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Oldie build: Typhoon Mk1b (Ex Frog)


Oddball

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I picked this kit up as part of a random bundle online, worked out it cost me about a quid, which in modern terms is probably about 50p more than it's worth. :whistle:

 

It's a reboxing of the old (old old OLD) Frog kit, with some fresh decals, no interior, and bits missing. And terrible fit, and terrible detail. But, it's a kit, therefore it can be built. I'll try my best to correct as much of the fit issue as I go, and add a rudimentary seat and instrument panel. And I'll need to scratch the radiator as that part is missing. So, let us see what can be done. I've put the wings together, cut off all the locator pegs on the fuselage as they were slightly off centre, and added a plastic disc to the rear of the spinner as there was a bit of a size difference between it and the nose. Now on to the seat.

 

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Maybe it's just me, but the red on the decals seems just a little too bright, or slightly the wrong shade, what do you guys reckon?

Edited by Oddball
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Middling progress, the beginnings of a cockpit going together from sheet and rod. I'm not too worried about the finer details, the canopy glass is so thick it'll probably blur everything anyway. And I've cut away the rear of the radiator cowl and started scribing the flap. Or I may add a new one from sheet depending how it looks.

 

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Edited by Oddball
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It certainly looks like classic Frog territory! I like your cockpit mods too. The rockets look like a challenge though. The red in the roundels looks a bit lilac/pinkish to me but I'd be happy to put them on. Looking forward to seeing what you do!

 

Regards,

Adrian

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I built a genuine FROG version not that long ago. The kit hails from 1974 which I don't look on as THAT old (old to me are kits from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s). It is definitely fairly crude but FROG kits actually fitted pretty well. The problem is with the Russian and Eastern European re-pops as their moulding standards were often not as high as FROG's and the plastic tends to be softer.

 

The main area I found poor on the FROG Typhoon was their representation of fabric on the rudder. The detail shown made the rudder look like it had been covered in very rough sacking rather than taut, doped linen. I filled all that detail, sanded it down and replaced the ribbing lines with thin tape. The undercarriage is also poor as FROG seemed not to care too much about that area of an aircraft.

 

I replaced the canopy with a Falcon vacform one and I used an Airwaves etch cockpit interior (which ended up being pretty much invisible).

 

I liked the end result and I had a nice car door version in my collection.

 

This FROG Typhoon replaced a much earlier and even cruder kit which was one of the first models I ever made as a kid.

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4 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

I built a genuine FROG version not that long ago. The kit hails from 1974 which I don't look on as THAT old (old to me are kits from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s). It is definitely fairly crude but FROG kits actually fitted pretty well. The problem is with the Russian and Eastern European re-pops as their moulding standards were often not as high as FROG's and the plastic tends to be softer.

 

The main area I found poor on the FROG Typhoon was their representation of fabric on the rudder. The detail shown made the rudder look like it had been covered in very rough sacking rather than taut, doped linen. I filled all that detail, sanded it down and replaced the ribbing lines with thin tape. The undercarriage is also poor as FROG seemed not to care too much about that area of an aircraft.

 

I replaced the canopy with a Falcon vacform one and I used an Airwaves etch cockpit interior (which ended up being pretty much invisible).

 

I liked the end result and I had a nice car door version in my collection.

 

This FROG Typhoon replaced a much earlier and even cruder kit which was one of the first models I ever made as a kid.

I think you'll find that this is actually that older kit with the bubble canopy, Eric. The later Typhoon as you said was the 'car door' model and had a very different layout to this, plus much more detail (for the time anyway).

 

It looks like the moulds have definitely gone down hill - not surprising really. I built a Novoexport version of this kit in wine-red entirely glue-resistant plastic, and it didn't have half the mould flaws around the wing roots on the fuselage. Rust on the moulds?

 

Good luck with this! I seem to recall the shape is actually pretty accurate, it's just a question of thrashing something good out of it! Where's Chris Thomas when you need him...?

 

BW

 

Chris

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Yes, that's the 1959-vintage Frog we're seeing here.  The giveaway is the kit number moulded on the stub in the picture.

 

Though not shown in the pictures, I think it was a car door type with the later perspex canopy aft section.  I seem to recall it had no wheel wells, common for the time.  The contemporary Airfix kit seemed better (though its canopy needed replacing).

 

The second Frog effort was all-new and came out in 1975.  I suspect its quality leap-frogged, as it were, the Airfix kit.

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Yep, she is a golden oldie, but I'm hoping with a little perseverence and a nice lick of paint she'll still turn some heads. We shall see.

 

As regards to the undercarriage, there is no detail whatsoever. The wings are molded with the doors closed, with two slots to place the seperate doors if you want to do a gear down example. I was going to open them up and add the bays but I have a cunning plan for doing an "in flight" presentation, something I haven't done before.

 

So where are we up to now? The cockpit is more or less done, dry fitting shows that precious little will be seen already so adding any more detail would be pointless. I could go down the "I know it's there" route, but I won't. The RP's have been removed from their rails and a couple of new ones cobbled together from 1mm rod (the real ones are 3in so close enough) and some HVAR's I had in the spares box. And I've made a start on the control column.

