Hawker Hunter F.4

[Smark]

Hi All.

I had originally intended to do a Revell 1/72 Hunter as the Swiss ‘Papyrus’ scheme but I see that this is already being covered, so I thought I’d have a go at an F.4 in 1/48th instead.

Hopefully it will be Hawker Hunter F.4 XF938 of No.71 Squadron circa 1957.

I’ll be using the Academy F.6 kit with the following:-

Neomega resin cockpit set

Aeroclub replacement tail pipe

Aeroclub white metal wheel set

Heritage Aviation early hunter conversion set

AeroMaster Decals Hunter Pt.1 48-345

I’m no Hunter expert and so do not wish to get bogged down with accuracy issues: I haven’t tickled the plastic for a while so my main aim is definitely to have fun. That said, I am aware that there are some differences with the vents on the fuselages between the different marks, so I may make the odd alteration if I feel my skills are up to it!

Very much looking forward to starting on this but it won’t be for a few days as I’ve some long Shifts at work ahead of me first. I’ve also got to have a tidy up in the modelling shed and blow the cobwebs out!

Thanks for looking

Mark

[AnonymousAA72]

No Hunter Expert Smark? I think you'll find with that little lot you now are!!! That little lot will give you a very nice F4 - good luck with your build!

[SimonR]

Great stuff, look forward to seeing this.

I have been tempted by the Heritage F4 wings, but could never understand why they didn't add the tailpipe as well! Do Aeroclub do the F4 pipe then?

Cheers

Simon

[AnonymousAA72]

Great stuff, look forward to seeing this.

I have been tempted by the Heritage F4 wings, but could never understand why they didn't add the tailpipe as well! Do Aeroclub do the F4 pipe then?

Cheers

Simon

In Aeroclub's set they have three separate tail pipes - to replace those awful kit items. One for the FGA9/FR10, and one each for the early 100 series Avons (and Sapphires) and the 200 Series F6. The latter two have white metal tail pipe rims - which when polished up look rather nifty!

[Smark]

Cheers Bill…problem is, the more I read on the subject, the more the possibilities become, the harder the decision on what to build. However, picking a 71 Squadron bird was easy as they are the only decals I have for an F.4!

Simon…as Bill say’s, although John at Aeroclub now sells the tail pipes individually and also the wheel set separately.

With reference to Heritage Aviation Models, looking at the Latest news on their site, it appears that they will be bringing out a 1/48th correction set that will include a cockpit tub, tail pipe and wheels(although it doesn’t specify which mark).

Cheers,

Mark

[SimonR]

Looks like the Heritage correction set is out guys, see HERE, not bad value either, but no seat by the look of it and the pipe is for an F6.

Aeroclub set sounds good though with 3 tailpipes!

Si

[Smark]

Hello All,

Unfortunately I haven’t had any building time as this has been a weekend at work for me. Tuesday is looking good though! In the mean time I couldn’t resist having a dry run with the main parts to see how they fit. I must say I am impressed so far.

The Heritage Aviation wings are a very snug fit once in place. At the moment I’m thinking that they will be easier to glue from the inside before the fuselage halves are joined. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the intake trunking will not cause to much in the way of fit issues.

I’m also very pleased with the Aeroclub tail pipe (small bore in this instance). The metal rim looks a treat and as Bill said, will look rather nifty when polished up!

I will add that other than cleaning up the plastic parts where removed from their sprue, all the parts have gone together with out the need for any fettling whatsoever.

I can’t wait to crack on with this build.

Cheers,

Mark

[AnonymousAA72]

The wings look okay don't they? One thiing you may wish to correct as well is the tail fin 'bullet' that protrudes to far backwards. That can be easily removed and replaced, after takin a couple of mm of of the fin.

[Smark]

Hi All,

I’m only managing to get in 10mins here and there of modelling time at the moment so this is where I am at present. I’ve taken notes

from other builds of the few easy ‘fixes’ required:-

Cleaned up the resin ‘pit and primed in black ready for painting. Have dry fitted and as others have said, fit is good.

Moved tail planes 2.5mm forwards. Basically I just cut of the front half of the locating tab. Added new sealing plates from plasticard.

