Jump to content

First of the proper smokers - FB3 Seahawk


Recommended Posts

Greetings one and all again and welcome to my next project, the SU27 is on hold for a little while and I thought I’d dig this out as it should be a relatively quick build(). This was a present from my daughter for Christmas, a case of “what do you want for Christmas Dad?”. “here grab this, wrap it and don’t tell your mother!” So here we have the Trumpeter 1:48 Hawker Seahawk FGA Mk6. The token box top and parts.

20210127_182731 20210127_182755 20210127_182820

And a little bit of etch

20210127_183023

Now this aircraft will be a little different, Im going to finish it FB3 Red Devil!

20210127_182919

The first of the Smokers, the first aerobatic team to introduce smoke into their display, where others follow, the Fleet Air Arm lead! And here is a team phot of the handsome buggers.

Seahawk

That is my best reference for the team aircraft, very red indeed.

This will be my 2nd Seahawk in 48th, my first was a reasonable finish from the Classic Airframes kit. My first CA attempt and it went together ok and like I said produced a reasonable model considering the limited nature of the kit. I think I completed this around 10 years ago

20210127_183203

This build will be mainly out of the box with one exception. I have a MB Mk2 seat which I originally bought for a Hunter (pics later) , this isnt be 100% accurate for the aircraft but it will be far better than the kit option. I did originally purchase it for my Hunter and ordered it with harnesses attached, when it arrived the packaging was for harnesses included but alas the actual seat was bare. I checked all my orders and yes it should have had seat belts but the wrong seat was put into this box. So I emailed CMK who make it along with some pictures and they immediately came back and said they would send me a proper one. I wasn’t sure how good they are on their word but true as they said, 20 days after the first contact a proper seat turned up, Bingo! So I had this as a spare and the kit comes with an etched harness so will cobble that together.

As ever we start in the cockpit, a bit simple but good enough I reckon, ready for paint

20210127_190836

Painted

20210127_193922

And assembled with a splash

20210128_085221

I have the kit seat fitted in these pictures because the replacement seat only arrived yesterday which prompted me to look at using the spare, but you can see how clunky the kit seat looks.

You can see also that I dug out the lower fuselage and looked at the gun ports (not gin ports!) which are a poor representation, so I hacked them out and fitted plastic tube which once faired in should look much better, just got to make sure I lined it up all right.

20210128_104944

Still hoping this will be a relatively easy, quick build. There's a couple of vents to open up and wheel wells to detail and a nose wheel to move forward and a bullet fairing to ..... like I said I'm hoping!

Well that's the first installment, stay tooned for more and more importantly stay safe!

Laters all

Bob

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice kit.

 

Personally, I'm still struggling with finishing Airfix's old 1/72 Seahawk. The kit is a bugger but, now that I've started it I can't stop. No guns' vents; the exhausts areas are simplified (the least); and there are no wheels bays! Oh, it also has raised details!

 

So, I will definitely look at your build Bob, to take some inspiration and finish mine (hopefully!).

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good day to you all and welcome along! I am currently sitting in the middle of a good old Nova Scotian winter storm, very much like a Cornish winter storm but we get a couple hours of snow first then it just piddles down for the rest of the day!. 

Continuing on with this wee beastie, the first thing I wanted to do was to rip out the tubing for the gun ports, by the time I had faired them in the recess was far to short so I ripped them out. That was the point when I realised that I had glued them in quite solidly! Once cleaned out I thinned the back edge and put in new tubing at a much shallower angle, hopefully when I fair those in they will look better.

20210201_185812

Not a great pic but you get the idea. I need to fill in the gap between the ports with plastic to make sure the filler I use has something to cling to. Next up was the vents just infront of the cockpit, very prominent but Trumpy had them as a poorly recessed detail. I cut this out oversized and then filled in with plastic card to get the right shape and size

20210129_181438

For the vanes I used 2mm wide plastic strip, this was a really fun evolution trying to get 5 strips in and lined up, once the glue had set I then trimmed down to the right level.

20210201_185736

Next up is another shortcoming. The nose wheel position, I dont have any 1:48 plans but with these 72nd scale plans you can see that the kit nose is too close to the gun ports and in line with the front of the canopy. It should be a couple of mm forward of this point. It should line up with the middle of the panel infront of the gun port.

