Hawker Siddley Sea Hurricane FGR2

[The Wooksta!]

Yes, I'm finally in and being completely different.

The base kit is a poor resin copy of the Maintrack Hawker P.1121 kit by some dubious outfit called Blackbeard. Really badly cast, Eddie said that it was workable. How, I asked, the front end is completely short shot!   Ah, he said, to a man of your talent, nothing is unworkable. Surely you can salvage it?

And so I took it, determined to do something.  A look through Overscan's book on the P.1103/P.1121 revealed a two seat naval version with side by side seats. Thus the short shot isn't a problem. Looks a bit like a Hunter front end, and I have some dodgy casts of the Matchbox front end, that'll do. So that's the Hunter connection.

No pics as yet, but the fuselage is together and the front end is slathered with filler. TBH, I think the front is a bit too far forward, so its the FGR.2. The other bits are cleaned up and fixed where necessary.  I've have to scratch a new tail - taller and wider - and source a new radome. The one I had planned to use I can't as I need it for another project.

The back end needs fixing too. Dodgy casting as it's too thin.  I did look at the Maintrack exhaust but he got it wrong and it's really short. The exhaust on the real thing was a good ten foot long reheat pipe.  I'd acquired a set of drop tanks about the right diameter, so that's been cut to roughly the right length and will be glued in later.

It's going in the Phantom role, so any unit that flew them is in the frame for markings, but not that sodding Omega. Actually, I'd like that golden eagle.
Load out will be four Red Tops and a conformal tank under the fuselage.   There was one planned, according to the drawings in the back of the P.1121 book.

And that is where we are.

[zenrat]

About time. 

Welcome.

[The Wooksta!]

I've a feeling a Lightning fin may be a good basis for the tail, but I'll blow up the plans to be sure.

The nose is another rough sanding away from  being about ready to chop. I'll cast a new radome later.  The intake is on, but it's a bit Meh.  Really should have used the resin Whirlybird one.

[Gondor]

I've a feeling a Lightning fin may be a good basis for the tail, but I'll blow up the plans to be sure.

The nose is another rough sanding away from  being about ready to chop. I'll cast a new radome later.  The intake is on, but it's a bit Meh.  Really should have used the resin Whirlybird one.

Interesting. I will have to see how you do this and use it as a guide for the one I have planned, different markings so we are not going to clash.

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

All the sanding round the nose is about done and I'll be casting a Sea Vixen radome later, as well as moulding the radome I'd rather be using from an F4S, which will eventually be a Blackburn project.

The Lightning fin looks just about right in terms of both height and trailing edge sweep, I'll just have to add some plastic card and reshape it.

Alistair, I've pulled out one of the resin Hunter front ends too, I'll try and get in in the post next week.

[The Wooksta!]

Warning - this post contains levels of sheer awesomeness!

These are the parcels of crap me mate Eddy from Blackbeard left me with:





You can see the shoddyness of his casting and the lame attempts to get something out of totally misconceived moulds.  Still, I've paid more for worse and salvaged them.  I think I can work some magic here.  The Hunter T-bird front end is one of my castings and is based on an assembled and cleaned up a bit Matchbox front end.  Yes, the shape is bobbins, but I had it, much of it will be buried under a load of filler anyway and the nosecone is getting changed.



Cleaned up and assembled, much of the rebuild and filler work around the nose is done bar the cut and shut with a new radome.  The wings and tailplanes also came from Eddy.  He'd done a decent enough job with them, but then again, it'd take real talent to bollox those up.  And somehow he managed it, with a short shot wing that needed the root rebuilding. The intake section was a very thin casting taken from a vacform and very tricky to clean up. 



Shot of the nose and intake from underneath.  It's a tricky piece to get to fit and then fill, but the Sandmaster worked his magic and it looks fab (other opinions are not available and do not count).  The white line is a strip of plastic card as hardcore when the P38 went on.  I only went so far with the P38, hence the step, as that area is getting cut off. Ouch!



Doesn't come much smoother than that, it's almost criminal.  Close up view of the port side.  I'll be adding an IFR probe housing at some point.  What you can't see, as it's all buried, is the scaffolding up to the sodding great pouring lugs inside the fuselage to ensure that the nose is relatively square.  I'm not entirely sure that it is, but it's way too late now to fix.  And I have a few others tucked away to have a play with anyway.

The scaffolding is the reason that the cockpit rear bulkhead should be a good cm further back, but the FGR2 had the heavier Olympus 022R which necessitated a lengthening of the nose for CoG reasons.  Or some other engineering reason that sounds vaguely convincing to retards the general public. MFM!



Smoking!  Rebuilt jetpipe.  Horrible area to clean up, and that was before this half arsed attempt.  Good coat of primer and I can have another spin.



Starboard side. Something had went really odd when that half came out of the mould.  Looks like... I don't know what it is (see earlier pi) and really don't want to either. Nevertheless, smeared with filler, sanded smoth and given a blast with primer.

Filler has changed to white as the P38 was curing and didn't go on properly, necessitating using the last of a tube of filler, much of which was spent building up the BAC Vengeance FGA1.



And a comparison shot with another P.1121.  Still undecided as to what scheme that's going in though.

Thus ends today's lesson in shock and awe.

[Gondor]

Alistair, I've pulled out one of the resin Hunter front ends too, I'll try and get in in the post next week.

If you mean me, it's Alastair, Alistair is Gannet Models and I have a Matchbox nose I can use anyway.

Gondor