I'm interested in a Hellcat. Ever since I learned about how dominant it was I've liked it. Plus the Corsair gets so much more attention.

There are at least 6 that I can think of and maybe more that I'm not aware of. First, there's the Skyshark at 57" wingspan, then the Giant Scale Planes at 70", then Jerry Bates at 80", Iron Bay at 85.5", Don Smith at 87" and finally Nick Ziroli at 95". I've pretty much ruled out both ends of the list. The Skyshark is too small and the Ziroli is to big. But I'm willing to hear the arguements for and against.

I have yet to build or buy anything from any of these companies/individuals. I'd like to get people's opinions on these planes, so let's hear it - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Thanks
Kerry

There is another kit that is very nice. Wing Manufacturing www.wingmfg.com
The wingspan is 61"

Hal

Bob Holman has the Don Lien designed 80 incher available in glass and foam as well as the 60 something inch Brian Taylor design. The Taylor plans show built up construction but Bob has a glass fuse available. I'd probably go for the Lien 80 incher myself unless there is a glass fuse available for the Bates or Smith plans. Best of luck with it!

I have the 70 inch GSP Hellcat ARF that is in the semi-finished stage. It has a glass fuse with built up balsa covered wings with working flaps. The fuse is very nicely done i.e.. panel lines .
If interested... you might want to give RichardL a shout because he posted the progress and 1st flight of his here a couple months ago. If you plan on buying this one, check with the guys at Jet Hobbies in Canada ( www.jet-hobbies.com ) because they had the best price at the time I purchased mine. Hope this helps. John

Hate to admit it, but I don't have a Holman catalog. Guess I'll have to pony up and buy one.

Kerry

HERE'S MY BYRON. AN ABSOLUTE DREAM TO FLY.

Marutaka, (formerly known as 'Royal' in the US), has one at 64" wingspan. Hobby Barn imports the Marutaka kits so you can order directly from them.

Kerry, A good friend of mine has a Don Smith HellCat. It weighed in at 33 lbs and flys on a G-62. He also has the Wing Mfg. kit NIB. Come to think of it, he may be willing to sell it for a reasonable price. Anyway, the Don Smith kit is nice, but it is alot of work.

Hey Mark

Nice pictures. How much does it weigh and what engine do you have in it?

Kerry

I have built three of the holman/lien cats, My last one has a Brison 3.2 at 28lb, flies great, lands great, If you do some research you will find that the real Hellcat was one of the best flying planes ever, it also had the highest kill ratio of all the allied WW2 planes. Hellcats forever
Here are my two finished planes third is in primer awaiting its turn in the paint shop.
Lawrence Harville
Ft Worth Texas

Hellcat I beg to differ. Best Allied kill ratio is 26/1. And believe it or not scored by the lowly Brewster Buffalo!

Mark Shuman

As best I know, could be wrong.

Mark you are quite right
but I think maybe Hellcat was meaning that it had the best
kill ratio of all allied planes in the Pacific theatre?

I think Grumman makes the best

Lawerence, explain your finishing technique on the unpainted Hellcat. I am in the process of finishing my Wing hellcat and the panel lines are a sticking point right now. Thanks

Hellcats shot down 5165 with a kill ratio of 19-1 creating 306 aces. This record not aattained by any other fighter aircraft. Cosairs shot down 2140 with 11-1 kill, wildcat shot down 1006 with 9-1. This is from Flight Journal April 2002
I think they only made one Brester Buffalo and it shot down 26 planes. I could be wrong about that last sentence. When I think about great fighters the Buffalo doesn't pop out.
Lawrence

G man
The fuse panel are overlapping going to the rear, I put down two layers of masking tape behind the line, then I build up with 3M Acryl Glazing Puddy (auto parts store) then I sand the puddy down to the level of the tape. Pull off the tape and you have the impression of overlapping panel lines. The lines on the wing and tail--i put down 1/64 tape paint over it and then pull the tape up before final paint--it leaves a nice indention in the paint that looks very realistic.
Your plane is smaller that the 80 in I fly so adding all this weight may not be too good an idea.. i Dealing with larger planes the weight is not so critical
Hope this helps
lawrence

Probably being one of the very few who actually have a Squadron/ Signal book: "F2A Buffulo in Action", I can share some information on the subject.

