1:48 Hawker Hunter, another Academy one!

[Kallisti]

My entry for this GB is a kit I've had in the stash for some years which I've been wanting to build. This GB, combined with my recent decision to spend more time building REAL things rather than SciFi for a while gives me the perfect impetus to get on with it!

 

So here goes:

 

 

 

 

and finally all the extras I've accumulated:

 

 

Most important of those is the Heritage correction set. There is also a PJ Productions Martin Baker Mk4. I must admit I like the look of the 56 Sqn decals.

 

Off we jolly well...

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Kallisti

[exdraken]

nice choice!

 

Mine definitely need some company

and so do I in order to finish them!

 

 

[Col.]

Welcome to the GB Kallisti and glad to see we've been able to tempt you away from Sci-fi subjects  

[Kallisti]

Well I suppose I could add a hyperdrive or something to the Hunter if I really tried

[MarkSH]

Flux Capacitor?

[Kallisti]

...and so I finally get to start the build. First up is the cockpit, or to be more precise the Heritage resin replacement cockpit plus the PJ Productions resin ejector seat. Using airscale decals, the instrument panel and side panels were detailed, along with a graphite pencil to add some silvery highlights

 

 

 

Then there is the seat - here with some enamel wash still drying to highlight the seatbelts etc

 

 

Its a start, more to follow...

Edited April 30, 2018 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

So here is the completed cockpit now that the seat has been installed and the ejector seat handles added using lead wire

 

 

 

Started work on the intakes now - blimey there are some massive ejector pin marks!!!

 

[Kallisti]

Sorry I forgot to take photos of the intakes being assembled, but lets just say there was something of a fight to get them together and STAY together! There was some work required to clean off the giant ejector pin lumps and then some careful clamping to get the outer intakes to mate with the inner walls.

 

Anyway , they got assembled and painted matt white inside and then incorporated into the fuselage assembly. Along with the resin cockpit the two fuselage side were glued together - this required a little but of fettling to get rid of some of the original cockpit locating lugs, but it went together reasonably well with some judicious clamping

 

 

The only major gap that needs filling is this one in the port intake

 

 

That is a bit worrying as it implies the intakes are not perfectly fitted. We'll see what happens later. The rest of the joint went together fine, just a little bit of a clean up with a sanding stick and it was good to go. Thank goodnesss for that as the 'clever; mouldings included all manner of fins and antenna pre-moulded into the fuselage sides which would have created a problem if there was any serious sanding required.

 

 

Next job was to return to the nose and the resin replacement for the underside front of the nose. This initially was a very poor fit, much too narrow but that was because the resin side were quite thin and had shrunk in a little. I used the original kit part to guage the real width and then strapped the resin to that part and dipped it into hot water. This was enough to spread the sides of the resin part the couple of mm required so that when it was test fitted again it was a much better fit

 

 

Here it is now glued

 

 

The small gaps were filled with some more superglue and sanded down. There is a natural panel line here so I didn't sand it completely smooth, but enough to even the gaps. I then realised I hadn't put weight in the nose so the resin had to be removed and some lead shot glued into the nose to avoid tail sitting!

 

Eventually the resin was refitted and the nose tip added and everything blended together

 

 

 

 

Finally in this update it was the tail and the resin exhaust. This was a much trickier fit that any of the previous resin parts and did require some filler as can be seen here

 

 

 

Those were taken last night so the filler should be ready to sand down this morning...

 

 

 

 

[Silver Fox]

That  new nose underside looks so much better than the kit supplied part. Nice save with the hot water.

 

When I was building the 3 or four I did, I found it easier to add the wings before closing the fuselage halves and then the intake could be more easily positioned before joining the halves. Too late for you this time, sorry, but I'm sure you will not have the problems I did.

[Kallisti]

Now that is a great idea and would probably have solved the problems I did end up with lol... more on that later when I can be bothered to upload some photos...

