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Greetings all, An Easter holidays completion from me - Revell's 1/32nd scale Hawker Hunter FGA.9 more or less OOB, other than some aftermarket decals from AeroMaster and some home-made FOD guards. This kit is really under-rated in my humble opinion - it has lots of detail OOB and beautiful surface detailing from a time when Revell were at the top of their game. I had no issues whatsoever with the build - it's about as close as you can get to building Lego - and it went together in a few days. Paints were Xtracolur enamels with a splash of Humbrol Matt Cote to finish it off. Some light weathering was done with Mig pastels. All in all a very enjoyable build - and it only cost me a tenner under the table at a show! All the best, Tom Hawker Hunter FGA.9, XG207, 58 Squadron, RAF Wittering, mid-1970s.

This duo-build project is something that I've been thinking about for a while. I've always wanted to build a Sea Fury so when Simon wanted to sell his Fisher one I snapped it up (I know Simon now regrets this sale since it was shortly before Paul Fisher's place burnt down in Paradise, sorry Simon!), and I rarely build jets but a Hunter has always appealed. As the last Hawker piston-engined aircraft, and the first Hawker jet-engined aircraft, I thought they'd make a "nice pair"! There is no need I think to add anything to the Sea Fury so this will be OOB, but the Hunter came with: a few additional goodies to which I've added the True Details F6 cockpit set. I know the kit is an F9, but I'll be finishing it as an F6 (minor changes I understand) of 56 squadron.....thanks to Mike C for the decals. Hoping to actually make a start in the next day or so.

When I was youger than now, I loved reading Air International. This was the time when the magazine was publishing the Green and Swanborough encyclopedia of fighters, when you had aircraft histories with beautiful cutaways, when you had contributors like Roy Braybrook about his hinsights on British aircraft designs, or Eric Brown recollecting his various flights. I particularly enjoyed the latter, with his detached-yet-professional tone and sharp descriptions. (This is now long gone from Air International, and it's been ages since I bought any issue) So, even though I readily admit that I had this project before the Group Build, in the light of my fond memories of Eric Brown's articles, here is my entry (btw my other projects are stalled for the time being, notably the Cutlass, thanks to one of my cats chewing happily the cockpit tub ) : - Revell's Hawker Hunter FGA, backdated to an F-6 thanks to the conversion tail by a belgian company, whose name escapes me right now, - with the True Details cockpit set - with the Flightpath detail set. I'll go for the open flaps, pretending an hydraulic pressure leak on my model - with G-Factor beautiful metal legs - and finally, because I still do not like camoed aircrafts, in a red / white /grey scheme of the 4 Fighter Training School, in RAF Valley in 1974, coded XG185, and featured on Fantasy Printshop's FPAF 32-001 sheet. In fairness, I had done a bit of work before the start of the group build, so some pics will already WiP ones. The customary pic of he box : ... and its content ... of the G-Facftor metal legs ... A glimpse of the Flightpath PE fret And finally some pics of the decal sheet : The sharp-eyed among you will notice that, strangely enough, the decal sheet with all the codes does not include the "XG" part of the "XG185" underwing code for my chosen bird. Too bad, I will have to make my own. The pics of the True Detail set will apear in the next post, as they are in the painting stage. Hubert

These look rather splendid, and a significant upgrade from the Revell Hunter wheels... http://www.hadmodels.com/hawker_hunter_kerekek_132_54 Just wish hubs and tyres could be moulded separately for ease of painting, the way Northstar make them fir 1/72 and 1/48 jet kits Tony

Hi time to put this one on the display shelf so here is my RFI pictures First – Bit used :- True Details Resin cockpit Apart from the minor problems with the seat this was very good and didn't need any adjustment to fit. Just lots of dry fitting to check as you go. Flightpath PE I found this industrial thick and a real pain to cut! Didn't use all of it just some bits, jet pipe, main wheel wells and the flaps being the major bits. I couldn't get the flaps to fit at all which was very annoying, as it took me ages to make them and I did like their looks! The instructions are very vague and IMHO not very clear at all but the main wheel wells look pretty good! Wouldn't bother with the Flightpath cockpit bits, as the True Details Cockpit is so much easier to deal with and will give you better detail for far less pain. Masters Pitot Tube This looks very nice and is a step up from the kit part. The only thing was mine had a very slight bend in it! But I managed to get it pretty straight, not perfect but it will do for me! As know one has noticed unless I point to it. Main coloures are all Humbrols new UK paints with some other parts painted in my first adventure into Alclad. All finished off with my depleting supply of MM Semi and Matt varnish. The kit is okay, had some fit issues (some coursed by me) but some of it could have been designed better by Revel which would have made the construction a lot easier and give a better finish – The build can been seen HERE. Right from the off, when I bought this kit I wanted to do something different to RAF Green and Gray as I have quite a few kits to come in these colours – so I needed some verity! Doing the research I had come across some references to the Rhodesian Hunters and their uses. So as these, in the beginning, carried no national markings I thought it would be a challenge to try and make a convincing looking surface without any roundels which IMO is when the model starts to get a real look and gives the surface some interest. I also found obscure references to both Sidewinders and a ‘home made reconnaissance pod' made from a wing fuel tank. I tried to find some more info on these but couldn't find any. So went with making it up from some educated guesses. So anyway enough of lets get to the pictures!!!!! I wasn't sure if I could pull off the camera pod so from the outset I made the pylons so that I could swap around the ordnance – So first with the SNEB Pods Then swapped out for the small wing tank and camera pod. Now with the cover of the cameras Did a lot of work in the wheel wells - Flighpath and Scratched A shot off all the bottom bits Okay - got some more to poat so back in a mo Taff -