Andrew's Firestreak Hunter *Finished*

[AndrewR]

I will be building the proposed all-weather fighter variant of the Hunter, the P1130.



The proposed aircraft was a tandem seater with pilot and weapon operator. The main armament was to be the Firestreak missile, with Aden cannon also carried. The basic airframe was the same as a T.7 trainer, with new nose for the radar.
The base kit is the Xtrakit Hunter T.7, with resin supplied by Freightdog models.

[AndrewR]

Here's the Freightdog goodie box. You get quite a bit of resin for your eight quid.



Firstly, there's the new bits for the actual conversion. New nose, console, Firestreak missiles and pylons:


But that's not all! Then there are the bits to correct the deficiencies in the base kit:



The nose wheel needs replacing, as the original looks like its from a child's tricycle. The main wheels also aren't over inspiring in the kit. There are also two new ejection seats. The kit has resin seats too, but unbelievably, these are too wide to fit into the cockpit tub
The tub has other issues, it's also too wide to fit into the fuselage. Massive brownie point loss to MPM for supplying Hannants with such naffness. In addition, the starboard wing is apparently not aligned with the port wing.

As for a colour scheme, I am leaning towards a light grey and dayglo orange scheme for a Royal Navy FRADU aircraft.

[PaulBradley]

This should be interesting!

[AndrewR]

This should be interesting!

I hope so.

Do you happen to have any photos of the FRADU T.7 or T.8 Hunters, Paul?

[AndrewR]

An evening of fettling. The rear bulkhead and sides of the tub need chamfering so that the fuselage will go together. That has been done.



Then, following the Freightdog instructions, off comes the nose of the Hunter, and the process of fitting the resin nose begins. We're down to a 1 mm gap right now.

[rob_van_riel]

An evening of fettling. The rear bulkhead and sides of the tub need chamfering so that the fuselage will go together. That has been done.

Nice work, but aren't you getting just a bit ahead of schedule...?

[AndrewR]

An evening of fettling. The rear bulkhead and sides of the tub need chamfering so that the fuselage will go together. That has been done.

Nice work, but aren't you getting just a bit ahead of schedule...?

Have to seize the moment. Exam marking season coming up, where things get very hectic!

[PaulBradley]

No, but I know a man who does:

http://www.fradu-hunters.co.uk/;

[AndrewR]

No, but I know a man who does:

http://www.fradu-hunters.co.uk/;

Ta Paul. This scheme looks like the biz

http://www.fradu-hunters.co.uk/mmorley/ ... 665mjm.jpg;

[AndrewR]

And I have the front end where everything fits, with a little clamping.



That's a relief, as I'm not sure how much free time I will get from Friday onwards!

[PaulBradley]

Da biz, indeed - should look triff when it's done.

[airjim]

Neat. I will enjoy watching this one.

Jim

[AndrewR]

I had a look at the starboard wing fit, having seen a discussion here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/inde ... hunter-t7/;

I can confirm that the lower starboard wing is indeed an evil creation sent to torment modellers, and the fit can be best described as laughable.

[AndrewR]

The starboard wing is too thick in cross-section. Filing the wheel bay sides down allows the two halves to mate together more closely. The moulded groove in the fuselage is also too short. I drilled a small hole at the end to lengthen it a bit. Lots of fettling needed. Somewhat disappointing for what is a fairly expensive kit.

[AndrewR]

Working on the black hole of a cockpit tub.



The original resin seats supplied in the kit are too wide to fit in the tub

The Freightdog set saves the day by replacing them with the correct seats, which do fit!

The instrument panel is part of the resin cockpit coaming supplied by Freightdog, as it is markedly different from the kit version for the dual controlled trainer.
The side consoles will be etch, supplied in the kit. As absolutely nothing has fitted together so far, I'm not that hopeful of it going together smoothly.