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Hawker Typhoon, Car Door Type


Dpgsbody55

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I'm rather embarrassed to admit that I seldom (if ever) seem to visit the WIP threads these days, but Typhoons usually capture my interest, if I become aware of them, and this one is certainly no exception. Looking real good so far, and I'll be happy to see some paint on this baby.

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Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.  It's been quite a while since my last update, and I'm still not ready to paint.  The reason for the hold up, Photobucket issues aside is that I wanted to articulate the cockpit top canopy.  After lots of bent plastic and wire, I still haven't found a way, but an idea occurred to me last Friday morning at 3.00am while trying to sleep.  I still haven't built it yet, but I think it may work.  Anyway, on to what I have achieved.

 

First of all, The pilots rear armoured glass, seat belts and radio aerial went in.  The roll over frame didn't meet the glass initially, but was pulled back into place once the armoured glass had dried in position.  I'm fairly certain that the area here should be painted a greenish grey, so after a lot of digging through my books, that's what I've gone with.

 

RCYgIb.jpg

 

Next up is the cockpit starboard door, which was the usual entry/exit on these planes.  This I also wanted to articulate, which is quite easy to do as the doors are quite thick.  Firstly, I cut a short piece of 1.5mm U channel and a length of 0.5mm brass wire.  The wire was bent to for a hinge and the two pieces glued into place inside the fuselage piece that covers the instrument panel.

 

0dLjg7.jpg

 

Once dry, this was painted and holes drilled lengthways into the pilot's door.  The holes were notched to allow the door to fit snugly with the fuselage piece.

 

LZaVvc.jpg

 

Next, the doors were detailed with the bits provided in the Eduard detail set and painted.  The bits inside the fuselage were fitted and wires attached.  The windscreen roll over bar had to be shortened on the right side to accommodate my hinge.  This was fitted after the pilots windscreen, which was masked before fitting.

 

vwbVMu.jpg

 

0tOgry.jpg

 

Next, this assembly was fitted to the plane, together with the rear canopy.  This part is a bit of a pig to align properly with the rest of the fuselage, but the end result is OK.

 

6EK6yW.jpg

 

qnQJKh.jpg

 

At this point, I'm starting to think about painting and how I'm going to mask up this huge engine.  The instructions tell me that it isn't possible to pit the cowlings as well as fit  a fully detailed engine, which I have taken as a challenge.  I fitted parts N04 and N05 to N06 to form that part of the cowling that covers the bottom of the header tank and the top sides of the radiator, then fitted that to the model.  Once in place, the bottom centre part of the cowling needed to be widened to fit, which also meant that the radiator flap needed widening.  After lots of filling, and new radiator flap pivots added, that assembly can be put in place, but not glued.  The side cowlings were also built up as shown.  It looks a bit funny, but doing it this way means that you can remove or add as wanted.  Unfortunately par N06 cannot be used as it interferes with the carburetor air intake.

 

0FKSea.jpg

 

And this is what it looks like in place, together with the mostly built propeller.

 

BpCQyZ.jpg

 

As you can see, I also had to lengthen the side cowl.  Alas the top cowl, despite a lot of thinning, simply cannot be fitted as too much of the engine is in the way.  I think it should look OK once painted.  Next up is the left side door and top canopy, which I hope to have sorted over the next week or so.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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  • 4 weeks later...

A little more progress.

 

Having successfully built the door opening mechanism, my attention next turned to the top canopy.  This gave me many sleepless nights as I wanted the mechanism for this to be unintrusive and working with modifying clear parts is always a worry. Eventually I hit on the idea of gluing a piece of 1mm brass tube to the inside top rail of the left side door and bending 0.5mm wire to hinge inside by forming a D hinge.  So I flattened one side of the tube for better adhesion and glued this in place on the inside top edge of the left door, which would hide it behind the door frame.  Then I bent some wire into a D hinge and after much test fitting, I thought I had it working.

