Royal Air Force Hawker Super Hunter FGA(W).9

[CammNut]

After the Ministry of Defense decided not to proceed with the P.1083 “thin wing” supersonic Hunter, Hawker Aircraft elected as a private venture to build an advanced version of the subsonic aircraft to follow on from the successful F.6 day interceptor.

The design was scaled up “photographically” by about 10% from the original Hunter to provide more room for a radar, tandem-seat cockpit, afterburning Rolls-Royce Avon engine, and more fuel and weapons. Unimaginatively, the result was dubbed the Super Hunter.



In the end, Hawker’s costly bet on company money paid off as the Royal Air Force purchased the Super Hunter as an all-weather fighter and ground-attack aircraft to replace the F.6, putting it into service as the Hunter FGA(W).9.



This is a more subtle sleight of scaleorama than my Handley Page Privateer, but again the basis is an old kit gifted to me by my friend David (thanks again). The kit is an oddity: a Central Model Toy Hunter F.6 that says it’s 1/72 but is clearly bigger – around 1/60.

It may not look it in these pictures, but the kit feels a lot larger than a 1/72 Hunter when you are making it, and holding the completed model alongside my Corgi 1/72 Hunter FGA.9 shows it is bigger where it matters for my cunning plan - wing span, area and fuselage diameter.



I have been wanting to build a tandem-seat Hunter for ages, but could not find the Maintrack P.1101 conversion kit. I couldn't bring myself to persuade David to part with his, and I did not feel expert enough to make a copy the vacform two-seat canopy. 

But he was happy to part with an odd-scale Hunter and a photocopy of the Maintrack instruction sheet, so I began a long search for an injected canopy that would work. I used to work for Hawkers, eons ago, and had an idea of the profile Sir Sydney Camm would have found acceptable.




Eventually, I mated a Hunter windscreen to a slightly reprofiled two-seat F-16 canopy and it sort-of-worked, so I began the modifications: radar nose from an ESCI Sea Harrier FRS.1 (for those Hawker lines); two-seat cockpit; reheated Avon nozzle from a Lightning aftermarket set.

I used the smaller shell-collector blisters from an Airfix 1/72 Hunter to reinforce the scale effect – I had planned to use the 1/72 gear as well, but decided to make it gear up so it would be a faster build (ha – as if!). I removed the underfuselage airbrake– seemed a bit un-Camm-like to me.



The biggest task was building the inlet trunking and filling the gaping empty maws that are the kit’s way-oversized intakes. I went for six underwing pylons and a multi-role stores fit: the kit’s bigger drop tanks inboard, air-to-air Red Tops outboard and original radio-command air-to-surface AS.30s between.

Colour scheme, markings and stencils are from an Airfix Hunter FGA.9 kit and represent a 20 Sqn. Aircraft based at RAF Tengah in Singapore.



(I realized after taking the pictures today that I have still to fit the wingtip pitot probe and finish detailing the missiles - so happy was I to finish another one!)

[sandiego89]

Looks great  and from a "toy" kit! Nice job.

[Weaver]

Nice one, that's a great idea and it came out really well! 

[deathjester]

Wonderful!!

[kitbasher]

Consider my boat floated. 

Please more info on the source kit - a new one to me.

[CammNut]

Thanks folks. Here is the box art:



You have to look really closely to find out who made it - it says Central Model Toy in small print at the bottom of the expansively detailed instruction sheet:



It fits together well, but the cockpit and intakes are way oversize even for a c1/60-scale Hunter. And the panel lines are sparse but deep (which helped me when filling and sanding, I will admit).

[Hobbes]

 

could you take a picture of this next to a 1:72 Hunter?

[CammNut]

Here you go:

[Steel Penguin]

clever and elegant,    and without the comparison kit a tricky one to "see"  should confuse a few.

[KiwiZac]

I rather like the box: "1/72 AUTHENTIC SCALE"!

Top job, I like it! Very plausible, and I completely agree about the speedbrake. Quite an improvement, along with the other mods.

[PR19_Kit]

Looks just like you said 'on the tin', a larger, beefier, faster Hunter. 

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Brilliant! A really good-looking model and quite convincing.

[eatthis]

you know it would be called the shunter dont you lol
it looks absolutely spot on too 

[NARSES2]

Now that is a very nice looking aircraft. The first couple of shots look like publicity shots from an official brochure 

[Captain Canada]

Very nice. Love the look of this one, looks powerful ! love the nose and cockpit section.....mow I want to build one !