Caerbannog Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Hi, I like to enter my Academy Hunter which was started several years ago and got stuck short before painting. I do not quite remeber why it stopped there but will probably find out soon The underside is painted aluminum but will need more filler and sanding: I will choose the following decals/livery: I did a few "in progress pictures" which I will post later which show some of the conversions I did to backdate the Academy kit. Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 OK so here is the "update" which is actually just showing a bit of what I have done before (I just noticed that I took some of the pictures in 2011 - so it is longer on my bench than I thought - time really flies). To get the best possible fit at the wings to fuselage joint I attached the wings before I closed the fuselage. As you see there is no filler needed this way: It makes the filling and sanding of the intakes easier too. As I want to build an F.5 I had to do some conversions like backdating the wings from the sabretooth to a straight leading edge and deleting the empty shell collector pods. The latter one is rather easy as the pods are seperate from the fuselage. The bad thing is there are rather large attachment slots but no slots for the empty shell ejectors (not even a recessed line which indicates them). So the big slot had to be filled and the location of the emtpy shell ejectors had to be figured out which caused some headache (I had quite some trouble finding pictures or drawings of Hunters without the shell collectors). I hope I got it right in the end. The ejctors were then scratched using sheet styrene and any filling was done with super glue. One item which could really use an aftermarket replacement is the part which also includes the front wheel well. There is one aftermarket set that I know of which includes this part but from what I saw in pictures it is just as bad. The muzzles are way too shallow so I had to scratchbuild these as well. I am not too happy with the result but they are still a lot better than what is included in the kit: Below is my converted wing. Such a straight wing is readily available from Heritage together with other nice and useful Hunter stuff btw. But the conversion is not that difficult IMHO. And finally the changes on the tail and some more on the intakes: Apart from the changes shown above I installed an Aires Cockpit (the kit tub is not deep enough and the ejection seat is way too small and really must be replaced). Other aftermarket bits which will be used are Aeroclub vac canopy and white metal u/c including wheels and a set of Montex masks for the canopy. Meanwhile I have done some more filling and sanding. The next days I will start painting. So far for the plan... Rene 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 This is one I'll watch, I have an F6 all painted ready for decals, but my Jordanian decals broke up! I might enter that one if I can get replacements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 This is one I'll watch, I have an F6 all painted ready for decals, but my Jordanian decals broke up! I might enter that one if I can get replacements I do not remeber - are these decals included in the Academy sheet? I can send it to you. Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Rene, having carried out that amount of modification, this is well worth ressurecting. I look forward to seeing it finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Wonderful choice of project Rene and everything you've done so far looks good. The 263 squadron nose device is seldom seen but nice. Remember to add the other four ejector holes behind the slots before you start painting again 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Wonderful choice of project Rene and everything you've done so far looks good. The 263 squadron nose device is seldom seen but nice. Remember to add the other four ejector holes behind the slots before you start painting again Thanks Col. Err - "263 squadron nose device"? And which "other" four ejector holes? So there must be eight in total??? Sorry for my ignorance ;-) Rene Edit: I found the other four slots on a drawing from a SAM magazine (April 2004) but I still have no clue about the 263 squadron nose device... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I do not remeber - are these decals included in the Academy sheet? I can send it to you. Rene No they were from an cutting edge sheet, which I was given by a BM member, unfortunately they broke up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 So I added the 4 additional slots and painted the underside. Next step will be preshading the upper side and do the camo then: Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Rene, please accept my apologies for not replying, didn't read your post until now. Glad to see you found a reference for the extra slots. The aircraft featured on the front of the decal sheet instructions is from 263 squadron and a choice I've not seen modelled often. Is that the one you are doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoshenko Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Looking good. Like the innovative approach for the intakes. What paint did you use for the high speed silver finish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Rene, please accept my apologies for not replying, didn't read your post until now. Glad to see you found a reference for the extra slots. The aircraft featured on the front of the decal sheet instructions is from 263 squadron and a choice I've not seen modelled often. Is that the one you are doing? No problem - I think the rearmost four turned out a tad too big but I am not sure and either way I will not change anything about them now. Yes I will do WP 108 from 263 squadron. A Hunter F.5 without Sabrinas and with the straight leading edge. Nothing against Sabrinas but I liked the clean lines on this decal option :-) Looking good. Like the innovative approach for the intakes. What paint did you use for the high speed silver finish? Thanks. The High Speed silver is from XtraColour, but it does not look very different from Revell 99 Aluminum or other Aluminum colours. From my understanding there was no paint standard for High Speed Silver - it was an aluminum paint with glossy finish. Rene 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 I have a started trainer conversion somewhere. I like your approach to the wing & intakes. I have many like this, I have no idea why I just stopped them. Great start anyway. I hope it goes well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 All of a sudden I made some progress last weekend: The camouflage is painted and the main decals (less stenciling) are applied (sorry for the lousy pics - I really need some photo lights): I did not correct the tail issues as I wanted to get ahead - besides I think the horizontals are in the correct position and only the tail cone is too long. Surely now I wonder if I should not have corrected the tail cone and the blanking plates... The decals for the "fin flash" (the red one which is shaped like a flash I mean) is made of three sepereate layers and aligning them is areal pain. Honestly I suppose it is not really possible to get them absolutely right. Rene 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Good progress Rene Only thing I'd correct is to continue the camouflage colours back to the splitter plate inside the air intakes. The multi-layered decals are looking grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Looks good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks you two - the issue with the intake colour settled it - I will try to correct the tail too. I start to remember why I abandoned the build for so long. I need to fill the starbord trim tap too which is much less work now that I have to repaint other areas anyway... Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 OK after completeing my EE Lightning I am back on the Hunter: As I have to partially repaint the intakes I took the opportunity to even out the step between fuselage and intakes. So I masked the fuselage and leveled the step with Milliput. Some sanding and they can be painted correctly: I have read that the tail planes and the tail cone are positioned too far backwards. But from what I see on pictures and as mentioned above I think the tailplanes are in the right place and the tail cone is only too long. So I removed some milimeters from the middle of the tail cone as shown: Finally I copied the blanking plates between fin and tail planes to thin plastic card (I used playing cards for this): So off to some sanding... Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Nice work on the corrections Rene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Edging ever closer to perfection Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Nice work on the mods 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacks VF-102 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks. Some pics of the corrected areas: In addition to the Aeromaster decals I bought the Hunter decals from Flightpath UK for their crip serials only: They are just 3 Pounds and include decals for four Hunters (I think) plus complete stencils which are better than the kit decals: David J. Parkins did a great job and does excellent service. The Aeromaster sheet has a mistake with the underwing serials (I am quite sure though I have no underwing pics of this very Hunter). Earlier Hunters had them in one line and not in two as per sheet. Problem is: Aeromaster cut the serials in several single pieces which basically fit around and over the u/c covers. A good thing as it safes you from cutting the decals up yourself. But: As said - early Hunters had a different layout: And this is what the Hunter looked last evening: So - the end is neigh. Rene 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Great to see more progress on this one Rene. Alas your Hunter had the later style double row underwing serials. F.1 & 2 certainly had single rows but the 4 & 5 had provision for inner wing pylons and this was the reason for the shift to the double row presentation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Nice work with the decals 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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