PK-117 Hawker Hunter T.7 - 'Blue Diamonds’ - ** FINISHED **

[Rabbit Leader]

Whilst waiting for the Tempest to dry, I've made the cardinal sin and thought about starting another kit before the first one is finished!! 

I promise not to start this one until I have at least one in the Gallery, however I felt that I needed to commit to my next build - so this is it. 

Should time permit, I plan to enter a Purple range kit (Tempest), one from the Orange range and possibly an aircraft kit from the Red range as well.  

The Orange range choice wasn't easy as I have quite a few great kits to choice from. Strong contenders were the Wellesley, Norseman and Skyknight, however this boxing of the Hunter was too good to resist. 

 

Now let's be honest - the Matchbox Hunter is not the most accurate of Hunters out there.

As T.7's go - apart from the Xtrakit version (expensive and hard to come by), and a pricey conversion to convert the (now) pricey Revell kit - this is the only other 1/72 Hunter T.7 out there. 

I have roughly placed some of the kits parts alongside a set of Warpaint plans and surprisingly, they don't look that bad. The front windscreen is quite mis-shapen and the exhaust is horrible, The wing shape appears out and the leading edge dogtooth is in the wrong spot - however (hopefully) it'll all look like a Hunter by the time I'm finished with it.

 

IMO - the kits strong points are its relatively minimal trench lines, detailed wheels (probably the best I've seen) and that lovely smooth Matchbox plastic. The Blue Diamonds decals are also a bonus and gave me the inspiration to add another colourful aerobatic model to my collection. 

 

I'll park this WIP for a while until the Tempy is finished. 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevej60]

Excellent choice Dave the variation in kit's is amazing in this GB and still over three month's to Go! Look forward to progress when you make a start.

[tonyot]

Nice choice Dave,

                       Always liked the Blue Diamond scheme,......here are some pics that I took a few years ago of of the Hunter at Elvington, Yorkshire in the UK,....looking a bit faded but I hope they can be of some use;

 

 

 

Good luck mate,

                      Tony

Edited November 18, 2017 by tonyot

[Rabbit Leader]

I appreciate these photo's Tony... thanks very much. 

I've read elsewhere that this Blue Diamond's 'Blue' is a match for BS381-108 which may be a close match for Humbrol 25?

I'll have to spend a little more time researching this the closer I get to the build.

The Matchbox instructions just mention BS108 with no model paint equivalent, so they are not much help either.

 

Cheers.. Dave   

[Dermo245]

Looking forward to this one! 

[tonyot]

5 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I appreciate these photo's Tony... thanks very much. 

I've read elsewhere that this Blue Diamond's 'Blue' is a match for BS381-108 which may be a close match for Humbrol 25?

I'll have to spend a little more time researching this the closer I get to the build.

The Matchbox instructions just mention BS108 with no model paint equivalent, so they are not much help either.

 

Cheers.. Dave   

No worries Dave,

                        Here are some period colour pics of the real team,....I think the blue started off quite dark with the team and became lighter over the following years;

 

The unit retained the Hunter T.7, XL571 into the Lightning era as a unit hack;

 

All the best

                Tony

 

PS,....this thread might be of interest;

 

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by tonyot

[Rabbit Leader]

Awesome photos and link there Tony - these are all very helpful, but also extremely tempting for me to make a start on this kit!!! 

That link mentions a Halfords 'Fiat Capri' rattle can that I won’t be able to obtain, however it also mentions Revell’s #51 Ultramarine Blue - this may be a little more getable. 

 

These series of photos are all clear and really show up the beautiful lines of the Hunter. It also highlights just how smooth the external skin was so that’s my queue to remove the kits panel lines and probably not even bother about rescribing these in later. I’d be happy with that. 

 

Once again - extreme thanks.. Dave. 

 

 

 

[Arniec]

Good luck with your build. I have got the same boxint, so will be watching how it goes.