I've cut off the tail bullet fairing and will re-attach later approx 3mm shorter.

Have attempted to represent the various engine scoops/vents more appropriate to an F.4(hopefully!).

Louvers added as required

On to the air intakes. I had to splice in a thin wedge of plastic to the forward edge on the right intake to make it a similar shape to the

left side. This was brought to my attention in another thread on here.

With the piece spliced in they now look similar in profile.

I then added my own splitter plates inside the intakes. I cut some plasticard roughly to shape and then glued it on. I then sanded to

shape, dry fitting frequently until the trunking fitted nice and snug top and bottom. I was surprised how much I sanded away due to

the angle of the V shape. By adding these I also found that they help to position the trunking more positively at these butt joints.

I have the weekend off so hopefully I can get on with the internal painting and get the fuselage together.

Thanks for stopping by, any comments welcome,

Mark

Edited March 16, 2012 by Smark

[AndyC]

Those intakes look great Mark - I see where you are coming from with that sliver of plastic shim - I hadn't seen that on other threads (not paying attention)

Andy

[Paul]

Those intakes are the dog's danglies Mark!

[Smark]

Hi All,

Firstly, apologies for lack of progress updates but I've had some 'tinternet connection issues.....Grrrrrrrr!!!! Also, seeing some of the other builds finished already has made realise how slow I am at building. At times I have felt that I have well and truely been left in the starting blocks.

Still, I have made some progress. Wings are on and the fuselage is together. I glued the wings on with superglue before closing the fuselage as it gives better access to the gluing surfaces. Furtermore, this allowed me to give the joint a liberal amount of glue in order to make a strong joint.

The Neomega 'pit fitted a treat and looks great. I sprayed it with Tamiya NATO black which is the first time that i have used it. A dry brush then followed. The bang seat still awaits painting.

With reference to the intake ducts, despite much fettling and mucking about, I was still left with gaps just inside the intake openings on both sides. I will endeavour to fill these!

I added some lead weight in the nose before attaching. I'm glad I'll be using Aeroclub's metal U/C set as, combining the weight of the resin wings, it feels quite heavy for a smallish model!

Having learnt from AndyC's build that the sliding canopy doesn't fit in the open position, I decided to thin down the spine immediately behind the cockpit in order to use the canopy as supplied. I also created a run for the canopy using the edge of a file which helps it to sit better. It has worked out O.K. but due to the shape issue and it being noticeably short in length, in future I will use vac-form replacements.

The canopy runs. Not very tidy but they will be covered by the canopy.

The canopy in place.

For the bullet fairing, I sanded approx. 2mm off the tip of the piece that I had previously removed, and superglued on a peice of clear sprue. I then sanded this to shape to form the rear nav. light. I then inserted a peg on which to mount it back on. It now needs to be faired in with some filler.

The next photo is a dry run of the bullet fairing. Despite having shortened this by approx. 3mm it still looks a tad too long(?).

Still a way to go but all things considered, it is at least beginning to look like a Hunter!

Sorry for this long 'catch up' post. In future I will try and post more frequently.

Thanks for looking and of course all comments/advice welcome,

Mark.

[StephenMG]

Fantastic job Mark, and so nice to see someone cutting out some hood rails - a real bug-bear of mine with the Academy kit!

One thing I would thoroughly recommend doing is to reshape the tips of the rudder, elevators and ailerons. The Hunter has a very distinctive shape to the very tips of these which Academy have missed, making them all too 'pointy'.

I put together a list of issues with the Academy/Italeri Hunter a while ago and included some drawings of the tip shapes if it helps - the thread is here.

Keep up the good work!

Mark

Edited April 12, 2012 by StephenMG

[AndyC]

Great stuff Mark - the F.4 was such an elegant machine without that smooth leading edge to the wing. Nice interim fix on the canopy!

Edited April 12, 2012 by AndyC

[Tony Whittingham]

Hi Smark,

You're building a replica of one of the Hunters my Uncle flew while on 71 sqn!

He sent me the list of serial no. / letter matchups from his logbook, except for "A".

I guess no one was allowed to fly the Squadron Leaders kite!

(edited for spelling)

Edited April 13, 2012 by Tony Whittingham

[ratpit]

Hi Smark

looking good there - good luck with the build.

