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Hawker Hunter Mk.73, Royal Air Force of Oman (1/72)


Doc72

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Hi everybody,

I have finally managed to finish something. It is Hawker Hunter 842 from Oman, approximately from the early/mid 1980s. This Hunter is one of the former Jordanian a/c presented to Oman in 1975, serviced by Airwork Ltd., a British contractor, and flown by British and Omani pilots. You will certainly have seen the pictures of fairly low flying Omani Hunters and Jaguars. It must have been a interesting period for the people involved and at least for the foreign contractors, Oman seems to have been a dry country only in meteorological terms.

Together with the Swiss and Singaporean Hunters the Omani a/c were the most modified variants of this classic fighter. Apart from their unique two-tone blue-grey camouflage (the pattern is similar to the one used by Rhodesia and of course based on the three-tone RAF scheme) the Omani Hunters also received new pylons under the wing roots for carrying Sidewinders. Towards the end of their career, some Hunters were also fitted with AN/ALE-40 countermeasure dispensers on the rear fuselage. There were also several patterns of camera noses, not all identical with the RAF's FR.10.

For this model I have used the Revell F.6 kit (because I had it in my stash) and added the fairing for the brake parachute using a resin item made by Quickboost. Eduard Brassin provided the AIM-9P Sidewinders. The inner pylons and the chaff/flare dispensers were scratch built. I also added the outboard 3 in-rocket rails which the Omani Hunters carried throughout their carreer as well as the "towel rail"-antenna on the lower fuselage. The paints used are my own free-hand mix of Tamiya XF-2, XF-18 and XF-82 for both the lighter and the darker blue-grey. The decals (never many on Omani aircraft!) came from Xtradecal with some modification to get the Arab "842". Based on photos I aimed at a very weatherd look.

Photographing models still presents a challenge to me and it was remarkably how much the colours shift depending on lighting and background. Actually, I haven't fully understood yet how this highly automated camera works. Anyway, that is how the model looks approximately:

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And finally: together with a RAF Hunter operated in the same part of the world (but roughly 20 years earlier!):

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Wow... Fantastic Hunter.......... Now where is my stash! :-) The Hunter certainly has something about it... Like the Spitfire before it, it looks good no matter what........ Especially in Omani colours, like the one outside Hendon......

Where did you find the info on the Omani Hunter??

Mark

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Wow... Fantastic Hunter.......... Now where is my stash! :-) The Hunter certainly has something about it... Like the Spitfire before it, it looks good no matter what........ Especially in Omani colours, like the one outside Hendon......

Where did you find the info on the Omani Hunter??

Mark

Hi Mark,

despite of (or possibly because of) the exotic nature of the subject, reference photos of Omani Hunters are not that rare. Good photos can be found here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978343-omani-hawker-hunters/?hl=oman#entry1925252

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44416-omani-hunters/?hl=oman

http://www.dstorm.eu/pages/en/oman/hunter.html

The books by David J. Griffin (a former Airworks employee in Oman) are also very interesting.

Ole

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That's a fabulous Hunter there - your attention to period detail is commendable! Indeed both the Omani and the one from Aden really look as if they've just arrived from a stint in the desert.

Where can I get a Revell Hunter these days...?

Ebay, but that'll cost ya. Also there are still a few left on the German Amazon site, they're cheaper, but postage is slightly expensive.

Jay

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Hi Mark,

despite of (or possibly because of) the exotic nature of the subject, reference photos of Omani Hunters are not that rare. Good photos can be found here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978343-omani-hawker-hunters/?hl=oman#entry1925252

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44416-omani-hunters/?hl=oman

http://www.dstorm.eu/pages/en/oman/hunter.html

The books by David J. Griffin (a former Airworks employee in Oman) are also very interesting.

Ole

Cheers for the info Doc.... :-)

Mark

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