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Early FROG Hunter prototype rescue.


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I bought a job lot of built kits off Ebay a while back. There was one kit I wanted in the lot, what I thought was a very early Airfix Gladiator, in blue plastic. (Us collectors can get a bit daft over plastic colours!) I got that one wrong but the kits were still worth having.

 

In with the rest of the models was an early FROG Hunter finished in WW2 RAF sand and spinach colours. I couldn't live with that fanciful scheme, so gave the model a good rub down with W+D paper to remove the paint and all the overscale rivet detailing.  An ancient tin of Humbrol Eau-de-Nil paint was dug out from the vaults and a couple of coats later I had me a Hunter Prototype, or at least one close enough for Government work!

 

The colour is a bit vivid for full on accuracy, but as I model with period materials and references, I reasoned that a description like 'pale green' or 'duck egg green' as reported at the time would look very much like the Humbrol colour to a modeller wanting something a bit different for his build. The old paint brushed on faultlessly, with no brush marks and a very deep gloss finish. No exactly scale accurate, but somehow all the faults on this one are lessened by the sheer beauty of an early Hunters lines. 

The wing decals are from an Airfix Bristol Bulldog. The red center is not quite big enough, but the decals were all I had to  hand. They will be corrected at some point. The fuselage roundels were spares from another Airfix kit, this time a Seahawk.

There's no fin fairing yet, nor tail flashes or codes. I've rubbed the canopy framing right off, it was a bit on the heavy side. I'll take a couple of brave pills and have a crack at painting a frame later.

Final finishing will come in time, probably, but for now the model is done enough for display.

 

  Sat on its gorgeous FROG stand, in its rather startling colour, it looks pleasing to my not so critical eyes. 

 

 

IMG_4534.jpg

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I can't claim any authority to comment on the colour, but I think the model, old and basic as it is, captures the Hunter's wonderfully sleek lines.  It looks the part, regardless of whatever touches you still want to add.

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Those early FROG stands certainly looked the part. While I was building this one, I sat the model on an early Airfix stand that I had handy. it looked OK on that one, but the model really came to life once I used the proper FROG one.  Even a Gannet looks good on these stands!

A case of the total being greater than the sum of the parts used I guess.

 

 

In the finest Blue Peter tradition, here's one I did earlier...

 

IMG_0770.jpg

 

The stand makes the picture for me. 

I followed the boxart for this one, the nose and canopy should have had a bit of modification to make a more accurate model, but the picture on the box gave me an excuse to take the easy way out.

Edited by TonyW
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That's a really nice looking job, I do love the colour. Being new myself I've done a lot of work and obsessing over colours recently and to be honest I reached the point where I just figured "what the hell" just so long as I enjoy the build and it looks as great as yours does.

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  • 2 months later...

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