Hawker's Kestrel, Harrier, Hind, Hurricane Mk1, Hunters FGA9 and T7...

[perdu]

I like the prop and  the bench, reserving judgement on Morbius who doesnt look like a chap who would get his round in down the pub...

 

What with aching foot, terrible bad back again (I do suffer for my art but I dont like to talk about it...) and F1 and international footie not much got done over the weekend, but some snippets got moved down the bench a piece.

 

Crisp wasn't impressed with the Hart's 'Airfix/Ramona paid for' decal sheet, do you think I might get something decent out of here Crisp?

 

 

I am expecting to WASTE most of these but hopefully something decent will occur later.

 

Gods bless Dick Ward.

 

I have said it before and if I need to I will say it again, this is not right!

 

Now I don't want to make a thing of vac/pull moulding a reshaped one but you never know.

 

 

The slope from the rear canopy arch just doesn't slope - but should.

 

The canopy is basically a flat top that slopes quite severely to the screen's arch

 

Must get sihrsc out of hock

 

And although this crap photo, my homage to real photographers round here is to cobble up taking pictures, you guys do not need rivals after all.

 

Almost invisible here is the pencil mark to which I will be carving away plastic in order to replicate the T bird Hunter's area ruled fore fuselage.

 

The widened and then area ruled fuselage allowed the two seaters to carry on the Hunter's excellent performance in flight.

 

I understand that Hawker's then passed on their research findings to English Electric (Maybe BAC) to aid them in producing the T4 Lightning.

 

The cockpit interior has been roughly mocked up and a Modeldecal Instrument Panel prepared for addition to the beast.

 

Not certain that rudder pedals will show so equally not sure if I am going to bother adding them.

 

 

The  modeldecals IP can be seen alongside the fore fuselage, it is really impressive in this scale, why does no-one else take this much care over their decal sheets?

 

Vallejo German Grey standing in for black as ever.

 

I haven't abandoned the Kestrel which is why it is still the title liner, I am about to mould a new 'hump' for it, cannibalised from the Airfix GR3, might be fun fitting that where there must become a hole first.

Later this week I s'spect

[general melchett]

Quote

No CC, you are confusing the judging with general melchett's workshop on the subject.

 

One and the same Martian, it's all about peering and probing into dark inaccessible orifices and hoping for the best....

What with all this pleasant spring weather, enforced DIY, bicycling (training wheels are finally off), helping the staff with gardening duties and short trips here, there and everywhere there hasn't been much time for modelling so it's nice to come on here and find Bill's been hard at it again. Great choices of subject matter Billiam, that's the way to get through the stash, bravo... 

[TheBaron]

On 28/03/2022 at 09:06, perdu said:

The  modeldecals IP can be seen alongside the fore fuselage, it is really impressive in this scale, why does no-one else take this much care over their decal sheets?

It's a conspiracy of the ruling class to keep the workers' hands off the means of control brother. Everybody aht!

[perdu]

Fred Pike if my memory serves, a man to look up to.

[perdu]

Well I didnt have much faith in this

 

(Yes Mildred it's the Kestrel again, makes yer head spin, the speed we gets up to in here)

 

This was the 'more in hope than expectation' attempt to impose a 'Hump, Kestrel,Engine cover' onto the flat roofed P1127 fuselage.

 

I had to attack it with all sorts of filling agents and pray.

 

In the mean time I cut my Harrier GR3 fuselage up to make access to the hump easy, just in case.

 

This is the new hump in front of the old hump so to speak.

 

But in fact the old hump looks good enough now after filling with, Tamiya Green loaded with sprue-runner plastic and UV curing resin and Humbrol white filler.

 

Then spray with Appliance White to get a surface view I could trust.

 

Then consider putting the new hump into the old one.

 

 

And wonder if it is worth the fuss...

 

 

I think I will just add another layer to the odd couple of hollows in the original hump join.

#

 

 

And organise gap relief for the undersides which I concur, have been dreadfully neglected...

 

 

Whilst I had the camera on the tripod, yes Ian, honest, I took a shot of my new paints racking, now painted white and filled almost with 56 Vallejos

 

 

I wondered why did the racking have holes on the rear face?

 

Found out that if the bottle was low in paint it would keep dropping out of the rack UNLESS you put the bottles in lid first.

This then allows the heavy pigments in the paint to remain near the top, which I have found to be a bonus.

 

No longer do I open the cap and drop out a small dollop of paint medium with hardly any pigment into the pallette, phew.

 

Minor task impending

 

 

 

Can this piece of junk be polished enough to make it worth finishing or shall I ditch it and make the new one under the bus in that picture above?

 

Questions questions...

[general melchett]

 

 

 

Hope those lids are on properly Bill, don't want any serious leakage, especially at your time of life...

 

Re the Dragonfly, I'd settle for throwing it under the bus and starting the new one, life's way too short.

[giemme]

I don't think you need to replace the hump on the Kestrel, looks good enough to me.

