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Posted (edited)

Hi all!

I am entering this GB with the 1:72nd HobbyBoss Typhoon Ib, a kit which I bought several years ago for my ancient Airfix Typhoon.

I soon realised that the kit had some pretty insurmountable problems if I was to make a detailed and accurate Tiffie to represent the type in my collection. The biggest problem is that not only is the fuselage one-piece, but the sidewalls are massively thick and would need surgical thinning before I could detail the interior. Other big issues are that the chin radiator was just not right, the canopy is more like that from a FW190, etc etc. So apart from a few bits of tinkering I gave up, and the Tiffie went into store.

This GB will be ideal to get it done and out of my stash, not as a "be-all and end-all" Typhoon, but as a quick AMS-buster and as a bit of a paint tester for the DG/OG/MSG scheme, which I haven't done in ages and never really got right. I want to have fun and revisit my past, when I could throw an old Airfix kit together in a day or two between school homework! It'll probably go on the ceiling with the Airfix one, and I'll do the Academy kit as my "official" Typhoon.

Anyway, enough of my usual verbose waffle, here's the box.

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Here's the contents, in HobbyBoss' unique vacum-formed packing style. I think other companies could learn from this approach, as the parts are kept pristine. Quality is good, with reasonably sharp etched panel lines, and fine detail in the undercarriage bay, moulded into the solid one-piece wing. Not a hint of flash, sink marks or other blemishes

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However, the wings have raised lumps where access panels should be.

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I had to force myself not to try etching them once I'd sanded back to the smooth wing: for one thing, they are nearly invisible on the real thing, and secondly I really don't want this build to become too involved. Must be restrained!

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Here's the decal sheet. As far as I know the options are accurate; however the roundels are out of register, and the blues are too dark but the reds far too bright. With the agreement of Peter, I am going to replace the roundels and fin flash with more sensibly-coloured ones from the spares box. I had to dig around and resist the temptation to use the nice, but definitely disallowed, Xtradecal sheets...

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About the only thing I had started on the original kit was to try and recitfy the awful chin radiator. It's bluff-fronted and far too flat on the bottom, none of the original's buxom curves. Since this is a key feature of the Typhoon, I decided to build up a rounded underside with plasticard and file some curves into the flattened mouth of the radiator. I'll finish this off with more filing and some filler.

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Edited by Vulcanicity
Posted

A bit more progress might elicit an opinion on the build...!

The cockpit was rather sparse:

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Even trying to keep in the spirit of this GB, I couldn't resist adding seatbelts, some armour behind the pilot's head and a spade grip to the top of the control column. I've also done an instrument panel, but I have restrained myself from further tinkering!

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Here's the lot painted up. All the period photos I've seen of Tiffie cockpits have been black, so I gave it a coat of Revell Anthracite before picking the seat cushion and belts out in Citadel and Humbrol colours.

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I've not managed to quite eliminate the lumpy edge to the plasticard under the radiator with filler, but I think it looks much more "meaty" and curvaceous than the awfully flat original part. This and the cockpit should be the sum total of my scratchbuilding for this build-almost REAL OOB!

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Posted

Nice work so far, good to see people tackling awkward kits with an OOB spirirt!

'The cockpit is a little sparse' is a great understatment, it looks like something a 5 year old would draw. You've done a good job in sprucing it up a bit!

J.

Posted
Nice work so far, good to see people tackling awkward kits with an OOB spirirt!

'The cockpit is a little sparse' is a great understatment, it looks like something a 5 year old would draw. You've done a good job in sprucing it up a bit!

J.

Mind you, it's not as bad as the old Airfix seat-on-a-peg affair. I reckon the change to the radiator is a definite improvement.

Andy

Posted
Mind you, it's not as bad as the old Airfix seat-on-a-peg affair.

Andy

I suppose at least it has a seat, and not just two tabs from either side of the fuselage! :)

J.

Posted

Cheers everyone! This one is on track to be done in a week, which I haven't managed in years!

It's definitely better than the Airfix: not only is the cockpit indeed marginally better, but there's a nice representation of the radiator grille and oil cooler, plus boxed-in (if rather shallow) wheel wells, and the Airfix one looks even less right around the nose and prop.

