And another Airfix Typhoon!

[burncpt]

Hi all,

Have been following the other excellent Typhoon build and decided to have a crack at this ingenious little kit, even though I don't generally do 72nd. It's going to be standard except I've decided to keep one cannon bay fully open and the other with the door open just a crack as if left by a hurried ground crewman. Yet to decide how to achieve this exactly! Anyway, have got as far as cockpit done and fuselage together...

The only problem so far has been a HUGE gap between the lover halves of the radiator cowl (last photo, with lots of filler). I couldn't decide if I'd just not got everything sitting right inside or if it's just that way regardless. Possibly should have left the flap out and the just cut the pins off it to fit later.

[robvulcan]

Looking very tidy there. God it's been years since I did a typhoon or tempest. Probably my favourite ww2 aircrafts. Got the revel 1/144 version on the go just taking her of the sprues. I didn't know about this kit but I'm defiantly going to check it out. I love your paint work very nice indeed. Keep up the good work and like your idea with the canons are you going to make a diorama ?

Cheers Rob

[burncpt]

^{Thanks Rob. It is a lovely plane to do. Yours is 144th? That must be quite a challenge! I have no experience of dioramas but I guess you have to start somewhere and this is a good subject so I think I'll go for it. A few oil drums and ammo boxes etc...}

[jenko]

Looking good.

[AdrianMF]

Looks good!

Rob: Having just built the Revell 1/144 scale one I would suggest that you put it back in the stash and get a new Airfix one!! My Revell one is now on a wire attacking a dragon in my daughter's bedroom, so it wasn't entirely wasted...

Regards,

Adrian

[robvulcan]

^{Thanks Rob. It is a lovely plane to do. Yours is 144th? That must be quite a challenge! I have no experience of dioramas but I guess you have to start somewhere and this is a good subject so I think I'll go for it. A few oil drums and ammo boxes etc...}

it looks simple enough at first but the fit aint great. and masking the canopy seems like its gonna be a nightmare. i might just paint it.

I love dios i build most my planes in flying condition but i have always felt wheels down craft need a decent base a piece of runway or field with some accessories. it just brings them to life. ive never tried them yet but airfix do a good range of figures and airfield accessories that might just suit this.

Looks good!

Rob: Having just built the Revell 1/144 scale one I would suggest that you put it back in the stash and get a new Airfix one!! My Revell one is now on a wire attacking a dragon in my daughter's bedroom, so it wasn't entirely wasted...

Regards,

Adrian

funnily enough thats what i did. i took the bits of the sprue. and got distracted with another build and put it back in the box. maybe it will stay there for a while longer and i do as you suggest and pick up the airfix one. cheers Rob

[crobinsonh]

Lovely start on your build - it is such a nice kit. It really jumps out of the box and says "Build me", starting from the great artwork on the box top. Great work on the detail painting - I think you are going to enjoy this one.

[burncpt]

Cheers. I kind of pinched your idea of the two-colour cockpit sides. It's a bit of a guessing game. In the end I thought the combo of green with silver (well humbrol 56 claims to be 'alu' but ends up looking a very drab grey colour) spaceframe tubes was pleasing to the eye, though the panel and sides had to be black from all I've seen.

Had a bugger of a time with the gunsight - when the fuselage was pushed together it got crushed and didn't sit square. Repeated poking saw it eventually come unstuck and had to do some keyhole surgery through the spinner hole to re-glue it!

[burncpt]

Right it's been a while but that's mainly laziness in taking photos and posting. Spent ages filling and sanding, more because I didn't know what I was doing than because it was necessary. Thought I'd try the white-tack method for masking. All humbrol enamels, the Ocean Grey is of my own concoction, not having the colour from the tin. US dark sea grey, lightened a little and with a hint of green. Post these photos I had a disaster with the oil panel line wash dissolving the day-old satin cote, so had to strip down to the Klear and re-cover. It will sit for a long time before attempting the same again!

The cannon bay doors in the pic I decided to cut apart and thin significantly to make a bit more scale-looking, which I also did to the wing trailing edges. No idea whether the doors should be metal or green or yellow?

Small bonus - the crappy exhaust stains you can see here came off too so I can have another stab at making them look less like puffs of cotton wool...

Decals were a peach, beautifully printed and settled down with Solvaset (seems to work better than Microsol for me and less reaction with the Klear undercoat).

[crobinsonh]

Lovely job on the painting. I lost the serial numbers as for some reason the Microsol reacted with the sky Gunze Sangyo Lacquer paint which was a bummer. The interior being silver and the split black and green cockpit sides where I believe on the earlier Typhoons and then moved to all black on the later Typhoons. I just cheated on mine!

[burncpt]

Thanks! I have found Microsol is a bit temperamental. It's great on Enamels but when I put it on the Klear layer I got a weird fading effect under the blobs of liquid. I didn't wait to see if it dried OK but padded it off and used Solvaset. I'm umming and ahhing about how to do the weathering now, since I'm scared of using oils but I know they work much better at wicking into panel lines than the Vallejo washes I bought. I also took some inspiration from you and am making some pigs' tails for the rockets - pics soon!

[jenko]

Nice