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1982 Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hunter FGA.9


BP85

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Hi All, my second WIP here. Taking a break from my ICM Beer Delivery Spit as it is too cold outside to prime it.

 

I picked this 1982 kit up a few months ago for the princely sum of £3.60 on eBay and it is also my first jet. I have only done WWII so far but also have an interest in Cold War jets. I'm not expecting any magic from this old tool but I'm sure with a bit of love something respectable can be produced. And if not for a few quid I'm sure it will be happy in the bin. 

 

Usual bits first; box, parts (detached on arrival as it is pre-owned but not started), decals and instructions. 

 

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There are about sixty pieces with multiple ordnance options and wheels up/down options. Unfortunately, or fortunately, due to the lack of interior detail, there is no canopy open option which is how I usually like to build them. 

 

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The decals look pretty old and thick and I'm not sure how good they will be after thirty odd years so may pick up some aftermarket ones later on if I can build anything worth spending more on. 

 

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As is common with these small older kits the instructions are a single double page spread

 

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And paint and decal instructions that I will probably not use

 

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First thinks first - the office. Well, the seat and the stick and the floor. That's all there is. The parts have no great detail but that's not a shock on this older kit and some of the joins between the sprue and the pieces are more substantial than some pieces themselves 

 

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The highly detailed cockpit painstakingly assembled and a pair of 5p coins superglued in so that it doesn't sit on its tail. This was the only place I could fit them

 

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As the canopy will be closed and it is only 1/72 I will not be adding any custom cockpit interior. A quick spray of Tamiya Rubber Black and some seat belts painted on with Tamyia Flat Yellow just to give a hint of some effort being made to detail the cockpit. Will give the customary dry brush when it has dried to bring out any hidden detail that may be lurking there. 

 

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Got to say that I'm really surprised about how good the fit is. The fuselage halves and 'cockpit' mate almost perfectly without any gaps

 

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Bombs and stuff

 

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And the wing assembly. So far, so nicely fitting. Apart from the other landing gear cover(?) was missing from the box. Will decide whether to scratch build one or scratch build a jack/trestle to make it look like the other landing gear is being replaced

 

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The first major fit issues arrived with the fitting of the wings to the fuselage, but shouldn't be anything a bit of Humbrol filler can't fix 

 

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Note. The missing port landing gear 

 

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A little bit of dry brushing in an attempt to bring the cockpit to life at least a little bit 

 

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Over all I'm pretty pleased and quite surprised about how well this kit fits together. Sure, there isn't the detail that we expect in more modern kits but this is proving to be an enjoyable quick build and a nice break from the beer delivery Spitfire. I really enjoy getting these older kits and trying to get the best out of them. 

 

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Anyhow, that's all for today. More to follow should anybody be interested (filling, smoothing, priming...) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, neil5208 said:

Scale aircraft conversions do a metal undercarrage set for the Revell hunter that would be easily modified to fit. For such an old kit the fit looks good.

Yes - really pleased with the fit. Was expecting much more trouble than just the wing roots especially on a middle aged kit. As for the landing gear cover I have some plasticard on the way so will attempt a replacement. 

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12 hours ago, BP85 said:

 

Bombs and stuff

 

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Going to follow this to find out what your finishing it as.

 

By the way, the "Bombs and stuff" is actually two small fuel tanks, top left with the fins, Two long range fuel tanks, bottom left and right, and two MATRA rocket pods, top right.

 

Gondor

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You've done a good job on what is an old kit. Despite that it goes together well and looks like a Hunter. As an aside Revell have re-released their Hunter F9 which is pretty much the best show (and only in 1/72) around.

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1 hour ago, Tomoshenko said:

You've done a good job on what is an old kit. Despite that it goes together well and looks like a Hunter. As an aside Revell have re-released their Hunter F9 which is pretty much the best show (and only in 1/72) around.

Thanks! There's something quite fun about seeing what you can get out of these older kits apart from the usual issues with decals and clear parts. I wouldn't mind doing a 1/48 version in the future. 

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Today's partial update - Filled in the gaps with Humbrol filler and added the two blisters towards the front. Not entirely sure what they are but again the fit is nice. The airbreak(?) at the back took quite a bit of filing in order to get it fitting centrally. 

 

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As for the port landing gear (the one with the missing cover) this is what I do have:

 

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Compared to what I should have:

 

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My three options are:

1) Leave it off and scratch build some sort of jack/trestle 

2) Attach as is with cover missing 

3) Attempt to scratch a cover 

 

Leaning towards 1 and 2 at the moment but can't quite decide. 

 

Thank you for the interest in what must be the thousandth Hunter thread on here. 

 

 

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After digging around in the spares pile I found a flat piece that could be fashioned into the appropriate shape so a bit of sawing and sanding later this was the result. Not perfect but better than nothing 

 

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Original:

 

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Mutant:

 

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Nice replacement job on the missing undercarriage door. The two "blisters" as you called them are in fact called Sabrinas after a buxom actress of the time and were used to collect spent cartridges and ammunition links.

 

Keep up the good work, it's looking great so far :like:

 

Gondor

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On 06/01/2019 at 15:56, Gondor44 said:

Nice replacement job on the missing undercarriage door. The two "blisters" as you called them are in fact called Sabrinas after a buxom actress of the time and were used to collect spent cartridges and ammunition links.

 

Keep up the good work, it's looking great so far :like:

 

Gondor

Thanks, Gondor. I do like that about the Sabrinas! 

