The little one

[nimrod54]

You're obviously sharper eyed that I am Col. Just checked over my Saudi build that is sitting in the cabinet and sure enough I haven't filled that in. I'm putting it down to the glasses. Noted for next time.

[Col.]

The joys of having some weird obsession with the type John

Remember that brake parachute fairing I was waffling on about in a previous edition? Here's a visual before/after on that;

[Hockeyboy76]

The joys of having some weird obsession with the type John

You may find these interesting then Col,

This was taken at Cottesmore on the day before it closed. The Hunter was outside 4Sqn & 8Sqn at Waddo wanted it. We took it to Barkston Heath where it was repainted & rebadged as 8Sqn.

She sits outside 8Sqn HQ at Waddington now.

Sorry for thread Hi-jack.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Hockeyboy76

[Col.]

You may find these interesting then Col...

Sorry for thread Hi-jack.

No need to apologise, those are interesting pictures and story, I must have a look online to see if there are pictures showing her in place now.

[Col.]

Added a little extra detail to the seats;

Seats plural? Well, yes, a pair. You see, I've four of these kits in the stash, thought I'd copy the detail on to components of another while working on this one.

Unfortunately I was having so much fun I forgot to take another photo of the painted seat before it got installed;

In fact this whole "too much fun to stop and take photos" has been a running theme with the components of the second kit;

Oops.

So now there's two tiny Hunters taking shape on the bench. The F.6 is on the left and a GA.11 on the right.

The jet pipes are among the various differences. Smaller for the GA.11 and its Avon 100-series engine, larger for the F.6 with a 200-series engine;

The 100-series jet pipe was reduced by adding a shim of plastic sheet inside the rear opening then sanding down the other surface and taking a round needle file to restore the inner circle.

The different dimensions of the air-brake on a GA.11 was also accounted for by some filling and scribing,

The gun blast deflectors on the F.6 were done with some stretched sprue and blocks on plastic sheet;

There's still a few more things to do before either are ready for paint but enthusiasm remains high so hopefully I'll get sufficient free time to finish one if not both during this GB.

[Hockeyboy76]

Some cracking scratch work on these Col.

[nimrod54]

Great work Col, the seats look fantastic and I'm picking lots up about the type differences that aren't immediately obvious. Thanks for taking the time to show these.

[Nigel Heath]

Lovely work there Col .

[Mach82]

Those two big boys are looking great Col. I love the attention to detail on such a small scale kit.

Lovely work there

[Col.]

Thank you again gents. Nice to know you're enjoying this one.

A little more done with the gunsight glass added using a tiny sliver of cellophane glued on. Only took about seven attempts to get both done. Then got the canopy on to the GA.11;

[Col.]

After spending far too much time working, sorting out GBs, doing things for other people, and not getting near the bench I've finally taken some time over the last two weekends to make progress on these. You can already see I'd drilled out the nose light on the GA.11 in the previous photo update.

Next task was getting the canopy on the F.6 along with making pitot probes from some .4mm brass tube with a piece of fuse wire inside.

Fast forward to getting paint on them.

Colourcoats Extra Dark Sea Grey for the GA.11 went on beautifully. Thinned roughly 60/40 paint to thinners using Humbrol for the latter gave a lovely smooth coat of paint.

Colourcoats do have their own thinners but I've not had a chance to get any from Jamie at Sovereign Hobbies yet. Regardless of that I'm delighted with the results. Not only was it easy to spray and gave good smooth coverage but the paint was dry enough to handle within 4 hours.

Xtracolour RAF Roundel Blue for the F.6 was, alas, a different story. For such a dark colour it took several coats to get sufficient opacity and the result is quite a grainy finish.

The Xtracolour paint still feels slightly tacky to touch even twenty-four hours after it was sprayed and will likely need as long again before I can think about polishing it up.

[Mach82]

Glad to see these little beauties underway again Col. The are looking good

[Col.]

Glad to see these little beauties underway again Col. The are looking good

Thanks Mark. It was good to get back at them.

[Nigel Heath]

Nice looking work Col. Bad luck with the paint, maybe you would be better off switching to lacquer based paints like Mr Color (as endorsed by Duncan B and myself + others) which are handelable after just and hour or so.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Colourcoats Extra Dark Sea Grey for the GA.11 went on beautifully. Thinned roughly 60/40 paint to thinners using Humbrol for the latter gave a lovely smooth coat of paint.

