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Two 1/72 Typhoons from Brengun and Airfix with D-day markings - Cockpit done


Basilisk

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As I am building a car door Tiffy in 1/48, I thought some bubble canopy Typhoons will be a nice addition. Build two and three for this GB are therefor two 1/72 Typhoons with D-day markings (or what's left of it).

The first of the duo is Typhoon Mk.IB PR-M from No.609 Squadron operated from Thorney Island on 6 June 1944. It is interesting that in the Osprey book it has the serial MR131 and on the Xtradecal sheet MR130 - what is correct?

Typhoon-MN131-PF.jpg

Unfortunately the only picture I found is of rather poor quality - but better than nothing.

Typhoon-MN131-1.jpg

But it shows that the D-day stripes are crudely painted on by brush or broom!

I will use the Brengun kit for MR131. It is the late type boxing, but the plastic also contains a three bladed prop and short chord Typhoon tail plane which is correct for MR131.

MN131-1.jpg

This will be a OOB build as I build in 1/72 scale mainly to show camouflage and marking variations using the markings from Xtradecal 179.

The second in the duo is a late production Tiffy Mk.IB MN716 F3-A from No.438 Squadron (RCAF) operated from Eindhoven during mid-October 1944

Typhoon-MN716-PF.jpg

There is an excellent picture available for this aircraft.

Typhoon-MN716-1.jpg

The Airfix kit will provide the parts for this build - a four bladed prop and the Tempest large tail plane. I also build it OOB with decals from Aviaeology 143 Wing decal sheet.

MN716-1.jpg

I started this kit two years ago, but very little was done on it.

It will be interesting to see how the Brengun and Airfix kit compare.

Cheers, Peter

Edited by Basilisk
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This will make for an interesting comparison between the two kits indeed as well as resulting in a pair of excellent models of a great aircraft.

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I have the Brengun Mark1B early in my to do pile along with the CMR Prototype. Does the later Brengun have the fishplates on the tail? Or will you use the Airfix tail ?

Ray

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I've built the early Brengun Typhoon -- lovely kit, but the fit of the wings over the gear bays was execrable, and the early cockpit had a flat base that didn't sit properly on the curve of the fuselage.

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I have the Brengun Mark1B early in my to do pile along with the CMR Prototype. Does the later Brengun have the fishplates on the tail? Or will you use the Airfix tail ?

Ray

Ray, No fishplates on this kit either. The aircraft I build has the original Typhoon tail plane, so I can't use it from the Airfix kit as this is the larger Tempest tail plane. Have to come up with another way to show the fishplates.

I've built the early Brengun Typhoon -- lovely kit, but the fit of the wings over the gear bays was execrable, and the early cockpit had a flat base that didn't sit properly on the curve of the fuselage.

Thanks for the warnings. I haven't reached this stages yet in my build.

I Airbrushed the internal colours on the Brengun kit this week.

Typhoon-MN131-4.jpg

And on the Airfix kit.

Typhoon-MN716-3.jpg

Here a comparison of the wheel wells from the two kits.

Typhoon-MN716-4.jpg

Things are now ready for detailing and weathering before the parts co together.

Cheers, Peter

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Looking good Peter.

I am just about ready to put my airfix tiffie in the bin so your build could save it

Rob

No! Don't bin your Typhoon Rob. What's worst with it?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finished seven cockpit in total over the weekend :thumbsup:

Cockpits.jpg

And the two Typhoons had been part of it! Here the Brengun kit.Typhoon-MN131-5.jpg

Here the IP is painted.

Typhoon-MN131-6.jpg

The Brengun cockpit is nicely detailed and gives the busy look in the cramp cockpit.

And here Airfix.

Typhoon-MN716-5.jpg

The Airfix kit has a simpler cockpit, but I think it looks nicer - even with the provided IP decal.

Typhoon-MN716-6.jpg

Both kits have different approaches and both represent the busy look of the Typhoon cockpit well. They are both OOB with the exception of the eduard Super Fabric Seatbelts.

Cheers, Peter

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Peter, For the early tailplane on the Brengun Typhoon could you cut thin decal paper or plastic card to the shape of the fishplates.

Ray

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Hello Ray. I was thinking to use the thin plastic card. If that looks too hefty, masking tape is another option. I think decals are too thin. I will have to experiment first. But still a bit to do before I reach that stage.