 

vNRYfk.jpg

 

It didn't.  The top canopy would not swing clear of the door.  My first thought was that perhaps I've been doing this: :deadhorse:   A little more thought had me filing down the top door frame and gluing the tube to the top edge, then adjusting my D hinges, gluing this to the top canopy.  Lots of test fitting, as the door and top canopy are different lengths, and the assembly had to fit into place without any further adjustment.  Success!!  Exactly the articulation I was looking for, though in filing down the top door frame I felt like I was going for broke.  It's likely I would have consigned the entire thing to the shelf of doom if this hadn't worked as the left door would have been too damaged for use.  Here's the left door and top canopy assembly ready for installation.

 

CJDN98.jpg

 

So here it is all glued into place. 

 

IrsVG8.jpg

 

Here is what it will look like all closed up.

 

oYBPKM.jpg

 

Next is just the door open, then both door and top canopy open.

 

Y2gyHE.jpg

 

h58Wst.jpg

 

tVXwjh.jpg

 

So now I can vary my display and keep the dust out.  Here's some close up shots.

 

xlCn3G.jpg

 

6jjqSQ.jpg

 

Sorry the last shot is a little blurry.  I've probably zoomed in too much.   :doh:   I've since touched up the exposed brass on the door hinge and the whole thing works great.  I'm very happy with all this.  :m0152:  Some may be shaking their heads here, and that's OK, but I'm one of those who does't see the point of building a model with all this detail, only to shut it all up .

 

So now painting has begun.  I've started with the bits I paint with rattle cans, so here's where I'm up to now.

 

fNr5OK.jpg

 

XktpGX.jpg

 

I've also decided to have my gun hatches closed, but as I want to see inside, I've thinned out the closed gun hatches to make them fit.  I'm not a big fan of guns, and I'm also often not happy with the final result of that part of my build as in this case also.

 

So now I will tidy up the little bleeds on the recognition stripes, mask off the engine (again!!) and recognition stripes, then apply primer overall and get to painting the camouflage colours.  So the next time you see this it will be all painted.  But you can be sure that I'm looking to see how it turns out much more than you are :).  

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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  • 5 weeks later...

Almost a month later, and it's almost painted.  Life has interfered again, both for good and not so good reasons.  Firstly, I had to look after my daughter's dog for a week, a lovely black kelpie.  He's a great dog, but he has a habit of coming up to you and nudging you for attention.  I'm very much OK with that, but not when painting models :).  The second is due to my Grass Tree falling over, which continues to occupy much of my time getting rid of it.  For those not familiar with these trees, which are quite unique, here's a link.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthorrhoea_preissii

 

Mine was huge, almost as tall as the house, but it's grown out to one side and toppled over in the high winds we get here.  Chopping it up is miserable work, both because I'm upset it's now dead, and because it's so hard to cut up as it's so fibrous and full of resin.  It must be about 600 years old, and I'm very sorry to see it fall. 

 

Anyway, back to the Typhoon.  First couple of pictures are of some of the masking process.

 

YUjghR.jpg

 

QPCakZ.jpg

 

I just love masking.... :doh:   Next step was to spray fine grain primer all over it, followed by sliver, so I can scratch it up a bit, then the first colour.  I'm using Model master enamels for the colours.

 

QplGqD.jpg

 

Next up is to mask off the sky band then airbrush the undersides, followed by dark ocean grey as the first colour of the topside camouflage.

 

BWF5dE.jpg

 

ZhyiFg.jpg

 

After this, I thought I'd try airbrushing the green freehand, as I wanted feathered lines between each colour, but this was a huge mistake.  It looked like crap.  My airbrushing skills aren't quite there yet, and also the brush started spluttering.  So I masked of the green and patched up the grey.  More masking, for which I used grease proof paper cut to shape and airbrushed away from the edges of the masking.

 

LKU7TH.jpg

 

And here's the final result, which has had some adjustments made from the above.  Together with the pile of removed masking.

