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Airfix Typhoon 1B Dogfight Double


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The Typhoon is honestly an aircraft I knew very little about until I 1) saw the Dogfight Double and 2) began to research for this project.  The crews of this airplane have an unsung story and I really grew to appreciate the importance of the Typhoon while preparing for this build.  A special thanks to @Chris Thomas & @Troy Smith for their help.  We on this forum really owe Chris a debt of thanks--as I got closer to starting, I can not tell you how many threads I have seen him help fellow hobbyists like us on our quest to build an accurate Typhoon.  I highly recommend his book, Typhoon Wings on the 2 TAF--not only is it a great review of how the RAF supported the ground forces on the western front, it is a fountain of Typhoon knowledge.  (I have no obligations to Chris--his stuff just simply rocks 🙌). I will also be using Frank's book on the Typhoon for its multitude of detail photos/drawings. 

 

So on to my build--here is a rough run down on how I am going to proceed based on the guidance from Chris's book, and numerous blogs that honestly his name seems to come up in all the time (as a force for good).  I do not expect there to be as many issues with this build as my Fw-190--all the threads & Frank's book give the kit high praise for both accuracy and assembly (although I understand that some consider either the Academy or Berngun kits better, it seems these 3 kits have a lock on whi is in the running for the best 1/72 Typhoon)

 

Overall camouflage:

 

- Underside--Tamiya XF-83 Medium Sea Gray 2 (RAF)

- Topside -- Tamiya XF-82 Ocean Gray 2 (RAF) & Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 RAF 

 

Cockpit:

Black above waist height (I will use Tamiya German Grey for the scale effect) & below that it will be RAF interior green (I am going to try out a Mission Model's RAF Interior green for this build--1st time) & the tubular structure will be painted to look like painted sliver.  The armor behind the seat and the area behind the head armor behind seat with canopy closed will be Tamiya Flat Black.  I will use Bergun's Photo Etch.

 

Pilot:

I made a resin casting of an Airfix P-51D pilot--my understanding is Typhoon crews always wore masks due to fumes--the figure supplied in the cockpit is mask-less.  I will use Airfix 1/24 instructions as a guide to paint him.

 

Wheel wells/landing gear

Both tail and main landing gear will be sprayed sliver to replicate the painted aluminum bays.  I also plan on painting the main landing gear silver--I do not believe the Typhoon had a "chrome area" visible as I believe that portion of the strut was internal.

 

Intake:

This was an interesting journey through 2 TAF.  As you can imagine, the TAF fought from rough fields which led to Cuckoo doors, screens and a dome guard--all of these devices degraded performance so in the winter of 1944, my understanding is these devices were removed.  I understand Airfix's MP126 markings are from this time period, so after all that research, I will merely use the kit parts   

 

Armament:

Cannons

Will use the kit provided Rockets with Bergun's fins.--my understanding is that No 247 Squadron was unit that specialized in rockets so it is highly unlikely Squadron Leader Stapleton frequently carried bombs (although I believe it is technically possible)

 

Markings:

Will use Airfix's decals for MP126 ZY_Y.  These do not appear to have some of the historic issues I found with my Priller build--they also go on very nicely so I am going to stick with what is provided in the kit

 

Modeling improvement technique:

My good friends @giemme, @The Spadgent, @opus999, @billn53& @RidgeRunner really moved the ball forward in helping me get mottling done in my last Fw-190 build--that said a significant weakness of that build was I used a pin wash to pre-shade which then created a too uniform finish.  My goal with this build will be pre-shade and go even thinner with my paint to enhance the finished project. 

