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Airfix's new 1/48th Hunter F6 - notes and other things


Jon Kunac-Tabinor

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Hi all - 2 of these little beauties arrived yesterday.  I've started this thread as a questions and notes space. Here are my first few based on the actual plastic.

Just so you know - Even though the parabrake faired exhaust is in the kit: There are NO large drop tanks or cut out flaps in this kit - so if you want an F6A or FGA9 you will need to source /modify as applicable.

Theres a small amount of warp on mine on the top right wing area of the single wing /fuselage piece- its most noticeable  when viewed from the rear on the top of the flap.
Ditto with a little warping on the left hand fuselage half: Neither are really bad and don't seem to affect things - but the wing warp will only disappear when the lower half is added I think!

There's a raised offset shelf on the spine - I think that is applicable for an aerial fit used on the F6A only - so CHECK your refs for F6's.  Ditto with a raised panel both top and below on the starboard wing intake area - I can see something like this in some photos of the real thing - but I can't decide if its too pronounced or should just be there on F6A's or is a one off from whichever airframe they LIDAR-ed ?????

The rear fuselage exhaust parts. Ive found it best to glue these to each fuselage half first - AND- just glue the fuselage ONLY join first, then glue the fin area to it: The fin has a bit of flex - so if you do it this way you can set up a good strong join on the fuselage initially, so the fin has something stable to adhere to.

 

The diagonal panel line on the rear of the exhaust section looks like it belongs to the earlier 100 series Avon "small bore" exhaust not the later 200 series version as supplied here - Have Aunty Airfix got confused? it's not visible on the optional parabrake faired exhaust parts. Hmmmm

 

READ the instructions re the wing to fuselage join !!! ( I know - I know, you all do - but there may be a "few" misguided souls out there who think they don't need to....) - you can't add the lower wings sections to the upper first and then add to the fuselage because the lower wing sections have bloody big lugs to fit into equally big tenons in the fuselage. These are a tight fit too - so be warned!  :)

Theres an ejector pin knock-out mark on the underneath of the cockpit tub - it's totally visible from the nose bay - so if it offends - remove first!

 

There a two small vents immediately forward of the sabrinas' location - again - the refs seem confused. I can see some photos that appear to show only 1 vent. Some drawings show two, and other photos none. HELP!!

There should be a very small NACA type intake on the bottom front of each sabrina- BUT they are really small and they are bloody hard to see in most photos. TBH - its probably a total pain to add them so I mention it only because I can :)

These are my initial notes - BUT fit is excellent, panel lines nice and fine, and the plastic easy to work with. So - All good really :)  :) :)

Jonners





 

Edited by Jon Kunac-Tabinor
edit for my terrible spelling & grammar
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Thanks Jon. I was gonna ask about the flaps and if the circular scollops cutout guides had been included with this F.6 kit. Looks like the answer is no, but that’s no biggie. Might get me one of these kits, seems like a nice package. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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My friend has been building his and it builds well and looks great. looking at the wings , I think I see how the F4/5 will be done as they have score lines top and bottom internally . So I suspect a new sprue containing new outer leading edges that will just plug in. Of course the after market boys may beat Airfix  to it with some resin jobbies.

 

Keith

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17 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

There a two small vents immediately forward of the sabrinas' location - again - the refs seem confused. I can see some photos that appear to show only 1 vent. Some drawings show two, and other photos none. HELP!!

I can't acces my pics at the mo, but certainly the flying Dutch F.6A has a raised rear facing vent forward of each sabrina.

 

16510488227_567bde895e_c.jpgHawker Hunter F.6A XF515 'N-294' (G-KAXF) Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

16716693202_d60a667930_c.jpgHunter F.6A XF515 G-KAXF 'N-294' Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation 04 Mar 15 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

16095478814_796eaef596_c.jpgHawker Hunter F.6A XF515 'N-294' (G-KAXF) Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation by James Thomas, on Flickr

In this one you can make out both vents and NACA scoops

 

 

Thanks for the kit info, looking forward to the F.4 boxing when it arrives.

Edited by 71chally
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14 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

Hi all - 2 of these little beauties arrived yesterday.  I've started this thread as a questions and notes space. Here are my first few based on the actual plastic.

Just so you know - Even though the parabrake faired exhaust is in the kit: There are NO large drop tanks or cut out flaps in this kit - so if you want an F6A or FGA9 you will need to source /modify as applicable.

