StephenMG

Citadel Mithril Silver is my favourite for HSS, with a thin coat of Windsor & Newton Galleria satin or matt varnish over the top. They discontinued Mithril Silver a while ago though but Runefang Steel is supposed to be the equivalent replacement. I haven't tried that yet though as I've still got a couple of the old pots stashed away. A couple of my efforts using it,

Yes Jon. 24" under wings and 8" on the rear fuselage. Mark

There's always one smart-ar$e isn't there?!!! So glad to hear there's some proper Hunter action going on again. I'll have to pop down, I haven't had a nose around since the Exeter days.

Hi Matt, I didn't think there was much visible at all where those DME aerials were. I've just looked through as many photos of F.4 and F.5 undersides as I can find and there's nothing visible that I can see. Just the three-sided square thing you mentioned. Cheers, Mark

Hi Matt, There is rarely a definitive answer for things on a Hunter as the various mod states often spanned marks with some mods being retrospecively fitted to older aircraft and newer aircraft sometimes not receiving them at all! Firstly though , the aerials you refer to in the intakes on the Revell F.6 are for a navigation system called DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) rather than gun ranging (that was done purely with the radar in the nose). The F.6 used a DME system called Rebecca 8 which had 4 aerials - the two in the intakes and one each in the starter access and engine access doors in the belly - these will be the 2 aerials you refer to as being one behind the other. However, the F.4 and F.5 used an earlier model of DME called Rebecca 7 which only had the two aerials in the belly, but see the answer to question 2 below. So to answer your first question - no aerials in the intakes. Second question - yes and no! Rebecca 7 did have the transmit and receive aerials in the belly, but they were 'built in' to the access doors and so not really visible and certainly not the rod aerials that the F.6 had and which are in the Revell kit. So you can ditch them too. The intake behind the nose gear, no. The F.5 was smoooooth there, just as Sir Sydney intended! Same for the vents in front of the Sabrinas. As for any other antennas different to the F.6, well that depends on the timeframe and mod state. Compared to the Revell kit though (which is a later mod state I suspect), you'll need to chuck them all away. Off the top of my head I can't remember what's in the kit now but if there's a UHF blade aerial just behind the hood, ditch it. If there's a small triangular IFF aerial on a little platform half way along the spine, ditch that too. All you'll need are two VHF whip aerials - side by side straddling the spine just above the centre of the wing. You can just about make them out in the photos of WP126 and WN990 here - https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/model/Hawker Hunter F5. There is also a similar IFF whip aerial on the underside centreline which emerges virtually from the aft panel line of the radio bay doors. These whip aerials are so thin that they are fiendishly difficult to see on photos but you just about make them out in the photo in the first post here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235012085-hawker-hunter-circular-stencil-below-cockpit/. There's one more whip aerial which is even more difficult to spot on photos. It's on the lower surface of the port wing just outboard of the roundel position. I can't find a picture to link to that shows it unfortunately but if you have trouble with it I can post a drawing. All these whip aerials are angled backwards and usually painted yellow. [Edit: I've just had another look at the photo in the link above and you can, in fact, just about make out the position of the underwing aerial. Look at the underside of the wing, then locate the left-most red ranel in the lower wingtip chequerboard. Immediately below that, visible against the reflections in the silver of the underwing, you can see a tiny black spot - that's the base of the aerial! Very hard to see but it is there!] One further thing, don't forget the early Hunters had a slightly different design of airbrake to that fitted later. The Revell kit will have the later style so you may want to reshape yours - see this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235000770-a-hunter-from-fife-finished/&page=4&tab=comments#comment-2375347 for some photos I posted showing the difference. They're still on Photobucket though so heaven knows if they'll show up for you! Let me know if not. Hope that's helpful. Good luck with the model. Mark

Alll Hunter pylons have a jettison mechanism. The earlier type was an EMRU - Electro Mechanical Release Unit - which simply released the stores from the pylon allowing them to drop away. Later an ERU - Explosive Release Unit - was fitted which used an electrically-fired cartridge to help push the jettisoned store away cleanly. The ERU breech is what is covered by that bulged fairing on the upper wing. If that's not there then there will be an EMRU fitted. Either way there will be a release unit of some sort, apart from pre-Mod.228 wings. Just the tank David.

David, I can't help with actual photos but the RP combination (4 stations per wing with 3 tiered RPs on each) is certainly a valid load. This is a diagram from the "Armament Notes for Pilots" which shows the various combinations of RPs, tanks and bombs, Where 3" RPs are concerned this is a theoretical maximum as the maximum actually depends on the head fitted (as we recently discussed in a separate thread) with only 2 RPs per tier allowed when 60lb heads were used. Smaller heads could be carried in tiers of 3. Now, it gets complicated because I suspect the photo you posted shows an aircraft 'tooled up' for display purposes only. According to the manuals, all those RPs would not be carried when the outer pylons with tanks were fitted. If carrying 100 gallon tanks on the outer pylon the actual number of RPs allowed depends on whether you planned on retaining the tanks or jettisoning them. If they could be jettisoned (which had to be done before firing the RPs) then 6 (3 on each station D - the innermost RP station) or 8 (one on each station A and C and 2 on each station D) could be carried. If tanks were not to be jettisoned (which means firing the RPs with the tanks still on the pylons) then only 4 RPs could be carried - 2 on each station D. The 4 RP stations were, outboard to inboad, A to D with the pylon, when fitted, occupying the location of station B. I appreciate this doesn't actually answer your question but thought I'd post it as, if anyone wants to accurately model an RP-loaded Hunter, then there are 'rules' to be followed!!! Mark

David, The maximum RP loads are 24 with 18lb or 25lb heads (i.e. all 4 stations per wing with a tier of 3 RPs on each) or 16 with 60lb heads (i.e. 4 stations per wing with a tier of 2). As you say there appears to be outboard pylons fitted in the photo which means station B can't be used (stations are referred to, from outboard to inboard, as A to D). So yes, 2 x 60lb RPs per station and, as you say, a pair on station B if the pylon is not fitted. Mark

You're quite right James! I over-egged it somewhat to make the point (hence my vague "more or less"!!!). What I was trying to say I suppose was that, if they were parallel, then the chord at the wingtips would have been noticeably larger than the original wing. The replacement wingtip parts that accompanied the leading edge extensions did indeed extend the wingtip chord a touch and merged it all in nicely; it's not that easy to notice unless you go looking for it as the characteristic and beautiful (biased!) shape of the wingtips looks similar at first glance on all Hunter wings. Anyway, I've edited my original post as it was confusing. You're spot on though - if Airfix mould the wing with separate LE extensions and wingtips (indeed as Revell did) then all marks are possible with only small parts needing to be swapped. Fingers crossed!

You're right David, the extension is not quite parallel to the original leading edge.

SURA were used on Hunters but on export versions not by the RAF. They were recommended by Hawker.

Interesting. 230 Gallon tanks which suggests the kit will include cut-out flaps for the F.6A and FGA.9.

Actually it makes perfect sense. That's the forward transport joint on the real thing and was where the single seat cockpit is unbolted and the twin-tub version attached in its place. The spine panels can easily be a separate part.

Yep. De-icer tank removed from the nose and an extra oxygen tank installed instead. You can tell they had the Middle East in mind when they designed the 9!

Yep, my feelings exactly. This kit gives us a world of F.6, FGA.9 and a whole load of export options too! I can't wait, but it's going to cost me a lot of money!