 

Cheers,

[Rabbit Leader]

9 hours ago, Arniec said:

Good luck with your build. I have got the same boxint, so will be watching how it goes.

 

Cheers,

Arnold, 

After pestering you to see if you wanted to sell yours, I managed to track down this Blue Diamonds box plus the original edition only a relatively short distance away from where I live. 

So now I have four 1/72 Hunters - these two plus both F.6 and FGA.9 Revell kits. What's the bet Airfix will now announce an all bells and whistles singing Hunter for 2018!!

  

IMO any two seat version of a single seat fighter spoils the overall look of the original aircraft, however I think those canny lads at Hawkers got the twin seat Hunter just right.  

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

[rafalbert]

Excellent stuff, I love this kit even with it's issues. Good choice sir!

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #1 

 

Although I really didn't want to start this kit before my Tempest was in the GB Gallery, it made sense to initiate this build whilst enjoying an end of year family beachside holiday.

You see - the good wife allowed me to pack a small box of modelling stuff, however firmly refused any thought of taking my airbrush, compressor and all those smelly liquids I like to use - fair enough I suppose. So this is what my temporary workbench looked like for a week. Anyway - let's get on with the build.

 

 

The Matchbox Hunter comes with multiple parts to either make a single seat fighter version (FGA.9) or Twin Seat Trainer (T.7).

As a consequence of the parts breakdown, neither version appears to have been captured correctly with the single seat version looking quite horrible to my eye. The T.7 though is quite workable and I think a few tweaks here and there will (hopefully) create a passing replica. This photo shows the main parts taped together and like most Matchbox kits the overall fit appears to be good. It'll no doubt need filler and those typical trench lines won't be staying, but she looks like a Twin Tub Hunter all right.

 

 

Let's be honest, Matchbox failed to successfully capture the proper shape of the rear exhaust jetpipe brake parachute fairing. There's some evidence of this being moulded, however it's not very convincing. As Quickboost make an AM Resin plug-in version designed for the Revell FGA.9 kit, I decided to steal the plastic parts from a Revell kit (easier to work with) and then buy the resin job to replace the one I pinched. I roughly measured the rear fuse to determine where I needed to cut and then hacked away to end up looking like this.

 

 

Once glued, the Revell jetpipe was placed in situ and as things would have it the two fuselage diameters didn't match - the Matchbox kit was quite thin and oval shaped in comparison to the Revell's more circular cross section. I was expecting better, however was happy enough to cement it all in place and attack it with some 400 grit wet n' dry once it was all bonded together.   

 

 

The kit's Undercarriage bays are also completely empty with no sign of any structure whatsoever. Thankfully though, there is a thick-ish plastic ridge on the inside lower wing which surrounds the wheel well cut-out. This will be used as a guide to build up a plastic card structure and help box in this otherwise open area. The photo below shows this being made, the walls on the left have been sanded down to size, whilst the ones on the right have yet to see the rough end of the sanding stick.   

 

 

A little more progress. In this view the Revell exhaust has now been sanded to blend in with the Matchbox fuselage. Overall it's worked out reasonably well.

Some thin plastic strips have also been added to various areas of the wheel well walls. These have now all been cut down to size and I'll apply a thin sheet of plastic card over the top to create the boxed in look I'm trying to capture. I have also assembled the fuselage and sanded it smooth. There appears to be something not quite right with the section just behind the cockpit, however I'm still scratching my head trying to work out how this can be rectified. The top and side of the forward fuselage appear too flat in comparison with the 'double bubble' fuselage shape shown in the photos above. I've also left out the kits simplistic cockpit for now, however this will be modified and used as a base. I hate cockpits so doing this later is a real bonus for me.     

 

 

So that's about it for now. I'm hoping that I've tackled two of the kit's major issues and that the rest of this kit will come together fairly quickly.

No doubt I'll get bogged down somewhere else and it'll end up as another plastic fight till the very end.

