Hawker Hunter F.6A - No. 1 TWU - Revell - 1/72

[SebTartar]

Following my comment on @John Masters's thread, I realised that I had not shared that build that I completed at the end of 2020.

If my memory is any good, this aircraft is an F.6 that received the rear part of an FGA.9 with the parachute housing and not an FGA.9 as Revell state on the box.

Final pictures:

 

 

The build:

Moulding:

This picture is typical of what was in my box:

Flash, heavy sink marks and soft surface details caused by the moulding issues.

Nothing major but frustrating nonetheless when it comes to a kit that is not supposed to be short run...

Having said that, a fired of mine who had acquired several boxes right after the kit was released did not have the same issues.

 

Cockpit:

The cockpit tub is very nice OOB and the seat was improved using my usual process (lead wire, Tamiya masking tape strips, plasticard, aluminium foil, Magic Sculp and stretched sprue):

 

The cockpit sides were detailed using plasticard and a punch-and-die:

 

The backplate was the area that needed more improvements:

 

I also added a collimator before gluing the windshield:

 

Once painted, it looks really nice. I did not use the decals but painted everything by hand using a sharpened toothpick and Vallejo acrylics:

 

Air inlets:

It is advisable to add a shim of plasticard where the wings meet the fuselage around the air inlets. Otherwise you will be left wth a nasty gap at the top and bottom junctions:

 

The air inlet cone is missing and the resulting empty space is quite noticeable. I made some off 0,2mm plasticard sheet:

 

Painted white at the front and going black at the back to give an impression of depth:

 

Parachute housing:

It had a very nasty sink mark and the panel lines had nearly disappeared. It took quite a bit of time and effort to bring it back to a decent condition:

 

I had to rescribe and add missing rivets to quite a few hatches / covers, mostly on the wings.

 

Overall fit:

In spite of the moudling issues, the overall fit was good and little filler was needed:

 

 

Painting and weathering:

The model was painted using Mr Hobby Aqueous over an Ammo One Shot black primer:

• Grey: I sprayed a highly thinned H331 DSG in a mottling fashion, building up slowly the coverage and letting the black show through around the panel lines. Then, I made some highlights using H337, insisiting on raised details and the centre of the panels. I finished with some post-shading using Panzegrau.
• Green: I used H73 DG follosing the same process and made highlights by adding H313 sand to the dark green. I toned down the effect with several light mists of H73.
• Red: I primed the area in white, then applied a coat of yellow and finally the red base coat (H13). I applied some shadows using a highly thinned dark brown.

 

I then applied the decals, though most roundels , the code and fin flash were painted using masks cut with my Silohouette:

 

I like to get the landing gear and weapons out of the way as quickly as possible, as I consider them as a chore:

 

Then, I applied the washes:

I used True Earth Neutral brown on the underside, Black on the camouflage and Dark Brown on the red.

 

The weathering was done using mostly felt tip pens and aluminium and dust weathering pencils:

 

Finally I applied a light coat of VMS matt varnish.

 

In hindsight, I probably should have been more restrained on the weathering.

But at the time, I wanted to give it a worn out look.

On some pictures, they are in a worse condition than shown here with large patches of white showing underneath the red on the wings, for instance.

 

Edited March 27 by SebTartar
Error in the mark: F.6A and not FGA.6

[Andrés S.]

First class job !!!

👍🏻 

Andrés.

[Vultures1]

That's a beauty! Great work there and very useful reference for my future Hunter builds 👍

[AliGauld]

What a beauty.

Cracking work.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Chrisj2003]

Scarily good model and brings back memories of passing (loitering around outside) RAF Brawdy and seeing 1TWU hunters, as I recollect the taxiway was very close to the fenceline.  

 

Chris

[scautomoton]

Very nicely done. Considering you like to get the weapons and undercarriage out of the way quickly they look excellent!

[SebTartar]

8 minutes ago, Chrisj2003 said:

Scarily good model and brings back memories of passing (loitering around outside) RAF Brawdy and seeing 1TWU hunters, as I recollect the taxiway was very close to the fenceline.  

 I envy you!

 

I used to spend all my holydays in the neighborhood of Hyères naval air base as a child.

We did not enjoy a lot of variety: mostly Super Etendards, Crusaders and Bréguet Alizé.

But the routine was sometimes broken by the visits of USS Nimitz in the harbour of Toulon and I got to drool at Tomcats, Hornets, Intruders, Hawkeyes and Trackers passing by.

 

[John Masters]

Wow!  That's a great model and so many pictures.  It's almost like a GB topic all its own.  😉

[kelly9mm]

Smashing job, top class painting 😀

 

Cheers,

Marcin

[Lightningboy2000]

Fantastic work & I think that's how it should be done. Built two of these Revell 1/72 Hunters & I did exactly the same with the intakes. About time I did another one, oh & I think your weathering is just fine.

Marty

[Tomcat101]

Very impressive. Well done.  

