Airfix/Aerocraft Hunter T7

[Graham T]

Thought I'd have a bash at this!  Using the Airfix F6 & the Aerocraft conversion.

 

First the scary part where the kit parts have to be chopped about:

Instructions are fairly helpful but the images & text on them are a little unclear!  With that done, I turned to the twin seat nose itself.  It's a single piece casting, into which the tub, side walls & nose wheel bay are inserted & with careful trimming the fit is pretty good.  However, while washing the resin dust of my cutting mat, I managed to flush the two control columns down the sink plug!  I can use the kit part for one of them but may have to fabricate a replica!

The instrument panel & comming are just dry fitted at the mo so I can check the windscreen fit which seems OK.

 

Then on with the nose cone which required a bit of trimming of the nose wheel bay & just a small amount of filler. 

And now I encountered the first & only real issue - the resin wing fuselage top which is a mile away from following the profile of the kit.

I tried the hot water method to reprofile it but with only partial success, plus the part cracked along the joint between the fuselage top & the actual spine.  I'm going to attach the wing & let it go off completely before attempting to fit it.  I MAY end up reattaching the piece of plastic I removed at the start!  It will need a little bit of surgery but this may be simpler than trying to get the resin replacement to fit!  So, I attached the top wing….

Added the resin tail cone…...

Then couldn't resist just placing the nose in position to see how it's looking!

I'm hoping that the worst is behind me!!!

[Lord Riot]

This is brilliant, I’ve sometimes wondered about trying this one day. I didn’t realise it needs a new panel on the spine though, just the nose and jet pipe area.
 

Great start anyway, what colour & unit markings are you thinking of modelling it as?

[Winded Penguin]

Oh man, signing up for this thread immediately 🙂

[keefr22]

Got these to do 'one day' so will watch with interest!

 

Keith

[amos brierley]

Hi.      Maybe you have two options.   Cut into the resin using a razor saw, length ways not all the way through and use the hot water method again to compress the shape in to the material removed by the saw marks. Or maybe try making FOD blanks. Without looking I think the additional details are ‘knacker’ ducts.  Quick Boost sell some covers for the Buccaneer , the finished model would look good with a full set of FOD covers.    Just a thought……. 😉 

 

oh nearly forgot, I’m with you on this one.  👍

 

 

 

[Graham Boak]

For those who don't realise, "knacker" ducts are NACA (the predecessor of NASA) intakes, flush with the fuselage with the curved sides producing a vortex that draws air inside.  They were initially considered as a low-drag alternative to standard intakes, but the poor pressure recovery meant reduced thrust, so were not adopted for production.  However, they did and still do prove very useful as small air intakes for cooling equipment.

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

This is brilliant, I’ve sometimes wondered about trying this one day. I didn’t realise it needs a new panel on the spine though, just the nose and jet pipe area.
 

Great start anyway, what colour & unit markings are you thinking of modelling it as?

It seems that this replacement panel is NOT necessary, if you are willing to carry out a simple piece of surgery to the kit part, which involves removing about 1cm of the "spine" which in turn allows the replacement resin T7 spine to fit.  I can say this because I have refitted the plastic kit section that I removed to accept the resin part, after removing said section of spine.  There IS some slightly different vent detail on the resin part that one could replicate on the kit part, or leave alone as preferred!  And there are four schemes, all for DG/DSG over LAG examples & I'll probably use the IV squadron markings.

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, amos brierley said:

Hi.      Maybe you have two options.   Cut into the resin using a razor saw, length ways not all the way through and use the hot water method again to compress the shape in to the material removed by the saw marks. Or maybe try making FOD blanks. Without looking I think the additional details are ‘knacker’ ducts.  Quick Boost sell some covers for the Buccaneer , the finished model would look good with a full set of FOD covers.    Just a thought……. 😉 

 

oh nearly forgot, I’m with you on this one.  👍

 

 

 

Cheers.  I have refitted the previously removed plastic section as frankly it was easier than messing about with the resin part to make it fit!  Little bit of surgery, little bit of filling, "job's a good'un"!

[Dr. Quack]

Brilliant! Watching with great interest as I'm keen to do this myself one day - perhaps when my skills are up to the job. Can't wait for the next episode.

Q

 

ps - anybody know if this conversion works with the Airfix F4 kit, and if so, does the jet exhaust still need modified?

