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+++ Finished! +++ Another Hornet. Kit # F239


mike romeo

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And after smothering nose and tail with milliput, we have:

 

2019-07-14_04-03-40

 

2019-07-14_04-04-13

 

I think that'll take the rest of the day to dry, so I'll have a crack at rescribing the fin and rudder this evening.

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Been working on the dorsal stake, fin & rudder for the last couple of days.

 

After rescribing, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fin / rudder and stuck in a length of brass rod.  Shimmed the sides with thin sheet styrene to get a tight fit and superglued it in the hole in the upper fuse left by the kit parts.  The remainder of the perimeter was then liberally dosed in Tamiya extra thin and left to set up.

 

Once that was dry, I dry-fitted the strake and fettled the fit a bit.  This is not precision engineering!   The dry fit showed me that the strake was too thin in plan.  So, I added a couple of further sheet laminations a bit smaller than the previous ones and sanded the edges down to blend in.  The edges were then daubed in sprue soup and sanded once dry.  This was a better width.  The strake was then Tamiya'd to the fin and upper fuse halves.

 

I have also sanded the filler around the nose and tail.  The nose still looks a bit blunt, so more work required there, methinks.  Tailplanes are just dry fitted at the mo, as there will be a lot of tidying required around the tail.  Their fit is good, though.

 

This is how it now looks.

 

2019-07-16_08-33-52

 

2019-07-16_08-34-36

 

Next, tidy the joins up and start on the blessed wings!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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A great looking aircraft.

 

I don't think I've ever attempted this level of surgery. All looking good! I will follow with interest.

 

Cheers.

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I am going to attack the wing with a Dremel.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

I also need to fill the radiator inlets with something, gouge radiator outlets and do 'something' with the wheel wells. 

 

How long is this GB again?

 

Regards

 

Martin

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13 minutes ago, Johnson said:

A great looking aircraft.

 

I don't think I've ever attempted this level of surgery. All looking good! I will follow with interest.

 

Cheers.

It is indeed a great looking aircraft.

 

I'm not sure it warrants such harsh treatment, but it's practically the only game in town if you want a Hornet.  And don't get me started on the Special Hobby kit!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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And, by way of comparison, here is the SH Hornet F1.

 

2019-07-16_10-38-57

 

I think this was about the same amount of work to get to this state as the Froggie.  It still has the incorrect sloping windscreen and upper wing panel lines.  (I knew less about the Hornet in those days).  Not to mention the 2 Revell P-51B kits I sacrificed to get reasonable diameter spinners!

 

Flying surfaces do look a more reasonable thickness, I'll grant you.

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Nice progress Martin however it pains me to hear that the SH kit does not scrub up well. I have one and have yet to get all ‘Hornet-y’ and delve into my references as I do just prior to each of my builds. Your work on the Frog kit is very impressive so far, keep going my friend.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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7 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Nice progress Martin however it pains me to hear that the SH kit does not scrub up well. I have one and have yet to get all ‘Hornet-y’ and delve into my references as I do just prior to each of my builds. Your work on the Frog kit is very impressive so far, keep going my friend.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

Sorry Dave,

 

Here are my unexpurgated views.

 

Oh, and there's even a hint in there that I'm a man of my word...though it might take a number of years and a FROG GB to prove it!

 

M

Regards

 

Martin

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The raised lines on the Frog wings are intended to represent the spar caps.  Some thin plastic stip is very useful, but it's still too thick, so some judicious sanding will help there. 

 

The inlets outboard of the engines will need filling - there's a blanking plate that closes when the engines are at rest. Check as many reference photos as you can.  That's one thing about a Frog kit I've yet to tackle.  May be worth filling them and then carefully rescribing the outline.

 

It's a fantastic piece of work so far, better than any I've yet attempted - TBH, the next Frog one I do will be a retro nostalgia build straight from an original box - and I'm really looking forward to seeing the thread progress.

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12 hours ago, The Wooksta! said:

The raised lines on the Frog wings are intended to represent the spar caps.  Some thin plastic stip is very useful, but it's still too thick, so some judicious sanding will help there. 

 

The inlets outboard of the engines will need filling - there's a blanking plate that closes when the engines are at rest. Check as many reference photos as you can.  That's one thing about a Frog kit I've yet to tackle.  May be worth filling them and then carefully rescribing the outline.

