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1/48 Hawker Typhoon???


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So my local club is doing a mini contest in June and the group build is anything D-Day, the 75th anniversary, so I want to build a 1/48 Hawker Typhoon. Since this is way out of my comfort zone, what's the best Typhoon out there? Thanks for any help.

 

Duane 

Edited by Falcon053
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I am a Typhoon nut, several built with six more in my stash.  I hope I can help.

 

I build 1/48 scale, as are all my Typhoons.  The Hasegawa kit is great  right out of the box.  Aftermarket parts only improve things, with alternate propellers,  bombs, seats, tires, exhaust stacks, and more detailed rockets.  Aftermarket decals will allow nearly any squadron markings you'd like.

 

Italeri also released the Hasegawa kit under their brand and boxing.  Identical plastic, different decals.

 

Now not to confuse you, but Eduard released a Typhoon.  It was another re-boxing of the Hasegawa kit; identical to the Hasegawa kit plastic-wise.  But they added their own decals, photoetch, and resin parts to upgrade the basic kit.

 

Therefore the Hasegawa (available, yet out of production) or the Eduard ( out there somewhere I believe) or the Italeri ( I bought two this year) are my recommendations. 

 

 

Ken

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Thank you very much Ken. This helps me out a lot. Another question if you dont mind, was the Hawker Tempest involved much with Operation Overlord? I Googled the Tempest and one place I read it says they were in Reserve until a couple of days later when they were unleashed.

  Do you know anything about it? If so, do you know much about the Eduard kit? Thank you,

 

Duane

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Tempests were operational with the RAF at the time of the D-Day operation but as you read they not over the landing beaches until June 8.

 

As for the Eduard 1/48 Tempest:  Their first kit came out maybe 20 (?) years ago.  Have it, built it, not too impressed, (much trouble with the wings fitting) but it was much better than a previous older kit (AMT I think?)  The AMT kit had weird rubbery plastic.

 

Their brand new 2018 release of the Tempest I have on order is floating about lost in international mail.  I can only go by the one or two reviews I've read on Hyperscale.  It looks to be as impressive as the last 8 to 10 years of excellent Eduard aircraft releases.  I have a bunch of FW 190A's and FW 190D's and I love them.

 

 

Ken

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If you are doing a Typhoon, check to see what the squadron was trained for before you arm the plane as each squadron specialized in what they used. For example, the 3 Canadian squadrons were trained for bombing and never carried rockets whereas other squadrons were trained with rockets and wouldn't carry bombs and a mixed load would be very rare so check photos of the plane you are doing or other same squadron aircraft if you can.

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1 hour ago, RCAFFAN said:

If you are doing a Typhoon, check to see what the squadron was trained for before you arm the plane as each squadron specialized in what they used. For example, the 3 Canadian squadrons were trained for bombing and never carried rockets whereas other squadrons were trained with rockets and wouldn't carry bombs and a mixed load would be very rare so check photos of the plane you are doing or other same squadron aircraft if you can.


Wow that is some good info there. I have the Hasegawa kit and want to do an RCAF Typhoon and I was going to put some rockets on it but now I am not so sure. I think the Typhoon looks so aggressive with the rockets.

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Pertaining to the rocket or bomb squadron,  a truly excellent book is Osprey Combat Aircraft #86 TYPHOON WINGS of 2ND TAF 1943-1945.

 

It includes a listing of which squadrons carried rockets and which carried bombs.  And just TONS of other info.

 

I read and refer to this book so often I believe my eyes have worn out the print.

 

 

Ken

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Thank you very much for the info all. I've decided to go with building a Typhoon, so now it's time to find one. 

 

So speaking of markings, what's out there for decals? I'm not particular of what squadron, just needs to be a D-Day participant.

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Just a heads up about the Hasegawa Typhoon: Although overall a nice kit with quite good detail, it was engineered with a fuselage insert to allow for both the "car door" and bubble top versions. Be prepared for a fair amount of filling, smoothing and re-scribing to get the insert fitted to the fuselage.

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Ah, yes.  The insert.

 

"Into each life some rain must fall."

 

Hasegawa has done this a couple of times to get more mileage out of their molds.  I know of a couple of P-40 kits that have inserts.  I personally am not too crazy about them but only because my rescribing skills are poor to average.  After the fitting, gluing (cementing), putty filler, sanding, rescribing… it sounds more intimidating than it is to get the inserts where they should be.

 

As to the decal selection, the teardrop or bubble canopy Typhoon (car door canopied aircraft pretty much phased out or retrofitted by D-Day) kits usually have nothing but D-Day active squadron markings.  I'm partial to a particular squadron code after reading an autobiography of a pilot and his squadron activities.  So I got aftermarket sheets of 1/48 RAF Squadron Code letters.  But the kits will give you at least two choices.

 

 

Ken

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So, with it being Christmas and Sprue Brothers having their sale and they got their resupply of them...I just had to pick me up an Eduard Tempest. Not sure when I'll build it, but the reviews I've seen demanded me to get one. Now I have to learn about the Tempest too.

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7 hours ago, peter havriluk said:

What's wrong with the Monogram Typhoon?

It's pretty decent for a kit its age -- late 1960s. It replicates a late version Typhoon with bubble canopy, Tempest-style horizontal tail, and four-bladed prop. Cockpit detail is pretty basic.

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I thank everyone that has made suggestions to this project. I'm sure the Monogram kit builds into a great kit, they have always been some of the best when it comes to accuracy, but the downside is they usually need rescribing, which I dont have the time to do or the temperament for. 

 

I picked the Italeri/Hasegawa kit knowing it has some accuracy issues, but at the same time it is also a good kit and comes with decals that fit what I'm planning to do. I picked up some of the Barracuda resin sets to help in the short coming side of the kit and I'll start working on it soon. I'm sure I'll have more questions for you all.

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  • 1 month later...

Do you have to be mindful of the rolling Programme of upgrades going on with the Typhoon?  

 

Notable upgrades were the three blade to four blade airscrew and replacement of the Typhoon tailplane with the larger Tempest tailplane.  Photographs are key to understanding which go on which airframe at which date as there was a rolling upgrade Programme - although I think the Bombphoons were prioritised for the four blade airscrew..

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On 12/28/2018 at 4:47 AM, seawinder said:

It's pretty decent for a kit its age -- late 1960s. It replicates a late version Typhoon with bubble canopy, Tempest-style horizontal tail, and four-bladed prop. Cockpit detail is pretty basic.

About Monogram's tailplane, in fact it's just standard "early" type, not the "tempestish" version.

Also, nose ( and spinner ) was a bit too large; not so obvious, if you don't put Hasegawa's model next to it... but noticeable, if accuracy is an important thing.

 

Hasegawa did exactly the same ....( on some special edition, they have included this Tempest tailplane, as extra resin parts ).

 

Now, Eduard offers an upgrade set, with all what's needed for late version: https://www.eduard.com/by-brand-manufacturer/eduard-stredisko-16-brassiny/typhoon-mk-ib-final-version-upgrade-set%C2%A0overtrees-1-48.html?lang=1

 

For Typhoons with the rockets: when fired, those could easily melt the clear perspex of the leading edge lights covers.....so, it was often replaced ( or maybe covered ? ) with a metal plate, as a quick fix.

 

As always, the best is to look carefully at pictures of the plane you want to make, to see if lights were plated or not.

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