That's a good queue to take a break from modelling, crack open another XXXX and enjoy the views and sunshine of the Noosa Heads beachfront. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

  

[stevej60]

Excellent work Dave,Hope you enjoyed the beach,I was there yesterday there was a bit less sunshine and the surfer's were breaking the ice

off their board's(and yet they still go out) they were hanging ten,walking the nose and generally freezing to death one of the Beach Boy's

lesser hit's

Edited December 16, 2017 by stevej60

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Nice to see you got some bench time when you were away, and nice boardies! 

[Rabbit Leader]

OK - How frustrating is this latest Flickr Issue??? - Anyway, I think I've resolved it, however it's making me pull out what little hear I have left on my ed'!! 

 

Update #2 

 

So, back to the Hunter. 

Before I head off to the In-Laws Out-Laws place for a hot and steamy Christmas Lunch, I thought it best I post some progress on this Hunter build.

After studying many photographs of two seat Hunters I noticed that there is a real lack of "double Bubble" demarcation just aft of the canopy. A quick look at Tony O'Toole's accompanying photographs will hopefully tell a better story.

 

The Matchbox kit is quite flat in this region and it was really annoying me that this feature was not faithfully represented. Therefore, I decided to experiment and build this up with a few scalloped pieces of scrap plastic. I then sanded this down to blend these raised areas in with the rest of the fuselage contours in the 'hope' that I could improve what the kit lacks. It was given a quick coat of Tamiya primer and to be honest, I'm not sure it's had much effect. Anyway, I'll continue on with the build and possibly re-visit this issue later.

 

Here's some belated progress pics and if I get a chance between Christmas and the wife's Birthday on Boxing day (How rude - it always interrupts me watching the Melbourne Test Match!), I'll post some further photographs here. Let's hope Flickr gets fixed soon enough.

 

Cheers and Merry Christmas... Dave     

 

 

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #3 and the last for 2017! 

 

In between celebrating Christmas, watching too much cricket, chatting about Bristol Bombay's (?) and spending a few hours at work - some progress has continued with this Hunter build. 

The main parts have now been assembled and cleaned up somewhat. The kits rather heavy panel lines have all been filled and sanded and I have limited the rescribe to just one small area on the wings.

Photographs of real Hunters show that the overall airframe is quite clean, so I settled on a smooth finish to limit the chances of bodging this up and to (hopefully) help capture the beautiful lines of the Twin Tub Hunter.

 

I also took the easy option and placed a thin piece of plastic card over the already shallow Nose gear recess, however the main gear wells have been boxed in and some plastic strip added to emulate a little detail. The canopy is not fixed as yet as I still need to decide what to do to smarten up the cockpit. Matchbox provide a cockpit insert with moulded seats. It's pretty basic by most standards, however I will use it as a rough base and add some detail to improve things a bit.

 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year and the best of modelling luck for 2018.

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ventora3300]

Dave, this Hunter is looking sleek - another quality build in the making. Looks like cleaning up and polishing is part of your normal modus operandus! (Pardon my Latin). Also, you're doing an excellent job on keeping the list of the builds going - it really highlights the scale of the Matchbox GB for me and it seems the be encouraging all the BM community out there to fill any gaps. All the best to you too as we hurtle towards another New Year and more modelling fun! Regards, Mike.

[Pete in Lincs]

As sleek as a freshly oiled sleek thing.

Cockpit wise, it's pretty much all black.

I think green backpads/cushions and the

'hood' ejection handles are about all you can see.

The wheel wells have a prominent chrome 'spike' in

the middle to centre/steady the mainwheel.

(Always something to avoid when working in there. Ask me how I know)

[Rabbit Leader]

14 hours ago, Ventora3300 said:

Looks like cleaning up and polishing is part of your normal modus operandus! (Pardon my Latin).

Also, you're doing an excellent job on keeping the list of the builds going - it really highlights the scale of the Matchbox GB for me and it seems the be encouraging all the BM community out there to fill any gaps. 

Thanks Mike, 

I find that a good old polish really helps the overall smoothness of the finished product.

