1:32 Hawker Hunter F6 Revell

[nickd]

First time I've ever posted anything on the web, and its only going to be a simple OOB build.

 

I've only ever made one previous 1/32 model, the Revell Mk.I Spitfire, and I know my standard of modelling is nowhere near most of you guys!

 

If everything works out OK, I want to finish the Hunter in the Red/White/Grey scheme of the Valley Training School. I picked up the Xtradecal sheet from Hannants, last time I was home in the UK, but I may have to change to one of the normal grey/green colour schemes, depending on whether I can get the white sprayed anywhere near decent.

 

cheers

Nick

 

So, as usual, starting with the cockpit, I only added some masking tape straps to the rudder pedals, sprayed everything dark grey, and then gave it a black oil wash and drybrushed with light grey. The instruments/dials were then picked out in various colours.

 

There should be a tiny white aeroplane shape, painted on the diamond shaped black button on the LHS console, but everytime I tried this it just kept going wrong, so in this hunter its not there! (I think maybe I can claim its been weathered away with so much usage!) Otherwise the cockpit went together easily.

 

[nickd]

Heres the seat.

 

I scraped off the revell moulded-on setabelts, added the thin canvas cover (I don't know exactly what this is, but most of the photos i could find show a kind of thin canvas cover over the seat).

 

My cover is alittle bit too thick, I had problems getting the Milliput any thinner without it sticking to the cutting board, so any tips for the future on how to roll out Milliput into thinner strips would be welcome.

 

The bar for the seatbelts is wrong too, as it should go between the two side frames, and not be in font of it like I made it, but its almost invisible once the belts are on.

 

The belts are bright blue, just to add a bit more colour!

 

[nickd]

Oops wrong picture! This is more difficult than I thought...

 

Heres the seat (hopefully)

 

[nickd]

And the other side, I tried painting the stencilling on, but its a bit rough..

 

[nickd]

The other side of the cockpit..

 

[nickd]

and final one for today, cockpit from the rear.

 

I've just realised you can't see the straps on the rudders anyway...and also I've forgotten to paint the button I added to the joystick, it should be black/dark red.

 

[dogzboz]

That's looking good so far Nick, keep going.

Rob

[stusbke]

First things first welcome to LSP

 

Second

 

Looks great so far I cant wait to see more pictures, btw how's the fit on this kit just checking as I might wanna build one later on, sometime

 

And don't worry on the stenceling being rough I've seen decals that have less detail than you paint job so don't worry, looks good and give's that little extra.

 

Greetz STB

Frederick Jacobs

[nickd]

Thanks to everyone for the friendly welcome!

 

Stusbke, from my limited experience, I have to say the kit in general is very good. Its really a simple build, but then again, it was a simple 50's jet.

 

I think the cockpit looks fine OOB (just need seatbelts adding, and maybe some extra detail could be added to the side walls of the 'pit), and the Wheel wells just need some cables/piping added. Flaps/internal wing detail also look OK.

 

I've already had the whole thing 'stuck' together with tamiya tape (and also 'flown' it around the room, making whooooossshhh noises, 37 years old and still acting like a big kid!!), and its an impressivley big model, almost 60cm long (thats about 2 feet in 'old' money!) and 40cm wingspan.

 

The only thing so far, that I'm not too keen on is the fuselage construction. It's split into left and right halves (as usual), but also split just after the engine air intakes, into front/rear sections (so the engine clamps inbetween), so there's a tricky join here.

 

The wings then 'click' into place around the engine, with a good positive fit, maybe a bit of filler will be needed here and there, but not much.

 

I've spent this morning chopping off the rudder, so I can put it at an angle, but I've also got to figure out how to put some lead-weight into the nose (its a tail-sitter!), as i forgot to do this, even though its clearly shown in the instructions -doh!

 

Just goes to show, not to try and do any modelling while watching the F1 grand prix at 8:00 AM!

 

I'll try and post some more pics during the week, once I figure out how to get the extra weight into the nose....

 

cheers

Nick

[nickd]

So another week gone by, we had a holdiay in Germany on Tuesday (Re-unification day) so I've managed to get some more done on the Hunter.

 

I added some M8 and M6 nuts behind the control panel, as I forgot to add the weight in the nose before I closed the fuselage.

 

It looks pretty amateurish, but once the combing is in place nothing is visible

 

[nickd]

So this is the finished fuselage

 

[nickd]

The 'spot' in the middle of the fuselage (where the wing fits) is a strengthening bar I added from a piece of waste sprue.

 

I'd test fitted both wings and wasn't happy with the strength of the fuselage. It flexes too easily, so I drilled a hole in each side, inserted a sprue (about 4mm diameter) and glued it into place.

 

For anyone buidling this kit in the future, a better solution may be a complete circle of plasticard, glued behind the engine, but as I'd already glued the fuselage shut I couldn't do this.

[nickd]

From my reference, and pics I found on the Internet, ther should be three fasteners on each side holding the tail duct onto the fuselage, so I've scribed these on, and also the rest of the panel lines which I'd sanded away.

 

Thank-you Radu, for explaining in your Ki-61 build how you do your scribing. I tried it your way too, and it really is easy with the Dymo tape! (even if my attempts are a bit rough!)

 

[nickd]

I still have to finish the rudder, I cut this off and filled the space with Milliput.

 

The rudder still needs filing back to shape and the hinges adding.

 

Last photo for today is of the wings.

 

Hopefully next week I can get some primer and paint on.

 

cheers

Nick

 

[nickd]

Well its been a couple of weeks since I last posted any picks.

 

The fuselage and wings are finished, primed with Mr.Surfacer 1000, sanded and then re-primed. I've only just found this stuff in Germany (Conrad.de sell it, if any of the German LSP'ers are looking for it), but it really is excellent, and sprays beautifully, much better than my old can of Halfords Car primer.

 

The fuselage was then pre-shaded along panel lines with dark grey, and then sprayed with Tamiya XF-2 white. The wings were also preshaded with XF-1 black, then coated with XF-19 sky grey.

 

BUT I had real problems with the Tamiya XF-7 Red, and would welcome any of your thoughts on this.

 

I thin my paints to about 50/50 using the Tamiya thinners, and spray at about 15 psi, but the red would just not cover properly at all, I kept getting a kind of white powdery effect on the surface, similar to how it goes if too much Tamiya Flat is used.

 

I've been using an Iwata HP-B, and this is the first time I've ever had any real problems spraying the Tamiya paints.

 

In the end I added a couple of drops of Future into the paint, which has reduced the powdering effect, at least to a point where I think I'm 75% happy with it.

 

Below is the fuselage and wings.