20210130_100724

There isnt alot in it to be honest but felt it would look better if I did move it. This is what you get for a nose wheel set up, I could either whittle down the support and move the whole thing forward, which would then screw up the rest of the parts that fit into the bay, or chop the wheel off and reposition it. 

20210130_100745

I opted for the latter, cut the leg off and then drilled out and inserted some brass rod to give me something solid to cling to. I went as far forward as possible and drilled a hole in the support part, but this impinged on the bulkhead  which meant recessing the back of that, i then added half a tube on the back for the brass rod to slip into. It all worked out pretty good but I forgot to take a picture of it! So will take a pic tonight.

Next was the seat! This was a spare from a Hunter kit and although probably not 100% correct, alright probably about 10% correct as they are both called Martin Baker, I felt it looked better than the kit version.

20210201_190822

It is very much thinner than the kit one but should look ok. I will transfer the etched harness after painting the seat and then just need an ejection handle to finish it off. I think this one will look much better in the end. finally for today, the main wheel bay. This is quite a large open area and Trumpy has had a fair crack at detailing this but IM is limited so the wiring looks very meh. I removed all that and then just threw in a shed load of wire. the real thing is what we would refer to as a right snakes wedding, ie wires everywhere! I was a bit refined and threw in what looked right. 

20210201_185749

That'll do as its on the underside and wont get viewed much! These were all given a prime ready for a top coat of aluminium. Its hard to see what colours are used in the bays on the display aircraft. I dont think they would be sky so opted for ally, and the bonus is it was all painted after assembly so everything was the same colour! Makes it easier for me!

Thats it, all up to date now, hopefully get some more done for an update tomorrow

Until then stay safe!

Bob

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/2/2021 at 1:45 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Great work on the corrections and additional details.

Chris

Thanks for the positive encouragement :)

 

So onto my Sea Hawk, here is the nose wheel set up I was on about, the best thing about this set up is I can now remove the nose wheel and not snap it off later and lose it!

20210202_182631

And this is the difference it makes, like I said its only a couple of mm but it looks in a much better position

20210202_182801

The next area to look at is the intakes, at least Trumpy provides some intake detail.

20210202_184838

Unfortunately the intake vanes are totally wrong. I have this picture unfortunately it is of a black Seahawk, with a black intake and black intake vanes! But I think there is enough light in there to catch my drift.

Capture 1

The vanes are further into the intake and positioned in the inner 2/3 of the width rather than equidistant, the bonus is that the vanes curve round so it is extremely difficult to see the engine face so I dont have to worry about that. I chopped off the moulded in vanes and then found i had to fill 4 recessed square holes, so thats the next project on this. Next was to sort the weight issue, this is a tail sitter so I need some counter weight. After marking the cockpit position I built myself a wee box and filled with lead balls, these were then mixed with white glue to make sure that all the balls stay put, which they invariably dont!

20210203_151233

I have also cut out the foot steps and backed the recess up with plastic card. I have constructed the nose wheel well, Trumpeter kindly box this in for you so that was good but I couldnt get the sides to sit in well enough for it to be straight so they do curve inwards a bit, but then its underneath the aircraft so you wont see it much. You can also see I have rubbed down the gun ports but these still need further work so we will cover those later! So where is we at now?

20210203_152946

The main wheel well and nose bays have been painted aluminium, I added a black wash to the main but it isnt very clear, it may need more 'griming up'. I have also fitted the inner main doors and backed them up just to make sure they dont drop off The seat is painted up and the harness fitted, cockpit is installed and I capped off my weight box just so none of them balls escape and rattle around! I have to fill a couple of ejector holes by the intakes and then they will be the next part to build up.

But that is all for now, target is to get some external paint on this by the weekend, it'll be a push!

But until then stay safe and look after yourselves.

Bob

  • Like 8
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hellooo! I thought I would do a quick update, not been racing through this lately but I have done some significant work. First up the intakes, Like I said these needed a bit of rework as Trumpy didnt have them anywhere near, but at least they did give me a reasonable insert to work from in the first place so thanks to them for that! I stripped out the inner vanes to leave just the basic trunking and inner vane. I also had to fill 3 square indents, no idea what these were for but hey ho filled them we did. I then added some plastic strip in and curved it to make some airways.

20210210_180556 20210210_180541

Its not really accurate but is alot better than before. I used square section plastic to keep the same distance and to ensure that the vanes didnt straighten out, then having filled the ejector pin in the top section I liberally applied some Model Master Acryl Signal Red.

