The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

I hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew!
I have a few each of the Airfix and FROG 1/72 Hunters in the stash, and each has shape problems. Paul Bradley, in his SAM Hunter volume suggested that the front-end of the Plastyk kit and the rear end of the Airfix kit might solve each other's problems. Of course, it will not be as straightforward as that. Even though the Plastyk kit wings are of good shape and size, I find them lacking in aerofoil section (too flat), so I am not sure which way I will jump there.

Here we go:



The Plastyk wings will be a highly convenient choice for this set of parts! The Airfix spine needs to be fattened slightly, and the rear fuselage girth reduced by about 1 mm thickness at the top (giving up that 1 mm to the spine). And the Plastyk nose needs to be slimmed down just a bit halfway between the windscreen and the tip of the nose.
Sounds good in theory!

Cheers,

David

You're just the man for the job David

Nigel

This should be good, David. I've wondered how that combination would look. Looking forward to watching your build.

David

Got your work cut out on this one!

Proper surgery. Cool.

Break out the bone saw. nothing like hacking errr.... doing some surgery on a kit to mend it's ill,s
I agree the Plastyk Hunter's nose does look kind of off.

All the best.

Greg

Excellent, a proper old skool bit of kit bashing. I'm sure you're well up to the challenge, David!

JamesPerrin wrote:Got your work cut out on this one!

It's a worry!
Rear fuselage reinforced before the trimming commences.



Fingers crossed!

David

I'm curious, David. Obviously you can't cut off the Plastyk fuselage further forward than you did but is the girth mismatch because the Plastyk fuselage start tapering further forward than your cut or is the the whole of the remaining Plastyk fuselage skinnier than the Airfix one?

David

David,

The height of the Plastyk fuselage, including the spine, is the same as the height of the Airfix fuselage, including the spine.



Unfortunately the spine/fuselage ratios are different!
What fun!

I could have built a Revell 1/72 Hunter!

David

Now this looks fun I’m going to pull up a chair and watch you do your magic.

This is slightly encouraging.
Before and after on one side of the spine.



So now I have a deeper spine on one side of the Airfix rear fuselage, to match the Plastyk forward fuselage, and the overall depth of the fuselage is the same.
The hard part is having the patience to do the same on the other side!

Cheers,

David

So the further I get in this project, the more I realise that the Plastyk kit is basically toy-like. I am going ahead, but I will use many Airfix parts that are less toy-like (wheel doors, wing tanks, pylons). Here we have a view of the many sink holes puttied, the Airfix intake plugs modified to fit (sort of), and the prospective replacement cockpit parts - which will have to be modified.



I have to get the front fuselage sealed up in order to address the overall fuselage join.
It will still be a pretty basic model. If I finish! Couple more in the stash are unlikely to be built. At least they were cheap. The built Airfix kit (either F.6 or FGA.9) does not look too bad, apart from the slightly undernourished nose. And I am quite partial to the FROG Mk.9, even with the slightly portly rear fuselage. I am not ready to discard those in favour of more Revell kits!

Cheers,

David

Nice work whittling down the Airfix rear fuselage.

Despite their known issues the Airfix and both Frog kits certainly look the part even built OOB. Just can't park them next to each other as the differences between them really glare out (at least to me).

David

Thanks, David.
I must be feeling confident about this project. Don't know why!
I have chosen to model the A&AEE Hunter F.6A XE587. Light aircraft Grey overall, with red spine, empennage, canopy trim and wing tanks.
Decals from the spares bank (though this scheme can be found on a decal sheet).

Cheers,

David