F239 DH Hornet F Mk 3

[Rabbit Leader]

We all know that OOB these Frog Hornets are a little inaccurate, however seeing these two (almost) finished examples shows they actually look great once all painted up and decalled/ transfered. I'm honestly quite impressed. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[PeterB]

Hi Dave,

 

I actually had my doubts about the MSG/PRU Blue scheme, but I now think it actually suits the Hornet rather well - if anything it makes it look even sleeker. Also. unlike the Mossie, the smaller wheels look in proportion which helps. Must dig out one of my Mossies in fact and take a comparison shot as it might be interesting. Looking forward to seeing your Canberra in the Gallery soon.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited September 11, 2019 by PeterB

[JosephLalor]

9 hours ago, PeterB said:

 

I mentioned the spinner colours in an earlier post. Frog seem to have confused themselves as well - on the side of the box are pictures of the kit in both schemes and they have painted the 41 Squadron ones white at the front which is probably why I did the same on my original kit. Even more strange is the fact that they have painted the 19 Squadron spinner with just a light blue rear and white front - no stripes as shown on the back of the box!.

The builder also got opposite prop handing on the two models.

[PeterB]

Hi.

 

For those who are interested here is a view of the underside.

 

 

And here is one showing the family resemblance to the Mossie.

 

 

The Mossie is one of Airfix's second mould versions which you will remember could be built as F II night fighter, FB VI fighter bomber, and FB XVIII with the Molins 6pdr - which this rather faded example is. Subsequently they reboxed it with an extra sprue as a Swedish J30 (NF 30) or alternatively I believe NFXIX, but it still has the full set of parts so can now be built as any one of 5 versions, though only has decs for 2. For the record the Hornet has a span of approx 19cm, length to nose of 15cm, and to tip of spinners 16.5cm. whilst the Mossie has a span of 23cm and a length of 17.5cm.

 

The original mould version was an FB VI and I think the first kit in their series 2 (3/-). I bought it as soon as it came out, rushed home and opened it, and horror of horror there was a part missing. I filled in and posted the complaints slip and by return of post Airfix sent me a whole replacement kit - now that was proper customer service! Subsequently they just sent replacement sprues, and now just the missing part.

[Johnson]

3 hours ago, PeterB said:

FB XVIII with the Molins 6pdr

I have one in the box of doom! I keep looking at it and thinking I ought to restore it one day...

 

And the book too, though not in the BoD. You have the Hornet on Eric's book because he rated it so highly I assume.

 

Oh, and the Hornet looks great, from both angles!

 

Cheers,

[PeterB]

Apparently our co-host Dave has decided I should include my old refurbished Hornet in the "official" list of builds so who am I to argue - I guess the amount of work involved in stripping , repainting, scratch building an undercarriage out of paperclip wire, plastic rod and tube, and casting resin main and tail wheels might just qualify under the 20% rule. I will stick with just the one thread as I have just replaced the missing rocket tail fin and added the pitot tubes and whip aerials, and after finishing the touching up on Saturday they will go into the queue for the final spray of satin varnish. Both should be in the Gallery by early next week.

 

And in reply to your question Charlie, I had just finished re-reading Brown's Luftwaffe book and decided to start again on his other book I have so actually just a coincidence, but you are correct in that it has his thoughts on the Sea Hornet in it -" overpowered perfection" he said!

 

Pete

Edited September 13, 2019 by PeterB

[Rabbit Leader]

All good Pete, please keep these builds together in one thread and one gallery photoshoot. They make a nice pair together. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Worms]

On 04/09/2019 at 00:29, PeterB said:

Hi Dave,

 

Yes paints can be a pain. In this instance the Tamiya has gone on well and once varnished should look about right. Oddly, I am experiencing problems with the Humbrol PRU blue, but I may have over-thinned it causing it to pool in darker patches. I will try another coat, and if that does not work revert to enamel. Plenty of time now the deadline has been moved. You and Pat might even get chance to finish the odd extra kit - who knows?

I had exactly the same problem with my pot of H230. I tried thinners and then water but I kept getting areas that dried really dark. I noticed that it was also very good at clogging the airbrush needle jet as well!

