Giantscaleplanes.com: F6F Hellcat: Beautiful detail and flight manners to match

Model Airplane News, Sep 2003 by Abbe, Peter

The F6F Hellcat was one of the most lethal fighters of WW II, and Giantscaleplanes.com's Hellcat model brings the excitement of this classic dogfighter to the pilot who does not want to spend countless hours at the workbench. Although not exact scale, this model is a cut above the average film-covered ARF, and it is an excellent choice for a modeler who wants to build his or her first warbird.

KIT CONTENTS

This kit features a fiberglass fuselage, cowl and belly pan with molded panel lines, hatch detail and cutout positions. The wing, ailerons, flaps and tail feathers are built-up balsa covered with Solartex. All of these components are beautifully painted in a matte finish with a two-tone color scheme, and the clear plastic canopy is also painted. The included two large sheets of self-adhesive decals will give the Hellcat a finished appearance. All of the parts are sealed in plastic bags; the only damage I found were small dings in the vertical fin and on the tip of the right aileron.

The kit includes most of the hardware needed to complete construction: a plastic-composite engine mount; a fuel tank; wire landing gear; main wheels and a tailwheel; various hardwood mounting blocks and screws; bolts; pushrod dowels and wires; control horns and clevises.

The 13-page construction manual contains only line drawings and brief notes; experienced builders should have no difficulty completing the model, but novice builders would benefit from a more thorough manual.

ENGINE AND SERVO INSTALLATION

Minimum work is required to prepare the fuselage for the engine and servos, but you'll need some type of cradle to hold the fuselage while you install the radio components and engine. The plywood formers, servo tray and firewall are pre-installed. The provided plywood spacer block ensures that the engine is mounted the proper distance from the firewall. This block significantly increases the firewall's strength and should not be omitted. I used the two-piece plastic-composite engine mount supplied with the kit; this mount will easily accommodate any engine in the manufacturer's suggested range of a .91 2-stroke or a .91 to 1.20 4-stroke.

Century Jet Models (CJM) Centurion rotating retracts are robust and easy to install. The air-actuated units feature T-6 aluminum bodies, stainless-steel cams and positive up- and down-locks. The functional Oleo struts are custom-sized at the factory to the length required for the Hellcat. Weighing only 14 ounces with the air system, this gear can support up to a 15-pound aircraft.

Installing this gear in the Hellcat does require minor wing modifications. Hardwood mounting blocks that come with the kit are epoxied into a plywood landing-gear box that is installed in the wing. Before you glue these blocks into place, remove a little of the inboard block to provide clearance for an air nipple and its air line. Then, slightly sand the blocks to accommodate the width of the landing-gear's body. The bottom interior of the box must also be enlarged with a sanding drum on a rotary tool.

You must remove the rear center portion of the box to accommodate the undercarriage's air cylinder. After I had ground approximately 1/16 inch off the mounting flanges, the gear dropped into position perfectly.

The CJM air system consists of an 11-ounce air cylinder, a filler valve, 10 feet of air lines, T-connectors and four "quick-disconnects." The heart of this system is a four-way selector valve that controls the speed at which the gear retracts and extends. Four setscrews allow Independent control of each gear. The valve is bolted to an 1/8-inch plywood plate next to a retract servo. This unit is then installed inside the fuselage with silicone adhesive.

Although this valve can be used with a conventional radio, a computer radio makes it much easier to precisely set the control-movement necessary to properly actuate the valve. The Hellcat's cavernous fuselage easily accommodates the valve and the air cylinder. You can cycle fully charged gear four times before the system needs more air. A larger air cylinder would increase the number of cycles per charge.

After you've mounted the engine, you can accurately position the cowl and attach it to hardwood blocks that you must glue to the firewall. To ensure that the muffler would fit inside the cowl, I substituted a Davis diesel Soundmaster for my O.S. .91FX's stock unit. Because I also used a Du-Bro exhaust deflector, I needed only to cut a small hole in the bottom of the cowl for the exhaust exit.

Servo installation is straightforward: simply drop the servos into the plywood tray, drill the mounting holes and then screw them into place. Make the pushrods using the supplied dowels and pushrod wire and secure the wires to the dowels with the included heat-shrink tubing. I used the provided quick connectors to attach the pushrods to the servo arms and added thread-lock to secure the retaining nuts to the connectors. Using Z-bends in the pushrod wires instead of these connectors would provide a simpler, more secure linkage.