I made one of these for my old man who served with 71 in bruggen - he loved it.

Just a word on the decals and colours though - aeomaster gave incorrect details, not sure if they've amended them since?

The underside of the 71 hunters was 'sky' a kind of creamy-light green (Aeromaster stated undersides silver). Also, the squadron colour bars (yellow/black/white) were on the rear fuselage with the roundel not the front with squadron badge. My dad told me, the hunters didn't dispay the squadron badge!

If you google images for 71sqn you'll see a nice pic of the hunters lined up and also in the hangar which shows this clearly. My dad gave me loads of reference pics too, so I was ff to a good 'first-hand' acoount head start.

[StephenMG]

Careful though, because very late in 71 Squadron's life the squadron bars were moved from the rear fuselage to the nose, flanking the 'eagle' badge. This happened with a number of Hunter squadrons, especially in Germany it seems. Quite probably not all aircraft were modified, but it does mean that Aeromaster may not necessarily be wrong.

Never heard of 'sky' on the underside of a Hunter before.

[Smark]

Hello All,

StephenMG......Thanks for the link Mark. I don't know how I missed that thread first time around: very useful! I have also done as you suggested and taken all the 'points' off. A simple and easy fix that makes all the difference!

AndyC......Yes mate, the early Hunters do look good. I've decided to do this build with the flaps up to help keep it's graceful lines.

TonyWhittingham...... I've no idea where I get my love of aviation from. All my relatives were either Army or Navy.

Cheers

Mark

[Smark]

Hi Smark

looking good there - good luck with the build.

I made one of these for my old man who served with 71 in bruggen - he loved it.

Just a word on the decals and colours though - aeomaster gave incorrect details, not sure if they've amended them since?

The underside of the 71 hunters was 'sky' a kind of creamy-light green (Aeromaster stated undersides silver). Also, the squadron colour bars (yellow/black/white) were on the rear fuselage with the roundel not the front with squadron badge. My dad told me, the hunters didn't dispay the squadron badge!

If you google images for 71sqn you'll see a nice pic of the hunters lined up and also in the hangar which shows this clearly. My dad gave me loads of reference pics too, so I was ff to a good 'first-hand' acoount head start.

Hi ratpit,

Thanks for the info: certainly gave me something to think about.

Yes, the Aeromaster decals (which I bought recently for this build) give silver as the u/s colour. Sky u/s would certainly be different/interesting but too controversial for me!

All things considered, right or wrong, I will still go with the Aeromaster decals and colour call out. In "RAF Hunters in Germany" by Kipp and Lindsey, there is a photo on page 34 that does show squadron markings and the Eagle emblem positioned on the forward fuselage: this same picture also appears on page 26 of "Hunter Squadrons....." by Richard L. Ward.

As 71 Squadron only operated Hunters for a year or so, it's quite possible that the markings did not make it 'up front' on all the airframes before dispanding.

Thanks again,

Mark

[Smark]

Hi All

I'm at work this week end so not able to do much on this. A quick update none the less.

Tail planes now glued on. Kit ailerons and flaps fitted to the resin wings (flaps up on this build as I want to keep her graceful lines as much as possible). All other lumps and bumps added to underside also. I drilled out the case ejection chutes to add more depth, as well as sanding the rear ones down to make them shorter as they look a bit long to me!?

I have attempted to re-shape the air brake to better represent the early type

Bullet fairing back on and faired in with the help of some filler. Also in the process here of using some filler to help fair in the Aeroclub metal jet pipe.

At last, given a coat of Halfords primer! This revealed some areas that needed furter attention: nothing drastic though.

Metal jet pipe now faired in and to my relief, no further work needed to the bullet fairing.

I will now give it another mist coat of primer and prepare it for painting, which I hope to get done this week.

I have sanded off the framing to the rear of the sliding canopy and polished it back up using micromesh. It has now been dipped in Klear(along with the front windscreen). Some attention has also been given to the under carriage

Over all, I am very pleased with the build so far and I am enjoying it. It's been quite a while since I got a model this far!!!

Thanks for looking in

Mark

[Smark]

Hello All,

Crikey, doesn't time fly.......and the 20th is on the horizon!!

