Hawker Hunter F6

[DonH]

I'm in with this:

 

 

More to come.

 

At my pace, I will not finish before the deadline, but it's the winning not the taking part that counts. Or did I get that backwards?

[DonH]

Bang seat is done. It's a resin replacement and may not fit in the cockpit. We'll know fairly soon as the cockpit is assembled and some paint has been flung at it. 

 

 

 

We have a wing:

 

Fit is really nice so far, if I am careful. Some remedial work to do on the wing end cap. Fill and sand, fill and sand...

 

Until next time...

[DonH]

2 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

Love your seat...

Ahh, if I had a dollar for every time I head that!

[RLWP]

3 minutes ago, DonH said:

Ahh, if I had a dollar for every time I head that!

 

You'd still have nothing?

 

Richard

[DonH]

21 hours ago, RLWP said:

 

You'd still have nothing?

 

Richard

 

LOL, yes, you are correct.

 

In order to avoid any further ribaldry, let's move away from my oft admired seat and turn our attention to my cockpit...

 

First up, the IP. This is straight OOB as Revell intended it with the addition of a splash of paint and a dry brush. I highlighted the instrument dials by scraping the paint off with a cocktail stick and adding a blob of crystal clear. All the details are as moulded. I have a True Details IP and en Eduard detail set. To be honest, I don't see that they add anything at all. I have a couple of small decals to add, but nothing that will change the fundamental nature of what you see below:

 

And now the actual pit. Same treatment as the IP. The first image is lightened to show something (I forget what) and the second image is closer to the coal black reality.

 

The messy half moon hole in the cockpit floor is where I have surgically removed the joy stick so that the resin seat will fit. I will re-install it in a cunning way.

 

In the meanwhile, I have been assembling the air intake ducting (fiddly) and the tailplanes. Soon I will buttoning things up.

 

[Troy Molitor]

Lovely start mate.  I read our old stop has closed up in Singapore?   (Penny Black).  Just a sad day to read about this.   Regardless,  looking forward to your build.  Thanks for sharing this with us.  

 

Troy 

[DonH]

53 minutes ago, Troy Molitor said:

I read our old stop has closed up in Singapore?   (Penny Black).  Just a sad day to read about this.

Hi Troy, yes it's very sad news. Fortunately, Muddy Murphys in Orchard is still running.

 

More Hunter progress to come. The rear fuselage is glued together (mostly) and the front end is all buttoned up. Working on the wings to get rid of seams and ugly lumps and bumps.

[DonH]

14 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

IMPRESSIVE  updates !

Thanks. It’s all downhill from here!!

[DonH]

14 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

I first  saw a Hawker Hunter  in Pune,  India where MY Father was stationed... and loved them ever since..

so love your build..

Thanks! The Hunter is in my top 3 of gorgeous looking aircraft. The other two being Spitfire and Phantom.

 

Nothing much to report on progress other than work on cleaning seams and sorting the wing tips. Most of this work is totally self-inflicted and very little to do with the kit. I am loving this and am excited that I have the FGA.9 kit in the stash waiting for me. There is also another kit gathering dust in my local hobby shop. Tempting....

It's a busy week at work coming up (just like every other week), so probably no pics until next weekend.

[DonH]

Here are the main components waiting to be assembled. So far, fit has been good if I am careful. A couple of glitches have required some filler and sanding, but I take full responsibility for that, it's not the kit.

 

 

The black paint is for seam checking (generally good). The front part of the spine is clipped into place. A dab of extra thin at the appropriate moment will secure it and no gaps at all.

 

Loving this. I am glad there is another one in the stash and possibly another one currently in the LHS.

 

 

[RLWP]

The most tricky joint I found in this kit is the one along the bottom of the fuselage. It's inclined to distort into a step, and getting solvent to the centre of the joint wasn't easy. I could do with a longer paintbrush!

 

Richard

 

[DonH]

5 hours ago, RLWP said:

The most tricky joint I found in this kit is the one along the bottom of the fuselage. It's inclined to distort into a step, and getting solvent to the centre of the joint wasn't easy. I could do with a longer paintbrush!

 

Richard

 

Yes, I agree!. The rear fuselage is very flexible. I managed to do it without a seam by holding it together with tie wraps. They held the whole assembly roughly circular and pressed the joint together properly. The tricky bit was avoiding getting glue under the tie wraps. I was mostly successful. One area may need a bit of filling and sanding but I am hoping the airbrake housing will cover it.

 

However, when attaching the rear jet nozzle assembly, there was some waviness that has required smoothing out.

[DonH]

On 12/26/2021 at 9:06 PM, MARU5137 said:

Looking great.

popped in to see your clean work.

Thanks!

I now have an assembled airframe! Cockpit windscreen is gluing as I write this. Pictures will follow later.

[DonH]

As promised, more pictures. I have completed assembly now apart from two antenna on the bottom, which will get added tomorrow. 

 

I have added the landing gear before painting so that I can get a good, solid, glued joint. Time will tell if that was not wise! Also added enough weight in the nose to avoid it tipping up. About 23 grams if my memory serves. Certainly not as much as the 40g in the instructions.

 

 

Just some final clean up to do and then on to the paint booth. 

[mozart]

Agreed 100% about the flex on the rear fuselage and distortion, it needs an extra internal bulkhead a la vacform modelling. I found the undercarriage and wheel well covers very difficult and fiddly to do, even down to the underwing serial numbers being located on three different covers!