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Hawker Hunter Underbellies , What Do You Use?


MatthewAV8B

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Evening all , hope you are looking forward to the weekend :happy:

 

I have a Revell Hunter on the bench currently approaching the painting stage and I need to make a decision regarding the underbelly colour.... (RAF Scheme of course)

 

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Revell asks for Aluminium on the underside but the box art and some pictures would suggest otherwise.

 

After some of my own reading I cant decide as I get a real mixed bag of answers.

 

So i'll put it to my fellow Britmodellers ; what are peoples approach to doing the underbelly? I'd be interested to hear what you all do!

 

Stay safe and Happy Landings.

 

Regards - Matthew.

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Basically;

If its RAF Germany based it would have been PRU Blue underneath early on then silver aluminium paint later - post 1969 afair

If UK based then it it would have been painted aluminium [not nmf]

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5 hours ago, Truro Model Builder said:

Only a very small number of RAFG F.4s received PRU blue undersides, maybe single figures. The vast majority, like other RAF Hunters, were painted high speed silver. As Jure mentions, this gave way to light aircraft in the mid-1960s.

100% agreed.

Don't do PRU Blue unless it's one of the very small number of 118 Sqn F.4s (e.g. WT748) that were finished in it. Earlier than mid-1960s it's High Speed Silver (I use Citadel Mithril SIlver, or whatever it's called now) after that, Light Aircraft Grey.

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9 hours ago, Truro Model Builder said:

Only a very small number of RAFG F.4s received PRU blue undersides, maybe single figures. The vast majority, like other RAF Hunters, were painted high speed silver. As Jure mentions, this gave way to light aircraft in the mid-1960s.

Don't think there were any F4 still in service  in the RAF when they went over to LAG in the late 1960's. By that time the only operator of this model was the RN  with the GA11.

 

Selwyn

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1 hour ago, Selwyn said:

Don't think there were any F4 still in service  in the RAF when they went over to LAG in the late 1960's. By that time the only operator of this model was the RN  with the GA11.

 

Selwyn

 

No, there weren't. I was referring to RAF Hunters generally.

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On 13/02/2021 at 18:30, StephenMG said:

100% agreed.

Don't do PRU Blue unless it's one of the very small number of 118 Sqn F.4s (e.g. WT748) that were finished in it. Earlier than mid-1960s it's High Speed Silver (I use Citadel Mithril SIlver, or whatever it's called now) after that, Light Aircraft Grey.

I have heard of 118 Sqn  Hunters with PRU blue undersides but thought there was some dispute regarding photographic proof. In black and white images it's very hard to determine what is blue and what is silver. The question arose in an old copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling, I believe.

A PRU blue and camouflage Hunter would make a lovely subject.

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2 hours ago, Timbo88 said:

I have heard of 118 Sqn  Hunters with PRU blue undersides but thought there was some dispute regarding photographic proof. In black and white images it's very hard to determine what is blue and what is silver. The question arose in an old copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling, I believe.

A PRU blue and camouflage Hunter would make a lovely subject.

A couple of years I did the artwork for the Pen & Sword FlightCraft Hawker Hunter book. One of the subjects I was keen to draw was one of the 'PRU Blue' Hunters from RAFG but I'd also heard there was some dispute over their existence. There is anecdotal evidence from personnel that were there at the time that at least one Hunter was spotted with blue undersides. There is also a black and white photo of F.4 WT748 taken at Bruggen which appears to show blue undersides, albeit with the usual problems of interpreting colour from a monochrome photo. However, it does show very little contrast between the Dark Sea Grey of the camo and the underside colour - very similar to the level of contrast seen in photos of RAFG Swifts and much less than you normally see with Hunters. Handily I found a photo of a Swift and Hunter in flight together. That was useful in confirming the contrast between the under- and upper-side colours of the Swift (which matched the photo of WT748) and also showed the significantly higher contrast between the upper- and under-sides of the Hunter which had its usual High Speed Silver finish.

 

The killer evidence for me though, and what convinced me that WT748 was indeed finished in PRU Blue, was found by closer examination of the Bruggen photo.

 

Firstly, the main gear leg of a second Hunter was visible under the belly of WT748. This was crucial as it showed a second aircraft under exactly the same lighting conditions. The colour on those gear doors was very much lighter than WT748 and exactly what you'd expect to see for High Speed Silver. The difference was such that it can only be due to differing paint colours, especially as the lighting conditions were identical for both.

 

Secondly, as was normal with Hunters, the gun pack had clearly been changed and a pack in the usual High Speed Silver had been fitted. This showed a very much lighter colour than the rest of the undersides. Also, it appeared that the radio bay doors had been replaced - they too showing the same difference in colour.

 

Thirdly, the starboard link collector (forward section) although matching the 'blue' of the undersides had very clear scuff marks on it, as you'd get when the collector was removed and placed outside-down on the tarmac. That scuffing allowed a very much lighter colour (aluminium) to show through.

 

Whether any other Hunters were finished in PRU Blue is anyone's guess (it doesn't help that 118 was such a short-lived squadron) but I'm now sure that WT748 was and so I based my profile for the book on that Bruggen photo.

 

(Sorry for the novel!)

 

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Edited by StephenMG
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