 

It's a fantastic piece of work so far, better than any I've yet attempted - TBH, the next Frog one I do will be a retro nostalgia build straight from an original box - and I'm really looking forward to seeing the thread progress.

Thanks, Lee.

 

Brilliantly, I just opened up those inlets last night.  Oh well!

 

Got the sides of the rad inlets blanked off and skinned the lower and upper wing surfaces (on the insides) to make the radiators a little less thick.  Need to bodge those next.  Then on to boxing in the wheel wells.  Then on to joining the wings.  Then on to plastic surgery with the Dremel!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Hi all,

 

Some images of what I was wittering about earlier.  Some plastic rod, some copper mesh and some thin styrene strip combined turned into my attempt at the leading edge rads.

 

2019-07-20_09-44-07

 

And here is the plastic sheetery in the wings.

 

2019-07-20_09-44-26

 

Next is to box in the wheel wells and create some structure on which to mount the wheels.

 

Regards

 

Martin

 

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There’s a lot of thinking going on in those photos Martin. Nice progress photos that capture what needs to be rectified on this kit. It’s looking very promising.

 

 Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

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A scoosh of Halfords white primer shows a few greeblies needing further work.

 

2019-07-21_09-45-21

 

The difference in nose and tail profiles can be seen.  I reckon they make a difference, although your mileage may differ. 😊

 

 

I reckon that the fuse is now as near as dammit 150mm long. I can live with a 1% discrepancy. Again, YMMD.

 

Regards

 

Martin

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7 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

You are sculpting a Hornet out of that plastic. Fantastic stuff!

 

Regards,

Adrian

That means a lot, coming from the Beaufort (and Wyvern) king.

 

Thanks!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Hi folks,

 

I was away much of the week, so not much progress has been made.  I have, however, managed to finish boxing in the gear wells.

 

2019-07-27_08-54-52

 

The black areas are sprue soup, covering various distortions in the thin sheet caused by overenthusiastic gluing.  They are currently drying.

 

I am now thinking about how to mount the main gear.  I'm currently thinking of mounting a block of styrene on the inclined front bulkhead of the same height as the original flat mounting plate.

 

I am also trying to sort out the undercarriage legs, taking off the flat mounting plate and scraping off the mould seams.  I want to add a side stay, then replace the back stay.  I also removed and now need to replace the rather crudely moulded torque link and get rid of the bulbous mount for the actual wheel.

 

2019-07-27_08-55-31

 

So, I can see some brass tube action in my future.

 

Regards

 

Martin

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OK, even with my glacial rate of progress, I can report a milestone.  Yes, my friend, the wing halves have finally been joined.  Rejoice! We are just 24 hours from me attacking them with the aforementioned Dremel.  So, there's no chance of ballsing it up at all, is there?

 

2019-08-01_08-33-13

 

You may also see in the photo that the rads have been painted anthracite and dry-brushed silver.  In addition, the props have been de-seamed (I hate 1 piece props / spinners!), primed and given a couple of coats of thin red enamel.  Finally, I have done some reshaping of one of the gear legs, and cyano'd some brass bits on (still need to add a drag brace and torque links).

 

The red rear part of the spinners gives a clue that I'm going for the 41Sqn scheme.  I hear the cries of, "But the MSG / PRU blue version is much less drab", and, "What about a HSS version?", however, I like my machines to look warry and thus I have an aversion to A- and D-type roundels.  Soz, but that's just how I roll 🤗.

 

Hopefully some more progress to show tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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So, a little later than promised, here are some photos of the wing thinning.  Guess which wing was done using sanding sticks and which was done with the Dremel!  Yep, over vigorous dremeling has left a number of gouges to be eradicated, hence the copious amounts of sprue soup on the port wing.

 

2019-08-03_02-45-53

 

2019-08-03_02-47-06

 

2019-08-03_02-46-25

 

We're only halfway there, but I feel that both the aero profile and overall thickness have improved.

 

Lots of clean up and some scribing in my immediate future, I think!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Nice progress Martin... that's a lot of work but all worthwhile. Looks like it'll be heading into the paint shop soon, which is another major milestone to celebrate. 

Cheers.. Dave 

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34 minutes ago, mike romeo said:

Have I mentioned that I HATE scribing?

Can’t be as bad as masking? 😉

 

Great stuff, as Dave says, looking forward to seeing it painted!

 

Cheers!

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