Part 2: The Build

The Royal Class line from Eduard is quite a package! As I wrote in my first look, there's a lot of model to work with here. Decision making is part of the process with these kits. Do I use the photo-etch and resin or go straight forward and build it mostly from the plastic? Which version of the planes, do we go with? (There are 9 choices) I decided to build the F6F-3 first and keep it mostly with the plastic provided except for the cockpit and all the beautiful pre-painted PE parts. I chose for my first subject a dash 3 flown by Lt. 'Holly' Hills of VF-32 off the USS Langley, April 1944. It let me build my first 'Cat with a classic 3-color camo scheme, my favorite. Let me start right off the bat by saying that these kits have some of the nicest fit of any kit I've ever built but they do not fall together! They take time and care to build but they fit. The cockpit is eight well engineered plastic parts and over 40 PE parts that give you a fantastic and well detailed interior that anybody would be proud of. As usual, some of the PE is incredibly small and tedious to apply, but Eduard does photo-etch right and the results can be stunning. An experienced modeler will appreciate the challenge. The entire cockpit can be built with the provided optional plastic parts and this is just one of those many decisions the builder will have to make. Personally I opted for the PE enhancements. The wings and gear wells come next. The design of the kit and the nature of the paint scheme allowed me to assemble all the landing gear and insert it into the wing before attaching the wing to the fuselage. The wing assembly gives you separate ailerons and flaps as does the horizontal stabilizers with their separate elevators. Again, they fit! No filler required just a little clean-up of the edges and you have complete wings. The main landing gear has a few small parts but once built and the glue allowed to dry, they drop right into place and are very sturdy. Eduard gives you enough photo-etch gear bays for both kits as well as gun bays but I chose to go the simple route here and stuck with the plastic parts. More decisions to make. I built the wings as sub-assemblies and set them aside to work on the fuselage. Once again, no surprises here. The cockpit is glued in and add the tail wheel and a small panel at the bottom of the fuselage and put the halves together. Guess what? It all fits! Attach the separate rudder when you're ready for it and the fuselage is done. A little seam clean up with a couple of passes of a sanding stick and you're good to go. The cowl was next and here's where you have to actually fill a seam and work on this kit. It's a 3 piece affair and they give you late and early versions of the engine cowl. Consult your resources to get the right one for your choice of plane. I found Squadron's Walk Around on the shelf and picked the cowl configuration I thought was the right choice. I've seen a few articles and discussions on the 'net regarding the intakes and the shape of the cowl and I don't know what all the fuss was about. I must have looked at hundreds of pictures of the nose and the Eduard nose and cowling looked just fine to me. Unfortunately the seam on the top and bottom of the cowl halves will need attention. I saved the engine for last simply because I couldn't decide between the plastic engine or the resin version with all the PE parts, another decision to stress over. Reminding myself to keep this one simple, I opted for the plastic engine. Once painted and detailed with a wash and some dry brush it looks great. Now that all the components are built, it was time to bring them al together and once again I was rewarded with 'it all fits!' The wings set into the openings perfectly and not a speck of filler was needed. After everything was set I applied the windshield and masked the cockpit opening, sat down and applied the beautiful masks that came with the kit and prepared to paint. First the white and since the gear wells and the landing gear are all white I was glad I hade built all the gear and attached it earlier, it sure was easy to paint as one unit. I used Floquil Reefer White for the bottom, next came Model Master Intermediate Blue and finally the Model Master Dark Sea Blue. After drying I assembled the wheels and tires, the prop and assorted bits like the itty bitty signal lights on the bottom of the fuselage and the antennas. A few touch ups and we're ready for decals. The decal sheets are extensive and giving you enough markings for 9 different and diverse subjects is a daunting task and once again the folks at Eduard did a great job. My examples went down without the aid of solvent and even though they are a little shiny and could have used a light coat of flat, I left them be since I'd already removed the masks from the clear parts.

On to the next one, the dash 5 night-fighter. In the previous paragraphs, I harped about all the decisions the builder gets to make with a Royal Class kit. However, this was an easy one to make. How could you pass on those nifty resin 20 mm cannons and the radome for the wing. Then you see a name on the plane that says "Black Death" with a whiskey bottle for the nose art… I was hooked! My choice for the -5 was a Hellcat flown by Major Robert Bruce Porter USMC of VMF(N)-542 on Okinawa June, 1945. The build was as conventional and uneventful as the first one. I started with the cockpit of course; using all of the photo-etch parts as before and was rewarded with another great looking result. From there I proceeded to assemble the various components of the plane. First the wings and the landing gear then the fuselage and once again, it all fits together like a glove. I was going to use the open gun bays on this one then I realized that they were designed for the six machine gun option, darn! Well, I can still use one of the cool resin and PE engines so I began to build one of them as well as the plastic engine just in case. There it was, my first problem. The instructions for the resin engine did not explain how I was supposed to attach the prop. On the plastic engine the prop shaft goes through the crankcase and lies in a nice little package that attaches to the front of the cylinders and allows the shaft and prop to spin. A nice little bit of engineering but not so for the resin engine. A skilled modeler would probably drill out the front of the resin part and cut the shaft to the proper length but I had already built the plastic engine as a backup, so no spare shaft. I'll just use the plastic one again, besides all that cool detail will be lost behind the cowling and the prop anyway. Seeing as how I was incredibly late with the review I took the path of least resistance and went ahead with the painting and final assembly of the Hellcat. With a shiny coat of glossy Sea Blue paint the decals went on effortlessly and I now had beautiful F6F-5N.

She's a beauty and looks great next to her sister on the shelf. Once again I cannot recommend the Eduard kits enough! Eduard's Royal Class Hellcats are truly that, Royal! If you want a pair of Hellcats with ALL the extras, this is the way to go! If you bought the two kits alone and all the PE and resin you would spend much more. I have to give this one an A. Once you get over the constant decision making process your reward will be a pair of great looking Hellcats and did I mention, these kits fit! My sincere thanks to the folks at Eduard for the kit and to Dave for his extreme patience on this review. This one is highly recommended!

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