Doccur Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Evening all. Was given this kit by my father about ten years ago while in my early teens. Made a fairly reasonable start to it considering my age at the time: The only parts that have been touched are in the below image, with the rest having been left on the sprue: The cockpit is fairly nice but I may invest in a replacement bang seat, because, as many will know academy modelled a 1/48 scale aircraft with a 1/72 seat... 🤦🏻♂️ As the decals on this are naff I will be purchasing some Xtradecals to depict this aircraft: This will he started once I have completed my builds in the P-40 and Film etc GBs. Wish me luck! Ash 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Good choice! Make your dad proud! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Looking forward to this one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 Thanks guys! As a heads up this one will be done OOB with the exception of decals. I have only just realised the vast amount of errors this kit has and if I were to correct them all I’d be here for ever. So please rivet counters, if you are that way inclined, look away now! Cheers Ash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Sadly you may find that you'll have to modify your after-market bang seat as, whilst not being 1/72th like the seat, the cockpit is a tad shallow. Good start, and I like your choice of markings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 6 minutes ago, stever219 said: Sadly you may find that you'll have to modify your after-market bang seat as, whilst not being 1/72th like the seat, the cockpit is a tad shallow. Good start, and I like your choice of markings. Thanks for this Steve. This is making me reconsider putting a resin seat in at all! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Just a thought Ash: have you got a seat from another 1/48th jet you could use as a trial installation to see how much room you've got and how much, if at all, you'd need to take off a resin seat? If it's only 40 thou' or so it probably wouldn't show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 That’s a good idea. I’m sure I can find something if I have a dig around. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) Finally made a start (a second start?) on this one. Did a lot of sanding of the fuselage seams to make sure my earlier work was up to snuff. Dry fitted the wings and had a real bad time of it. Turned out my earlier fitting of the intake trunking was somewhat dodgy. I managed to get this loose and play about with the wings until they fitted ok. Got these glued on only to reveal several thin gaps. Out came the liquid poly and clamps. And after liberal amounts of the former and elbow grease I’ve managed to get the wings on... what a pig!!! Cheers, Ash Edited January 9, 2020 by Doccur 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_W Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Looks good. Seems you have achieved a major milestone getting those wings fitted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 A lot of faults with this kit but a bit of effort makes it well worthwhile. Leaving aside the too shallow cockpit, the tail is for me the issue that spoils the appearance of the Academy Hunter but it is very easy to address. Cut 3mm off the end of the tail "bullet" & reprofile it back to a rounded point (as the cutting will expose a "hole" in the end you'll need to plug it with filler or scrap plastic) . Remove 3mm from the FRONT of the locating table for each of the horizontal tail surfaces & fix them as far forward as you can in their locating slots, this will bring the trailing edges of the elevators in line with that of the rudder which is as it should be. HTH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Thanks @Graham T and @Ray_W Graham, these sound like relatively minor alterations and they should improve the look of the kit somewhat so I shall probably attempt these. As stated earlier, the cockpit had already been assembled so no hope of sorting academy’s mess out there 🤦🏻♂️ Cheers Ash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Made some more progress, I have put in (what I hope is) enough nose weight and glued on the nose. Also I have taken Graham’s advice and cut the required length off of the stabilisers and the bullet. This is getting reshaped using heated up sprue and then filed and sanded to profile. I will no doubt need to use a tiny bit of filler on this piece as well. Cheers, Ash 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Hi all, Pretty much just prepping this for painting now! Taken Graham’s advice and moved the tailplanes forward. If I’m going to get this in the gallery I’ll need to move at breakneck speed! I’ll give it a go but can’t say I’m particularly confident 🤷🏻♂️ Cheers Ash 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_W Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Looking good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 Evening! Finished surface prep and got some trusty Halfords grey primer down. Only one or two areas than need addressing and then I can get some HSS sprayed. Going to try out on an old kit to figure out how I’m going to spray the Tamiya mix. Cheers Ash 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 On 20/01/2020 at 17:05, Doccur said: If I’m going to get this in the gallery I’ll need to move at breakneck speed! I’ll give it a go but can’t say I’m particularly confident 🤷🏻♂️ I know the feeling! Three months goes by very quickly. I’ve resigned myself to not finishing the Victor and will concentrate on the Vulcan - hopefully I’ll get that one into the gallery! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 Hi all, got the ‘HSS’ on, the Tamiya aluminium has sprayed a bit grainy but I reckon it will look better under varnish. Now for some masking! @Back in the Saddlei know the feeling! I only pull my finger out close to the deadline with everything I do for some reason 🤦🏻♂️ Cheers, Ash 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Hi all, Apart from some paint drying on my needle and having a mare masking (more of this to come), I have the Dark Sea grey sprayed: @Back in the Saddle I don’t know how you’re coping with the masking on those big V bombers 😂 Cheers Ash 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Looking good Ash. One minor point: your F. 6 wouldn’t have had the ERU blisters above the outer wing panels, they appeared on the FGA. 9 and derivatives thereof. Hopefully you can get ‘em off without wrecking your paintwork, but they sit within the area of the roundel anyway, and applying the roundel over ‘em is going to (very not) be fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Hi @stever219, thanks for the heads up, as you say, the decals will be going there anyway so shouldn’t be a problem removing them Ash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 3 hours ago, Doccur said: I don’t know how you’re coping with the masking on those big V bombers 😂 With difficulty! 😂 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doccur Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Hi all, This one might get finished after all... took longer to mask than it did to actually spray 🤦🏻♂️ Cheers, Ash 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Looking good Ash, Once the decs are on it will be a good looking machine, as all Hunters seem to be to my eye anyway. Cheers Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Nice paintwork Ash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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