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T-33, Burmese Air Force


John

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I think the first Heller kit I ever built was the Cadet Fouga Magister. It was in a bag and it came from the newsagents at the end of our street. Of course, I was very familiar with the Magister because the baddies in The Aeronauts seemed to have a plentiful supply, given the numbers they lost...

Skip forward a few years to the early 1980s and I was working in Stirling within walking distance of The Model Engineer, a real classic model shop. Ken the owner liked Heller kits and kept a good stock, many of which I bought. Heller kits in those days were the state of the art. 

One of their kits from this era that I never built was the T-33. In fact, I don't think I've ever built a T-33. Airfix and Monogram F-80s, but not the 2-seater. 

I remember seeing Ormond Haydon-Baillie's "Black Knight" at Old Warden in the 1970s and T-33s were regular visitors to the Leuchars air shows but for some reason I never bought a kit. 

Time to right a historic wrong. I've acquired a kit and a decal sheet with, of all things, a Burmese option. Who could resist?

Photos to follow shortly. 

Actually, now I think about it, I might have a Magister in the stash as well 🙂

 

John 

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John, welcome to the GB and good luck with your build. I'd personally like to see some photo's because I don't have a clue what a T-33 is 🙂

 

I took the liberty of removing your first post, it appears you posted the build twice. 

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58 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

John, welcome to the GB and good luck with your build. I'd personally like to see some photo's because I don't have a clue what a T-33 is 🙂

 

I took the liberty of removing your first post, it appears you posted the build twice. 

Thanks. 

No idea how that happened, probably something to do with being a bit careless posting from my phone. Back to the PC from now on 🙂

John 

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Here we have a 1990s boxing of Heller's excellent 1980 T-33 Shooting Star:

 

T331

 

The parts are moulded in silver with fine raised detail:

 

T332

 

Also typically Heller, the decals are out of register 🙄

 

T333

 

No matter in this case since, as RidgeRunner correctly surmises, I have a Hi-Decal sheet:

 

T334

 

Looks like a fun build.

 

John

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally, a bit of time to do some work on this kit. First thing to note is that some of the sprue attachments can be described as "substantial":

 

T335

 

T336

 

Fortunately the connecting plastic is quite thin, but it's still a bit awkward.

 

First point of construction is attaching the nose. The kit has alternative parts for the RT-33 but in this case we need the plain, unadorned, version:

 

T337

 

More shortly.

 

John

 

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A great looking plane, good luck with this build. 

I've got a real liking for the T33 since I did it in 1.48. I have a bunch of photos of the example that used to reside at Tangmere if you need a bit of reference material. I believe that airframe has gone to Lakenheath USAF side for a makeover. 

This is going to look great! 👍

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One thing that dates this otherwise very nice kit is the echoing void inside the main wheel well. Inabootit with some Microstrip and Microrod - no pretensions to being completely accurate but it looks better:

 

T338

 

John

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  • 2 months later...

Hi John

I hope you are well.

This GB only has a week to go and the Gallery will look unfinished if your T-33 / RT-33 isn't in it.

Have you had a chance to make any more progress since we last heard from you  ?

Cheers Pat 

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