This little accessory is an add-on for the older 1/144 Hellcat kits. It contains two resin fuel tanks, plus a PE fret with the extra mounting hardware you don’t find on kits from the 20th Century.

I started out the project with the Platz 1/144 Hellcat. But after I assembled the Platz fuel tank, I decided that it was pretty close in appearance to the Brengun, so I went to a less detailed kit. In this case, I had a choice between the Revell F6F5 and the AHM F6F5. I chose the AHM kit for no other reason than it was the easiest to find in my stash.

I built the kit, painted it and applied decals before installing the fuel tank. I also painted the tank as I built the kit. I left the prop and landing gear off the plane until the tank was installed.

The tank mounted easily, using the hole in the bottom of the fuselage as my guide. I added the PE parts after the tank was set in place. There are 4 PE tank mounting parts per tank, two straps which go clear around the tank and attach to the fuselage, and two tiny (even for 1/144) struts which mount between the top of the tank and the fuselage.

When I started to mount the first strap, I got a nice surprise. Brengun left a little spot on the bottom of the tank that indicates the point where the strap goes. This is actually where the raised line has to stop for the strap, but it sure was helpful.

I cut the straps off the fret and used a small screwdriver shank to bend the straps to approximately the correct diameter to fit the tank. I started out using a drop of white glue on the tank bottom to hold the first strap, and then started to mount the second. The glue didn’t hold well enough, and I wound up knocking both straps out of line as I tried to fix the alignment of the other. I pulled the straps off and wiped the glue off the parts.

Next attempt I used a small drop of thick CA on the strap, and applied it to the tank. This worked far better, especially since I used accelerator. I got both straps on reasonably close to correct position and in line.

Thanks to Brengun for supplying the review sample.