Posted

Yeah I've triad one of these kits before (was a Fw190 surprise surprise) and found the detail to be of similar standard. The decals were better than some companies mind!

This looks good so far and the additions are very nicely done :)

Posted

A bit more progress:

I got the radiator insert painted.

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For the instrument panel, I cut a section of plasticard to fit the fuselage, then applied a vaguely relevant decal: this is actually from the Revell Hurricane, but it looks OK under the thick canopy!

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Behind the scenes, I've also been painting undercarriage legs, adding the tailplanes, and building the prop structure. So with the cockpit ready to be sealed up, I suddenly had a complete-ish aircraft! Sush is the way of "quick" kits with solid wings and once-piece fuselages!

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The joints barely needed glueing: for the most part this kit would go together as a "snap-together" kit.

Posted

Some more progress. A week was always going to be optimistic: I'm busy with uni fieldwork every day and haven't got much quality model time!

From my limited research (this is supposed to be a quick, fun build!) I understand that my subject was a Bomphoon not a rocket Typhoon, so I filled in the massive rocket mounting holes under the wings. Everything about this kit is chunkily engineered! You can also see that I've finished the u/c bays and legs.

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The tailwheel, which is moulded integrally with the fuselage part, is rather to big, and the leg too long. A bit of trimming down of the bottom of the leg, plus filing the wheel down to a slightly smaller profile, improves matters a lot. Unfortunately I neglected to a take a "before" shot, but this is the "after"!

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Quite a bit of filler was needed at the wingroots, as the joint wasn't great. Once this was done, suddenly I found myself painting! Here the MSG undersides have been done, and a couple of thinned coats of Ocean grey (I ended up plumping for Hu106) added to the topsides.

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That's all for now, but she's marching on towards completion!

Posted

At close of batting today, the Tiffie was almost completely painted and ready for decals. I ended using Revell 68 Dark Green, Humbrol 106 Ocean Grey and Humbrol 165 Medium Sea Grey.

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However, putting the model on a shelf at eye level, it looked ridiculous. The undercarriage is considerably too long, giving the otherwise pugnacious-looking aircraft a "gangly" look. This shot doesn't show it well, but the thing looked silly! Dry-fitting the undercarriage doors showed that the problem was near the ends of the undercarriage legs: viewed from the sides the wheels stuck out too far below the edge of the doors.

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I elected to cut the legs at the top of the oleo, i.e. quite near the ends, and ended up cutting about 1.55mm off each one before reattaching the severed ends. If you compare this closely with the previous photo, you'll see that the bottom section of the legs is shorter.

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As I said in the last update, I'm going to be modelling a Bomphoon. However, the kit doesn't provide bombs, so with the Mods' approval I'll use these pylons and a couple of 1000lb bombs from my spares box: they're from the Academy Tempest and needed a fair bit of whittling down to match the Typhoon's wing profile.

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The gloss coat is on, and decals will shortly follow!

Posted

A one-photo update today to mark the finishing of the decalling:

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Weathering etc tommorrow, then she's done!

Posted

Well, she's done!

I am generally pretty pleased with the paint job and decals, and I'm definitely glad I replaced the roundels. In the end I used a real mixture of replacements scrounged from the spares box, including "B" type upper wing roundels from the Revell Hurricane, fin flash from the Revell (Matchbox) Wellington, as well as fuselage roundels from the old Airfix Typhoon! Unfortunately, I forgot to dig out any underwing roundels and had to use the kit ones, which show graphically how "out" the colours are.

A bit of weathering, and here's the result:

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I'll post some more in the finished gallery.

For a £4.00 kit, the HobbyBoss makes a pretty reasonable Typhoon, and certainly a good present for the children! If you want a more accurate and detailed Tiffie, however, it might be best to get the Academy one. The decals are definitely too bright, and I'm not overly enamoured with the "dayglo" Sky codes, which look too bright even with a coat of matt varnish. The canopy is wierdly angular when it should be a smooth bubble (quite FW190-like in my opinion), and I've already mentioned issues with the chin radiator, undercarriage etc. Still, it was good to get this long-term inhabitant of my stash done for the GB, and it'll look good enough on the shelf for the time being.

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