20210210_181823

Dont worry about the white splodges on the top, its just where I tried a test fit and some paint came off, but its not visible.

Before installing the main landing gear bay, i added a lip around the edge of the bay to replicate the sealing edge of the real thing.

20210211_193855

And what you'll see from the outside.

20210211_193906

It will also help when masking the wells. Next the exhaust pipes. I cleaned these out and primed them

20210210_193432

and found a hideous seam! These definitely aren't on the real aircraft, not this big anyway! So out with filler and a sanding session, primed and painted exhaust grey, the backing plates to this were also painted but in a dull aluminium, and here we are!

20210211_193640

Ready to go together, I have already fitted the wheel well and that is going off, then exhausts and a final run through the instruction to make sure I am not missing anything (yeah right - does anyone do this 😁) then its whack the whole lot together and then we are on our way! So until then stay safe and all that and I'll see yas on the other side of the weekend!

Bob

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

Good day again and welcome along one and all! Thanks for the positive encouragement, all appreciated 😁

I managed to get a little work done over this last weekend, I took the plunge and assembled the fuselage. Not a bad fit to be honest but there were a couple of issues. I started with the nose, securing that together, I have seen issues on other builds where the sides by the cockpit bulged out, wary of this I tried my best to avoid it but even with clamps and tape all over the place I still had a little bulge!

20210212_181647

Like I said nothing really bad and a little rub down will solve that. The very tip of the nose was troublesome to get together, as I couldn't get it to stay together, with SWMBO hollering to go out shopping, I resorted to some super glue and within seconds it was bonded ..... along with my fingers! but we got there in the end. When I got back I glued the rest of the fuselage working back, I still needed to clamp and tape as i went but soon it was all done! While that was drying I looked at the canopy, I had already dipped in future and readied for internal paint. I got these masks from Montex which were great because they had internal masks as well. At this scale and above I like to paint the inside, especially if the canopy is going to be open. I think it just looks better than using the internal colour on the outside technique. The insides were masked up 

20210213_172253

I gave the inside a spray of internal black and then set aside and took out the wings. Again having seen previous build threads, there is a consensus to fit the airbrakes on first if you are going to have them closed. This I did and then the wings were ready to assemble.

20210212_183910

 

20210214_183912

Now onto the big quandary, to fold or spread? My previous build was folded and I had intended to spread this particular aircraft, but every photo on the ground shows them folded, there is also nice colour footage of a Red Devil display and they start on the runway folded and as they taxi for take off they have syncronised wing spreading. The other thing that swung it was they are quite plain red aircraft, with huge white ROYAL NAVY lettering on the underside, so if not on a mirror you cant see that, so folding the wings would easily display the RN title, So folding it is then! which also means that airbrakes should be closed.

In the phot above you cant see it but the wing ends have a nicely molded plate on the end with sufficient detail. The aircraft side however has an insert, that doesnt fit great.

20210214_164307

There is a small amount of detail there but rather than faff around with it I went for the scorched earth policy!

20210214_164315

This now gives a blank canvass, but on the real thing the detail is almost recessed into the wing. I went about recreating this with some carefully placed 1mm plastic strip.

20210214_183924

This will make it look more realistic, the 1mm strip being a good thickness to represent the wing skin. It does add an extra 48 scale mm but that shouldn't detract too much from it. My first calculation I though it added nearly half a meter to each wing, until I realised I was adding 48mm not 48 cm! The leading edge will be fun trying to follow the contour of that but at least the wing is nearly straight and wont encounter the problems of a swept wing. 

Eagle eyed viewers will also note that the tail is now fitted. I havent got any detailed phots of that yet so will update that next time. In the meanwhile stay safe everyone!

Bob

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for chipping in :D

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Nice  always loved the look of the Seahawk and its really starting to come together now.  Are you correcting the shape of the too blunt bullet fairing ?

Chris

I have had a look and will go through it a bit in my next update. I have thinned it a bit but thinking there may be more to do!

19 minutes ago, dov said:

Are you used to work with Montex?

I like it!

Happy modelling

Its the first time I have used Montex, normally I go with Eduard yellow tape type. they have work very well so far 👍

14 minutes ago, Shalako said:

it is coming along very nicely Bob.

