An ever-popular aircraft for modelers is the F6F Hellcat. There are several reasons I can see for this. One is that there are always kits available on the store shelves. I've never gone into my favorite model shop and not been able to find one. Secondly, those kits that are there are good ones. Even if you don't want to spend the money on the Hasegawa kit, you can do the nearly as good Arii/Otaki version or even the older Monogram or Lindberg kit as they were not that bad at all. Finally, they are generally easy to paint! We who are lazy like the overall dark sea blue scheme as it means we can paint everything except the prop with one color!

Now a word to the wise when it comes to the Hellcat. There were some subtle differences in the various different types (different, heck, you basically had the -3 and -5 and that was it!). The changes in the subtypes were not always followed by concrete visual clues. It was not impossible to find -5s with the extra window of the -3 and vice versa. The decal sheet offers sources and I'd heartily recommend using them for verification. As much as these guys try to be totally accurate, it doesn't always happen.

This sheet covers three overall sea blue -5 Hellcats. The kit chosen for the decals is the Hasegawa kit. This means that they may not fit perfectly when used on any other. However, most of the schemes do look as if they will be OK on other kits. You get insignia and data markings for two planes on the sheet, which isn't bad.

First is a VF-27 plane from the USS Princeton in 1944. This unit had a very nice cat's mouth on all its aircraft and is a favorite for modelers. This one is a bit different as the forward 'fangs' are larger than normal.

Next is a VF-29 Hellcat from the USS Cabot. This is the most plain set of markings in the set.

Finally, from VF-46 is the most flamboyant version. This is from the USS Independence and is in full geometrical patterns. For those of you who think that the aileron marking should be on both sides of the aileron, I've verified with 'those who know' that this unit only had it on the upper side of the starboard aileron.

Any of these schemes should look great on your next 1/48 Hellcat kit.

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