Cheers, Peter

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No progress on the Airfix kit this week, but I spent some time on the Brengun kit thinning down the wing trailing edge as it is very thick.

Typhoon-MN131-7.jpg

Looks much better now.

Typhoon-MN131-8.jpg

I removed the guns as I will use Master replacements. The wing needs still lots of work rescribing some panel lines. But the fuselage can be closed soon.

Typhoon-MN131-9.jpg

Cheers, Peter

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Little progress this week on the Typhoons. When I wanted to close the fuselage, I realized that I forgot to fit the tail wheels.

Typhoon-MN131-10.jpg

The Brengun tail wheel placement was rather odd and I needed to change it to have it similarly placed to the Airfix kit.

Hopefully more next week.

Cheers, Peter

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  • 1 month later...

As I was unable to work on my builds for most of March due to illness, I will be unable to finish this model in the time-frame of this GB, but I will continue to post my progress here and when finished post some pictures in the RFI section.

Cheers, Peter

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes I do. Thanks for asking Patrice. And most of the other stuff I had to do are finally done, so I have some time to work on my models again :yahoo:

I actually managed to spend a bit of time on these two and should have some updates by Monday.

Cheers, Peter

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have finally some progress to show :D

I got the two Typhoons to a stage where the two kits do have a similar look - within the limits of the kits.

Typhoon-MN716-7.jpg

Typhoon-MN716-8.jpg

Typhoon-MN716-9.jpg

Typhoon-MN716-10.jpg

Typhoon-MN716-11.jpg

Typhoon-MN716-12.jpg

Both kits have cannons from Masters which is particularly a must for the Brengun kit as they don't line up properly.

And I did manage to do a fair bit of damage when pushing a shroud over the wings with a scalpel handle and slipped :( But fortunately nothing which filler couldn't fix.

Typhoon-MN716-13.jpg

Both kits capture the look of the Typhoon well, but the Brengun kit does need more work as most of the panel lines need to be re-scribed. But the parts fit surprisingly well, which I didn't find the case with the Airfix kit as the fuselage to wing joint in particular needed a lot of persuasion! As a positive, it was the first new tool Airfix kit I have seen with a very thin wing trailing edge!

Unfortunately both kits have some mistakes which are difficult to correct.

The missing fishplates on the Brengun kit aren't hard to fix. I cut them out from a strip of styrene with a gouge.

Typhoon-MN716-16.jpg

The end result looked not too bad and it was all done in 30 minutes.

Typhoon-MN716-17.jpg

But the mistakes hard to correct are noticeable when looking head-on.

Typhoon-MN716-14.jpg

The Brengun kit has the air filter way too high in the opening which is a bit too large as well. Fixable with a lot of work.

But an error nearly impossible to fix is the undersized thickness of the wings on the Airfix kit (compared to the correct wings on the Brengun kit).

This is specially noticeable when the cannons are fitted!

Typhoon-MN716-15.jpg

One other aspect which can do with some rework are the engine panel fasteners. Brengun has them way too large (more like 1/48 scale) and Airfix has them at wrong locations and too many of them!!!

Typhoon-MN716-18.jpg

So I decided to correct them both and make them look similar.

Typhoon-MN716-19.jpg

You can judge if it was wort the effort.

Here is a list of the kits shortcomings.

Brengun:

- No Fishplates

- Air Filter location looking odd

- Cockpit vents on the large side

- Representation of engine panel fasteners too large

- Many panel lines need to be re-scribed

- No navigation lights

Airfix:

- Wings too thin

- Fit not the best

- Cockpit vents too small

- Representation of engine panel fasteners at wrong places and too many.

- No landing and navigation lights

I have to say that I was surprised to discover that the Airfix wing is way too thin as I haven't seen it mentioned in any of the reviews and builds I read. But all in all, I am pleased how they both look.

The kits will be ready for a cote of primer after I fitted the landing and navigation lights.

Cheers, Peter

PS. I just noticed that a PE cannon shroud is missing on the Airfix kit! I washed the kits with Windex prior of taking the pictures. I do that by pouring some Windex in a container and then pour it back in the Windex bottle after done - and I found the missing shroud in the Windex bottle :o

Edited by Basilisk
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Good to see these two moving forward :thumbsup:

The list of faults in both kits is unfortunate and also the first time I've seen many of them mentioned.

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