Guillows 500 Series Hellcat

[deadstick]

So glad to see SFA back, I can only imagine the amount of effort it must have taken to bring it back, your efforts are very much appreciated. Like having an old friend back.

Took some time recently away from larger projects to build a Guillows Hellcat, always one on my favorite WW2 birds. I somehow managed to end up with one of the older pre-laser kits but the die crunching was not too bad, some of the wood was a bit heavy which I replaced but no real problem. I usually buy short kits as I like to select my own wood ( Guillows doesn't offer short kits ) but this was still an enjoyable build.

Finish is Esaki med. blue attached with thinned nitrate and finished in 2 coats of thinned, plasticized Sig nitrate. Came out a tad heavy if my kitchen scale can be believed, 32g all up and 28 without the gear which is the flying configuration. Will be happy with 10 - 15 seconds, not going to win any endurance contests. Canopy is outlined in painted tape and attached with canopy glue, interior is Testors chromate. Not test flown yet as the weather is too cold, will have to wait for warmer times.

Build pics follow in 2 batches.