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CMR 1/72 Hawker Nimrod Mk. II - completed


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Starting next project, Czech Master Resin Hawker Nimrod II. Neatly moulded in cream resin, with alternative fuselages and wheels for the FAA and Danish versions (including ski for the latter one), alternative horizontal tail surfaces and ordnance. All major struts are moulded from different material of lighter colour (the cabane struts are almost transparent), and these are the only parts with a few bubbles apparent. Additionally there is a small photo-etched set in the kit, dedicated entirely to the cockpit. The set was originally not present in my kit, I bought it later from the CMR guys separately.

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There are very interesting threads on several Nimrod construction aspects in the Interwar section, for example this one http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234981188-hawker-nimrod-ii-–-the-port-side-panel-lines/#comment-1974695, but there is even more to read. I intend to build the kit as K4620 from 801 Squadron, and it is evident I have to solve a few issues here. First K4620 was not equipped with the long exhaust tubes and the short stubs are not included in the kit. The headrest is missing on the available K4620 photographs, however I think this was a temporary measure only, and I will finish the kit with the headrest (because it looks far less sexy without it).

K4620.jpg

Then the K4620 decals in the kit contain an obvious mistake. The upperwing diamond marking is cranked in order to copy the swept wings, whereas in fact it was completely straight.

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And then the CMR Nimrod fuselage (in common with the other Fury/Nimrod kits) is a bit shorter than it should be. Fortunately – compared to the Granger drawings – the missing length is mainly in the rear part and will not be difficult to correct.

P4140005.jpg

Patrik

Edited by Patrik
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I built the CMR Nimrod Mk.I kit years ago and it was very nice indeed,......good luck with yours and enjoy yourself,

Cheers

            Tony

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started by cleaning the interior details and all the major parts (with inevitable bubbles popping up after sanding the leading edges of the wings) and straightening the bent fuselage halves with hair dryer on flat surface. This revealed unfortunately that the starboard half is quite smaller in height than the port one. The same both for the FAA and the Danish  fuselage - as they differ in fact just in a few small details, so the problem was most probably related to the original moulds.

 

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I tried to cure it using hot water - with no visible success. So given the "luxury" of two fuselage sets, I made a brave and (as it appears now) quite stupid attempt seen below. Regrettably the resin gave way just locally, resulting in a fuselage of correct size, albeit of rather wavy appearance.

 

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So it was back to the drawing board and the result can be seen below. I used the opportunity and widened the rather undernourished rear dorsal area at the same time too.

 

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Not much real modelling time last week, so I utilized the really short periods of time available to solve the Cerrux Grey enigma for me. Airfix (and others too) recommend Humbrol 129. I used it once in this role, but I was not fully satisfied - it is too dark, additionally with some kind of brownish tint that I do not like. So I did some internet research in this matter, however the discussions were not exactly conclusive. Moreover my choice was limited by my exclusive usage of hand-brush and enamel colours. But I found some useful tips anyway and decided to visit the local hobby shop and make my own tests using the spare fuselage halves.

My collection of light grey shades was enough to start the competition in a quarterfinal.

 

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The quarterfinal selection was based purely on "as in the tin" evaluation, naturally after mixing the colour thoroughly. In the end four made to the semi-final painting test - Humbrol (H)129 Satin US Gull Grey (once again), H166 Light Aircraft Grey and then Model Master (MM)1729 Gloss Gull Gray FS16440 and MM1730 Flat Gull Gray FS36440.

 

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The photo below is unfortunately not sufficiently illustrative, the colours look more or less all the same on it, so you must believe me, the differences are more apparent in natural light. H129 was once more a shade too dark, the same for MM1729. The latter is additionally really very glossy (here it is under two coats of flat varnish). So the final was a fair match between H166 and MM1730 and in the end MM1730 won. It is slightly lighter than H166 and H166 is a wee bit bluish. I admit the decision was based purely on subjective evaluation, both final colours are almost identical. The difference in contrast between the Cerrux Grey and the Aluminium parts is still a bit too large to my liking, but I hope this will end up better on the kit. The Revell 90 I use, always needs a couple of days to "mature" (=flatten) and there was no time to wait for it during the tests.

Patrik

 

P4300018.jpg

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The only difference between the two Model Master paints you tested out here should have only been the finish, the number one at the start of an FS number denoting Gloss where a three denotes matt. HERE is a link to the FS.595a/FS.595B page of the ipmsstockholm colour chart.

 

Gondor

 

 

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Interior started. The compass is scratch-build, the rest comes from the kit.