Colourcoats do have their own thinners but I've not had a chance to get any from Jamie at Sovereign Hobbies yet. Regardless of that I'm delighted with the results. Not only was it easy to spray and gave good smooth coverage but the paint was dry enough to handle within 4 hours.

Hi Colin,

They look lovely, and I'm pleased the Colourcoats has worked out well for you. Are you coming to the club night on the 9th or indeed going to heckle Duncan on Saturday? I'll slip a bottle of thinners in my pocket for you ...

[Col.]

Hi Colin,

They look lovely, and I'm pleased the Colourcoats has worked out well for you. Are you coming to the club night on the 9th or indeed going to heckle Duncan on Saturday? I'll slip a bottle of thinners in my pocket for you ...

Thanks Jamie. I'm now itching to try the Sky and white on the Seafire 45 to see if they go on so well as your EDSG

Hoping to make club night but I'm racing up in Forres all day Saturday so afraid I can't join you lads in the peanut gallery to heckle Duncan and count how how many more kits he buys than sells

[Duncan B]

I never bought a thing, but neither did Jamie despite opening every box I had with me.

Nice work on the titchy Hunters, what would look nice would be some titchy Migs to go with them.

Duncan B

[Col.]

A little more progress on one of these. The GA.11 got her intake lips sprayed white this morning;

So minor touch-ups required but nothing horrific

[Col.]

Been a while since these got any attention even though they are lingering on the bench. One issue with the kit as moulded is thick undercarriage doors so I've set about replacing them with plastic sheet copies;

 

 

 

 

Still another door to add on each main leg and details to do but taken another step closer  

[Col.]

Almost done with the GA.11 having made the last u/c doors and got the decals on. The latter were easy to work with but lack the black 'ROYAL NAVY' titles for the rear fuselage and this omission is one I can't find an answer for yet. Otherwise all that is required will be to paint on the wingtip and tail bullet lights then fit the whip aerials;

 

 

 

The F.6, is also progressing through its decal stage but this is proving a different prospect altogether. I hate Mike Grant decals!  Fragile, oversized, inaccurate. The image below was taken on Monday after the second round of decalling and it took four days to get back into a mindset for continuing. The first session went smoothly with the white roundel underlays going on no problem. The second session involved trying to lay the fuselage lines down; it also involved lots of measuring to cut down the over-long strips. Not a problem that they are generous and allow some leeway.  Then the swearing started as they broke up while trying to place them on the model. Careful handling and leaving plenty carrier around them makes no difference so I suspect a coat of extra decal film is the only answer. Unfortunately this revelation only came to me after my final temper tantrum late last night sent me to bed in a foul mood. The forward fuselage flash and squadron badge also have a strange relationship with each other caused, I think, by both being too large and finally the rear fuselage serial numbers are printed white when they were black on the real machine  My intial enthusiasm for the decal sheet has vanished rapidly.

 

 

It's much further on with only 6 more decals to go but I can't be bothered taking another photo yet. I've always wanted a Blue Diamonds Hunter in my collection but this one isn't satifying that urge. It will get finished but I'm no longer enjoying it.

[Cookenbacher]

Don't give up Col., they're looking great. I really want a Blue Diamonds Hunter in my collection too someday.

[Col.]

4 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Don't give up Col., they're looking great. I really want a Blue Diamonds Hunter in my collection too someday.

Thanks for the support Cookie  I did get these finished-ish but never got around to taking some final photos. A job for tomorrow perhaps.

Such a pity no company has seen fit to bring out a good set of decals for the Blue Diamonds. I personally think Revell missed a chance to sell more of the 32nd F.6 kit by going with the standard 92 squadron machine and could have a rather nice boxing of the 72nd scale model with some aerobatic team schemes. Just think, 92 Sqn. Blue Diamonds, 111 Sqn. Black Arrows, Belgian Air Force Diables Rouges for the F.6 then go with a Swiss Air Force Patrouille Suisse and Indian Air Force Thunderbirds options in the FGA.9 box. The have, after all, got previous form on such things with the various F-16, F-4F and Tornado special schemes.

[Cookenbacher]

I'm glad they're finished, and can't wait to see 'em.

 

You should work for Revell - I'd buy that kit a few times.