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Matchbox Hs.125 in 1/72


magnusf

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This is not my usual hangout but I do pass by occasionally. This does however seem to be an appropriate place to post this build and maybe also get a bit of help!

This build started a few weeks ago with a challenge for the 2011 IPMS Sweden Open: build a Matchbox model! It doesn't have to be a "real" one, any re-issue with a Matchbox origin is OK.

I was told at the yearly buy-sell-swap meeting of IPMS Stockholm and quickly found a HS.125 that cost next to nothing. It felt ideal: being more or less a bizjet it is quite clean with very little detail on the outside (admittedly not one of the Matchbox strong-points) and there is no modern kit of this aircraft so there is still a point in building it. Also, it looks like a very simple build with few parts.

hs125_20101216-6.jpg

Project start...

hs125_20101218-2.jpg

There are two options when it comes to interiors: detail it or put out the lights! I went for the second option this time...

hs125_20101218-3.jpg

A minimum-ambitions cockpit. Probably more than adequate when installed!

hs125_20101220-1.jpg

Fuselage closed with windows masked with tape from the inside. I will use Humbrol Clearfix for them. The beautiful red door disappeared below a thin layer of putty, I am sorry!

hs125_20101223-1.jpg

Since this is a Matchbox kit there have of course been some trenching activities both here and there, not as bad as it can be though! I'm filling in all the panel lines, I haven't decided what to do with them later but I can't leave them the way they are, that's for sure!

hs125_dekaler.jpg

I will use the Model Alliance decal sheet, the subject will be ZD703 (the lower profile) with white fuselage and post office red wings and rear empennage. Quite striking! As many of you know (I've seen other builds of this kit around here), there is a minor trouble to handle before the painting: changing the RR Vipers for Garretts. For some reason it is drawn with Vipers in the profile view (RAF Northolt 2003, the Vipers were long gone then...) and with Garretts in the plan view... Anyway, none of the decal options will work on the unmodified Matchbox kit. For photos of ZD703, there are (at the time of writing!) 44 of them at Airliners.net! A friend of mine has promised to lend his Mach 2 Falcon 20, I hope to be able to do resin copies of the Garretts from that one. With a bit of luck (there is quite a bit of snow around here) they will be in the post today!

hs125_20101226-1.jpg

Wings and horizontal tail surfaces are on!

hs125_20101226-2.jpg

More putty needed...

When looking at the photos at Airliners.net some differences from the model are easily spotted: it seems as if the aircraft has grown some lumps and bumps (probably antennae for some secret equipment or another...), a different tail tip (a cylinder with sensors looking suspiciously like RWR antennae) and a larger ventral fin between the model's original date (1974) and today... Have anyone around here done a recipe for what is needed to bring the Matchbox kit up to today's modification standards?

I was also thinking about painting: have anyone used a Tamiya rattlecan for post-office-red? Which one then?

Best regards

Magnus

Edited by magnusf
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Magnus,

That look like being a seriously nice 125 when finished. If the Garrett resin engine castings are successful, is there any way you could produce some extras that I could buy from you as I'm also interested in building a modern 125?

Regards and Happy New Year

Mark

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Magnus,

If the Garrett resin engine castings are successful, is there any way you could produce some extras that I could buy from you as I'm also interested in building a modern 125?

Regards and Happy New Year

Mark

Me too.

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Looking great so far Magnus! Hope the Garretts turn out OK, been planning to try scratch building some for over ten years and never got round to it. There are quite a few people here on Britmodeller interested in getting engines for the series -700.

Hope Revell re-issue the kit soon as they are getting pretty rare now and a new sprue of Garrett engines would be nice!

Paul Harrison

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I've got a that sheet and a secret stash of MB kits waiting for Garretts (Are you listening AW Boss man? )

Regarding the Defensive aids systems, they have varied slightly with time, so it;s a case of picking your aircraft and finding a photo of it - generally, they involved an extended/enlarged tailcone (basically a cylinder) with various bits and bobs attached. I'm sure I have some pics somewhere, I'll have a dig. Looking at the pics on ANet, in that scheme it had the rearward facing detectors on the side of the cylinder and the forward facing ones on the wing/fuselage belly fairing

Less obvious are the communications lumps and bumps that appear on the top of the fuselage.