 

5eAKy1.jpg

 

TP0JKR.jpg

 

So far so good.  I've done a little patching with with a brush, and this morning sprayed the lower sides with the first coat of satin varnish.  And this is why I started out with "almost painted".  The varnish reacted with the paint in places and has created cracks in the finish.  This time I used a Tamiya rattle can, because the only stockists this side of the river don't stock my preferred Model Master varnish, which I have never had any trouble with.  I'll be making a longer trip next week to get some.

 

Once I've sprayed it, I'll be applying the decals, followed by more satin varnish, then the wing walk stripes in flat black.  I will post more shots at that stage.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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Thanks, Kevin.  Overall, I'm very happy with the way this model is progressing, but I do wish I had more time at the moment.  I'd really love to see it done well before Christmas.  Life does get in the way of your hobbies, even when you're retired as I am, and it has to be said my latest trouble is one of life's smaller annoyances.  As the old saying goes, "worse things happen at sea".!!

 

One of the things on this build that has pleasantly surprised me is that sky band at the rear of the fuselage.  The rear edge is right on the join between the fuselage and tail assembly, which is covered with fish plates.  As I masked it up for the camouflage colours I was expecting to be spending lots of time patching up that part as masking tape usually doesn't go over such detail and adhere as well as I'd like.  Imagine my surprise to see it looking perfect when I took all the tape off.  It's just a little win, but I'll take it.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Painting is now more or less finished, decals are on and it's varnished.  Here's the progress over the last couple of weeks.  First of all, masking up to repair and respray the areas damaged by the first varnish coat.

 

7sBQUV.jpg

 

As with many other times during this build, I was being supervised.  Note sure whether I got a  :hmmm:  or a  :goodjob:  from him!!  At least he didn't eat it!!!!

xGOo0R.jpg

 

Once done, I sprayed the entire model with Model Master gloss varnish rattle can and started putting on the decals.  I did this in 3 sessions, firstly with the main markings, then added all the stenciling.  The decals appeared rather thick when I was applying them, and I made liberal use of Tamiya's Markfit Strong to get them to adhere over the large panel lines and rivets.  At first, I thought they might still not be adhering properly, but the end result is pretty good.

 

hNqeZA.jpg

 

2zTv7C.jpg

 

JfFxIa.jpg

 

Here it is after all the stencils, etc, have been applied.

 

jsyAgd.jpg

 

hu9oib.jpg

 

 

Cutting the roundels around the gun covers was pretty scary, but the starboard wing walk cut out around the wing step was even more of a heart flutter moment.  Next up was 2 coats of Model Master satin varnish.  The next shots are where the model is now, with all the masking removed.

 

BnovYb.jpg

 

0Jed8y.jpg

 

The final steps will be to add on the exhausts, wheel well plumbing, undercarriage and all the other pieces not yet added, for which I'll have to trawl back through the instructions to see what's missing.  Thankfully, I crossed out each step as I completed them, so this should not be too difficult.  But first, I'll let the varnish harden for a couple of days.  I may do some more weathering, but as I'm not so good at this, it will be kept to a minimum.  I imagine that the next time I post on this build, it will be finished.

 

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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Thank you all.  It is turning out pretty well so far, and looks a lot better than the old Revell 1/32 Typhoon I still have.  That one will be con signed to the spares box after I've finished this.  Re the desk, it's actually quite big, 2 metres by 850mm.  I built it myself thinking it would be OK, but I haven't organised it that well.  I may spend some time over the Christmas period and try to make better use of it.  But yes, the 1/24 Typhoon is huge, and I still have to work out where I'm going to display it.  That said, if Airfix do another 1/24 kit to this standard, I'm buying.  I'd love to know what they have up their company styrene sleeves!!!

 

Yeah, I'm still bummed about the Grass Tree, but more than that, I'm still sore from having removed it.  It took four caged trailer loads to remove it and I have the sore back and chiropractor bill to prove it. Now I know how a pin cushion feels :( .

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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  • 2 weeks later...

