn't be able to take care of.

sprue D overview, clear parts.

    Lastly we have the fourth sprue, our transparencies. This sprue contains the small windows needed for the F6F-3 variant, the small lights that go on top and tail of the aircraft, the two windscreens for the two different variants that can be built and the main canopy.

windows.

    The windows that go into the aft of the cockpit are really nicely molded with no blemishes, no flash, and are perfectly transparent. They look really good.

lights.

    The beacon and position lights are quite simple, but they should do their job perfectly fine.

F6F-5 windshield.

    Next is the windshield for the F6F-5 variant. There is a bit of flash here at the base, but it should be easy to clean. The molded frame is quite positive, making your own masks shouldn't pose much of a problem.

main canopy.

    The main canopy however does not look good at all. Whilst the framing is really nice and positive. The glass area is really scuffed and translucent rather than transparent. This is really disappointing. Transparencies can make or break a model, and this will need some fixing. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some polishing and buffing compound to try and fix this when I get to building the kit.

F6F-3 windshield.

    Lastly we have the windshield for the F6F-3 variant of the Hellcat. This also looks really good, with nice positive framing all around. Given the near pristine condition of the majority of the clear parts, the state of the canopy is really baffling.

transparency test.

    The transparency test reveals just how bad the canopy is. It looks more like privacy glass. Great if you don't want the enemy to see what you are doing inside the cockpit. Terrible if you actually want to spot the enemy.

clear sprue side view.

    From the side, the canopy looks marginally better, but it's still not great. I really don't understand how Academy managed to mess this one part up so badly.

The good and the bad

     Instructions.

        Pros:

• easy to follow step by step instructions
• clearly marked version differences
• sprue maps

        Cons:

• black and white painting instructions
• can feel a bit cluttered in places

    Decals.

        Pros:

• nicely printed (for the most part)
• vibrant colors on roundels

        Cons:

• small white stencils difficult to see against light backing paper
• slight printing error on some roundels
• print out of register in places
• drilling holes molded on exterior surfaces

    Main sprues.

        Pros:

• nicely molded detail across the board (for the most part)
• virtually no flash
• good locating pins and holes
• thin sprue gates

        Cons:

• lack of detail on some parts
• instrument panel lacks any detail
• shallow panel lines (can make painting difficult for beginners)

    

    Clear sprue.

        Pros:

• nicely molded frames
• transparency is near flawless (where applicable)

        Cons:

• main canopy poorly molded

Final verdict

    I'm really torn with this kit. On one hand there's lovely detail on some parts, on the other there are parts that would benefit from details but lack any. The story is the same for the decals; some of them look really nice, others have printing flaws. Same goes for the clear parts. Most look absolutely fine, but the main canopy, the most prominent of the transparencies looks really horrible. It must be said, that these are issues with my particular copy of this kit. You might be a bit more lucky and find a kit that's in a much better state.

    The tooling for this kit was done back in 1992, which does explain some of the flaws and lack of detail we've seen. But it still does not justify the state of the canopy and decals. With a bit of work and planning, I'm sure this kit can be turned into a fantastic looking Hellcat, but given some of the issues, this will pose quite a challenge for beginners. As such, I don't really think I can recommend this kit to someone just starting out. Whilst it looks like a fairly easy kit to build with not that many parts and straightforward instructions. But if your copy has any of the issues mine has, you will need to put in that extra bit of work to make this Hellcat look amazing.

    In terms of alternatives, as far as I can tell Eduard would be your best bet, with their Hellcat being tooled in 2011. But, Eduard kits could prove daunting to new modelers. Another fairly recent tooling is that from Hobby Boss which was tooled in 2006. But again I can't really recommend Hobby Boss to beginners. Other than that all other examples I could find are older Airfix, Hasegawa, Heller and Italeri kits. There are probably more, but these are the ones I'm aware of.

    Despite all these flaws I'm still looking forward to building this kit. I'm not yet sure if I'll build the 3 or 5 variant. Most likely, I'll go for the 3 variant as it has the more interesting paint scheme. But I'll take the final decision once I'm ready to tackle this kit. And I plan on building this kit this year. Perhaps right after my ongoing Zero build. It could be cool to build these two major adversaries back to back as I did with the Bf-109 and Spitfire builds.

    Let me know if I've been too harsh on this kit, or if I was too lenient. I'd like to read your thoughts on this kit as well. Let me know if you've already  built this kit, or if you are planning to. How did you find the fitment, build process? Did your copy come with any of the issues mentioned in this article, and so on. 

    Anyway, I hope you found this review helpful, leave a like if you did. Leave all your thoughts, suggestions and comments down below. Please share the blog if you think it would be helpful to others. But with that, I wish you all a wonderful day, and happy modeling everyone. Cheers! 😁