 

This should be fun--my link to the questions Chirs has already answered is below along with a few other blogs of his I found useful.  There is also the obligatory starting shot of the kit, but my significant other has me in the basement vice looking out the window like Johnny 🙌

 

Best, 

 

Erwin

 

DSCN2990

 

 

 

Edited by VT Red Sox Fan
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Will be posting some pictures of build pics soon--but wanted to ensure I did not lose the attached thread from @silberpferd with a great personal movie from WW2 which has Typhoons on it for reference--I imagine I am not the only one who would find these useful.  Also, special thanks @Chris Thomas & @Graham Boak for assisting in finalizing the armament plan and the radiator layout for MP126--or Excreta Thermo as Squadron Leader "Stapme" Stapleton would have called her.  Best, Erwin 

 

 

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Like you, I knew pretty much nothing about the Typhoon before picking up this kit.  It quickly became one of my favorites!  I personally had no trouble with the invasion stripe and yellow ID decals using Mr. Mark Softer solvent.  However, anymore I will paint instead of decal where ever possible.

 

Looking forward to this one!

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If you’re interested:
 

Hawker Typhoon: The Combat History by Richard Townshend Bickers

 

Is a pretty good read and is available on Kindle.

4 hours ago, opus999 said:

Like you, I knew pretty much nothing about the Typhoon before picking up this kit. 

 

4 hours ago, opus999 said:

Like you, I knew pretty much nothing about the Typhoon before picking up this kit. 

 

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On 2/5/2021 at 2:24 AM, Jackson Duvalier said:

Is it done yet?  Can we see?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to add "Excreta Thermo"-- that's a good one.  😏

Jackson, I only wish I moved at the speed I used to in High School 🙌   Will be posting some updates shortly--best, Erwin

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On 2/1/2021 at 5:56 PM, dogsbody said:

Creeping ... er.. I mean watching this build. You can never have too much Hawker Typhoon!

 

 

 

 

Chris

I am beginning to feel the same way thanks to @Chris Thomas--honored to have you along--its never creeping--just lurking--I think I have made the my profession on this site 😉 best, Erwin 

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Update #1 is all about basic painting. 

 

1st special thanks to @Chris Thomas--it is rare to find an expert of his caliber so willing to provide advice on an aircraft. Based on his guidance and other references, I first sprayed the interior Tamiya AS-12--my goal was to replicate a painted on finish vice a natural metal finish as my understanding is the aluminum was an anti corrosion lacquer applied at the factory.  Once the paint was dried, I then applied Mission Model's RAF Interior Green to the cockpit area.  I am no expert, but to my untrained eye their product looks dead on & it sprayed exceptionally well out of my Badger Patriot.  I then sprayed Tamyia's German Grey to replicate the black upper portion.  Finally based on guidance from Chris, I painted the radiator area the underside color & left the tail wheel area aluminum.  

 

Finishing off the fuselage included scraping the acrylics off the lacquer frame with touch ups using simple Testors (square bottle) Aluminum--again the goal was to replicate a painted frame vice NMF.  I then touched up the various boxes with Tamiya Flat Back based on photos from Franks book and used Tamiya Deck Tan for the wiring, again based on my interpretation of Frank's book.  Finally, after looking at the gorgeous washes applied by folks like @The Spadgent, @giemme & @opus999 among many others, I used Tamiya's brown accent to build depth into the cockpit fuselage sides.  I did not worry about the mold marks toward the rear of the cockpit because they will not be seen when the airplane is closed up.

 

DSCN2995 DSCN3000 DSCN3001 DSCN3004

 

DSCN3006

 

 

I painted the part which includes the covered radiator and wells AS-12, air brushed the foot board RAF IG based on guidance from the expert/books.  I believe the rear portion of Airfix's radiator area is the airframe covers for the trunking underneath.  My understanding is this trunking was the underside color so I masked and painted the radiator area the underside color.

 

 

DSCN2993

 

 

The radiator itself was perplexing  to me given the wide variety of dust covers and factory mods this area went in a very short timeframe.  After asking yet another basic question of @Chris Thomas, I decided that MP126 had the kit build up for the timeframe I had markings for.  I believe these markings are from the winter of 1944/1945 and apparently the circular vanes were reinstalled without covers across the 2 TAF to improve performance while airfield dust was a minimum threat to operations.  I sprayed the radiator/vanes gloss black Tamiya lacquer and then sprayed the radiator ALC 103 Dark Aluminum and the ALC 119, Airframe Aluminum.  Finally, I used Tamiya's black panel line accent to build depth in the radiator bath--I did buff the vanes and decided to leave them relatively shiny.  Obviously, I was going for a more NMF vice painted look for this assembly.  

