Classic Airframes deHavilland Hornet F.3, Finished at last!

[corsaircorp]

On 5/27/2019 at 7:01 PM, Christer A said:

@Troy Smith,I'm gobsmacked by your encyclopedic knowledge of all things British wingy things.

For sure, Britmodeller would be a much poorer community without your valuable insights!

Ok, so it's called the intruder scheme?

Immidiate post war RAF paint schemes are a confusing lot...do you hold on line classes ?

 

Thanks for all the help so far!

I'll do the best I can on this Hornet, and currently I have not been this pumped to start a kit for a long time.

Today, big H got an emergency order for some much needed Airscale instruments, Eduard belts and Barracuda wheels, and a few other bits and Bobs.

 

 

Hello Christer !!

Another start !! I did the same !! 🤣

May I take a seat and look ? As usual, I will behave !!

Sincerely.

CC

[Christer A]

20 hours ago, David A Collins said:

Hi Christer A,

 

Nice progress. I think the group of three downward ident lights was on the Sea Hornets only.

 

I'll check my references and confirm later.

Thanks David!

I'm also leaning towards no lights, but I need to rely on what in can find when I trawl thorugh Google

19 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Christer !!

Another start !! I did the same !! 🤣

May I take a seat and look ? As usual, I will behave !!

Sincerely.

CC

CC, you're always welcome!

Off course I started another, I havea reputation as a serial kitstarter to uphold, and there are too many unstarted kits in my stash (lets not talk about finishing them!)

 

Le'ts finish this of with update #3 then.

After a huge amount of cutting I ended up here:

Whew!

 

Some extra support was needed on the insside, but don't tell anyone that I made weak joints or stringers. As a mechanical engineer I should know better 😎

I made certain that I could join the wings together without serius clamping, so everything looks good right now.

 

There is a landing light on one wing, so that was duly drilled out and replaced with a piece of clear sprue. This was buffed to shiny status and a small lamp was drilled.

To add even more shinyness to the reflektor I added some foil on the inside.

Ontehr thing that showed up from the Airframe book was a beatuful overview of the radiators. They had some kind of support strut towards the lower lip which I added from wire.

 

Then I turned my attention towards the wheel bays again, which by now were a lot more bay like.

The 3D printed parts were the first to go in.  Their accuracy wa so good so I probably could've done the strap locks too...

After a few wires were run  this and that way I was satisfied with the present look-

Now I need to finish off the radiator outlet before tackling the engine nacelles and the rest of the gear bays!

I'm still having fun 

[ththtttu7]

I've checked all of my references and can confirm that the RAF Hornet F3's and F4's don't appear to have had the "three" downward ident lights that the Sea Hornets had.

 

For example a late production WF966.

 

WF966 OB-N by hornet project

[Christer A]

A big Thank you for you Mr Colllins!

[Christer A]

Hello!

All is not quiet on the Hornet front!

During the last week I've learned that my fellow @Rudolf_Filip (who has a strange fascination for all things Classic Airframes) is also doing an NF.21 right now and we're bouncing images, ideas and cheers to get our Hornet pair finished in time for a small competition on the 10-11th of August.

The heat is on!

 

Here is a teaser for my latest status:

 

Unfortunately both wife and daughter are hogging the computer to play the Sims 4 so I can't upload proper pictures of the progress during midsummer weekend, but there has been things done, promise!

 

2 weeks left until I start my 5 weeks of summer vacation, I hope to be able to pick up the pace then...

[ththtttu7]

19 minutes ago, Christer A said:

Hello!

All is not quiet on the Hornet front!

During the last week I've learned that my fellow @Rudolf_Filip (who has a strange fascination for all things Classic Airframes) is also doing an NF.21 right now and we're bouncing images, ideas and cheers to get our Hornet pair finished in time for a small competition on the 10-11th of August.

The heat is on!

 

Here is a teaser for my latest status:

 

Unfortunately both wife and daughter are hogging the computer to play the Sims 4 so I can't upload proper pictures of the progress during midsummer weekend, but there has been things done, promise!

 

2 weeks left until I start my 5 weeks of summer vacation, I hope to be able to pick up the pace then...