 

Small update today, quick half hour after work. Front landing gear, pitot tube(?), canopy and masking all added and the joins sanded down. This was meant to be a quick build to reduce the stash but I'm growing quite fond of her now and will probably spend some time finishing as best I can. 

 

Will be priming tomorrow, thinking about a trial run blaclbasing before I do my beer delivery Spitfire. Does anybody know of any good aftermarket decals for this model? 

 

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1 hour ago, Lord Riot said:

Thank you, m'Lord. Purchased. Only cost three times as much as the kit itself! I've decided on 43 Squadron in Aden 1965. Based on this it looks like I will be going with all the fuel tanks as the payload. 

 

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Nice work so far.  This isn't the most accurate Hunter kit but it really does look the part when built.

 

I have never seen all the pylons and wheels etc installed before sanding down the filler before.  Well done.

 

David

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12 minutes ago, David Womby said:

Nice work so far.  This isn't the most accurate Hunter kit but it really does look the part when built.

 

I have never seen all the pylons and wheels etc installed before sanding down the filler before.  Well done.

 

David

Yes. This was going to be a straight OOB and as-it-comes stash reduction exercise that wasn't meant to take longer than the weekend. But one thing lead to another and here we are with filler, canopy masking and aftermarket decals that cost three times as much as the kit! It has a lovely shape so I'm now quite determined to get the most out of it. 

 

Hoping to get some paint slapped on her this week. 

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Primed. It's a shame there's not a super secret black version as she looks pretty great like this. Primed using a Humbrol rattle can. Next step will be to spay on some marbling before the camouflage. 

 

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Edited by BP85
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14 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Black Hunters you say? ...

 

IMG43621546950886.jpg

 

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They look awesome. May well have to add this kit to the wish list as now that I've spent £11 on decals I'm damned well going to use them! Really is a quite beautiful aeroplane. 

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The 'Black Arrows' Hunter is an even older kit than your FGA.9, but they do pop up on ebay occasionally. You could probably use the Revell kit though with some aftermarket decals.

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Those are actually the cartridge case and link catchers,so designed because the spent cases and links were found to be damaging the underside skin

upon clearing the ejection chutes.

 

This is the young lady in question:

 

http://www.pathefilm.uk/95flmcat/95flmcatsab.htm

 

a somewhat equally bulbous '50's starlet whom lent her name to the catcher fairings(somewhat unwittingly I'd imagine😚).

 

I'm sure I read that the original "Black Arrows" Hunter F.6 kit's moulds formed the basis of this,the later FGA.9 kit.

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I remember speaking to Trevor Snowdon about the 1982 partial retool of the Hunter. He said at the time Airfix were desperate to issue something new, but were short of money for a complete retool of the the ancient Hunter kit and so it was this or nothing. Built one in the mid 80's and another on the 90's with a home made interior that then had a mould made. Both long since gone in house moves etc. The wing fuselage fit was dodgy on both and easy to end up with unwanted anhedral. Yours is coming on well. 

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Looks nice I recall the kit well. By the way I have some spare undercarrigae bits for this kit if you want them. PM and we will make arrangements

50 minutes ago, DaveWilko said:

Those are actually the cartridge case and link catchers,so designed because the spent cases and links were found to be damaging the underside skin

upon clearing the ejection chutes.

 

This is the young lady in question:

 

http://www.pathefilm.uk/95flmcat/95flmcatsab.htm

 

a somewhat equally bulbous '50's starlet whom lent her name to the catcher fairings(somewhat unwittingly I'd imagine😚).

 

I'm sure I read that the original "Black Arrows" Hunter F.6 kit's moulds formed the basis of this,the later FGA.9 kit.

It was!

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11 hours ago, Paul J said:

Looks nice I recall the kit well. By the way I have some spare undercarrigae bits for this kit if you want them. PM and we will make arrangements

It was!

That's awfully kind, Paul. Thank you. I do have the rear wheels, I just haven't attached them yet so in this case I don't think I need any replacements, but thank you nonetheless. 

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12 hours ago, DaveWilko said:

Those are actually the cartridge case and link catchers,so designed because the spent cases and links were found to be damaging the underside skin

upon clearing the ejection chutes.

 

This is the young lady in question:

 

http://www.pathefilm.uk/95flmcat/95flmcatsab.htm

 

a somewhat equally bulbous '50's starlet whom lent her name to the catcher fairings(somewhat unwittingly I'd imagine😚).

 

I'm sure I read that the original "Black Arrows" Hunter F.6 kit's moulds formed the basis of this,the later FGA.9 kit.

I feel much more educated on Cold War jet appendages now, thank you. The sad thing is that such harmless fun in the naming of aircraft parts would no longer be permissible in our current joyless society. 

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17 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

The 'Black Arrows' Hunter is an even older kit than your FGA.9, but they do pop up on ebay occasionally. You could probably use the Revell kit though with some aftermarket decals.

Already got my eye on an old Airfix F6 on eBay 😉

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Hi All, 

 

Quick question: The particular Hunter that I'm going for is #3 below (43 Squadron, Aden 1965) but it says that the underside colour is aluminium? Is this correct as most of the pictures I have seen seem to show a dull light grey. 

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Further to this, the original Airfix instructions say to go for Silver:

 

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I would hugely appreciate it if somebody could shed some light on this so that I can start making sure I have the right paints in.

 

As an aside, the eBay fairy just dropped this off:

 

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