 

DSCN2998 DSCN3002 DSCN3003

 

 

Next up will be the rest of the cockpit and my homemade P-51D resin figure--I imagine dry fitting will be required, but I think this figure is much more on point than the mask-less figure supplied by Airfix.  Best to all, Erwin 

 

 

 

DSCN2996

      

Edited by VT Red Sox Fan
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Your wash looks very good!  The interior is well done.  I don't want to rain on your parade, but when I built this kit, I put a lot of effort into the cockpit and when I put the fuselage together, I found that the a/c has an amazingly small opening for the pilot to poke his upper body through and so i was disappointed to find that I couldn't see my work.  But, it's good practice and, like I always say, I've still got the pictures! :) 

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On 2/9/2021 at 3:19 PM, Jackson Duvalier said:

Happy to see your progress!  The MMP interior grey-green really looks the part.

 

Your cutting mat has the same dirty palette/maid-of-all-work look mine has taken on.  I even soak decals on it now. 😬

Jackson, I think you & Johnny @The Spadgent are taking notes as he sometimes thinks it takes Ninja dexterity to move around my bench—thanks to you both—best, Erwin 

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This update will concentrate on the instrument panel assembly.  Based on work I have seen across the forum, I decided to use the Bergun photo etch set instead of Airfix's decal.  I also decided use Airfix's back plate as it appeared more 3 dimensional. 

 

While @opus999 is correct that most of this work will be hidden, the gunsight will likely be seen.  With this in mind, I went back and forth on what the MKII gunsight might have looked like on MP126.  As I learned, Typhoon 1Bs went through iterations of a glass reflector (early) and then information being projected on the windshield (later).  After reaching out to @Chris Thomas, I decided to build the MKII sight without the glass.  For those who spend a lot of time lurking for info (I know I spend way too much time 🙂 ), there is a home movie of a US SHAPE officer visiting a Typhoon unit.  In movie you can clearly see an early MKII sight with the glass--this aircraft is MM963, which Chris explains. was built in Dec 1943 and is thus considered an early slider.  While there is no definitive answer, I decided to go with the glassless sight for my Typhoon which created the need for very little scratch work on the sight provided by Airfix--I believe Airfix provides a faithful representation of a glass less MKII in 1/72--but cant deny that I felt guilty after looking at @giemme & @The Spadgent recent projects. 🙂

 

I prepped the instrument panel by airbrushing Airfix's plastic Tamiya Flat White to prep for Bergun's instrument film.  I also painted the panel's photo etch parts based on guidance in Frank's book.  After much humming and hawing I decided to paint the yellow tape around the center box of critical flight instruments.  My understanding is this was done to support low light/night operations.  Of note, I do not think Duxford's cockpit has this, but MN235 does.  Again this was a judgment call, but I think based on other allied aircraft from this time period, that MP126 carried this yellow outline.  The red ring dials were painted Tamiya Gloss Red on the photo etch.

 

I attached the photo etch to the plastic with Mircro Scale Krystal Klear.  I then painted the exposed white Tamiya Flat Black and followed up painting one metal lever Testors Aluminum.  I then used Tamiya's weather pack to dust up the details and called it done.  Finally, I used Krystal Klear for the compass and MKII Gunsight lenses.

 

Thank you all for the great comments--really appreciated

 

Best, 

 

Erwin

 

DSCN3007 DSCN3013 DSCN3022 DSCN3029 DSCN3033

 

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Had a question for the forum--I am contemplating attaching the photo etch fins to the rockets supplied by Airfix as the injection molded fins are far too thick for 1/72 scale.  Does anyone have any tricks on how create a jig top make these look right... I tried to make one and was not happy with the result... any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  Best to all, Erwin

Edited by VT Red Sox Fan
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