I've been doing some US Naval models this month and here are two of them. The first is a Hellcat from VF-27 off of the USS Princeton. It is an AHM kit and really did not appeal to me when I first was building it. It's a bit too round and the tail needs some serious putty to build up a very large gap. Also the prop looks awfully huge. Once I got it painted and decalled I have to say it has grown on me.
The decals are from MYK in Japan and are one of their A****a No Decal sets. Very nice decals, but unusual too. The decals are attached the same way as regular decals, soak in water and place them on the model. But here is a big difference, unlike regular decals these decals are on the underside of the carrier film. You have to let the decal dry in place before using some tape to lift off the carrier film. Take a look at all the tiny white stencils on this model. Normally I wouldn't bother with such little things, but these stencils all came on the same carrier, which meant that one application put all of the stencils on the plane in correct orientation to each other, a great savings in time. The face on the front of the plane also came on one carrier, so the eyes, mouth and blood drops all went on at once and in correct orientation, very nice.
This next Hellcat comes from VF-83 off of the USS Essex. It's a Revell kit, an old one that was missing its canopy, which is why has a painted windscreen. Other than the missing canopy the kit is a pretty good one. The decals are from the same MYK decal sheet as the first one. I have to say that decaling the first Hellcat was a snap, this one was not. The fault really lies with me since I did not pay attention to lifting off the carrier film from the tail and wing symbols. I thought the carrier film hadn't come off and tried the tape twice, a real big mistake. The result was some of each of these decals came off with the tape and had to be touched up with white paint.
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