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The DeHavilland Sea Hornet NF21- Classic Airframes 1/48th model, with a few embellishments


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HI gang - this will be my next build. Thanks to Jaws sale on here, I finally bagged one, and thanks to Notdoneyets phenominal build here:

http://www2.britmode...showtopic=16322

Ze jus d'inspirations are flowing.

Now - I want to ask for an opinion: Folded wings - yes of no?

Folding them will allow for some extra detail and stress the naval nature of this "Naughty Wasp". Leaving them spread will allow the graceful shape of the Hornet airframe to be appreciated ( if only by me and the cat).

The model is already started - but not the wing fold yet - so over to youz guyz... what say ye?

Cheers

Jonnerz

Edited by Jon Kunac-Tabinor
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I say unfolded if you are only going to build one model of a Hornet/Sea Hornet to show the fine lines of this machine.

Have one of these in the stash so will be watching your progress as another major reference work for my own efforts in the future.

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Unfolded.

Ugly when folded.

How's giving up smoking going?

Dave

looks like its unfolded then!! ( phew! just means I can put in the wing fold lines and blisters)

quitting the weed going OK ish - having the occasional slip up - not helped by warm weather, glass or 2 of vino, and Olympic celebrations

Cheers for a asking though :)

Jon

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So what have I done so far....

Main construction has been removing the lower wing areas inside the wheel bays, blanking these off with plastic card, and sorting out the position of the wing spar so the undercarriage can attach at its proper location. As they come the wheel legs will sit too far forward. This also means that the landing gear doors and their openings are too far forward - so need to be moved back, and the front portion filled to make it part of the engine nacelle.

The warpaint plans show this pretty well.

While I'm at it, I've also cut out the flaps for the radiator exhaust flaps on the lower wing- so these can be re-added and look like flaps.

I've also cut two slots in the fuselage wing attachment area inline with the main spar. A plastic card false spar has been fabricated to go through these- which will allow the wings to have something other than a butt join ( and its fun!). This of course meant I had to dremel a slot through the resin cockpit tub for the spar to go in (not so fun - our patio looked like a Xmas card!).

I'll use Plasticard lugs towards the rear of the fuselage/ wing join to give the wing something to grip here.

There's the cannon shell ejection ports to open up in the fuselage too. The Hornet is such a sleek beast that I think it needs all these bits added to make it seem more "machine" like

Pics this evening, but thought I'd use my work lunchtime for something useful!

cheers

Jonners

and a big thanks to Martin Hale for the pics, to Sean (Pigsty) for the missing rear pit bit.

I'm sure I'm meant to be building a Gladiator for the Pheon stand too...hmmm

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Right - here you go - pics for the above post - hopefully self explanatory!

83a6cc02.jpg

7b309bde.jpg

the slot in the resin pit is somewhat like drilling the Corinth canal! All tolerances remain VERY loose...

29e42901.jpg

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Pencil marks show the new rear postion that the UC doors will take

bbc19f37.jpg

The main spar runs along the line where the radiator air exit is now curving down and you can see the double engraved panel line outside of the nacelle too - if you extrapolate this to the nacelle you can see how far forward the CA undercart is ( approx where the bulkhead inside the nacelle shows ), though bear in mind the UC leg angles forward too. But there's still something awry here. Is the postion of the CA main spar too far back? perhaps?

Hmmm Jonners

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The warpaint plans show this pretty well.

Jonners

before you get too stuck in, there was a thread here http://www2.britmode...pic=55263&st=20

All the kits and all of the drawings for the Hornet are wrong. The definitive drawings are in my computer being prepared for a book which The Hornet guru David Collins is working on. The new D and V book was also part done by David and the artwork by Mark Gauntlet used my outlines. There are several issues which all the models and drawings don't address. BTW the pilots canopy of the NF is not the same as the fighter one in as much that the pen nib fairing is shorter. The published dimensions in the D and V book are the first accurate ones. Ignore all that state OL as 37' as flawed.

John

I believe the CA kit is a little short.

Note, IIRC the upper wing should have front to back panel lines, I thought this post mentioned it

http://www2.britmode...57810&st=50

It's might have some helpful tips though.

The Dh Hornet project has some useful cockpit pics,http://www.dhhornet5...f=data_home&a=4

but not of the Sea Hornet.

Hmm, just to make sure i'm not going totally ga-ga, a bit more searching, see here

http://users.skynet....dh103/dh103.htm

Lots of useful info, but specifically about this

http://users.skynet....wing design.htm

A stressed plywood double top skin is reinforced by wooden stringers placed spanwise, and the bottom skin is of Alclad reinforced by extruded duralumin stringers extending from the outer engine-rib to the tip.

As the top is plywood it does not have panel lines, or certainly not all the ones shown on the kit! I'm not quite sure what should be there though.

...but underneath is Alclad bonded to wood, and should have.

There is a very comprehensive description of contruction in above link, I did wonder how this was affected by wing folding, but it seems the contruction remained essentially the same.

Don't want to bury in a morass of info, but I also know you like to get it right if possible. Perhaps the info on the spar is the link above? It's late and I've had enough now!

You know John Adams, perhaps he can give you a more precise answer.