 

Hi Christer A,

 

I'm glad to see you've re-located the complete undercarriage bay rearwards, including the firewall. Its a big job but well worth doing to make it right. Only when you do this, and place the leg in position will the Hornet appear to sit correctly on its undercarriage.

[Christer A]

Ok, since I got hold of the computer for a while, let's do a proper update!

A good chain drilling time was had while preparing for the gun thoughs insert.

The fin and stabilizer was also installed. I find that the plastic reacts very good with Tamiya extra thin, forming an excellent bond.

Just to add interest (and @Rudolf_Filip does it as well) I decided to drop the elevators.

 

Then it was time to start with the engine nacelles 😎

First, I made the 6,5 mm extension rearwards, like on the port nacelle here:

Fun fact, when doing the starbord nacelle, I made the mistake to trust the gear covers being equally long for both sides. When using the port ones as a guide I cut of a similar length from the starbord and attached them to the nacel. Naturally, they're not...

The starbord covers are actually a mm or so longer!

Well, that can be handled with some fun sanding...

The firewall is not only staggered, it also has some interesting features here and there.

 

Also, for this model I brought out the heavy duty filler.

This is actually a car product, but it dries very hard, does not shrink and has a good bite to the plastic.

A little too good if you over use it, since it starts to melt the plastic. Use in well ventilated areas!

 

Right, lets get sanding!

[Biggles87]

Some good progress there Christer.

Five weeks summer vacation! You must be a teacher.

 

Happy Holidays

 

John

[Christer A]

Thanks John!

5 weeks is actually the Swedish vacation-law!

Usually I save one week to use around christmas to get 2 weeks of winter vacation as well, but this time I have lots of overtime to use for that, so it feels a lot better to have 5 weeks in a row.

[Christer A]

Woohoo!

A fellow modeller just offered me a Classic Airframes Hornet NF.21!

Naturally I couldn't turn down that offer

[ththtttu7]

On 6/26/2019 at 1:25 PM, Christer A said:

Thanks John!

5 weeks is actually the Swedish vacation-law!

Usually I save one week to use around christmas to get 2 weeks of winter vacation as well, but this time I have lots of overtime to use for that, so it feels a lot better to have 5 weeks in a row.

Hi Christen A,

Here's an idea for a colour scheme. Did you know that a mixed 64/65 Squadron  of Hornet F.3's made a "goodwill" visit to Uppsala, Sweden in May 1948? There are lots of photos showing air-to-air and on the ground with the Swedish Mustangs.

Silver airframe, red spinners, type D roundels and fin flash, black "YT"  or "SH" squadron codes, and several serials to choose from.

Edited July 1, 2019 by David A Collins

[Christer A]

A visit to Uppsala (F16 airbase) is something I think I've read about. Andreas (that's @Rudolf_Filip) was gidding through some books at the museum down in Ängelholm (F10, the #1 place for all Saab J35 Draken and nowadays the site for Koenigsegg super sports cars) found two photos of Hornets in Sweden:

These are not taken in F16 Uppsala or F10 Ängelholm, but outside of Gothenburg at F9 Torslanda air base.

 

Still, I like a bit more paint than High Speed Silver, so I think I'll stick to the PRU Blue/Dark Green/Dark Grey from Kai Tak that's in the box. I like that one 😎

 

This weekend there was some progress on the nacelles!

The firewall towards the engine is staggered and I replicated it like this:

The rear wall is flat at least but is totally missig in the kit, especially since the location os alos moved rearwards.

This is the starting point.

The two holes are for some kid of support strut that goes through there.

After neatening/sanding and opening up two holes that's for pipes and hoses going to the engines ist starts to look the part.

I might have placed the oil tank the wrong way around though...

At the rear it starts to look like I want it 

On the in side, there's a lot of tabs to reinforce things. Call me a crazy person for adding them... or maybe it's the engineer in me that wants to make it properly 😉

Off course, one cannot just do the port nacelle, but the starboard too!

 

 

It seems to me that the landing gear is not really matching the nacelles now, and all crossmembers should do so. I guess this leads to me chopping about the landing gear too, trying to make it fit to the nacelle. That must be done before i can add sidewall details to the nacelles!