[Worms]

On 10/09/2019 at 14:43, PeterB said:

Fortunately replacement decs were pretty easy to make, though the font on the fuselage letters is not quite right - one of the wartime versions. Also the red/blue post war "tactical" fin flash may not quite match the wartime "Type B" roundels colourwise but I can live with it.

 

 

Bit of touching up to do then it's on with the bombs, rockets, wheels, props etc. As far as I know these are 2 of only 3 normal colour schemes used on the Hornet, the other being the earlier silver finish. The Tamiya grey is perhaps a little lighter than I expected but may change once the satin varnish goes on. Shows off the "Type D" roundels quite well Dave. I found one of the discarded 41 Squadron badge decs and it matches my home made ones pretty well.

 

 

Wiki say the double armed cross comes from the town crest of St Omer in France, where they were based during WWI. Crown on top and the cross has the roman numerals MLI  superimposed on it. Still amazes me just how much tiny detail a bog standard inkjet printer can produce. Incidentally the badge of 19 Squadron (the one I am building in Grey) is a Dolphin to celebrate their use of the Sopwith Dolphin in WWI.

 

Barring any further problems this should be in the Gallery soon. Thanks for watching.

Hi Peter, all looking good (and thanks for the turret perspex)...what decal paper do you use please?

[PeterB]

Hi Worms,

 

I buy both clear and white sold by "Mr Decal Paper" on Amazon - it is not the cheapest but the quality seems pretty good.  I have posted quite a bit of info on how I make the decals on both this and I think my Me 410 thread, but basically for anything other than black serials and the like I print on white paper as my bog standard printer has poor colour strength and of course won't print white . To reduce the fiddly touching up to remove the white surround I first lay down a background of a colour similar to the one on the area of the kit to be decalled - in the example above it was dark sea grey, but on the other side of the fin it was dark green. I have scanned a collection of DIY paint chips into my computer and use those in my paint prog (Paintshop Pro) for the backgrounds and then superimpose the design, or sometimes do the design and then "flood fill" with the background colour. Particularly useful when I did small white serials for the fuselage of my Javelins, as touching up inside the numbers was virtually impossible.

 

As to Humbrol acrylics they are a lot thicker than some other brands and do need to be stirred very well, but 230 is a real problem. The dark blue pigment does not seem to want to mix with the grey base and starts to seperate out again within a couple of minutes of finishing stirring so you have to keep giving it a stir whilst painting. It goes on better with Humbrol Acrylic Thinners, but then it also seems to seperate on the model. So far I have not tried airbrushing it for that very reason.

 

Pete

Edited September 14, 2019 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Well they are sprayed and don't look too bad. I will post to the Gallery shortly but here are a couple of spare photo's.

 

 

 

The new kit is OOB except for a little thinning on the leading edge and the addition of a whip aerial. The Refurb was rather more work.

 

Thanks for your interest.

[TonyW]

They look splendid, out sunning themselves.

Two very good looking builds. The schemes really suit the planes, I'll have to dig out one to build at some point.

 

Tony.

[Johnson]

Yes, the natural light really brings the colours out beautifully, they look great Pete

[CliffB]

Fabulous, Pete and it's particularly nice to see the restored one too.

 

Cliff

[bigbadbadge]

They look cracking Pete, great work.

All the best

Chris

[Rabbit Leader]

Well done Pete. These Hornets have really turned out very well indeed and I’m so glad we got to see them both in all there new and restored glory. Love them both and as I’ve mentioned previously - very inspirational. 

 

Cheers.. Dave (who now has two more prospective modelling projects inside his head!). 

[JosephLalor]

Hi PeterB, I came back to this thread as a result of a search on Hornet underside colours.

 

I really like how your models turned out, I think they absolutely look the part.

 

I've decided to go 'old school' for mine - wheels-up on the arrow-shaped stand, pilot figure in the cockpit and repainting with Humbrol Authentic Postwar set paints.  Despite what I said earlier about Dark Mediterranean Blue I intend to use HX3 PRU Blue and HX4 Medium Sea Grey.