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Kora 1/72 Hawker Turret Demon


Patrik

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With the Gladiator build going on fine, I think it it safe for me to start another build-thread, though this one - I am quite sure - will no go as smoothly as the former one. Below the ingredients first.

 

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And some previous research with very good reference pictures for the turret interior.

 

Someone told me the master had been based on the A/Z Hind. One does not have to be exactly Hercule Poirot to confirm it, the dimension and - especially - the pane lines betray the ancestry quite clearly. However, it seems like Kora succeeded in correcting the most obvious errors of the original, starting with the propeller (which would have caused the Hind flying backwards) or the upper part of the engine cowling.

 

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If Airfix can get the demon and the fury confused then I can’t see why they couldn’t get the hind similarity confused. I do have to admit that I find the Hart/fury/nimrod/demon family etc bewildering.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Started by cleaning up the fuselage halves and modifying the rear cockpit, The bulkhead behind the pilot needs serious reconstruction, so I removed it first.

 

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Nasty fit. But, in fact, something I enjoy as a kind of masochistic handiwork therapy .

 

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Edited by Patrik
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On 1/4/2020 at 8:16 PM, Graham Boak said:

When did Airfix get the Demon and the Fury confused?  Their Fury was 1/48, their Demon a reworked Hart in 1/72.

On the 1/48 fury the instrument panel is for a demon not a fury, the cockpit is opening is also in the wrong place, can't speak for the 1/72 as I've never built one.

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27 minutes ago, Marklo said:

the cockpit is opening is also in the wrong place,

not according to this

Quote

 I did a comparison with the Pyro/Likelike Fury and the Airfix Fury with these drawings and surprisingly the Airfix one comes out as the most accurate (or the one with the fewest faults). I have done some correction surgery on both. Here is a photo of the two fuselages.

The nearest is the Airfix one. This required some building up and re contouring under the nose. The top of the nose cowl reshaping and the main cowl top lifting at the front by 1.5mm with a plasticard wedge. 2mm adding to the sternpost and the fuselage stringers, fabric sag reducing. The exhausts are too low and incorrectly spaced (these have yet to be re-drilled).

See thread for pics, as it's an interesting discussion. 

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17 hours ago, Smudge said:

Interesting subject. I've never seen a turret Demon modelled before.

 

Did they see much Service?

 

 

Intriguing question which led me to a research which occupied my afternoon today. The photographic evidence of the Turret Demon in service seems to be as rare as ... something very rare. I hunted my reference library for the photos, and found just 13 confirmed s/n from the Squadron service, including K 4496 depicted in AAEE after modification to Turret Demon, but still with No. 604 badge on the fin. Compare with 75 s/n, I was able to identify for the standard Demon in the same references.

According to K-file, only 63 of the 238 (including the six Hart Fighters, excluding the venerable J 9933 prototype) Demons delivered to the RAF were either build or modified with the turret. And they served in substantial numbers only in three Service Squadrons, No. 23, No. 29 and No. 64. So the answer is yes, they saw some service, some of them even after the Munich Crisis, however, compared to the standard Demon, which saw service with at least seven regular squadrons, plus five more auxiliaries, it is rather rare bird.

Edited by Patrik
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I don't know which references you are using but be very careful.  I have two 607 Sq Demons that had the turret fitted, but that doesn't mean that they had it when in service with that unit.  Your own example is of K4496 which had served with 604 Sq but was then converted - I'm prepared to bet she didn't go back to 604.  It seems unlikely to me that the Auxiliaries would have been given any.

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I used the Air-Britain's K-File as the primary reference to the Turret Demon s/n. Therefore I wrote that only No. 23, No. 29 and No. 64 were safe bet. For the rest, unless I see some hard photographic evidence, I am of the same opinion as you, Graham. The Auxiliaries' Demons are quite well documented with photography and there is not a single Turret Demon photo among them. Though some of the Turret Demon s/n are listed among the airplanes in service with various Auxiliary Squadrons.

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Thanks Patrik. Sorry if I put you to any trouble. I asked because I was under the impression that the Turret Demon was a trial/development aircraft that was found not to be much of an improvement over the standard Demon.

 

I was interested to see that it had reached squadron service. They appear to have seen more operational use than I had thought.

 

Thanks again, and I shall follow along. Cheers.

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Some heavier work done before switching to the interior. The bomber/observer hatch would have been fine for the bomber/army-cooperation versions. As the underside of the fighter versions looked rather different, I filled in the hatch and the cutout for its sliding cover with plastic sheets. I will smooth out the section later, after I join the fuselage halves.

 

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And I have scratchbuild the bulkhead behind the pilot too.

 

20200202-DSC-0017.jpg

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Not much modelling time since last weekend and I am afraid it is not going to be improved next two weeks or so. Nevertheless, I managed to remove/correct the superfluous panel lines on the port side and add the missing ones on the starboard one.

 

20200209-DSC-0024.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

After longer pause I started working rather randomly on the interior parts, before I realized I could not go on like this and I have to fix the fuselage interior side panels first, because so many internal dimensions depend on them. Additionally, the abstract instructions leave by far too much for the imagination of the creative modeller.

 

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Here the fuselage side panels painted and assembled, with the various missing bits constructed, but not painted yet.

 

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I also realized I would not be able to build the planned full version of the rear turret interior as there would be no place for it. So I resorted to scratch-building just the basic frame, the procedure of the assembly is shown below.

 

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And I knew I had seen the beast somewhere already🙂.

 

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Edited by Patrik
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The interior completed. I have to admit that from some viewing angles the turret interior looks suspiciously alike restaurant child chair.

 

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Edited by Patrik
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6 hours ago, Patrik said:

...from some viewing angles the turret interior looks suspiciously alike restaurant child chair.

I can't unsee that now :lol: 

Tidy work in there though. Very nice :thumbsup:

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Fuselage halves joined together. Whilst the dorsal joint was quite civil, except the expected nasty fit of the upper part of the cowling mentioned above and usual problems near the cockpit, the ventral side was a veritable battlefield. Covering of the observer hatch with its sliding cover and redesigning the radiator opening from a kind of irregular rhomboid to rectangle of the appropriate size were an exceptional experience. Additionally, both the front and rear ends had to be amended with plastic sheets in order to receive proper shapes.

I had built quite a few resin kits, but this one should have been labelled "for experienced and PERSEVERANT modellers only".

 

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This has certainly become a 'mixed-media' kit between all the plastic and filler you've had to add. Along with sweat and and swearing I'm sure :lol: Looks great though :thumbsup:

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Plus Eduard etched steel harness, plus I have used some wire already and I am going to use some more, plus the dials glued behind the resin instrument panel are printed paper. I am quite confident I will not use string, rubber, stone or brick, though the latter may come useful to hit myself in the head in order to recover my wits and start building something more buildable. Nevertheless, I think "multi-media" would be more befitting here. 

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The recent progress does not need too much of verbal description, the photo is hopefully self-explaining. Securing acceptable geometry of this kit is like guarding a sack of fleas. And the wing-fuselage connections have been an experience - the kind you will keep seeing in bad dreams for years to come.

 

20200405-DSC-0087.jpg

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