Hunter PR.11 (no not THAT one)

[kitbasher]

Chopping starts this evening!

[Pellson]

Lots and lots of Hunters!! 

[kitbasher]

OK, the Hunter PR.11.  Not the actual one that served with the Royal Navy, rather one inspired by the 'big wing' Hawker P.1106 (calm down, Mr Spackman).



Of our fellow forumites at least TSRJoe is familiar with the image (Joe I 'borrowed' it from one of your Facebook posts and have noted the credit in the bottom right corner).  Mine isn't a copy of what's described above, but it does have a 'bigger wing' and a slightly larger tailplane (but no change to the fin/rudder).  Oh, and a 3 feet fuselage extension - I thought that, if PR Canberras needed one then so would a long-legged, high flying PR Hunter.  And like my P.1067 (https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=36649.msg926208#msg926208) and several other recent Hunter whifs it makes use of the venerable Airfix FGA.9.

So far the nose has been removed to make way for the fuselage extension and the rear fuselage assembled.  No change yet to the FGA.9's brake chute fairing, and have yet to decide whether to keep the speed brake or not - both to be sorted through the back story.

The cockpit floor/nosewheel bay roof plus the control column have been attached to one side of the nose, and a couple of simple bulkheads inserted in the nose to corral the necessary nose weighting into place.  I suspect it'll be wise to add some more weight behind the cockpit, especially as I'll be using the kit's ejection seat rather than find a suitable white metal item.

Pics at the next update.

[PR19_Kit]

Dreamy............ 

[The Wooksta!]

An Airfix DH Comet (racer) wing grafted into the Airfix Hunter wing may give you enough length, although a 144th Comet airliner wing may be better altogether.

When I did my Hunter PR11 (might have been a PR13, it's been a long time so I forget), I had the bulk of the cameras in the former gun bay, other than the MSG over PRU Blue scheme, it looked like a standard FGA9 sans Sabrinas.  A second had a sensor pack under the fuselage, was Hemp over LAG, although that never got finished.

[kitbasher]

Nothing really to add (diverted by the RF-47N and a drive to finish another 'shelf queen') other than a few pics of the nose section separated from the fuselage:


Ancient Airfix Sturmovik ready to be chopped up to form the fuselage plug:


And new, longer tailplanes made from plastic sheet, test fitted but yet to be sanded into proper shape.


Since then the Sturmovik bits have been fitted, nose weight added, cockpit interior painted and work started on the kit's ejection seat.  Both the rudder and the air brake have been fitted to the fuselage.  Next job will be to start cutting new wings out of plastic sheet.  But don't hold your breath.....

[Dizzyfugu]

Uh, that looks promising. 

[PR19_Kit]

I'm trying to figure out how bits from an Il-2 could possibly go to make a long spanned Hunter, and failing! 

[kitbasher]

I'm trying to figure out how bits from an Il-2 could possibly go to make a long spanned Hunter, and failing! 

Next update will explain all, Kit!

[kitbasher]

I lied, Kit (sorreee!), update after this.

Anyway, some - albeit not much - progress, focus is the bang seat.  How the kit item has evolved from basic painting to parachute straps, to firing handle plus miscellaneous pipery, to seat straps, to dry brushing.  It's now fitted to the forward fuselage; the firing handle will be painted before the canopy is fitted.



Reattaching the front fuselage to the rear fuselage next.

[DogfighterZen]

 

[kitbasher]

While the RF-47N is moving apace (it's essentially an OOB build with a couple of minor add-ons), progress with the PR.11 is somewhat slower, but nevertheless being made.

You were asking, Kit, how an Airfix Il-2 fuselage was going to contribute to the model.  Well, parts of it were chopped up and inserted into the forward fuselage to create a plug that fitted into the rear fuselage.


Once the glue had set hard it was time for initial PSR.  This came about almost by accident!  I was using Perfect Plastic Putty on the RF-47N's joints when I noticed a fair amount extra had oozed out of the tube; waste not, want not, so it went on the Hunter.  Not ideal, as I find it best for small, well-defined gaps such as wing joins but it would work at least to some extent.  It was augmented by a small amount of Humbrol filler and sanded when thoroughly dry.


Yep, the PPP rubbed away to almost nothing, so on with their rough equivalent of Miliput.  Don't remember the name but I call it 'Miliput for Dummies' in that there's no need to mix amounts from two separate tubes (as the two parts come in a single tube), just thoroughly knead to get the right mix. 


That was applied but after leaving it overnight to dry it became very obvious I'd not kneaded it enough - it hadn't even begun to set.  Removed, another amount really thoroughly kneaded and applied.  That appears to have done the trick, and is sanding down well.  Meanwhile I've started cutting out the replacement wings.  I need three laminates per wing, these made up of two different thicknesses of plastic card.  For each of them I'll need to cut wheel wells out of two of laminates before gluing them together.  Some serious clamping will be needed to get them properly stuck together, then it'll be a case of patient sanding down to get an aerofoil shape.  Will attend to the previously-made tailplanes at the same time.

[PR19_Kit]

You were asking, Kit, how an Airfix Il-2 fuselage was going to contribute to the model.  Well, parts of it were chopped up and inserted into the forward fuselage to create a plug that fitted into the rear fuselage.

Who'd have thought it?! 

That's certainly a novel way of extending the nose, and a different place to do it too.