Right then, u/s sprayed with Tamiya X14 silver and sealed with Klear. Then masked off completely(taking no chances as I usually end up with paint everywhere).

I then sprayed the dark sea grey using Tamiya X54. This was then masked off with masking tape as a hard edge is required. I did this by first marking out the demarcation line with lengths of tape cut to approx. 1mm in width, then just infilled as required. This method was quite time consuming but not difficult once I got going. The more experienced may have opted for paper masks and the like, but I am still very much a novice with the use of an air brush.

The green followed, and as my LHS didn't have any Tamiya in stock, I used Xtracrylix RAF Dark green. I should mention that I am one of those that find Xtracrylix an absolute nightmare to spray, even using a retarder as others suggest. Until recently, I used an Aztec air brush which I found impossible to spray Xtracrylix in double action mode:instead, all my spraying was been done in single action mode which still clogged, but less so. I've now bought a H&S Evolution Silverline 2in1 which sprays Xtracrylix much better, but it's still a struggle though. Not wishing to give up on acrylics, on this build I've tried Tamiya acrylics for the first time and they've sprayed a treat. No clogging at all!! Having the control with the double action is great and touch ups have been a doddle with minimum masking required. In the photo below you can see where I've sprayed on the newspaper in order to 'flush' the brush thro' after cleaning the tip with a cotton bud soaked in thinner, during the session.....

.....and finally with the masking removed

The inside of the intakes where I have used filler looked awful so I've had another go at them. I now need to make good the silver at the bottom of the opening. A coat of Klear and then decals. Hopefully!!!!

Thanks for looking, and all comments welcome,

Mark.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Smark

[Kallisti]

Very neat! I use Tamiya acrylics in my AB and hardly ever have a problem and when I do its usually because I've not cleaned up properly!

[Smark]

Very neat! I use Tamiya acrylics in my AB and hardly ever have a problem and when I do its usually because I've not cleaned up properly!

Thanks Kallisti. I persevere with Xtracrylics 'cause I like the colour range. However, I will be using Tamiya acrylics much more now that I have tried them as they spray easily. I can now also buy them locally(when they keep the stocks up) which is a double bonus!

To All

Unfortunately the build ground to a halt on Sunday. When I started to apply the decals I noticed that when I applied my microsol it left a brown stain on the decal and paint work. I just about managed to remove it with a damp cotton bud but nearly wrote the decals off in the process. On examination, both the set and sol have a brown tinge to them, and in particular the sol had a swirl of brown at the bottom of the bottle. I therefore couldn't trust using them and so have had to order some more. Pity really as I had hoped to get the decals all on on Sunday. I was also off yesterday and could have cracked on quite nicely. Now, due to work commitments, and waiting for the new sol and set to arrive, I doubt that I will be able to finish in time!

The offending sol and set

[AndyC]

Hi Mark

Your finish looks reasonably glossy on my monitor - can you not just try the Aeromaster decals without the solvent? Or place them using Klear? These decals can be bloody awkward sometimes and their quality is sometimes 'variable' to say the least but it would be a shame if this build weren't to make it to the deadline...

[Smark]

Hi Mark

Your finish looks reasonably glossy on my monitor - can you not just try the Aeromaster decals without the solvent? Or place them using Klear? These decals can be bloody awkward sometimes and their quality is sometimes 'variable' to say the least but it would be a shame if this build weren't to make it to the deadline...

Hi Andy,

The surface wasn't too bad but it took a bit of work to get a uniform sheen on the top camo. The green had a satin finish so glossed up easily but it took about 4 coats of Klear, and a go with micro mesh, to get the matt grey to gloss up similar. The AeroMaster decals were flawless but the kit stencils suffered some silvering in places which I think would have been worse without the decaling solutions. I did think about using klear to place them and decided against it on this build just in case I mucked it up as I have not used it for this purpose before.

To All

I'm dissapointed that I didn't manage to finish in time but I have enjoyed taking part. I lost precious time due to my decal solutions having gone manky and have also just finished 7 long days at work on the bounce, which meant I wasn't able to catch up. However, after a couple of late nights I did at least complete the decaling.

The following photos show the state of play at time up......

Thanks for looking,

Mark.