Q (again)

[heloman1]

Great start, I thought this was going to be a 1/72nd conversion and would follow it with a view to using one of my Revell kits. Non-the-less I'll follow your build.

 

Colin

[wellsprop]

really excited to follow this - my favourite Hunter and I have the same conversion! 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I’m keenly awaiting a T8M, which will surely follow in due course?

[Graham T]

Tidied up the replacement nose & fitted the single gun blister (two troughs are on the part but only the starboard cannon is fitted on the T7 so the other will need filling).  Might regret fitting this now as the blister is quite close to the joint between the kit parts & the conversion which will undoubtably need filling! Note that the cannon muzzle is provided pre drilled!

 

 

[Graham T]

11 hours ago, Dr. Quack said:

Brilliant! Watching with great interest as I'm keen to do this myself one day - perhaps when my skills are up to the job. Can't wait for the next episode.

Q

 

ps - anybody know if this conversion works with the Airfix F4 kit, and if so, does the jet exhaust still need modified?

Q (again)

You could only do an early T7 (or some export models) from the F4 kit as it lacks the dog tooth leading edge (although thinking about it, that kit MAY have the dog toothed wing that is removed & replaced with the straight edge so you might be OK!).  Yes the conversion provides the para-brake equipped tail required - see pics above.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Graham T

[keefr22]

4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’m keenly awaiting a T8M, which will surely follow in due course?

 

Ummm;

 

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/hawker-hunter-t-8m-conversion-set

 

 

Keith

[Riksbar]

10 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I’m keenly awaiting a T8M, which will surely follow in due course?

I’m watching this as I have a T8M in the stash.  The best looking Hunter, and that’s a challenge.

[Jonny]

I'm watching this with great interest, 'cos my first-ever flight was in a Hunter T.7, thanks to my being in my school's CCF RAF Section.   Oh happy days.  I remember having to be trained to operate a Martin Baker bang seat and while being strapped in the pilot saying "if I say 'Eject Eject' don't ask anything because I won't be there".

 

What puts me off this conversion at the moment is the combined cost of the Airfix kit and the Aerocraft conversion.  I wonder if Airfix might release a kit of the T.7 (or T.8M) sometime.   ARE YOU READING THIS, AIRFIX????

 

Jonny

 

[Graham T]

I refitted the plastic fuselage top/spine section that I had sawn off to accept that poorly fitting resin section & in now the process of filling & blending it back in.  In the meantime, I pressed on with as much of the Airfix plastic bits as I dare at this stage - airbrake, flaps, ailerons, wing tip lights & pitot (no doubt that'll get snapped off down the line but it does need blending in).  The photo shows the main airframe, spine & nose just placed in position - it makes quite a large model compared to the single seater!

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Took the plunge & mated the resin conversion to the Airfix plastic (using Araldite rather than trusting it to CA) &, incredibly, no major issues. The underside joint was nigh on perfect but the proof of the pudding was always going to be the addition of the T7 spine.  When this was added I had a 1mm "step" up from the resin to the plastic.  A few minutes sanding & a smear of Milliput (yet to be sanded flush) sorted that out.  In the meantime I pressed on with the seats, instrument panel & think I managed to figure out how the opened canopy is attached!

 

There are THREE alternative instrument panels included & no doubt I've picked the wrong one for mine but who's going to know?

 

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 9/28/2022 at 2:09 PM, keefr22 said:

 

Ummm;

 

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/hawker-hunter-t-8m-conversion-set

 

 

Keith

Ah.  My bank manager thanks you…

[Graham T]

Right, with any luck that's the filling & sanding completed (apart from a little PVA in the narrow wing to fuselage joint & the spine & fuselage joint).  I've also figured out how the open canopy attaches - its quite logical when you've got it assembled (transparencies are just loose in the photo.  Hopefully get some paint on in the next couple of days.

 

[woody37]

This is looking great. Nice progress getting that resin fitted.

[Winded Penguin]

1 hour ago, woody37 said:

This is looking great. Nice progress getting that resin fitted.

These were my thoughts too 👍

[Graham T]

Light Aircraft Grey applied on the undersides, doors, tanks & pylons.

 

 

[Graham T]

Camo on.  Underlying paint came up in a couple of small places so some touching up necessary down the line!