[Kallisti]

So here we are on Sunday evening after a very pleasant day with the sun shining and the birds singing and the smell of drying paint - mmm what a great day

 

First job this morning was the sanding of the tail exhaust. I stupidly went and put the tailplanes on last night, forgetting that it would made the sanding more difficult this morning - doh! Anyway it god done in the end with a bit of careful work:

 

 

 

 

So that has turned out okay. Next job then was the wings... oh boy, I wish I'd seen Silver Fox's idea yesterday before closing up the fuselage! The port wing went on without too much trouble

 

 

The starboard wing though was a tough nut. It really would not locate properly -  there is a bit of a chasm at the front of the joint just under the intake. I've filled it with Mr Surface 500 here and sanded it back a bit which has helped

 

 

Its not easy to see in this photo but the joint isn't perfect on the upper side either

 

 

The starboard wing though, has fitted in quite well

 

 

and on the underside 

 

 

The only issue being a slight gap at the top of the exhaust - you can also see where I had previously filled the gap in the intake from before

 

 

Anyway after some work and filling, it seems to be okay.. .well for now...

 

So next was attaching the Sabrinas and the other small pieces underneath

 

 

then masking and attaching the canopy in readiness for priming

 

 

The airbrake has also been fitted

 

 

Then toward the end of the afternoon it was given its first coat of primer... and oh dear...

 

 

Big gaps that were not obvious without the primer, and yet more...

 

 

However the other side is okay

 

 

One thing you might notice in the above photo compared to the earlier photo of the canopy is that the previous pic still showed the canopy frame exposed for paint whereas the one above has it hidden. I'm trying an experiment on this paint job to avoid getting primer on the canopy frame as I've noticed, particularly on the recent Javelin that when taking the masking off the canopy, there is sometimes a visible line of primer on the edge where the masking met the frame. This is my attempt to avoid that...

 

So it back to some filler and sanding for the final jobs of today...

 

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

Yesterday evening was spent filling sanding and eventually re-primering and I'm pleased to say it all worked out fine, gaps filled and the primer gave a good overall surface. The last thing I did before going to bed, once I was sure the primer was dry, was to give the upper surface a once over with a coat of XF-53 which is a decent match for Dark Sea Grey. This got left overnight to dry off.

 

First thing morning was all about masking the DSG to prepare for the Green. It was the usual blu-tac and masking tape jobbie which I failed to take a photo of, and then the paint. Removing the masking is always a bit fearful as thats when you discover the paint creep etc, except for once there was none! I'd done a good enough job with the masking that there were no paint bleeds - whopeeee, thats a first for the diary!

 

After a couple of hours curing time and lunch, it was back to masking to do the aluminium undersides

 

 

I was originally intending to use Mr Colour Metallics Aluminium but when I went into the shed I spotted the unopened bottle of AK Interactive Polished Aluminium, so I thought what the heck, lets give it a go. A quick check to see what I would need to do to put it through the airbrush (nothing as it turned out) and so I took the risk and sprayed it. Wow, that was impressive coverage and it produced a very nice aluminium look almost immediately, without even bothering with a gloss black primer coat!

 

Just a short time ago I took all the masking off and here is what I ended up with

 

 

 

So overall I'm very happy with the progress today - I think I'd best leave this for the rest of the day to let the paint cure properly. I rushed things a bit today to get the painting done on the bank holiday but it looks like its paid off. I've got the underwing stores to sort out now, so that will probably do for today!

[Kallisti]

This weeks progress has been slow but methodical, several coats of Klear, decals, more Klear, panel line wash then one final coat of Klear that is currently drying overnight before it gets the final varnish tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday...

 

So here it is post decals, wash and Klear

 

 

Underside, which suffered a little after the wash with a bit of paint loss under the fuselage

 

 

The fuel tanks were added today and the other underwing stores are still being worked on:

 

 

The final pieces are the undercarriage and doors, which are ready to be fitted, along with the brass pitot tube

 

 

This has been a fun build so far but I'm getting to the stage I fear most - the final varnish! After the disaster that was the Meteor NF 11, its made me a little paranoid about this stage... I'll just have to gird my loins (ooerr missus!) and get it done...

[Col.]

Everything looks to be going well for you with this one

[Kallisti]

So here it is finally finished, all done up in  56 Sqn markings representing an aircraft from RAF Waterbeach in 1959

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun build and it looks great on the shelf

I'll post some pics to the gallery next...