Where I read about the panel lines bugged me, found it.

http://modelingmadne...rhorpreview.htm

Roy Sutherland has examined the Hornet, and has this to say about it: "Overall a nice kit. One error that has been repeated from the Dynavector kit is that the upper wing scribing is a bit inaccurate. There are a whole series of chord-wise panel lines that should not be there. The wing, with the exception of the under wing surfaces (which are skinned in aluminum), is wood. Like the Mosquito, the whole upper surface is filled and sanded and covered in medapolam (a special fabric), which is doped into place. Therefore, access panels should be there, panel lines should not. Also, obviously, the Sea Hornet wing fold and associated panel differences are not represented at all. The main wheels, while nicely done, are too small in diameter. The tail wheel is incorrect as it should be of the anti-shimmy type. Other than that, it appears to be very nice."

Wheels are of Sea Fury type BTW, replacements are available.

HTH

T

PS will be taking notes...I've got 2 CA and 2 Dynavector stashed away, 1 each of Hornet and Sea Hornet..

Edited by Troy Smith
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Hi Troy - thanks for those links. Id found the excellent Skynet site, and id seen the stuff about the upper wing "panel lines" on Notdoneyets thread, but its flattering you took the time and effort to find them for me too. Big Thanks mate!

I've had an early morning tea & puzzle session and come to the following conclusion re the wing spar and leg location:

The leg sits pretty much right against the engine fire wall, and anchors to the bottom of the spar in the wheel bay. The fire wall itself sits immediately ahead of the wing spar. Now we know the UC leg angles forward too.

The only way this all works is if the firewall angles forward as well. And that seems to be born out from the pics ive been looking at.

Bearing in mind that the kit UC bay openings are too far forward: If the openings are moved back by 5mm ( ie a 5mm fill peice at the front, and cut the openings 5mm longer at the rear- as you can see from my pencil marks in the above pics), then a new firewall is made, and installed raked forward into the bay - the whole thing just about works. I hope!!

Well it will be close enough "for government work" anyway....

A bit of test cutting is needed, then some pics for you to trouble shoot.

As for fuselage length - I'm just wondering where the shortfall occurs, though I do have a built Dynavector model - will need to retrieve from neighbours, for whom it was a gift, and check the two out.

Cheers for all your help

Jonners

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Righty ho - here are the pics to accompany the above waffle!!

8445af0a.jpg

bulkhead cut and inserted at the forward angle, you can see the pencil mark showing the rough anle- as opposed to the line CA have scribed- whihc just shows.

dfb91561.jpg

top view - you can see the "spar" in the bottom

fae6ad98.jpg

leg blue tacked onto top of spar. NB the rear of the gear door openings havent been cut back yet

Next a couple of side views to show the rake:

81866743.jpg

01117a9b.jpg

Opinions? Be as brutally honest as you want too - I want to get this info right, so it can be of use to fellow Mare-crabrists :)

Cheers

Jonners

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The angle of the nacelle bulkhead looks a bit too raked compared to the AP drawings to me.

Martin

Hi Marin - cheers. I think you may be right. That means the forward edge of the gear doors will need to come back another mm or two. But that may not be a bad thing anyway.

Cheers

Jonners

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Right - stage 2! Heres a pic showing the new nacelle, with the Mk 1 above - As you can see the front edge of the UC door opening has come back more, and the rear has been trimmed down too. A new panel line is scribed in line withthe now rear edge, and the old one filled.

Also in this pic you can see stage 1 of filling the top wing spanwise panel lines ( apart from the one which will be the wing fold hinge line of course - mental note its easier to to fill this than fill and re scribe it open DOH!), plus the bulkhead and "wing spar" for the UC bay. The little bits of plastic card on this are used to locate the main wheel leg framework.

d8c47713.jpg

second shot shows the new shape of the UC opening better form on top.

8174b847.jpg

Cheers

Jonners

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Evening all, right - got some primer on both nacelles now ( showing that one still needs a little tidying up), so here are some shots showing how they look when added to the airframe. Sorry about the amount of tape - its hard to keep the wings on!!

My comments would be I thing that the nacelles now have that Hornet look to them - moving the UC bays rearwards makes a credible space for the merlins, and the firewall seems to work. Hornet, Schmornet - you be the judge!

Jonners

file.jpg

file-1.jpg

file-2.jpg

Notice the fiewall details I've started to add...plus theres a wing spar in one well.

file-3.jpg

It may all even be square too....!!

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Righty ho - detailing the wheel bays continues - with side wall detail, and oil tanks fashioned from spare resin blocks. Both wings are together now - so the rear faces of the radiators have been added too, and wing fold scribing has started. constant checking that the UC leg assembly will still fit over and into everything is needed, but so far so good....

file-4.jpg

file-5.jpg

Theres some wiring and plumbing for the oil feed pipe to be done, but should get some paint on this weekend.

Cheers

Jonners, off for a swim

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Right, I know you are watching!! :)

So here's the UC wells with a bit of paint. Oil tanks have had tape straps and sprue strap connectors added. Its a little bit of detail that will never be seen, but nice to know I've ticked the box.

file-6.jpg

And then I felt the UC legs needed a bit of added detail.....

...so out came the plastic card, brass tube and some wire.

file-8.jpg

file-7.jpg

and a check to see it all fits.

file-9.jpg

A bit of paint, and we'll get those UC fitted and nacelles onto the wings.

Who says you have to start with the cockpit!

cheers

Jonners

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