So at long last, it's done.  At the last update, I had the undercarriage, bomb shackles, and a few other details to sort.  I started with the covers for the pilot's hand holds, just behind the cockpit.

 

gyPfXd.jpg

 

Next up was to add the hydraulics for the undercarriage, and the undercarriage legs legs themselves.  I did one side at a time, as these parts connect, and I wanted to get alignments correct.  I also test fitted all the parts, and it's a good thing I did as the axles for the main wheels were too thick.  These were filed down, but in the process of test fitting, one axle broke off in the wheel.  Annoying though an easy fix, but worse was to come.  Here's a shot of the undercarriage.

 

ci7NVA.jpg

 

Finally, on the undercarriage, I fashioned some brake lines as per a nice picture in one of my Typhoon books, added the wheels and undercarriage doors.  Make sure you glue the wheel well doors firmly to the undercarriage legs, as they add a bit to the strength of the legs.

 

ylKMLQ.jpg

 

Bomb shackles were then added, but this was not quite so straight forward as you might think.  I had painted the parts before assembly, but there is no way that the bomb shackles themselves will fit into the fairing.  After a little growling on my part, I read the manual as we blokes don't, and saw that you need to split the fairing in 2 places to get the the bomb shackle into place.  After this, and gluing the split parts back together, I trial fitted the shackle/fairing assembly only to find that the shackle causes the fairing to sit proud of the wing.  A little more growling and some careful grinding later, all was well.  Repainted and varnished, here they are.

 

u7IfnW.jpg

 

You can see the area that I needed to grind away to fit.  That left the inner wheel well doors, an aerial, the pitot and the pilots step to put into place.  And that is when things got really bad, as I dropped the pilots step into the fuselage, and it's a prominent detail.  :doh:  :frantic:   After a moment to collect my thoughts, and some shaking of the model to see if it moved about, I decided to put it down and take the dog for a walk.  Pretty much everything I've touched lately has broken, and I wouldn't want 8 months work to go down the gurgler.  After the walk, I spent a very tense 15 minutes trying to shake it out via the open cockpit door.  I think the neighbours learned some new words.....   :innocent:   Eventually, EUREKA!!!!   I manged to extract it and very quickly glued it into place.

 

So here it is, together with one I prepared earlier.  Twenty five years earlier, in the shape of the old Revell 1/32 kit. 

 

Sw8Vb3.jpg

 

The old plane will eventually be sacrificed to the spare parts box when I get around to doing the Special Hobby Tempest V, as I may well incorporate the engine from this kit into that model, somehow.  I consider this model to be well below what I can do now, but given the cost of the add on engine from CMK, this may be the better option.  For posterity, here's a couple of shots of the old plane.  The one part that I was really proud of was the engine, and I think I can make it better once I've removed it.

 

PX22oS.jpg

 

JkClcS.jpg

 

Back to the actual subject in hand, here's the new plane.

 

mJXd2S.jpg

 

I1CCRA.jpg

 

iE81DI.jpg

 

I've kept the weathering down to a minimum, both because I'm not very good at it, and because in the period before D-Day and the advance across Europe, home based aircraft were kept reasonable clean.  I can't find any pictures in my Hawker books that depict dirty planes in the period before D-Day.  Operating from roughly prepared airfields was another matter.  So I've confined myself to just a few scratches, a small amount of exhaust stains and oil stains.  I will be writing a presentation in the Ready For Inspection forum with a picture of this actual plane that would appear to back up this train of thought.  But here's the underside.  Just a little oil and cordite staining.

 

EcBwqC.jpg

 

So that about wraps it up.  As I said, I'll also post some more (hopefully nicer) shots in the RFI forum, together with a little history of this plane and it's pilot.  You will be able to find it here:

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=72079

 

I hope you've all enjoyed this build and for those who have it in their stash, you may find this interesting reading.  The kit was very enjoyable to build, and a little challenging at times, but never so much as to make me consider consignment to the shelf of doom.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael.

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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