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1:48 Airfix Hawker Hunter F6, Tactical Weapons Unit. RAF Brawdy


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Having built the Academy Hunter last year, I've been looking forward to getting the Airfix new release so pre-ordered a couple of kits which arrived in January. I'd also picked up the Xtradecal sheet Pt 3 which has some excellent coulourful schemes on, so decided I had to do one of these, in particular the Tactical Weapons Unit based at RAF Brawdy in 1979. Now it turns out that Xtradecal have the serial number on this one wrong. They claim it is XG223 but in fact it is XG225 - there are several photos of it out there in the net in this scheme to prove it. By the way this airframe now resides at the entrance to the museum at RAF Cosford, sadly not not in this colour scheme :(

The kit itself is a lovely example of modern engineering. The only addition I made was to replace the Martin Baker Mk 4 ejector seat with one I'd already painted up for another build but didn't use. 

 

As to the photos, I've been experimenting lately with different lighting set ups to try to improve the quality of the photos with different backdrops and camera settings. 

 

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I have another kit to build sometime in the future - might try the raspberry ripple scheme from the same decal set...

 

Edit: I've replaced the photos as I realised I had the wrong white-balance setting on the camera when taking them, so the colours were all muddy.

Edited by Kallisti
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That’s an attractive variation on the TWU colour schemes: I’ve seen the red version done before but not the yellow.  Your wing to fuselage joints look a lot neater than mine.

 

One minor point: the Hunter canopy doesn’t have a frame at the rear, the perspex is simply thicker at that point but still clear.

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Nice build - always liked the Hunter and your build does it justice. Especially like the paint scheme. As mentioned by Steven - the canopy isn't framed at the back. Something often seen modeled wrongly on the Hunter. But I definitely would have done it too if wouldn't have been made aware by guys here from BM.

 

Cheers,

Michael

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10 hours ago, stever219 said:

One minor point: the Hunter canopy doesn’t have a frame at the rear, the perspex is simply thicker at that point but still clear.

 

I did wonder about that - no problem it can easily come off - I was struggling at one point to keep the paint on! :)

 

11 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Very nice Hunter, I might be tempted.

 

In the words of that famous philosopher Mrs Doyle: Gowan gowan gowan gowan gowan...

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11 hours ago, stever219 said:

One minor point: the Hunter canopy doesn’t have a frame at the rear, the perspex is simply thicker at that point but still clear.

 

Easily fixed as I said, a spot of IPA and a cocktail stick... Thanks for the correction!

 

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Edited by Kallisti
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I use Tamiya which is easy to clean off with some carefully applied Isopropyl Alcohol :) I have a 5 litre polypin of the stuff, very handy for all sorts of applications!

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great result!

 

the only thing I miss is some external weapons load..... 

 

after all it is the tactical weapons unit,  no? ;) 

 

anything Hunter specific out there already by the way?

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1 hour ago, exdraken said:

 

 

the only thing I miss is some external weapons load..... 

The TWU Hunters in these colours would routinely have been flown as interceptors against the students; they weren’t fitted for AAMs so underwing tanks would have been the only external load carried.  For manouvreability’s sake only the inboard tanks would be carried.

 

In RAF service the Hunter had very little in the way of type -specific weaponry.  The 230-gallon underwing tanks were common with the Javelin fleet, 1,000lb bombs and SNEB pods were bog-standard, as were the 60lb RPs sometimes carried in the Middle East.

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