Ralph_S Posted May 26, 2010 (edited) This is the fourth and (probably final) aircraft design for Ed Diment's project Intrepid. In early 1945 USS Intrepid already operated F4U Corsairs, but also still a handful of older Grumman F6F Hellcats. The F6F Hellcat was a larger and improved development of the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/tags/wildcat">Grumman Wildcat</a>, the US Navy's main fighter at the start of WW-2. The F6F was faster, more manoeuvrable and had a longer range. No other aircraft in US service shot down more Japanese aircraft than the Hellcat. This model was more-or-less complete yesterday a few days ago. I pride myself on thinking out the difficult bits before I start building, but this model had problems: when folded the wings sat too far from the fuselage, the landing gear struts were too long, there were awkward gaps where the wings met the fuselage, the wings were swept back a bit too far and worst of all, the undercarriage had a tendency to collapse. I am enough of a perfectionist for this to bug me, so I rebuilt the complete centre section of the wing. It took me about four hours, but I solved all the issues in one go and am finally happy with it. It is not immediately obvious from most of the other photographs, but both wings on my model are swept back slightly to ensure that both the leading and trailing edges sit at the proper angle. So, I've got four designs. The next step will be to build more models of each design. Ed and I already have six Avengers. We will probably build a similar number of Hellcats, about 9 Helldivers and an even larger number of Corsairs. I am about to start a new job and will be away from my LEGO collection for a while. What I will be doing, however, is making instructions for the Corsair. Cheers, Ralph Edited June 16, 2011 by Rufus Indexed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SeaKing61 Posted May 26, 2010 Very nice model, Ralph. I've been keeping track of your Intrepid aircraft models and I think this is my favourite. It's very hard to capture the curves of these aircraft at such a small scale but this one is spot on. Looks like Ed's Intrepid is coming on fantastically too, can't wait to see it all come together. Laurie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt. Stabbin Posted May 26, 2010 Another sweet plane!! Great job, as always! Can't wait to see the instructions on the corsair, and the finished project. Capt Stabbin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ralph_S Posted May 29, 2010 Thanks for the comments guys. Ed is making good progress. We hope to have this finished by October (so that we can take it to the great Western LEGO show in Swindon). It'll be hard work to get everything done by then! Cheers, Ralph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted May 29, 2010 Another AWESOME MOC 'Ralph_S' - can't wait to see the end result ! I'm a conformist! ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vincent Kessels Posted May 30, 2010 Any chance that it will be on display on LegoWorld? I would love to see the whole MOC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ralph_S Posted May 30, 2010 Another AWESOME MOC 'Ralph_S' - can't wait to see the end result !I'm a conformist! ! Thank you. If HMS Hood was anything to go by, you can count on Intrepid being absolutely stunning. Any chance that it will be on display on LegoWorld? I would love to see the whole MOC. Since Ed lives in the the UK, that is not very likely. We have talked about taking it to Cologne in November, but it all depends on whether it'll be done in time and whether Ed and I can get the time off work. For me it'll be easier to get to, obviously, but for him it would mean renting a van and driving it to Germany. We'll see. Cheers, Ralph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DLuders Posted August 13, 2010 On the webpage http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-i-have-instructions-part-2.html , Ralph_S has made downloadable Building Instructions for the Grumman F6F Hellcat: The Hellcat is the third WWII aircraft for which he has made Building Instructions: http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/07/can-i-have-instructions.html Great work, Ralph! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fires-storm Posted August 13, 2010 Well done, a truly beautiful bird! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ralph_S Posted August 13, 2010 On the webpage http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-i-have-instructions-part-2.html , Ralph_S has made downloadable Building Instructions for the Grumman F6F Hellcat: The Hellcat is the third WWII aircraft for which he has made Building Instructions: http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/07/can-i-have-instructions.html Great work, Ralph! Thank you. I posted the first two on Eurobricks a few weeks ago and was going to post the third as well. You beat me to it Well done, a truly beautiful bird! Thanks. It probably seems like a fairly straightforward aircraft model at a first glance, but out of the aircraft I built for this project it probably was the most difficult. The first version of it had a lot of problems. It took a rebuild of much of the central wing section to sort it out. I think the instructions show that there's some pretty funky stuff going on there Cheers, Ralph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
earthnite Posted August 16, 2010 I think the instructions show that there's some pretty funky stuff going on there no kidding... do the front wheels spin? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ralph_S Posted August 17, 2010 no kidding... do the front wheels spin? I'm afraid not. They did on an earlier version of this model, but it made the undercarriage very clunky and I considered looks as more important than playability. Cheers, Ralph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paladin Hicks Posted August 23, 2010 WOW!!! This is extremely well done! You are a very very talented builder! Top notch! And I am looking forward to seeing these beautiful aircraft on that carrier once it is finished! And you are displaying a F6F Hellcat right? Because the title says Wildcat and it sort of confused me. I would love to see a F4F Wildcat from you though! That and the P40 Warhawk are my favorite Second World War fighter planes. Anywho nice job again and thanks for the instructions! "Stay Frosty" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ralph_S Posted August 23, 2010 WOW!!! This is extremely well done! You are a very very talented builder! Top notch! And I am looking forward to seeing these beautiful aircraft on that carrier once it is finished! And you are displaying a F6F Hellcat right? Because the title says Wildcat and it sort of confused me. I would love to see a F4F Wildcat from you though! That and the P40 Warhawk are my favorite Second World War fighter planes. Anywho nice job again and thanks for the instructions! "Stay Frosty" Indeed. You are right. I apparently messed up the title. It is definitely an F6F Hellcat. I do have a Wildcat Grumman (General Motors) FM-1 Wildcat (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr It was the first minifig scale WW-II fighter I've ever built (as far as I can remember) and in a sense was a precursor to the planes for the carrier. Cheers, Ralph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paladin Hicks Posted August 24, 2010 Indeed. You are right. I apparently messed up the title. It is definitely an F6F Hellcat. I do have a Wildcat Grumman (General Motors) FM-1 Wildcat (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr It was the first minifig scale WW-II fighter I've ever built (as far as I can remember) and in a sense was a precursor to the planes for the carrier. Cheers, Ralph Glad to help! And that Wildcat is magnificent! Its almost identical to the real thing! Well besides being made out of Legos. I also looked at some of your other Mocs and I'm quite impressed. Nice job! "Stay Frosty" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