Foom memory, the different ventral fin and fin tip was a 700 mod, but I may be wrong.

BTW if anyone is doing the grey option, beware that the decal sheet is wrong having it as an overall colour - it had a lighter shade on grey on the underside.

Edited by Dave Fleming
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I've got a that sheet and a secret stash of MB kits waiting for Garretts (Are you listening AW Boss man? )

Regarding the Defensive aids systems, they have varied slightly with time, so it;s a case of picking your aircraft and finding a photo of it - generally, they involved an extended/enlarged tailcone (basically a cylinder) with various bits and bobs attached. I'm sure I have some pics somewhere, I'll have a dig. Looking at the pics on ANet, in that scheme it had the rearward facing detectors on the side of the cylinder and the forward facing ones on the wing/fuselage belly fairing

Less obvious are the communications lumps and bumps that appear on the top of the fuselage.

Foom memory, the different ventral fin and fin tip was a 700 mod, but I may be wrong.

BTW if anyone is doing the grey option, beware that the decal sheet is wrong having it as an overall colour - it had a lighter shade on grey on the underside.

The Aviation Workshop have requested this kit from Revell for a limited edition release under our Airframe Label. If we can get these we will produce a resin update set which will include engines, self defense suite, undercarriage and other bits to make correct RAF version.

We are just waiting to hear from them?

Regards

Gary

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The Aviation Workshop have requested this kit from Revell for a limited edition release under our Airframe Label. If we can get these we will produce a resin update set which will include engines, self defense suite, undercarriage and other bits to make correct RAF version.

We are just waiting to hear from them?

Regards

Gary

This is great news. Any idea of approximate time frame if Revell give the nod, Gary?

- And Magnus: great work!

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  • 2 months later...

This one has been pushed aside due to other commitments but I will hopefully be able to continue work shortly!

Until then, I would be very happy if I could get some help:

The Mach 2 parts that were kindly lent to me by a friend proved to be quite useless. It might be the same engines inside the nacelles but the outside is quite different. I will probably make CAD-models of the Garrett-engines for this model since scratching them is quite time consuming and possibly also beyond my capabilities!

I am looking for reference photos of the engine nacelles. My main source for photos is Airliners.net, there are lots of nice overall photos of these aircraft but I would like some close-ups of the engines. Is there anyone out there who have access to these aircraft (in a legal way!) and could take a few photos for me and also maybe measure the length of the engine pod? I am also looking for photos of the ECM-suite, if it is allowed to take photos of that of course!

An ordinary 3-view drawing would also be of great help.

Pleeasseee :) ?

Regards

Magnus

Edited by magnusf
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This one has been pushed aside due to other commitments but I will hopefully be able to continue work shortly!

Until then, I would be very happy if I could get some help:

The Mach 2 parts that were kindly lent to me by a friend proved to be quite useless. It might be the same engines inside the nacelles but the outside is quite different. I will probably make CAD-models of the Garrett-engines for this model since scratching them is quite time consuming and possibly also beyond my capabilities!

I am looking for reference photos of the engine nacelles. My main source for photos is Airliners.net, there are lots of nice overall photos of these aircraft but I would like some close-ups of the engines. Is there anyone out there who have access to these aircraft (in a legal way!) and could take a few photos for me and also maybe measure the length of the engine pod?

Magnus

Magnus,

I have been wrestling with this issue over the engines, off and on, for about two years now. I believe that I have finally solved the issues and have my Masters almost ready, so if you can wait a short while I can solve your problem. I will get aphot uploaded of what I have so far.

Graham

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There's a very good thread going on over at the Airfix Tribute Forum at the moment, a sort of one man group build of the RAF Dominie/HS125 fleet, by an ex Dominie pilot! He has apparently worked out a way of modifying the Matchbox kits Vipers into Garrets! As he seems to know his stuff, they look OK to me! The thread is here;

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/...27-0-asc-20.php

Lots of good reference stuff in the thread as well.

HTH

Keef

Edited by keefr22
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