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1/48 Academy Hawker Hunter F.6


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I'll readily admit I don't know much about '50s-'60s British jet aircraft (read "virtually none") or this particular kit so any help would be appreciated.

-Are there any drawbacks or tricky areas specific this boxing that I should keep an eye out for?

-It appears the ejection seat should be black, but what color would the cockpit be?

-The instructions give no suggestion whatever that I can find as to the inlet interior colors. White? Silver? Some shade of gray?

-I'm thinking the nose and main gear wells were silver, probably painted that way, but is this correct?

-Does anyone make resin wheels for this kit and mark?

Again, thanks for any help you can pass my way.

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I can help you with a couple of your questions:

- cockpit interior would be black as well. I don't have the Academy kit since I do mostly 1/72nd, but I seem to recall the kit seat is way undersized and would better be replaced.

- wheel wells and the inside of the landing gear doors would be metallic (dull silver).

- as for the intake colors, that's a bit tricky: the splitter plates are generally painted as per the surrounding fuselage camouflage color, and depending on the scheme and time schedule the rest of the intake duct can either be painted in the upper wing camouflage color or dull silver. This area is mostly shrouded in shadows on pcitures, however, making this a tough call.

HTH!,

Andre

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The Academy kit is basically okay, and depending how anal you are, has a number of small areas that can be corrected. Its biggest needs are a new cockpit (there have been a couple of resin ones done), and most especially new landing gear. The kit wheels are far smaller than 1/48, and look anemic. Aeroclub makes new ones that look great. Also, the sliding part of the canopy on the real Hunter didn't have any kind of a frame at the rear end (just plain plexiglass), so a vacuformed canopy improves things there.

I think most people tend to attach wings to fuselage halves before assembling the fuselage, so that way you can reinforce the rather flimsy joint from the inside and not have your wings pop off, which they're otherwise prone to doing.

J

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Hi, David. As regards the seat's color you may take a look here.

http://www.seatejectcolor.com/seat/sedili/...r/mk2/mk-2h.htm

Yes, that helps quite a lot. Thanks!

I think most people tend to attach wings to fuselage halves before assembling the fuselage, so that way you can reinforce the rather flimsy joint from the inside and not have your wings pop off, which they're otherwise prone to doing.

I was test fitting a bit last night and while the wings seemed to fit the fuselage very well it did appear the mating surface was kind of thin. I think, as you mention, attaching the wings first before closing the fuselage will help quite a bit.

I think I hit most of the issues with the kit.....

Hawker Hunter F.60

Thread saved! That will be very helpful when I get started on this.

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Intake trunking was either silver or (dirty) white, never camouflage. The camouflage wrapped round the intake rim, for about 2", that's all.

The one item that's always missed, is the shape of the extensions to the leading edges of the wings. They did not stick straight forward, but were quite complex. The upper surface was a continuation of the camber of the aerofoil section, while the under surface started to come up, as with a normal aerofoil, but then curved down again to meet the edge of the upper siurface. This means that the extension appears to droop, and this gives the impression that the Hunter had anhedral, when, in fact, the wings were straight.

One other thing; don't yield to the temptation to have the airbrake drooping. The airbrake was linked to the u/c, and could not be deployed with it down (cue photographs of drooping brakes, and they can be found,) so only a Hunter with a hydraulic problem would display a drooping brake.

The problems with the cockpit stem from the bulkhead being made vertical; it does, in fact, slope, which pushes the seat forward (any pilot, in an Academy kit, would need arms like an orang-otan to reach the stick.

Edgar

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One other thing; don't yield to the temptation to have the airbrake drooping. The airbrake was linked to the u/c, and could not be deployed with it down (cue photographs of drooping brakes, and they can be found,) so only a Hunter with a hydraulic problem would display a drooping brake.

That bit of information is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks!

Edited by David Walker
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The Aeroclub detail set resolves most of the physical problems with the kit.

Do you have a link for that? I've got to run out the door so I can't go searching for it now but I'd like to take a look at it when I get home later on this everning. Thanks.

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Intake trunking was either silver or (dirty) white, never camouflage. The camouflage wrapped round the intake rim, for about 2", that's all.

Thanks for that bit of info! The instructions of RoG's 1/72nd Hunters would suggest (at least to my eyes) that the camouflage extends far further into the trunking.

Could you perhaps help with the splitter plate? Was that entirely painted in camo, or was it part silver / white as well?

TIA,

Andre

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Thanks for that bit of info! The instructions of RoG's 1/72nd Hunters would suggest (at least to my eyes) that the camouflage extends far further into the trunking.

Could you perhaps help with the splitter plate? Was that entirely painted in camo, or was it part silver / white as well?

TIA,

Andre

It varies, it is usually painted in the local camo colour, on later mark Hunters and some foreign Hunters it can be painted

white. It's a case of getting hold of a pic of the aircraft you are building and seeing what it had.

-----------------------

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One aspect of the kit that AFAIK isn't addressed by any improvement set is the tail. You need to chop 5mm off the front of each tailplane locating tab - this enables you to install them 5mm further forward. Then cut 5mm off the tail cone & reprofile. Looks a lot better!

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I've build one Academy just late month on swiss marks, i've some resin set replacement like PJ prod and Aires but i've discard simply because don't fit very well. I've make from scratch all the parts necessary like canopy, bidons, rear end, various ecm and different two bulged on the belly of airframe. The only parts i've used on resin is te seat (swiss mbaker) and the vac canopy (essential for open position). Frankly not a shake'n bake models but in 48 it's the only game in town, right?

dscn5147ur5.jpg

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It varies, it is usually painted in the local camo colour, on later mark Hunters and some foreign Hunters it can be painted

white. It's a case of getting hold of a pic of the aircraft you are building and seeing what it had.

OK, thanks! On most pics I have this area is hard to see due to the shadows involved.

Cheers,

Andre

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onosendi, that Hunter looks exceptional.

And Graham, thanks for the tip concering the stabs. I'll have to take a look at that. I've been copying and pasting all the tips and suggestions to a Word document that I'm going to print out and place in the model box so when I do get to this one I'll have a decent reference available.

Edited by David Walker
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