I'm definitely not a subscriber to roughing up plastic so that the paint's got something to bite into, although I usually use lacquer paints which do enough biting on their own.  

I'm glad you appreciate the Matchbox GB build list. I had no idea it would grow to over 115 builds and only today a Voodoo project has appeared out of nowhere?

It's so good to see all these kits being built here, I only wish that I could find time to build a few more. I'll save some for next years list of GB's!

 

13 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Cockpit wise, it's pretty much all black. I think green backpads/cushions and the 'hood' ejection handles are about all you can see.

The wheel wells have a prominent chrome 'spike' in the middle to centre/steady the mainwheel.

(Always something to avoid when working in there. Ask me how I know)

Thanks Pete, so I take it that bump caps weren't invented in the day of the Hunter (unless you're working on restored examples - for which I apologise).

I'll check my references and see what I can come up with - we'll call it the "Pete Spike" in your honour?

 

Cheers... Dave   

[tonyot]

This is coming along wonderfully Dave,.....lovely and sleek and the wheel wells are superb,.....this is a hard kit to get to look right and you are succeeding in bucket full`s,...cannot wait to see it in its glossy blue scheme,

 

Happy New Year mate,

 

Cheers

          Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

7 hours ago, tonyot said:

This is coming along wonderfully Dave,.....lovely and sleek and the wheel wells are superb,.....this is a hard kit to get to look right and you are succeeding in bucket full`s,...cannot wait to see it in its glossy blue scheme,

 

Happy New Year mate,

 

Cheers

          Tony

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement Tony, it’s always well received and helps one grind through the build stage and hopefully past the finishing post. 

 

I have to agree that this Hunter kit is probably not amoungst Matchbox’s finest, so lets just hope it ends up resembling a T.7 in the end. I certainly would not be disappointed if we hear news that a new Hunter family is part of Airfix’s 2018-19 releases - there’s just so many great schemes to choose from and I think I’d struggle to build this kit a second time round. 

 

Cheers and thanks.. Dave 

[stevehnz]

I think it will look very much like a T.& by the time you're done Dave, you're making a really nice job of this, I shall have to re-assess the couple in my stock.

Steve.

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #4, 

 

So it's Prime, sand and paint time once again. Strange that it is, I always find it hard when it's time to apply paint and cover Matchbox's lovely coloured plastic, however times ticking fast and I'd better move this build along a bit. First up was an airbrushed applied coat of Gunze's Mr Surfacer 1000 thinned with the same company's Levelling thinner. I'm normally not one to prime, however these Matchbox kits usually require a fair amount of filing and sanding and it's amazing how many imperfections appear once the plastic is coated in one uniform colour.

 

A quick sand and fill to a number of flawed areas was followed by some very minor rescribing. This activity required a re-prime so in order to save time I gave it a coat of Tamiya's Surface Primer straight out of the can.  This Tamiya stuff is not bad, however I don't think it's as good as the Gunze Mr. Thinner spray equivalent. Once dry, I attacked the model with various finer grades of Micro Mesh and am now waiting for the humidity to settle a bit (might be a while) before I go over this grey with a base coat of Mr. White Surfacer 1000 and Revell's #51 Ultramarine Blue (hoping it's a good match for BS108?). I've never used Revell paints before so I'll have to test this with various thinners before I commit to spraying the model. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

  

[dude_gan_ainm]

Very nice Dave,

she's lookin smooth,sleek n curvy just like the real deal.Lookin forward to some colour soon.

Jimbob. ...

[Hockeyboy76]

Some cracking scratch work, can’t wait to see her under a coat of blue. 

[Rabbit Leader]

25 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Some cracking scratch work, can’t wait to see her under a coat of blue. 

Neither can I - believe me!! 

Thanks for the comments H, I've got a few days off now so all things going well this grey ship should hopefully progress to white (base coat) and then a rich shade of blue. 

 

Cheers.. Dave