Scale aviation modeller international

Hellcat Skeleton

First look at Jasmine Models 1/48 Late Hellcat Skeleton

by Robert Podkoński

W

hen a modeller’s

interest focusses

on the weird and

unusual, sooner or later one

inevitably looks through the

offerings of some lesser-known

and “exotic” manufacturers.

Usually, these are garage-made,

low-quality resin kits that need

a lot of work and patience to get

to a decent effect. Sometimes,

however, one is surprised with

real masterpieces, and Jasmine

Models from China surely marks

out the absolute top quality here.

There are only a few items in

their range of models, but when

you take a look at them, you just

have to have each one on your shelf.

All are made from photo-etched

steel with additional parts made

in other media. What is unusual is

that these kits are all skeletons,

designed to show the internal

structure of the plane represented.

I discovered Jasmine Models

with their first aircraft kit, namely

the Horten Ho229 flying wing

jet fighter, arguably the best

known unorthodox aircraft of

all time. I immediately ordered

one, assembled it in no time, and

it is still a true centrepiece in my

display cabinet. Sometime later I

found out that Jasmine had issued

a model of the ”Pacific Warrior”,

the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat in the

quarter scale. Even though the type

itself would not interest me, being

a ”popular” warplane, in this case,

I just could not resist buying it.

The kit comes in a surprisingly

small, flat box, adorned with a

photo of the finished model. In my

humble opinion, the practice of

showing a completed model as a

boxart (or somewhere else, e.g. in

the instructions) should be adopted

by every model kit manufacturer. In

Jasmine’s case this also shows that

despite its complexity, the actual

kit can be successfully assembled.

Inside the box, you will find

a comprehensive instruction

booklet and three extensive

photo-etched steel frets in a

plastic bag, each thoughtfully

secured with self-adhesive foil.

It is almost unbelievable that

three frets contain all the 264

parts that constitute the fuselage,

cockpit, wings, and empennage

of the full quarter scale model,

but they really are there!

As well as these frets, one also

finds four string bags, secured in

foam lining the box. These contain

some silver-coloured resin parts

that represent undercarriage legs,

wheels, engine bearings, firewall,

assorted tanks, propeller, engine,

canons, etc. – 48 pieces in total.

Engine cylinders are cast

separately as well as the crankcase,

and the detail is astonishing.

However, when you look

closer there are some small

ridges on a few of the resin parts,

but all are easy to be removed. I

noticed no air bubbles, the only

flaw being the remains of the

casting blocks on the tires.

The instructions consist of 119

consecutive steps of assembly,

either as photos of real kit parts

supplemented with coloured

lines, arrows, and numbers, or

as detailed line drawings. These

are done as clearly as possible,

but some steps do need for you to

42 • JULY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

040-45-FirstLooks-0718.indd 42 11/06/2018 13:59