Here’s the hellcat with most details glued on, painted, decalled and partially weathered. “Chipping” is attained via removing paint layers – I am using a Q-tip, moistened in 90% spirit. Panel lines highlighted with diluted brown paint. Exhaust streaks are airbrushed. I mixed matt lacquer (Revell 02) with dark grey (Revell 78) for the first layer and earth/rust (Revell 37 + 83).

Fuselage stars’n’bars are obviously oversized. Decals in general weren’t really cooperative, so I used Agama’s Hypersol decal solution to affix them. Related to this – one more mistake is evident on the last pic – I masked the exhaust streaks using blue tack, which pulled one of the decals. Now a nice angular patch of “clean airframe” interrupts the streak…

Masking the bottom. Revell Basic Paint used as a filler/primer in order to make the wing-fuselage joint flush (it has a noticeable step if left by itself). Work also done on the cowling as my riveting attempts left it damaged…

Also, notice my first attempt at filling the giant step left behind by Revell in the gear wells in pic 2. The “spur” on the right wing is already missing – three attempts to restore it would follow.

Image 3 shows the kitty hidden from the Revell spray, which was used to cover the puttied-up self-made casing chutes – they were too uneven and not really aligned.

This one will be shorter, because if I delved into detail and the number of  repaints, failed experiments that had to be puttied and sanded over and over in the course of three (!) years I’d have to write a 500-page long book.

So,  what did I do to kit 04140?

– Drilled engine cylinders, got it wired (incl that ring around the crankcase) and painted.

– Cut off the MG barrels from the part, measured lengths, replaced with needles. Glued wing parts together.

– Tried to shave off detail from cockpit backwall, failed, broke the detail, used plastic packaging and made the detail anew, glued two needles as support for the pilot’s seat and the seat itself. Painted cockpit, applied decals and glued it in the fuselage halves. Added sloped armored with headrest and that bar, which the shoulder straps pass over.