Theres a small amount of warp on mine on the top right wing area of the single wing /fuselage piece- its most noticeable  when viewed from the rear on the top of the flap.
Ditto with a little warping on the left hand fuselage half: Neither are really bad and don't seem to affect things - but the wing warp will only disappear when the lower half is added I think!

There's a raised offset shelf on the spine - I think that is applicable for an aerial fit used on the F6A only - so CHECK your refs for F6's.  Ditto with a raised panel both top and below on the starboard wing intake area - I can see something like this in some photos of the real thing - but I can't decide if its too pronounced or should just be there on F6A's or is a one off from whichever airframe they LIDAR-ed ?????

The rear fuselage exhaust parts. Ive found it best to glue these to each fuselage half first - AND- just glue the fuselage ONLY join first, then glue the fin area to it: The fin has a bit of flex - so if you do it this way you can set up a good strong join on the fuselage initially, so the fin has something stable to adhere to.

 

The diagonal panel line on the rear of the exhaust section looks like it belongs to the earlier 100 series Avon "small bore" exhaust not the later 200 series version as supplied here - Have Aunty Airfix got confused? it's not visible on the optional parabrake faired exhaust parts. Hmmmm

 

READ the instructions re the wing to fuselage join !!! ( I know - I know, you all do - but there may be a "few" misguided souls out there who think they don't need to....) - you can't add the lower wings sections to the upper first and then add to the fuselage because the lower wing sections have bloody big lugs to fit into equally big tenons in the fuselage. These are a tight fit too - so be warned!  :)

Theres an ejector pin knock-out mark on the underneath of the cockpit tub - it's totally visible from the nose bay - so if it offends - remove first!

 

There a two small vents immediately forward of the sabrinas' location - again - the refs seem confused. I can see some photos that appear to show only 1 vent. Some drawings show two, and other photos none. HELP!!

There should be a very small NACA type intake on the bottom front of each sabrina- BUT they are really small and they are bloody hard to see in most photos. TBH - its probably a total pain to add them so I mention it only because I can :)

These are my initial notes - BUT fit is excellent, panel lines nice and fine, and the plastic easy to work with. So - All good really :)  :) :)

Jonners





 

Jonners have a look at THIS series of pictures they show the vents on both sides, If I recall they are  gun bay vents to extract gun gases from the bay area during firing. I am not 100% sure but I seem to remember from  somewhere in the back of my mind that the NACA vents  were the gun vent air inlets and the rear facing vents the extraction ports that together created up an air flow through the gun bay that purged the gases.

 

Selwyn

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On 1/11/2019 at 8:48 AM, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

The diagonal panel line on the rear of the exhaust section looks like it belongs to the earlier 100 series Avon "small bore" exhaust not the later 200 series version as supplied here - Have Aunty Airfix got confused? it's not visible on the optional parabrake faired exhaust parts. Hmmmm

 

What about this Hunter F.6. It seems to have the area aft of the diagonal line left natural metal, like it was on many small bore engines, no?  Of course this doesn't strictly imply the presence of a panel line...

 

G

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47 minutes ago, guillaume320 said:

What about this Hunter F.6. It seems to have the area aft of the diagonal line left natural metal, like it was on many small bore engines, no?  Of course this doesn't strictly imply the presence of a panel line...

 

G

Hi Guillaume - good find! It just adds to the mystery. Every single pic of an RAF F6 I'ved looked at does not show a diagonal panel line there. Yet look at pics of Belgian and Dutch F6's and the camo is at least "painted" like there is!

I have found one reference to licence built Dutch F.4's that were built with dog tooth wing, drop tanks and blast deflectors - so is this what we are seeing?

Sorry - was searching as I was replying, and... UPDATE In fact - I've just found a better confirmation: see here

 

http://www.belgian-wings.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/MilltaryPics/post_ww2/Hawker Hunter F.4/Hawker Hunter F4 Frontpage.htm

 

interesting!

 

Jonners

 

 

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Yes indeed some Belgian F.4's were brought to almost F.6 standard including dogtooth and blast deflectors... The Hunter which used to reside for decades at the entrance of Koksijde AB, ID-123, was one of those...

 

Any suggestions how to tackle the lack of gun blast deflectors in the Airfix kit?

 

G

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2 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

Hi Guillaume - good find! It just adds to the mystery. Every single pic of an RAF F6 I'ved looked at does not show a diagonal panel line there. Yet look at pics of Belgian and Dutch F6's and the camo is at least "painted" like there is!

interesting!

