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RAF Hunter, 1960s


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Another fine thoroughbred from the Hawker stable. I’m going back to 1/72 for this one, fancy something smaller to go with the Meteors, Javelin and Vampire on the shelf. Plus, I’d like to test out my new gloss green/grey spray before using it on 1/48 jets. 

Nice box art.

 

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Very simple sprues, especially after the Kinetic Harrier! The kit includes tailpipes for the F6 and an FGA9. I’ll be making the F6 version as on the box.

 

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Nice decal sheet, glad it includes instrument panels.

 

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I like the 66 Sqn markings with triangular roundel bars, and was going to do that one until the yellow box art tempted me to go for the Fighter Combat School one. Once I found out they FCS were based at West Raynham that confirmed my choice, as it’s a nice little village not far from my mum’s house in north Norfolk. It must have been lovely round there with Hunters and Javelins flying around over the countryside.

 

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Does anyone have any advice? Is it worth getting any aftermarket (seat, cockpit?) or is it decent oob? Hoping for a fairly simple build.

 

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This is a lovely kit. Personally, I wouldn't bother with aftermarket, the seat is basic but it's 1/72. A few belts and a careful paint job and you will be sorted.

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Made a start today. The seat and cockpit seem tiny after making a few in 1/48. I’ve done my best with them, glad there were instrument decals in the kit.

 

Pretty much oob except for the masking tape belts, and a little blob of plastic for the buckle, along with a piece for the gunsight protrusion at the top of the instrument panel.

 

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The fit is ok so far, just needed some filler around the tailpipe fairing area. A dry fit revealed that one can add the jet pipe later so that will make painting simpler.

 

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Much better having decals than my attempts to paint instruments!
 

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More Hunter shaped now.

 

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The fit of the wings is lovely, no filler needed and the top and bottom halves go together well. Just those dogtooth leading edges seem a bit fat compared to the thickness of the wing.

They protrude about a quarter of a millimetre lower on the underside. Is that right or do they need filing to match the rest of the wing?

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Time for the first round of spraying. Silver undersides first, then I’ll do the yellow spine, tail and wing lines, finally I’ll mask those and do the camo. I think that’s probably the best way round to do it. 

 

By a very happy coincidence the width of the masking tape is pretty much the same as the width of the wing stripes!
 

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You don't hang around, do you?

Looking good so far but, 1, the lower surface of the dog tooth extensions fair smoothly into the wing skins and, 2, I'd paint in the order yellow, grey, green, silver.  Yellow generally has poor covering power, the grey is lighter than the green, and silver of any persuasion can be a real pain to mask and unmask.

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Thanks @stever219, yes I did file down the undersides of the dogtooth edges in the end, there’s a panel line but they’re the same height as the wing so should be ok. Unless the join lines need filling?

 

I masked off the lines before spraying the silver so hopefully the yellow will take. You’re right though, I’ll do all the yellow before any grey or green. 

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Nice and glossy, proper 50s/60s style! I’ll let it dry over night then it’s time for blu-tack worms and more masking. Good practice for when I finally pluck up the courage to start the giant and stupidly expensive Airfix Javelin one day though! 
 

C51-EC448-47-BB-41-E1-A135-A82835-E44-F9

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On 3/10/2021 at 7:52 PM, Lord Riot said:

Just those dogtooth leading edges seem a bit fat compared to the thickness of the wing.

They protrude about a quarter of a millimetre lower on the underside. Is that right or do they need filing to match the rest of the wing?

This is a similar problem to the beautiful 1/32 version. I have heard that it is better to fit the dog tooth before gluing the front of the wing to allow some flexibility in fitting. Too late now and you have made a great job of the kit so far. It's going to look even more fab when all the masking comes off.

Edited by DonH
pour spilling
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Managed to get some more done before the rugby!


Masked up ready for green.

 

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Green sprayed on.

 

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Masking removed.

 

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I’m very pleased with the wing stripes, no seepage at all. The spine and fin need remarking and respraying though, too much green has crept up over the yellow.

 

Reasonably straight demarcation line for the silver though, just a bit of the usual tidying up needed.

 

6-A6910-DE-EC67-4-F4-C-9-B11-F41-F50466-

 

 

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Disappointing seepage of yellow, the ‘delicate wallpaper’ masking tape that purports to stop this only seems to work on walls! Back to the Tamiya tape.

 

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I’m going to respray all the grey and green camo again. Not giving up on this yet.
 

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Looking good so far. I have a semi built one in my garage/AMARC. Don’t remember any particular problems in the build.

 

The rattlecan of Dark Sea Grey looks interesting. For whatever reason, Humbrol has discontinued theirs.

 

Trevor

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Almost there now, camo looking better, and just a bit of touching up needed on the yellow. Apart from the obvious fin respray where I forgot to mask it! 😂
 

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I need to get some gloss yellow, only got matt for brushing.

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