This scratchbuilding sure is a lot more timeconsuming than trying to fit an Aires wheel well, but it is actually a lot more fun!

[ththtttu7]

Nice progress Christer A,

 

I too found that adding the undercarriage at this stage was challenging. To build the leg support structure correctly you really need to assemble it on a small jig. The trouble then however is that it becomes too wide at the top to fit through the door opening. In the end I pre-painted the insides of the wheel wells and legs then inserted each leg from above the nacelle. When glued in place everything was masked off to allow painting for the rest of the airframe.

[Christer A]

Thanks David!

Some sort of jig might do the trick. The question is if it's better to align the inner side properly, since most of the strength is kept and just extend the other side, or if the center of the vertical leg should remain and extend both sides instead.

I know which would be simplest

 

[Christer A]

The trials and tribulations continue!
I finally finished the outlet from the radiators. In doing so I also noticed my idea of placing the radiators on the little plinth om the under wing was totally wrong. It needs to go behind, otherwise the wing will not have the correct thickness. Well, I pryed off the radiators, cut off the 3 supports that was in the wrong place and glued everything back again.
Unfortunately I was a bit too happy with the CA glue, and when putting down the wing again to work on the other one i didn't notice that I almost flooded the rear of the radiator with it!

Naturally the entire wing stuck on my cutting mat....

Brilliant!

A suitable amount of force sorted out that little problem with no other ill effects. Whew!

I also took the liberty to fill some panellines and a few randow ones on the bottom side. I haven't been able to acertain what lines are to be removed there though, so I took a guess.

After a brief wet sanding I got a finished wing.

How it will look after primer remains to be seen.

The reset of the weekend was spent constructing the port landing gear.

Yes, I'm slow, and un-methodical.

But in the end, after lots of cutting, dryfit, attaching resin pieces, creating a few new pieces and looking VERY carefully at Swedish Master Modeller Mattias Ärletuns Hornet I finished it!

For sure, nothing fits properly when everything is cut up and moved around like this. The 3D printed feathering engine oil tank was also added, and I snapped a few photos of it with the nacelle in place.

Dang it! The main oil tank is in the wrong position, and mirrored compared to what's right.
Ooops.

It's also not possible to correct since ith has hardened real good.

Ah well, no one will ever see it anyway...

 

I also had a closer inspection on the Barracudacast wheels

Lovely pieces aren't they?

The hole is a bit small, but the tire pattern and overall detail is a lot better than the old stuff!

Terrific!

Also, it's got the right diameter....

[Biggles87]

Lovely work on the undercarriage and radiator outlet. 

I think that Barracuda do the best replacement wheels.

 

John

[ththtttu7]

Nice update Christer A,

 

On your top wing skin there is one more major panel line to add.

 

Between the engine nacelle and fuselage there is a fairing panel that blends between the radiator intake and the top wing skin. The rear edge of this runs diagonally between the nacelle and fuselage side. You can see this on my CA NF.21 images.  

 

. by hornet project

Edited July 9, 2019 by David A Collins

[Christer A]

Thanks John and David.

I take it that those penciled lines are the proper ones? I'll make sure to add the missing ones.

(The line at just outboard of the air intakes must be the wingfold, right?)

Do you have a similar picture of the underside?

[ththtttu7]

2 hours ago, Christer A said:

Thanks John and David.

I take it that those penciled lines are the proper ones? I'll make sure to add the missing ones.

(The line at just outboard of the air intakes must be the wingfold, right?)

Do you have a similar picture of the underside?

Yes, these pencil marks are the only main lines you can see on the top skin including the wing fold. You won't need the wing fold lines.

 

I'll look for an underside image.

Edited July 9, 2019 by David A Collins

[Rui Silva]

Hi Christer,

I've been following your WIP, so much work... keep pushing, I´m sure it will become a beautiful Hornet!

[Christer A]

Thanks Rio and welcome aboard!

Currently I'm out in the country travelling, but next week and the three after that are free from most activities, so I hope to pick up the pace then

[gunzo]

Just a comment from working on the CA and Dynavector hornet kits with the benefit of assistance from David Collins-  the nacelles/spinners just don't look right and drawings by John Aero suggest the problem lies forward of the leading edge.

