Hawker Typhoon, Hasegawa 1/48th with Ultracast and scratch, and a bloody big sharkmouth!

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi gang, right time for another build. I've had this in the stash for a while, and bought the excellent Aviaeology decals when they came out.

http://www.aviaeolog...m/aod48003.html

I mean a Tiffie with a sharkmouth? - what is not to like?

I also bought a truck load of Ultracast parts to enhance the build at the same time. Then I hit what I thought was as tumbling block, and put the whole thing on hold...until recently when a chance discovery in the spares stach, tipped of by a post on here, re started the project.

Little needs to be said about the Hasegawa Typhoon. Apart from the cockpit infills, it fits really well, and has no real vices. I've built 2 of them already so this is a chance to add some extra bits too.

So in no real order - here we go:

First - the cockpit infills. Experience suggests that adding these to each fuselage half first so they are flush, making good the join lines and rescribing is the best way to deal with the less than ideal fit.

Here you can see this done, which gives a smooth join on the fuselage sides, but will leave a small gap on the fuselage centre line join. Nothing a plastic shim won't fix though. A damn sight easier than having no gap at the top and a step on the sides!

I've also opened up the foot and hand holds on the side too. Inside the moulded detail has been removed as I'll be adding my own.

Here is the resin feast that is Ultracast's sonata to the Tiffie:

All well cast with no pin holes and fantastic detail. The wider Tempest tailpanes are a simple push fit, and de rigeur for any very late war Typhoon, while the exhausts are a drop fit replacement and a great improvement on the kit parts. They are also, in case you ask, much nicer than the Quickboost resin exhausts ( which Ive used before) being the correct size (the QB ones have always seemed just a tad small to my mind). The seat features a cast-in late war "Q" harness, and as the cockpit opening is rather small this will be a a really obvious bit.

Wheels have really nice detail, and the new radiator part has the late war "cuckoo" filter - again a must for a Tiffie from this period.

Now for that stumbling block I mentioned. The rocket rails. We are all used to the Tiffie Mk I steel rocket rail with its gently tapering front and twin horizontal launch rails. Here's one attached to a Sherman - yes I know!

All Hasegawa's rocket Tiffie boxings come with these.( Mk I rails that it is not Shermans!)

However from late 1944 onwards the MkI rails were replaced by the lightweight MKIII aluminium rails. They look very different, as you can see below.

And my particular carcharadontic Tiffie, MR-U MP197 245 sqn, shows 2 of the MKIIIs fitted under each wing with a long range drop tank.

The MKIII rails are quite fine with subtle rivet detail, and I wasnt amazingly convinced I could scratch them convincingly. While there are some MKIII resin rails available from Airwaves, theres a snag with these....

However I stumbled over a BM thread about Mossie rocket rails, which also showed MK III rails, and as I had bits left from a Tamiya Mossie in the spares stash, a quick check revealed 8 MK III rails sitting unnoticed in the box. Huzzar!!!.

The attachment stubs are different for the Tiffie, which is the problem with the Airwaves et - as these seem to be MK III rails attached to Mk I stubs, but thanks to the gracious help of "Mr Typhoon" Chris Thomas - some e-mail pics quickly allowed me to modify and scratch a prototype, Cheers Mr T!

Its needs little refining - but I think I know what I'm doing now. Well I hope I do anyway.

More to follow.....

Cheers

Jonners

Edited November 4, 2012 by Jon Kunac-Tabinor

[Col.]

Nice choice for your next project Jon. Have a couple Tiffies in the stash and was planning one early car-door matched to a late-war bubble top with the four blade prop and Tempest tailplanes so here you have another thread I'll be glued to for tips

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Cheers Col,

just a teaser as to whats next....

Cheers

Jonners

[Smiffy]

Crikey!.

Will be watching with great interest, as I'm planning on building this one also.

[Calum]

Nice start Jon

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Right just before the "Great Spendathon" - wheel wells. Perfectly adequate on the kit - apart from, like most P51 models the well walls on the kit completely delineate the aperture, whereas in fact there should be an undercut on the curved portion. Also the front of each well is actually made form a lattice of aluminium spars so...I could get resin bays, but yadda - plastic card time!!

Plastic card and strip just cut and glued. Make one for one well then copy it for the other. They are now nice and deep with proper undercuts. I need to finish the "roofs" for the narrow part sof the bays - but same principle plasticard and strip.

I've left the kit UC leg attachment pints in there so they have a solid footing. Next step is some detailing with wire and more strip.

Cheers

Jonners

[KLP Publishing]

Jonners, terrific work! I've got one of these kits in the stash and am looking forward to building it some day, though I don't imagine doing all this work to it! I've also got a Monogram kit in the stash with an old KMC update set, which should be a fun project too. I'll be following this one with interest!

Kev

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Oh my word!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

.I could get resin bays, but

Yes, you could. But they would not fit. Trust me!

Far better to do what you have done. That's an absolutely superb result.

[pacificmustang]

_{Great stuff JKT, always good to see your builds. I am liking the added wheelwells}

_Bruce

[phildagreek]

There's some good stuff going on here, crack on!

