David's Wolfie Hunter - FINISHED

[DavidWomby]

No pics yet. I am having Photobucket problems.

Two squadrons of Hunters were sent to Nicosia for Operation Musketeer. 1 Squadron and 34 Squadron. Both flying the F5 version, I think.

The Hunters were little used as, flying out of Cyprus as fighter escorts, they only had fuel for 10 or so minutes over Egypt!!!

I will build WP130, a Hunter F5 with 34 Squadron at Nicosia. I've always wanted to put 34 Squadron's spectacular squadron markings on a Hunter - a huge checkered arrowhaed with a wolf in the centre! Plus she's rather unusual. There's a photo of her in Suez stripes but a) they are not yellow but the mid-stone/cream colour applied in the field in Cyprus, b) the stripes are incomplete - the black looks like it has only been applied below the wings; and c) for some reason, she's not got the Sabrina ammo link bulges fitted.

The kit will be a Novo issue of the incredibly ancient but pretty accurate Frog F1. It has 17 parts, solid wheel wells and cockpit. The surface detail is raised with lots of rivets but the moulds are so old that they are now quite faint. I do have some plans to improve it a bit.

I hope to use the decals sheet from Scale Aircraft Modelling issued back in 198? as it includes the Suez stripes but if that fails me I have all the other markings for WP130 on a more recent Xtradecal sheet and will paint on the stripes.

David

[DavidWomby]

Hmmmm. It seems Photobucket is having another round of MAJOR problems. I'll use the PostImage system instead for this build.

Here's the kit - all 17 parts! I have been comparing it to various scale drawings of the Hunter and it looks pretty good. Mind you, I have noticed that none of the scale drawings I have seem to match each other completely!!!! The SAM decals are in the bottom right corner.



Here's the instruction sheet in case I find the 17 parts too confusing.



This is the pic of WP130 in the scheme I will be doing.



Mods I am contemplating are: using the Aeroclub tailcone for the smaller early bore exhausts used on the F1 to F5. The Frog one is too small!! Revising the nose contours, drilling out the cannons, closing off the see-through intakes and perhaps replacing the fin with one I took off the Frog FGA9 kit when I built my recent whatif Hawker Huntress. May need to replace the canopy too but not sure yet.

David

[iggie]

With the extra work you are planning I'm sure this is going to turn out well!

[Stuart]

vwery smart!

if it helps I have all the single seat nose parts from a MB kit that you're welcome to have.

[DavidWomby]

Thanks, Stuart, but I'm all set for Hunter bits.

I made a start tonight and immediately caught a bad dose of AMS. This was going to be a simple build but now it's gotten a tad more complex. I still plan using the Frog F1 but, as well as the Aeroclub tailpipe, it's now getting the fin and tailplanes and probably the wings (with dogteeth extensions reemoved) of an Airfix F6 that had a horribly warped fuselage. Sigh!



It's also getting its airbrake which I've already fitted part of into the F1 fuselage.



Here's a comparison of the overly skinny Frog tailpipe and the Aeroclub one (meant for the Revell Hunter!)



David

[novokits]

Good choice. Old but exactly kit.

[DavidWomby]

Here's why I am decided to take the easier way out and use the spare Airfix wings. The Frog ones are the right shape but, like their other 50s kits in my stash - Venom, Meteor, etc., the flying control surfaces - ailerons, flaps, etc. are marked by faint raised panel lines. I hate scribing as I always, that's ALWAYS, foul it up.

You can also see spare bits of the Airfix fuselage used as intake blanking.



David

[novokits]

I'm also hate re-scribing, this madness, but time-to-time this without alternative

[DavidWomby]

Hi Oleg!

I made the cannon troughs. Some using a drill but that wasn't easy to control so I changed to melting them into the plastic using a piece of wire heated over a candle. Seems much easier but will need a bit of cleaning to remove the soot!


I've also started on the wings.

David

[iggie]

The gun troughs look to have turned out really well David, even the soot looks the part!
Keep up the good work!

[novokits]

Some of my friends modelers, use glued to inside of gun port of the needle from the syringe. After drying, sanding and polished outside. The result is good, but great effort.

[DavidWomby]

The Airfix wings turn out to be a bit twisted like the fuselage was! I may be able to straighten them but I also decided to try scribing the control surfaces (remember Frog depicted them with raised lines). Very tedious and stressful and I've only done one wing!



Not too bad though.

David

[iggie]

Keep up the good work David!

[novokits]

Good beginning. You never know what you can do till you try.

[MDT]

Great work with an ancient kit!