 

Extending the front by 40 thou and beefing up the nacelle sides, belly and fore part of the top with a 30 thou skin with similar enlargement of the spinners makes for a significant improvement in appearance. As things stand there is not enough scale length for an engine and the spinners are simply too small.

 

Again with reference to John Aero's drawings, when extending the fuselage the fins  on both kits benefit from a bit of realignment (pitching forward) and minor reshaping.

 

I'll post relevant photos if requested.

[Christer A]

Thanks for the input Gonzo!

1mm extension and a 0,7mm radial (sort of) increase of the nacelles is a little beyond my skills and ambition for this build though.

Progress  lately has not been stellar, but that is probably due to coming closer to sanding/fill/prim/repeat-stage.
I had some primer loaded in the AB recently and shot the panellines:

Off course the filler wasn't good enough. Bugger.
Right, I'll hit those pesky lines with some dissolved sprue:

This might require a lot of sanding!

Also here on the fuselage 😐
Just to have some progress I went ahead with the propellers.😉
The spinner back end plate appears to have some interesting cracks in the mold to say the least

Curious indeed!

But in the end, it was all done and glued into place. Now the hard part is to makes sure I put the proper prop on the right wing since they are quite clearly handed...

 

Also, the other Main landing gear was finally done.

Whew!

Not that easy to do in the Swedish summer weather!

Tamiya Extra Thin Cement has a nasty tendency to evaporate too quickly but CA-glue works a usual (it will glue everything except the wanted part to anything except the wanted position usually the hands 😎)

 

I also had a visit to a small little museum close by.

This was dedicated to all foreign aircraft that made a forced landing during the war. Quite a few interesting artefacts and a few stories as well. Sorry about the crappy mobile photos.

Here a few remains of a Bf110D from the Norwegian campaign

A proper MG15 fom a He111:

The remains of a Bf109G-2 that was found way up north in Sweden

I think there was about 8 Lancasters that made a safe landing over here.

Here a few preserved plates from one.

A huge amount of rivets on them!

 

They also had a garage nearby where they kept this:

Yep, that's the fuselage of a He111 in some stage of reconstruction! It was shot down by Skuas (of all things!) but the crew decided to head east into Sweden instead of trying to force land somewhere close to Narvik. Our mountains are a lot flatter than the Norse ones 😃

 

Here is the cracked Merlin 25 engine block from a Mosquito.

It was for sale for only 20000Sek (around 1600£) and would make a great wine storage unit!

They had a lot of different engine parts there, both complete merlins like this

Or bent crankshafts like this.

As an truck engine designer by day this was close to heaven!

The Jumo 211 was a thing of beauty !

This is proper engine porn:

 

This will for sure spark a few discussions when I get back in the office again 🙂

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Christer A

[Christer A]

I'm finally starting to see the end of the filling/sanding of the wings and nacelles now!

Panel lines has been moved on the nacelles and the extra one on top of the wing has also been added.

I think I need to paint the inner area of the intakes flat black because I didn't add any plumbing there, and the opening is larger than you think.

Time to finish up the fuselage next!

[Christer A]

Those pesky panel lines on the wings fights back real hard! Filler, primer, sanding and more primer wasn't enough, so instead I had to resort to stronger stuff - CA-glue!

That did the trick. Now the look as good as I can get them, which is like this:

I also took a saw to the nav lights in the vain hope that they can be prettified with the help of some clear sprue and further sanding...

The fuselage itself didn't have that many panel lines, and the few faulty ones were easily dealt with. However, I was a bit enthusiastic sanding the fuselage and the reinforcement belt sort of disappeared. Oops. well, I can always add a strip of styrene there.

Now to the tricky bits. The landing gear must be installed in the nacelle, before the nacelle can be installed in the wing.

I had a fun time trying to line both sides properly, and make sure that the angle of the leg matched the firewall that I constructed.

Just to make the rear of the gear bay a bit more exciting I added two rods. The book sort of hints to this and it sure busies up the place somewhat. Stringers and ribs were left out because I ran out of room.