 

The Dragonfly, on the other hand, looks a bit messy....

 

Ciao

[perdu]

I quite agree Andy but there is always going to be that "I wonder?" afterthought isn't there?

[perdu]

The Dragonfly started as a multimediawhat? anyway, I was never convinced but did try to love it.

 

Turned into the proverbial red haired might be a stepchild...

 

I think I'll just cannibalise the cockpit for the other one.

 

Then pop it outside for the Hawk to play with.

 

My Webley Hawk that is. 😲

[general melchett]

 

Quote

I quite agree Andy but there is always going to be that "I wonder?" afterthought isn't there?

 

Being a Neanderthal from the wilds of Lincolnshire I'm afraid I just bung 'em out if they're not huggable, but yes, you could always keep it locked safely away, out of sight, in a cupboard, in the attic.....just in case.

 

Quote

I think I'll just cannibalise the cockpit for the other one.

 

Ah, now that's a much better idea...got plenty of cannibalized scrapheap fodder here, not to mention air-rifle fodder (scoped SMK-XS19-18, an honest to goodness stress reliever.....just ask the local pigeon fanciers) 

[Brandy]

5 minutes ago, general melchett said:

not to mention air-rifle fodder (scoped SMK-XS19-18, an honest to goodness stress reliever.....just ask the local pigeon fanciers) 

Back when I were a nipper I had a .177 Weihrauch 35e. Got 6th place in Airgun World's national competition (won a Chinese Lion .22) and the highest placed open sight. The next year, with the 'scope, I didn't even register!

They went to my brother-in-law when I moved to the US and I have no idea what he did with them.

 

Ian

[perdu]

Doing a bit to update the elderly Frog Hunter which is not too bad but leaves a little to be desired in the wheel wells.

 

The fuselage section of the well simply bears no relation to the 'plane's wing/intake area and work needs doing in there.

 

I took away the plastic that Frog left so the doors can be shut for the in flight attitude and made an inner wall which contains the RR Avon jet with certain architectural appointments too, a pair of holes with thin extruded u section pieces behind.

no sir, 'tain't not no real engine wall but I hope it never gets that warm.

 

Some stiffeners too, for the upper u/c bay roof and then narrow sidewalls will be needed around the holes under there.

 

A few wires and pipes placed around for extra flavour and we ought to be OK.

 

Today I bought my very first 'book' on Kindle, Low Level Hell: A scout pilot in the Big Red One, by Hugh Mills.

 

Book is fine, Kindle?

 

Less so, I am not sold on the concept yet.

 

Page turning is taking some getting used to as is its habit of dropping three pages in view at once requiring me to make a decision.

Well I mean!

 

Decisions, I just am not any good at decisions and if forced I can usually be relied upon to make the wrongest one...                                                                                                                    

[giemme]

Nice Hunter-ing, Bill

 

Re Kindle, I find it very handy, especially when reading BIG books like The Lord of The Rings in its original tongue, also taking full advantage of the touch-translation when I don't know a specific word (OK, that only applies because I'm not an English native speaker,  but still.... )

 

Ciao 

 

 

[Fritag]

4 minutes ago, giemme said:

The Lord of The Rings in its original tongue, also taking full advantage of the touch-translation when I don't know a specific word (OK, that only applies because I'm not an English native speaker,  but still.... )

 

Well I’m not a native Elvish speaker.  Does it help with that too? 

 

[Brandy]

I have to admit that I never have, and never will, buy a "book" on kindle. Our aircraft manuals at work are on active reader and I HATE it.

Give me paper!

I refuse to bow to this new fangled electronic reading rubbish, it is not an advance on good old fashioned paper books where I can stick a tag and flick back and forth to the page I want.

 

Rant over.

 

Beer time.

That's real beer, not electronic beer.

 

Ian

[perdu]

I still am not a convinced user, will never be a happy one 

 

[giemme]

48 minutes ago, Fritag said:

 

Well I’m not a native Elvish speaker.  Does it help with that too? 

 

Of course, especially with Sindarin!   

 

Ciao 

[Fritag]

5 hours ago, perdu said:

I still am not a convinced user, will never be a happy one 

 

I’m a happy kindle user.  Wouldn’t use it for reference books, but for novels and anything without piccies I reckon it’s brill.  Syncs to the iPad and iPhone n’all.  Horses for courses mind.

 

Loving the Bill Hunter.  Wouldn’t you just love to have some Hunter hours? (and I know Crisp has - rotter).

[perdu]

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

Wouldn’t you just love to have some Hunter hours? (and I know Crisp has - rotter).

Peter Latham was an old boy at St Phil's and as such was an early boyhood hero, (well him and Rupert Bear of course)

 

The Hunter was my real dream machine.

 

My copy of Hunter Boys, a real copy made of paper products is due tomorrow.

 

I may disappear for a few hours if it does...

[perdu]

 

 

Hunter Boys has arrivv!

 

I will be available on occasion, maybe probably ish.