[Pete in Lincs]

17 hours ago, SebTartar said:

In hindsight, I probably should have been more restrained on the weathering.

It looks perfect to me. Hunters look best in fresh gloss or well used like this. This one has certainly done it's time.

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Well done sir, excellent modelling skills and a great paint job.

[dimaADA]

Greate work!

[SebTartar]

Thanks a lot for the nice comments. Much appreciated.🙏

 

On 21/03/2024 at 14:50, John Masters said:

It's almost like a GB topic all its own.  😉

I think a forum is foremost about sharing tricks, tips, opinions, advice. I do not see much interest in merely posting pictures of the finished product, TBH.

 

 

On 22/03/2024 at 00:06, Lightningboy2000 said:

About time I did another one

You cannot have enough Hunters! Not only this aircraft is a beauty but there were so many users and so many different schemes that the possibilities are huge.

I am just put off by Revell's inconsistent QC.

 

 

On 22/03/2024 at 04:17, Pete in Lincs said:

Hunters look best in fresh gloss or well used like this. This one has certainly done it's time.

Hunters look great in any condition!

I find it much harder to depict a clean airframe. Often, the results tends to be toy-like IMO. It takes a lot of subtlety in the weathering to achieve a somewhat realistic result.

I have tried to work towards that goal on my latest builds with more or less satisfaction. 

I still enjoy the odd weatherbeaten warrior, though.😁

[John Masters]

Hi @SebTartar...thank you for all your support.  Would it be alright if you moved your conversations from my thread to somewhere that is more your own?

I haven't begun to build my model and already it feels as like you're taking over.  Many thanks.🙂  Happy modelling! 

[John Masters]

I'm terribly sorry @SebTartar...this is your thread!  My mistake.  🙂  carry on...

[Bedders]

Lovely Hunter - very well done.

 

Justin

[Wayne B]

Outstanding work on all facets of this model. Could you elaborate on your use of “felt tip pens” during weathering. I don’t recall hearing of that technique before. Thanks.

[Airbusboy]

17 hours ago, Wayne B said:

Outstanding work on all facets of this model. Could you elaborate on your use of “felt tip pens” during weathering. I don’t recall hearing of that technique before. Thanks.

I'd like to second this comment and request as your paneling and subtle weathering are absolutely sublime !

Edited March 25 by Airbusboy

[Fred piket]

@SebTartar: you have done a cracking job! I love it..

[SebTartar]

On 24/03/2024 at 14:53, Wayne B said:

Could you elaborate on your use of “felt tip pens” during weathering. I don’t recall hearing of that technique before. Thanks.

12 hours ago, Airbusboy said:

I'd like to second this comment

 

I will try to remember to take some pictures when I weather the IAF Meteor and provide some explanations with them.

 

Basically, I use them like you would use oils for the oil dot technique.

It works best on a satin surface as the effects are erased too easily on a glossy surface and a matt surface will absorb the ink straight away

I use Faber Castell pens with the finest tip I can find (S or B):

• Dirt /Grease accumulation: I apply small dots of colour around the area that I want to weather. Then, I fade the dots using a dry flat brush (preferably used) in a stippling motion. 
• Streaks: I make a short streak following the relative wind or the rain with the felt tip pen. Then, I stretch it (in and out motion) using a flat brush. I use the brush dry or barely moistened in water. I sometimes use a ligthly moistened Tamiya cotton buds instead of a brush, essentially to reduce the width of the streak by thinning its edges. For really short streaks, I stretch a dot of coulour.

I repeat the process, sometimes with different colours, until happy with the result.

If I mess it up, I erase with a cotton bud dipped in water.

 

 

[ruudster]

Very nice!  And thank you for the additional WIP pictures!

[Wayne B]

2 hours ago, SebTartar said:

 

I will try to remember to take some pictures when I weather the IAF Meteor and provide some explanations with them.

 

Basically, I use them like you would use oils for the oil dot technique.

It works best on a satin surface as the effects are erased too easily on a glossy surface and a matt surface will absorb the ink straight away

I use Faber Castell pens with the finest tip I can find (S or B):

• Dirt /Grease accumulation: I apply small dots of colour around the area that I want to weather. Then, I fade the dots using a dry flat brush (preferably used) in a stippling motion. 
• Streaks: I make a short streak following the relative wind or the rain with the felt tip pen. Then, I stretch it (in and out motion) using a flat brush. I use the brush dry or barely moistened in water. I sometimes use a ligthly moistened Tamiya cotton buds instead of a brush, essentially to reduce the width of the streak by thinning its edges. For really short streaks, I stretch a dot of coulour.

I repeat the process, sometimes with different colours, until happy with the result.

If I mess it up, I erase with a cotton bud dipped in water.

 

 

Thanks. I’m looking forward to seeing that, with more specific info on pen type etc. The results on your Hunter speak for themselves, and I’m all in on techniques that can be undone if they don’t work out. Thanks again.

[Andrew.S]

Excellent job, well done! Beautiful Hunter in small scale