 

P5070006.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Busy office for such a small airplane. Most of it comes from the kit, I added the compass, the gun butts and the bulkhead behind the seat, which enabled quite an elegant solution of the seat harness anchoring.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some progress, not much of it really worth documenting. Fuselage halves joined, filled and sanded, meaning the majority of the cockpit assembly has been lost to the human eye forever.

The lower wing had zero dihedral, I cut it along the red lines, adjusted the angle and reinforced the joint with wire. It was also necessary to extend the plate behind the wing on the port side in order to avoid gap later.

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The small wing attachment struts were moulded in wrong positions, so I moved them back a bit.

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And the last two photos show the result of the fuselage extension mentioned in the first post.

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Otherwise I am fighting "asymmetries" on all fronts with this kit, much more than expected. Can it be the resin shrinks/expands irregularly over the years depending on its mass/thickness? I have bought the kit quite a long time ago.

Patrik

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Nice one !  I am looking forward to seeing the end results of this build.  I am tempted to buy this kit particularly as I noticed it comes with Danish markings, good luck with the rest of your build.

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Lower wing in place, filled, sanded, panel lines re-scribed. Next step - the radiator. I am going to improve the (originally empty) outlet with the fine mesh in the background. First time I use it, so hopefully it works fine.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Added the radiator, the empennage and some small details. More details will follow in next days, however the kit finally starts resembling the real beast.

 

P6300016.jpg

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I am watching this thread very closely.  As a big fan of short-run resin kits (I have built a few simple craft), between the wars aircraft, CMR kits and Hawker designs in general this is an excellent tutorial.  I have a ZORA resin Egyptian Hawker Hart that I will get to eventually.  This thread will teach me much.  Lovely beginning.

 

 

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Thanks a lot for the encouraging words. I just wish for a faster development, however I am afraid that unless I drop my job and leave my family, you will have to do with my cautious progress.

My thread here (and many more, I am sure) has been affected badly by the PB issue. I promise I am going to reconstruct at least this one within next few days. Now the post below uses postimage image hosting, boy, what a nice application. Simple, easy to use, no unasked-for extras,... Let's hope they stay so.

 

Today I was very happy the Kestrel is V-12 only, as I was in rather homicidal mood after the exhaust stub #12. Or better #13 because #12 disappeared mysteriously in the aircraft internals, in order to appear again only after #13 was manufactured and installed.

Patrik

 

P7080013.jpg 

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I reconstructed the thread, replacing the FPB links with postimage. Was not as that hard, but I am not sure I want to do this with all my past threads too. But well, winter is coming, one day I may have nothing else to do ...

Patrik

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Undercarriage installed. The legs are unfortunately the least elaborate parts of the kit. They are from very hard resin, not easy to work with at all, and with practically no details. I replaced the rather fragile resin axle by brass wire. The photo below shows all the details on the rear lover fuselage - of course the arrestor hook is there just for show, it will not be fixed prior painting.

I also updated the photos in the interlinked Interwar thread mentioned in the very first post here. Luckily I had all my Photobucket content archived on my computer HDD.

 

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Edited by Patrik
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Nimrod monoplane ready to be painted. Wheels are just temporary installation for the purpose of the photography.

Patrik

 

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  • 1 month later...

Finally some completed work to show here after the summer break. Fuselage painted with a few details that come later under the upper wing in place. The last picture shows the details on the lower side of the upper wing central plane. The missing fuels pipes will be added in later stage.

 

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Very nice work. The resin looks really lovely and appears to take paint beautifully.

 

Tell me, when cutting and sanding it, do you work with an extractor or in water as some folk suggest? Also, do you wear a respirator? I ask because I've recently bought some resin replacement components that I plan to use in a forthcoming build. I've not used it before but am aware of the carcinogenic qualities of resin dust, so am looking to find the safest method.

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I've been missing this, maybe it was the cmr label put me off, I'm not into resin, too spendy mainly but I can see now I've been missing a treat, it looks to be a beautifully molded kit & as its a plane I think particularly good looking, I'll be watching from now on. It is looking most excellent so far Patrik, the exhausts look superb, all 13 of them ;) :)

Steve.

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9 hours ago, Timmas said:

Very nice work. The resin looks really lovely and appears to take paint beautifully.

 

Tell me, when cutting and sanding it, do you work with an extractor or in water as some folk suggest? Also, do you wear a respirator? I ask because I've recently bought some resin replacement components that I plan to use in a forthcoming build. I've not used it before but am aware of the carcinogenic qualities of resin dust, so am looking to find the safest method.

Hi Timmas, I've worked on a few resin kits and parts and have used all three protection methods. For the small parts, it's wet'n'dry with water, sawing with a mask and big sanding jobs in my extractor.

 

Stuart

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