 

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Loving this!  I had planned to detail up this kit and the old Airfix one, just for fun; then sanity returned! 

 

One thing I was going to do was rook the Academy kit for some extra detail in the cockpit area.  No such half-measures for you!  I look forward to seeing how it turns out. 

 

Regards

 

Martin

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18 hours ago, English Electric said:

I think you'll find that this is actually that older kit with the bubble canopy, Eric. The later Typhoon as you said was the 'car door' model and had a very different layout to this, plus much more detail (for the time anyway).

 

It looks like the moulds have definitely gone down hill - not surprising really. I built a Novoexport version of this kit in wine-red entirely glue-resistant plastic, and it didn't have half the mould flaws around the wing roots on the fuselage. Rust on the moulds?

 

Good luck with this! I seem to recall the shape is actually pretty accurate, it's just a question of thrashing something good out of it! Where's Chris Thomas when you need him...?

 

BW

 

Chris

I see.

 

That original FROG Typhoon really was crude. I don't think it even had wheel wells.

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On 18/10/2017 at 8:11 AM, Eric Mc said:

I see.

 

That original FROG Typhoon really was crude. I don't think it even had wheel wells.

 

You're spot on there. This is the underside of the wings, as you can see there are two slots for the undercarriage doors should you wish to model it gear down, but that's it. No other detail whatsoever.

 

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Now, my biggest headache by far was always going to be the wingroots. They are way too thick, leaving a massive ridge all around the wing base when it is attached. It also seems that the slots for the wing insets are just the slightest bit too far back and high. However, it's proving to be not quite the nightmare I was imagining. Some careful use of a sanding stick and assorted round files and we're looking much better. As you can see, the left has been reprofiled, compared to the original on the right.

 

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And what's this? A thing with some things. All will become clear with time.

 

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I remember the Frog/Novo Seahawk. No wheel well, moulded in pilots head and raised lines to help place the decals. It does have the reputation of being  the most accurately shaped kit of the Seahawk though.

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Oddball!

 

Some good old fashioned modelling going on here. That ‘thing’ in the last photo.....are you using it as a mould for wheel hubs?

 

As for undercarriage in general my understanding is that those for a Tiffie were essentially beefed-up Hurricane units, so if you have a spare set anywhere they could be adapted.

 

Trevor

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Work progresses at a blistering pace! Well not really, I wish I could really get down to an all weekend modelling bender like in the old days before responsibility and parenthood and all that jazz. Ah well, roll on retirement!

 

Anyway, adding what looks like a gun button to the control column, and I've almost sorted the wing roots now. I'll need to see them in primer to make sure but I think they're good to go. First coat of interior green has been slathered on with a hairy stick and is in the process of drying.

 

On 20/10/2017 at 8:39 AM, Max Headroom said:

Some good old fashioned modelling going on here. That ‘thing’ in the last photo.....are you using it as a mould for wheel hubs?

 

Mmm not quite, here's another pic, it's starting to take form now.

 

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Nice work! Those decals look like they will break up upon the slightest contact with water. Microscale Liquid decal Film may well be your friend here.

 

Martian

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  • 1 month later...

Whew, it's been a fair old while. Sorry for the lack of progress updates, work has been rammed solid over the festive season. Haven't had a minute to myself in ages.

 

So things are once again progressing fairly smoothly. I've managed to get the fuselage halves together, all that cutting and measuring paid off, the "radiator" only needed a small adjustment, the cockpit fits like it was included in the box. I've added a bit of plastic sheet behind the seat armour, as that bit is completely open on the kit, instead of being a part of the fuselage, and I needed to add a little plastic to the exhaust openings as they were slightly too long. The halves also went together with minimal sanding, there was a very small seam here and there, but honestly I've seen worse fit on a few more recent kits. I've filled the few gaps with putty, and once it's cured I'll be sanding down and then hopefully putting the wings on.

 

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It was a tempting prospect I must admit, I was even thinking about getting some resin ones, but then I'd have to get new wheels and gear legs, the gear doors have a peg to glue the wheels to, no legs at all. The only aftermarket I've bought for it is the quickboost exhaust pipes, as the ones I tried to scratch came out horribly. Plus I've never actually built a wheels up kit in all my years of modelling.

 

Slight disaster, I've just realised the slot for the radiator flap that I cut out is a bit too short. Corrections will be made shortly.

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The old Frog Bubble cockpit Typhoon was the first kit I ever built.  Maybe 6,7,8 at the time.  I. Have been struggling to achieve that level of quality ever since...

 

Good luck with your build, it's coming on really nicely, though I do miss the fact that you could look down the radiator and out through the canopy..  😀

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Opened up the chin slot for the radiator flap a little more, and stuck the wings to the sides. Almost seamless, but there are a couple of small gaps waiting to be filled. The work I put in on the wingroots has really paid off, they're almost exactly flush. I've also cut out slots for the wingtip marker lights and using clear sprue which will be sanded down then polished, hopefully they'll come up nicely.

 

Those resin exhaust pipes look lovely, so much nicer than the kit parts.

 

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