[gingerbob]

Oh my. Those wells look amazing. Fortunately I don't hold the Typhoon in sufficient esteem (don't tell Chris) to feel compelled... (keep saying it...) besides, my Hase Tiff is already airframe shaped. Phew! ...but wait, what about that Tempest V? Oh nuts.

One question- I did much the same as you on the cockpit inserts, but discovered that I had not considered the windscreen having to join. I think I can get away with it, but what say you to this consideration? (Mine's a car-door, which might make a difference.) Actually, now that I think about it I had the back part meet at the center (and there WAS some filling aggravation), but left the gap at the center on the front part (it has been a while since assembly, and the poor thing is waiting for me to get organized with airbrushing).

bob

[Calum]

Nice stuff Jon. Wheelweels look very good

[Smiffy]

I have to say, those wheel wells look very impressive.

Great stuff.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Oh my. Those wells look amazing. Fortunately I don't hold the Typhoon in sufficient esteem (don't tell Chris) to feel compelled... (keep saying it...) besides, my Hase Tiff is already airframe shaped. Phew! ...but wait, what about that Tempest V? Oh nuts.

One question- I did much the same as you on the cockpit inserts, but discovered that I had not considered the windscreen having to join. I think I can get away with it, but what say you to this consideration? (Mine's a car-door, which might make a difference.) Actually, now that I think about it I had the back part meet at the center (and there WAS some filling aggravation), but left the gap at the center on the front part (it has been a while since assembly, and the poor thing is waiting for me to get organized with airbrushing).

bob

Hi Bob - going from memory of my last bubble top build, where i did the same thing. The windscreen fitted OK. the gap overall is probably less than 1/2 mm ( 1/32nd of an inch thereabouts for you) so its not exactly the Grand Canyon ( unless you are a bacterium in which case its a gaping void that goes on endlessly into oblivion).

From what I can tell the Tempest has a similar wheel well undercut....

cheers

Jonners

[gingerbob]

Well, when I'm faced with the prospect of filling and sanding, I do sometimes feel a bit like a bacterium...

Now that you mention it, I may have made a false assumption about the similarity of Typhoon and Tempest wheel wells, but I bet they've got a strong family resemblance. There's been a photo-etch Mustang wheel well shown off lately- looks like the same approach would work well here, too.

bob

[Col.]

Impressive work as ever Jonners. Who needs aftermarket resin when you have plasicard and skill.

[Flying Badger]

Lovelly work so far.

You weren't tempted to make molds of those nice wheel wells for future use then?

Watching with interest.

TFB

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Lovelly work so far.

You weren't tempted to make molds of those nice wheel wells for future use then?

Watching with interest.

TFB

I kind of am, but the quality isnt good enough I feel to warrant it.

Plus I enjoy the building - so doing them again ( and better hopefully) next time will be part of the fun

Cheers

jonners

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Right - back on track after Telfordathon!

Wheel wells all together - and wiring, pipework and some extra details added using wire foil and plasticard. Ive also beefed up the UC actuator pistons, and added the V-shaped attachment struts using some of Albion Alloys excellent tubing ( a real must for jobs like this). The two compressed air(?) bottles are shaped form sprue with tape straps, and stretched sprue valves.

Still need to add UC leg brake line pipe work and few others bits'n bobs, but ostensibly I can move onto the cockpit.....

Cheers

Jonners

[Canuck63]

Outstanding work Jonners!A thread to follow with interest sice I'm planning one of these soon!

Cheers

Luigi Emanuele

[Warris]

Amazing work Jonners

Al

[Troy Smith]

We all know Jonner's knows his stuff, but may be of use to others, here's the prime portal Typhoon walkround link,

http://www.primeport...son2/typhoon_i/

only a couple of wheel well shots though, but shows the sterling work done by Mr JKT

the subject of Tempest wells came up, yes, same kind of basic well, the Tempest site has a few Tempest walkrounds, but some of them are missing various pipes and cables, specifically the RAF Hendon planes.

But, LA607 has all these gubbins still in place, so that's the one to use for reference

here - http://www.hawkertem...se/album/la607/

Enjoying this build

cheers

T

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

We all know Jonner's knows his stuff, but may be of use to others, here's the prime portal Typhoon walkround link,

http://www.primeport...son2/typhoon_i/

only a couple of wheel well shots though, but shows the sterling work done by Mr JKT

the subject of Tempest wells came up, yes, same kind of basic well, the Tempest site has a few Tempest walkrounds, but some of them are missing various pipes and cables, specifically the RAF Hendon planes.

But, LA607 has all these gubbins still in place, so that's the one to use for reference

here - http://www.hawkertem...se/album/la607/

Enjoying this build

cheers

T

Troy, its only thanks to the help from fellow BMers that I can pretend to know my stuff...

The Tiffie walkaround above is very useful for the wheel well shot - PIc 3. But I'll also post some other images I've found on T'Net - particularly of the forward spar - as that seems harder to find in many of the walkarounds.

cheers - glad you are enjoying it too

Jonners

[Oddball]

This is looking lovely Jonners, can't wait to see more. Are you going to detail the rear well too?

Odd.