Pete B

Great to see updated progress on the Shack Tom! As I've also been catching up with the thread, I ought to mention the tailcone you decided to reshape. There's a reason the rear fuselage is shaped as it is, and the hints about the Lancaster heritage are not far from the truth actually.... If you google VW131, the prototype Shackleton, you will find photos showing the extra armament she carried originally - with side mounted guns either side of the nose, a top turret, and most importantly - a rear turret! During the course of development, the rear turret was dropped altogether, and the nose ones removed on the MR1 only to reappear on the MR2 mounted differently. The tail area had to be modified into the 'observer' configuration that you are modelling now. Here's a link to one such image of the original tail turret: VW131 Tail Turret

As another member of the WR963 crew at Coventry, I've also joined the many followers of this build with a huge amount of interest My only concern is for our Trust Chairman and keen modeller Dave when he tries to persuade his better half that he NEEDS to try this scale out too.....lol

Just caught up with this thread after a google search - very nice and a good reminder of working on her at Brawdy for me too!

I've come to this particular thread via a heads-up from the Flypast forum - and I'm simply stunned with the level of detail and workmanship that's going into this...... hats off to you Richard

Being a bit of a Hunter person myself, I do like this build a lot! I have pointed the current owner of Kemble-based G-FFOX to this thread and also linked it on facebook via the Hunter Flight Academy group too. Looks amazing and I wonder what it would look like placed next to a real example

I was hoping there was when I saw the notification drop in my emails - been watching this with keen interest as it seemed a fascinating project

Cliff Robinson - not a name I immeadiately recognise but it has been a few decades since my time..lol Good to hear the kit lives on, and if you're ever tempted to do another - XF382 would be nice

Sadly that is the only worthy pic of any RAF Lightweight that I took - many aircraft shots but never thought to take pics of our vehicles at the time By the way, for the record I think your build is a work of art in the making - the attention to detail is awesome! I check in on this thread everytime you update it....

Note the door shuts on this - my daily plaything in the RAF at the time... That workhorse was our section's allocated example modified to carry out specific duties we had, and has the snow-plough chassis attachments underneath as you might spot. Rumour has it that this was the only thing holding the chassis straight as we did abuse that poor old Lightweight at times. BUT it never let us down at all

No problem Shaun - it's a very inspirational build for me...... do you still have it stashed or on display?

Sorry Andy, I have no shots of a T7 cockpit close-up for that detail I'm afraid..... my photos detail an F6a single seater. I just tried Google myself and found a few that are from here already, but not sure if they are pure T7 or modified T8 etc...

Love the detailing - never seen anyone attempt the JPT probes before - nice touch!!! Incidentally, I have many detail shots of the Hunter I look after if there's anything you're not sure about? They were mostly taken pre-repaint so they show up every last dzus fastener, panel line, staining etc (in-service natural looking).... and because I've been around Hunters since the 1980's feel free to ask anything else too! PS: I don't recall ever seeing a cover and RBF on the main gear lug? Main gear lock yes, on the retraction jack..... but having bashed my head more than once on that lug I've either been unlucky or we didn't have them at Brawdy?

Me too..... 79 - 84 Hawk Rects / Hawk Line / Hunter Rects / VASF

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but I was searching for 1/32 Hunters and when I saw this I simply could NOT just leave without a reply... This is simply stunning - like others I first thought some of the pics were real - and I'm speaking as someone who actually worked on this aircraft for real, at Brawdy... I have been looking after another ex-Brawdy Hunter "XF382" which is in preservation at the Midland Air Museum these days, but have this kit stashed away just waiting for some free time to build a replica of XF382 as best as I can. Looking at some of the oher builds has been inspiring, but seeing this one which I can really relate to has been amazing. The detailing is spot on! i suppose I'm going to be lucky in that I have the real thing to refer to when I start building mine, but my skills are going to be questionable compared to this example... I did build a 1/72 replica of XF382 in the same 79Sqn colours a few years back, and this now sits in the Museum in it's own diorama of where it sits outside on display (even made a mini-me showing public round the cockpit...lol). I'm certainly a huge fan of the 1/32 kit - the detail is very nicely made, and it is going to be the biggest kit I have ever attempted. Trust me - working on the real thing is somewhat easier for me than building a model of it

That collection is amazing! What shows it's good is that you can identify what he's modelled right away - even my other half recognised stuff and she's no vehicle / aircraft buff..... That's it - scrap plastic kits, back to my roots and LEGO....