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Hunter T.8 - Airfix/Aerocraft 1/48


zebra

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My first of hopefully several builds in this GB is a 1/48 Hunter T.8 using the Airfix F.6 kit and Aerocraft conversion. It'll be a Royal Navy aircraft (obviously!) using one of the four schemes that come with the Aerocraft conversion - there are 3 in high speed silver and dayglo orange, and one FRADU aircraft in light aircraft grey and dayglo. I'm leaning towards the FRADU scheme.

 

Here's what you get in the Aerocraft box - a pretty comprehensive set of resin parts, with a bit of PE:

Hunter T.8 conversion

 

First job is to cut the fuselage and top wing parts to fit the resin parts. The cuts aren't on panel lines so careful measuring (measure twice, cut once!) was called for. Here it is with everything test-fitted together:

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

All quite a good fit except for the panel in front of the fin which was splayed out a bit - hot water and careful bending sorted that out. 

 

I've decided to get the airframe done before tackling the cockpit - there's inevitably going to be some filling and sanding to be done so best to get that out of the way first. So I've started by assembling the fuselage and top wing and adding the forward fuselage, tail pipe and upper panel:

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

All fairly straightforward so far. More tomorrow.

 

cheers

Julian

 

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More progress today - filled some gaps and blended in the resin bits, attached the lower wings, and attached the nose. I've stuck a few bits in the cockpit as well. I have to be pretty pleased with progress so far - not much more than 24 hours in and the major airframe components are assembled. Hats off to @Ali62 for a superb conversion kit!

 

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

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13 hours ago, Ali62 said:

Looking good Julian, glad you are enjoying it thus far, keep us informed and posted.

 

cheers Ali

Thanks Ali. It really is a superb conversion and I'll definitely want a T.8M when you do it! Have just noticed a couple of mistakes on the colour profiles though - the FRADU example is XL598 but it's XL991 in the profile, and XL598 had a Harley light in the nose when it wore the colour scheme in the profile. There's a nice photo of it here. But none of this is a problem as the decals are correct and I jumped at the opportunity to slice the tip of the nose and make a hole in it to fit the lens for the Harley light, which is on the Airfix clear sprue. Probably did a better job of that than I would have made of masking and painting the tip of the nose! Here it is:

 

 

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

Since taking this I've sprayed some black Mr Surfacer primer at it to highlight any seams that need more work. Once that's done I'll start on the cockpit I think.

 

cheers

Julian

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Julian, well I wish I had that picture when I did the decals oh well, I only had the more easily found one from 3/4 rear angle. Instruction mistake is frustrating but can be easily fixed.

I will do a Harley nose, but you seem to have done a good job yourself well done.

 

Ali

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2 hours ago, Ali62 said:

Julian, well I wish I had that picture when I did the decals oh well, I only had the more easily found one from 3/4 rear angle. Instruction mistake is frustrating but can be easily fixed.

I will do a Harley nose, but you seem to have done a good job yourself well done.

 

Ali

Thanks Ali. It’s a pretty straightforward mod - I expect it would have been even easier if I’d been able to find the right drill bit! It’s in the garage somewhere...

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update - didn't get an awful lot done in that time (was away at a wedding last weekend) but have made some progress in small steps. I've decorated the instrument panel with some Airscale instrument decals and painted the cockpit. This one's going to have an open cockpit - not usually my preference but easier than fettling with the canopy to get it to fit - but I'm not going to be adding extra detail. I've also added 1mm of height to the pylons, as the kit's pylons are a little too short - I just sliced them in two near the middle and added a piece of 1mm plastic card. Painted the inside of the canopy as well but I'm going to have another crack at that - some paint came away with the masking tape, I suspect I didn't wash the parts thoroughly enough.

 

So here's how it's looking - nearly ready for some paint:

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

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wow, I blinked and from nowhere here comes what looks like an amazing build and I fully agree with your intended choice of final scheme & colours.......this whole GB is providing too much sensory overload with inspirational ideas when the whole idea is to get my stash reduced in size rather than the urge to go out and add to it.

 

I'm just of to the shops for 5 minutes now, I assume when I return you'll be nearly finished :)

 

 

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3 hours ago, FIGHTS ON said:

wow, I blinked and from nowhere here comes what looks like an amazing build and I fully agree with your intended choice of final scheme & colours.......this whole GB is providing too much sensory overload with inspirational ideas when the whole idea is to get my stash reduced in size rather than the urge to go out and add to it.

 

I'm just of to the shops for 5 minutes now, I assume when I return you'll be nearly finished :)

 

 

Thanks! Not working quite that fast but for a build involving pretty major surgery and fitting large resin parts to plastic it's gone remarkably smoothly so far. 

 

I know what you mean about inspirational ideas. I'm trying very hard to reduce the stash too but I can't help looking at other builds here and thinking I need one of those!

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1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Ah, The Hawker Hunter. A Gentleman's jet and lovely with it. And a twin sticker. And RN to boot. I'm hooked!

So is the Hunter T.8 :lol: 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I seem to have forgotten to post a couple of updates! Since my last post I've added the windscreen and a few other bits, then primed and gave it the base coat of light aircraft grey. Which sounds more straightforward than it was - I tried using Hataka red line, which I'd never used before, for the light aircraft grey, which was a massive faff. Tried all the different thinners I had, it would either form horrible clumps or thin nicely but then go on in an absurdly thin coat. So gave up on the Hataka and switched to AK real colour, which went on very nicely first time. You live and learn.

 

I've also painted the tanks and a camouflaged section on the fin - this Hunter obviously had a fin section that had been taken from an RAF aircraft. Dayglo orange next.

 

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

 

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Strange, I’ve used a Hataka Red Line without any trouble at all, I wonder if yours is a bad batch.  I read somewhere that the earlier batches had some “problems” that were ironed out in subsequent batches.

 

AW

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Please share with us how you do you dayglo - I never really get it right and I see some recommend an undercoat of yellow or white first??? ('cos I have an FJ-4B on "hold" until I can figure out the best solution!!)

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3 hours ago, FIGHTS ON said:

Please share with us how you do you dayglo - I never really get it right and I see some recommend an undercoat of yellow or white first??? ('cos I have an FJ-4B on "hold" until I can figure out the best solution!!)

I haven’t decided how I’m doing it yet. I don’t want it to be really, really bright - I don’t think that looks right in scale - so I’m inclined not to use a white of yellow (I’ve also heard pink suggested) base coat. On my Magister (which I must get back onto) I just painted the dangling orange straight onto the aluminium and it seemed to be about right. So I’m thinking straight onto the grey ought to work. I’m going to try it out on a small part (probably an undercarriage door) first.

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An evening of masking and airbrushing resulted in this:

 

Hunter T.8 WIP

 

The dayglo orange is from Scale Modellers Supply - an Australian brand which has popped up in the last couple of years and makes Mr Paint-style pre-thinned lacquer - and went on very nicely on top of the light aircraft grey. 

 

Is there a better feeling in modelling than the one you get when you lift the masking tape, none of the paint has bled underneath and the tape doesn't lift any paint?

 

thanks for looking

Julian

 

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2 hours ago, zebra said:

 

 

Is there a better feeling in modelling than the one you get when you lift the masking tape, none of the paint has bled underneath and the tape doesn't lift any paint?

 

 

I don't know, it has never happened to me. Great work, I am very tempted by the conversion but holding out for the T8M.

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