 

Jonners

 

 

There is/was a skin line there Jonners between two areas of 20 gauge.  I'll dig out a drawing from the AP which shows plus a tracing I d1d from the Vol.6

 

Dennis

 

Edit :-

 

OK  - Frame 61 from the AP :- 

8rGd5uB.jpg

 

Tracing I did whilst carrying out a repair in the rear fuselage area :-

Wi8kpbR.jpg

 

NOTE that skin lines, ie where two bits of skin joined were invariably filled (puttied) and rubbed smooth before any primer was applied.  Two coats of the latter were normally applied with wet and dry followed by de-dusting prior to the first coat of paint. Major components, rear ends, wings, tailplanes, flying controls and some panels were normally pre-painted prior to fitting and were included in the overall painting.

 

HTH

 

Dennis

 

 

Edited by sloegin57
Drawings included
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Well done @Jon Kunac-Tabinor for getting this thread started. This has got to be one of Airfix' the most requested kits so I'm sure there'll be plenty to say!

 

Mine arrived this morning. It'll be a while before I start building but I've had a look at the sprues this evening. It looks fantastic and I predict more will be ariving at my door in due course!

 

I can't offer any build advice at the moment but here are a couple of observational notes on the parts while still on the sprues,

 

Wheels - the mains look excellent, very detailed and accurate looking. However, the wheel man must have got burnt out after doing the mains because the nose wheel is terrible! It has no hub detail whatsoever. Absolutely nothing. Even Revell managed spoke detail in 1/144 scale! Disappointing and very surprising, but some work for the aftermarket chaps or you'll have to drill and trim to make a more accurate hub out of the kit part.

 

Flaps - no interior detail at all, not even the basic detail in the Academy kit. Another one for the afternarketeers for folk that want to drop them.

 

Ailerons - need a couple of swipes of a sanding stick on the trailing edge of the tips to get the characteristic shape as they're too pointy as they stand. They have the proper shape on the elevators and rudder but not on the ailerons for some reason. Also, the trim tab on the port aileron is missing completely (which is a bit of surprise) but can easily be scribed in.

 

Those raised panels on the lower surfaces of the wings near the intakes and on the upper surface of the starboard wing are definitely getting sanded off!!!

 

Minor point of interest - the port cockpit shelf has the High Pressure Fuel Cock lever moulded on it. That's applicable to the 100 series engines only.

 

I like the way they've moulded the upper centre fuselage separately from the rest of the fuselage - that gives hope for a small-bore version in the future.

 

The great thing is, this is a fantastic kit and one I've been waiting for for a long, long time. The points above are easily modified. Happy camper here! :yahoo:

Edited by StephenMG
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13 minutes ago, StephenMG said:

Well done @Jon Kunac-TabinorKunac-Tab

I like the way they've moulded the upper centre fuselage separately from the rest of the fuselage - that gives hope for a small-bore version in the future.

It's on the way Mark, check out the Rumormungor thread, even happier camper now!

Edited by 71chally
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36 minutes ago, 71chally said:

It's on the way Mark, check out the Rumormungor thread, even happier camper now!

Duh! Somehow I'd completely missed that F.4/F.5 announcement! Thanks James. That's my modelling mapped out for 2019 and beyond! :)

Edited by StephenMG
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On a different note, with regards to XE597 63 Sqn as offered as an OOB option:  All pictures I've seen of this particular airframe show it had white wingtips. Nor the Airfix box art nor the paint guide show this.  I guess it wouldn't have been unusual for an airframe to get small paint modifications over time, but in this case I haven't seen any conclusive evidence yet... Ready to be corrected on this one!

 

G

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I agree @guillaume320, if I was doing that scheme I'd certainly add white wingtips. To be honest, I find Airfix' subject choices a bit uninspiring so haven't really taken much notice. The decals look excellently printed though and all those stencils will be about a months work to apply!

 

Speaking of markings, I assume the subjects they are currently showing for the forthcoming F.4 will change given that one is an F.5 and so the same centre fuselage/wing part couldn't be used for both. It would be nice to see an F.1 instead as the poor old Mark 1 always seems to get overlooked!

 

The more I think about the F.6 kit though the more bemused I am by the flaps, ailerons and certainly the nose wheel. They just seem...unfinished. Also the lack of gun blast deflectors - one of the F.6's characteristic features. :hmmm:

Edited by StephenMG
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I have two of these on the go and find quite a contrast between the fit of some parts, one kit suffering from some warping. A good example of my point is the two intake tunnel halves. Out of one box they just clicked together and out of the other there was something of a tug-o-war to get them together. Dry fitting the fuselage halves together also shows differences. One is near perfect and the other is going to need half a roll of masking tape to hold the halves together while they dry. I am no expert but could one set of sprues have been removed from the moulds a bit too soon? The 'good' box of bits contains one of the best Airfix kits I have built. This is a quantum leap ahead of the old Academy effort.