 

But for now the Kessie is down in the smelly-works AKA The Garridge!

Awaiting smelly processes of course including fillers and paints so it will be off the bench for a while, hmm, what else is there?

 

Oh yes OK where did I begin.

 

Hart to Hart, or Hind? Or Demon?

 or ???

 

Whichever first the delightfully gentle touch moulding deserved equally gentle fettlising, the mostly minimal ejector marks could do with removing carefully.

 

 

The lower wing has two ejectors, a bit grungy but boy I has seen many worse in my time.

 

The trailing edges got slightly refined too, after this was taken.

 

No excuses, I love this way of offering fabric flight surfaces to the modeller, can anyone(except Johnny) remember the architectural rib definitions on THIS model after Airfix took it out of service to impose the Demon on us?

 

Now dont get me wrong, I built and enjoyed building the later Hart variant when it was released and the colourful bubble wrap display was always a beauty to behold, but...

 

This is what I prefer.

 

As you can see the older version was not perfect in any other way ...

 

 

I believe I will also have to remake the rudder and fin, like Johnty did and yes I do need some of the gorgeous domed hub wheels Mr3DP has offered me.

 

Airfix's conical hub with skimpy tyred wheels don't cut it.

 

Kinda pretty but wrong.

 

Crustaceous excrescences need extracting, like so.

 

Indecision has struck me at present, not entirely sure of which version of the Hart family will wriggle out from under the clouds of obscurity yet, but whichever version it is it will need some kind of interior instead of two pairs of sit-upon sticks across the fuselage..

 

Fortunately at this stage in the Hawker history there are plenty of structural images to glean one's needs from, like this one.

 

A couple of longitudinals and a few uprights.

 

All worked back from a front bulkhead where the undercart mounts

 

That comes next.

 

 

Au revoir.

[hendie]

oooh looking forward to seeing what you can make out of this Bill.  Another nice character building exercise on the bench.

[Fritag]

11 minutes ago, hendie said:

Another nice character building exercise on the bench.

 

Indeed.  Bill’s character must be jolly well built by now. 

[junglierating]

On 3/31/2022 at 5:37 PM, Brandy said:

I have to admit that I never have, and never will, buy a "book" on kindle. Our aircraft manuals at work are on active reader and I HATE it.

Give me paper!

I refuse to bow to this new fangled electronic reading rubbish, it is not an advance on good old fashioned paper books where I can stick a tag and flick back and forth to the page I want.

 

Rant over.

 

Beer time.

That's real beer, not electronic beer.

 

Ian

Try topic 10 wiring diagrams ....same problem...I suppose the Apache active wiring diagrams are ok ....that's not to say someone hasn't printed them all off ....for reference only. 

As for HM Gash barges ...a wiring what ...what Modification??

[perdu]

4 hours ago, Fritag said:

Bill’s character must be jolly well built by now. 

Beyond construction's fresh phase, well into the decline of structures now.

 

However there's stuff afoot

 

First to get a fix on the structure shown up above I needed to lay it all out to make a plan

 

so

 

 

Do not fear, although lines suggest frames I am not constrained to build them in

Not all of them. 

 

 

Much more of these will be totally invisible inside the tiny little cockpit holes.

 

The upper frames seem to be tube laid over flat section square stock, I would have loved seeing one of these being recovered.

 

But I didnt and this will do for me now.

 

 

I could claim tripod instability but I would never fool Ian so I confess, the picture was a "I know I will show the folks what I mean" and wobbled in the execution...

 

Between the front bulkhead and the skimpy rear one there seems to be a fuel tank so a thin floor will suffice to close the pair and give some rigidity.

 

I know I have been effusive about Modeltoy's transfer department before so here is why they excel.

 

Even if by some chance this additional sheet was inserted since Hannant's ownership of the brand.

 

 

Ain't they lovely

 

Don't they make me want to make more Hart family biplanes  (YES)

 

Don't they make me forget I am terrified of rigging biplanes   (YES)

 

My first choice was the pretty yellow Hart trainer in the RAF Museum collection, I mean what's not to be scared of?

 

Yellow paint

 

Unbearably shiny engine covers

 

A twin seater, so two cockpits, same 'plane...

 

Jury is out but I am beginning to fancy a Hind of the not Russian variety.

 

See me later!

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

Great progress on many fronts Bill. A Kestrel with more humps than a Bactrian Camel, a Hunter, a poorly Dragonfly and a Hart or a Hind (I guess the Demon is out?). Very much like the sound of the Yellow Hart trainer I must say.

 

On 3/28/2022 at 9:06 AM, perdu said:

Gods bless Dick Ward.

 

That man played a significant part in my formative modelling years as a teenager. He produced some wonderful inspiring stuff. I had the great privilege of meeting him several times during visits to his old shop in Fratton, Portsmouth. Sadly missed.

 

Did I miss the bit where we learned what finish the Hunter T-bird will be?

 

Terry