The error that phread59 made is when he used the phrase "Best Allied kill ratio is 26/1". The kill ratio he is refering to is the one obtained by the Finnish air force, which was part of the Axis. These aircraft are credited with shooting down 496 aircraft(mostly inexperienced Russian pilots) while loosing only 19, for a kill ratio of 26:1. These same Buffulos were soon phased out due to shortages of spare parts (as the U.S. was no longer dealing with this allie of Germany), so when better Russain aircraft and pilots arrived, the Buffulos were no longer being used.

Without going thru the whole book again, I seem to recall that some Buffulos were based at Midway Island during the Japanese assault, and were pretty badly mauled (along with the Wildcats and everything else stationed there). And that the only successes that the Buffulo obtained were the ones that were in the hands of our enemies.

Kerry:

I started building the Bates Hellcat last year. If you would like to see construction photos of what has been done so far, go here: [link=http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=62&PN=1]http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=62&PN=1[/link]. The outline of the Bates Hellcat is based on the A. L. Bentley drawings and is very accurate. The plans are CAD drawn and are easy to read. Bate's contruction methods are simple and easy to follow.

Kerrydel,
The Hellcat weighs in at a whopping 32lbs. About 6 pounds of lead in the nose for proper CG. No matter, the G-62 pulls this baby without any problem. In fact, This Hellcat hauls butt! Very fast.

HELLCAT56



I,m working on my don lein 80" hellcat. Did your kits have instructions or just info on the plans? Mounted the wing to the fus.tonight. I bought mine from BH several years ago, fus.,wing cores ,plans ect .,but no instructions.


Rex

what I would like to see is a scale flying Hellcat, you know with the crouching tail down profile. I am finishing my Wing Hellcat and I will be fitting it with the RCV 90. Should be able to turn a scale daimeter 3 bladed prop. Not counting on adding any weight to this cause that is one heavy compact engine.

Tough choices.

I cut kits for Ziroli's F6F and can tell you that it is a wonderfull plane.

I do not cut Bate's or Smith's F6F, but after having cut a number of their other designs I can tell you that it would be like splitting hairs as to which one is better.

If it makes any difference, Don Smith tends to design with few sticks and a lot of ribs and formers. His plans leave a lot of decisions in the hands of the modeler.

Jerry Bates tends to go with beefier materials but less structure. His plans are a little more detailed.

Once sheeted, either model will be solid.

I guess I wasn't much help.

Mace Gill
The Aeroplane Works
http://www.theaeroplaneworks.com

I have been working on a Don Smith Hellcat "on and off" for a while now. (I have taken a slow pace with this one as I am waiting for Darrell, of Sierra Precision, to finish developing me a set of Hellcat gear.)

I have been having an absolute ball with Don's design. You do have to be prepared however to work from a set of planes that do not have much more than an outline with the major structural elements defined and some minor construction notes. Don leaves most of the details to the builder (which can be a plus or minus depending on your preferences).

If you have built a Giant Scale airplane before I would heartily recommend Don's design.

I also have Jerry Bate's plans for his Hellcat and they are absolutely gorgeous plans. They are CAD designed with lots of details regarding construction notes, equipment installation, etc. Jerry's designs are absolutely beautiful.

I think with either Jerry or Don's plans you will wind up with a great Hellcat.

If you are looking for more of a composite based construction, it is probably worth looking at the Don Lien design which offers a fiberglass fuselage and foam wings (I believe).

Thanks!

Paul

OK, I'm MORE than interested in a giant scale Hellcat: I BOUGHT ONE (well, the plans, cowl, canopy, and gear doors anyway)! I picked up one of those $55 eBay specials, which are advertised as having 80" span. Turns out, the span is 86", making it a true 1/6 scale. The plans are "IMP", drawn by Claude Baskins I think. They look pretty good, cowl and gear doors are OK, but the canopy has me looking for something better/ more accurate. SO, anybody know where I can get a good looking/ scale accurate 1/6 scale Hellcat canopy?

Its a simple enough process to carve a plug out of hard balsa,Etc. make a "frame around the perimeter of the celluloid to secure the celluloid," then after heating celluloid in an oven set at oven set around 350, waiting till the celluloid begins to sag and then IMEDIATLY (with gloves of course,) firmly PULL the " framed celluloid down over the plug you made,ensuring you pull the well heated celluloid just past the bottom perimeter of your Hellcat canopy plug- A big plus here is you can fabricate the canopy frame work using a variety of techniques and the celluloid( I get it from SIG) is not expensive so buy a couple sheets in case the first one has some imperfections.