 

Do you plan to apply some "heavy" weathering or, are you going to make it look like it has just come out of the assembly line?

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

As this will be a flying display aircraft it will be depicted relatively cleanly, nobody pays to see dirty aircraft!

 

24 minutes ago, mahavelona said:

Lovely work this is giving me inspiration for my own seahawk

 

Much obliged, it is such a nice aircraft.

Bob

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome back! Only been a short break and I have managed to get a bit more done on the wing folds. I continued with the strip around the leading edge so that this creates a recessed structure

20210215_185912

I deliberately left some areas over length so that I could chop them down once the glue had dried. This also helps the glue to bond all the length of the wing. I then applied a very thin layer of filler to help blend in the joining areas better. i will rub that down later then it will be time to fill in the blanks.

20210215_185922

Here you can also make out the detail on the upper wing, in the grand scheme of things it is perfectly reasonable. I do need a few more lightening holes in the lower wing, then add more detail in there. I may  not be really accurate but something to make it look busy. I have also joined the rear fuselage and stuck that on. The fit wasnt too bad but due to the curvatures of the parts it is quite difficult to nestle it in perfectly. Once dried there was a small lip which I had tried to avoid but to no avail. So out with the wet and dry and blend the lot in without losing too much detail. I did need a wee bit of filler but all is not too bad. I also looked at the bullet, on the kit it is far too bulbous and a bit short I think. I rubbed it down to try and thin the profile. Of course I only have an after shot so nothing to compare it to! but looks ok i think.

20210215_185850 Capture 13

So to add in an edit, I found the above pic off Prime Portal 

 

The Airstrip - Prime Portal

 

An excellent resource if I dont mind saying so! But you can see the profiles side by side here and I think it does need more work in sharpening the profile, so its out with the sand paper again!

So next up will be some reprofiling, fill in the wing fold area and then to the dope shop for a prime, hopefully will get some colour on this weekend. Looks like a snow storm coming in so I wont be fighting that, just sit back, keep calm and carry on modelling! Until then keep safe!

Bob

Edited by moaning dolphin
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good day one and all once again, hope you all had a fine week since I last updated. More minor adjustments for the Seahawk this week, first up a bit of rhinoplasty. The kit depicts a blunt hole with a circular opening, but comparing it to the original you can see it should be more oval and it’s a bit like a scoop rather than a plain hole.

20210218_135525

So to rectify this I thought about replacing the whole nose. I took some thick plastic square section and drilled and shaped out the hole, (it does look alot neater in real life!)

20210218_135554

this was then cut down and the kit nose was sanded back to its bulkhead and then the new section was securely glued into place, this was then left overnight because I was going to do some severe work on this area and didn’t want it popping off.

20210218_140006

Once secure I whittled it down to roughly the right shape with some Harry Roughers wet and dry before some fine tuning. It still needs a little more work but am going to wait until after I have done the first prime coat so that I can see what I am doing.

I then turned my attention to the wing fold area, its now nice and busy, not greatly accurate but busy is good enough.

20210221_152813

It should look ok under a coat of paint, I have left a couple of small holes to accommodate some wiring from lower to upper wing once all is attached.

The bullet fairing was also worked, unfortunately going too hard I broke through the plastic so had a big hole to deal with. I drilled it out to accommodate some plastic rod, glued it up and applied filler. Still not sure about the final shape, although the shadow looks better!

20210221_181315

After that it was out with the primer! I gave the kit a good dusting, wiped it down and then applied a coat of grey to see where the imperfections lie. Not too bad for the first go over!

20210221_181342 20210221_181218 20210221_181203

I have now filled the imperfections, rubbed down and re-primed, I will look at the damage tonight and if all is well I will go over the kit again in white primer as this will provide a better backdrop for the red, although I think I read somewhere that yellow is the best undercoat for red? Or it may have been the other way around, I cant quite remember lol!

Anyway thats it from me for now. As ever look after yourselves and stay safe!

Cheers now

Bob

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good morning to you all, a short and sweet update for you, got a bit of work done last night and ended up with a rather pastey* looking Seahawk this morning!

 

2021-02-23_09-40-16

Hopefully tonight I will get some colour into its cheeks!

 

*I think its spelt pastey although auto correct would want me to change it to pasty, which I know is incorrect and mmmm pasty .... I miss my proper Cornish Pasties 🤤

Stay safe Y'all!

Bob

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...