 

All the best, Alan

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It takes a little while for new Airfix goodies to get to my neck of the woods. With the release of the Phantom FGR2 and now this Hunter kit (for which I already have a suitable stash of Xtradecals), I imagine I will have to take a blue IKEA bag to the model exhibition in Zeiskam, which also tends to have goodies released just after the Nuremberg (Nämberch!) Toy Fair , in early March.

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On 13/01/2019 at 04:46, sloegin57 said:

There is/was a skin line there Jonners between two areas of 20 gauge.  I'll dig out a drawing from the AP which shows plus a tracing I d1d from the Vol.6

 

Dennis

 

Edit :-

 

OK  - Frame 61 from the AP :- 

 

 

Tracing I did whilst carrying out a repair in the rear fuselage area :-

 

 

NOTE that skin lines, ie where two bits of skin joined were invariably filled (puttied) and rubbed smooth before any primer was applied.  Two coats of the latter were normally applied with wet and dry followed by de-dusting prior to the first coat of paint. Major components, rear ends, wings, tailplanes, flying controls and some panels were normally pre-painted prior to fitting and were included in the overall painting.

 

HTH

 

Dennis

 

 

Hi Dennis - thanks for this - nice drawings!  The upsweep of the fuselage at the exhaust end makes me thing this is a 100 series Avon Hunter F1 or F4, or even a Sapphire F2 or F5.
Are you sure your drawings are for a 200 series Avon engined F6?

 

cheers

 

Jonners

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I'm glad that the F4/5 is announced as Herr Flicks borrowed my F.4 AP. Re Guilliaume's post. This solves a little puzzle for me as I remember looking at a Belgian Hunter on the dump at the back of Koksijde airfield. which I thought was an F.6 but when I measured the tail pipe it was F.4 size.. 

As I've commented before, some tiny details will inevitable get missed by the design team. Each kit is a window in in their working world and they haven't spent oodles of hours with a subject like many forum members have. 

 

It's a lovely well produced kit, the product of a dedicated team and if they didn't produce the right Mk for you well tough rhubarb. 

 

Irregular fit of parts is usually down to the Mould/styrene temperatures or mould cycle time and the press operator who should be competent to spot this and adjust accordingly.

 

John

 The drawings outline in the AP from one Mk to another will not necessarily be redrawn if the data such as metal thicknesses in this case, remains the same. AP 4347D is a Mk .4 AP4347E is a Mk.6

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3 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

Hi Dennis - thanks for this - nice drawings!  The upsweep of the fuselage at the exhaust end makes me thing this is a 100 series Avon Hunter F1 or F4, or even a Sapphire F2 or F5.
Are you sure your drawings are for a 200 series Avon engined F6?

 

cheers

 

Jonners

As John states in post 21, drawings will not be changed if skin thickness stays the same.  The repair was on  an FGA.9 at Wittering - In fact the very last 9 on the base.  45 and 58 had been disbanded very rapidly and out of the blue but this particular aircraft was still in the shed having major repairs to it.  All AP's had been wrapped and sent to Brawdy and as all the MU staff had gone home as well, their work completed, the aeroplane was on its own.  A small piece of damage was found at the rear end which needed fixing.  The only Hunter drawings left at Wittering were amendment sheets in ASF (Eng Wg HQ) which were due to be destroyed.  All I wanted was the skin gauge "in writing" to make the repair "legal".  I managed to grab the top sheet for the F.4 and was "allowed" to trace the bottom sheet and references..  

 

The job took 2hrs and 30mins as I recall, chasing up the references took a whole day.

 

As John has indicated, suffix letters to an aircraft AP, in those days, indicated the mark of aircraft it, "the book", referred to.

 

The aircraft was XK140 ex 58 and we never found out who "dinked" it so we blamed the Regiment who had taken over 45.58's hangar.

 

HTH

 

Dennis 

Edited by sloegin57
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Looking at the colour plates in the new Cold War Shield, I think my first venture will not be using kit decals. There are some great schemes in there for any

decal manufacturer who has a copy. Agreed it is a fantastic kit though - which machine do we need to shout about next then???

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