dh Hornet PR5

[PR19_Kit]

What then to do with the Special Hobby F3/F4 in the stash?  First world problem!

I've never even seen one, are they OK?

The cost a FORTUNE on eBay!

[kitbasher]

Mine's 'pre-loved' (from NARSES2).  Very nicely moulded, looks good in the box and comes with resin parts and IIRC a small etched brass fret.
But seemingly a bit of a pig to build.  Will {EDIT} PM threads to Britmodeller builds e-mail some links.  IIRC The Wooksta! has commented on them in the past. 

[EDIT] An afterthought - would a Vampire FB5 windscreen help rectify the Skybirds 86, Special Hobby and FROG Hornet cockpit canopy shape errors?  With careful sanding down of the bottom edge it looks as though it might - must compare plastic tomorrow.

[zenrat]

Did you print those on white decal paper and carefully cut them out or do you have an ALPS printer?

I WISH I had an ALPS, but sadly no.

I used a two layer technique, printing out the white backgrounds with a black outline, and cutting VERY carefully just inside the line, and then overlaying them with a colour decal printed on clear paper.

I've never had much success with cutting white backed decals out because you can always see the white edging, so I developed the two layer business. And with normal decals I make the black outlines slightly smaller than the coloured part so they're hidden.

[PR19_Kit]

The PR5 has wheels on now, all three of them, but I've yet to add the retraction jacks or the main gear doors. With luck that'll be today.

All that it needs now are the props added and that'll be that. 

[I better get the correct prop on the correct side though.....]

[PR19_Kit]

I'd love to see one of the 'test builds' that I suppose AZ must have done with this kit, if only to see how the DEVIL they assembled the main gear!

With the gear leg and wheel in place, and having given up trying to get the U bracket through the access doors, I tried to fit the retraction jack. It looks great, just like the ones on the exploded drawings on the Net, but no way will it fit, it's just not long enough to reach anywhere inside the nacelle! 

So that's another part that's not going to be fitted, and it would have been difficult to see it anyway with the doors on.

I'm working on the props now, drilling out the backing plate and spinner to take some styrene rod, and then boring out the hole in the nacelle front to take some tubing somewhat larger than the rod. It's sort of working, but holding the prop/spinner while drilling it without breaking off the prop blades is nigh on impossible. So far I've had to super glue six of the eight prop blades in place........

[PR19_Kit]

Make that EIGHT blades out of eight. 

But the last four wouldn't stay glued in place, so my 2nd PR2 kit has sacrificed it's port prop to the cause of the PR5.

Come back John Adams, the world needs some white metal Hornet props please.

[kitnut617]

Well I've started working on producing propellers, these are some Hornet props (all port side ones at the moment).



This is a 5-blade prop for a Mustang



And painted up.



I've got a bunch more in the works

[PR19_Kit]

They look better than the AZ offerings Robert. 

[kitnut617]

Thanks Kit --- wait until I get the other hand cast up and maybe I'll have some to pass on.  All the Special Hobby Hornets I have will need replacement props, the kit ones aren't any better than what you have in that kit.

One of the things I'm going to make, is a handed pair of 5-blade Hornet props too. I've got a couple of projects in mind for them, obviously a Hornet, but I'm thinking maybe Lancaster/Lincoln/Shackleton (spinners are the same diameter) ----- like having the handed props on one wing.

[kitbasher]

I'd love to see one of the 'test builds' that I suppose AZ must have done with this kit, if only to see how the DEVIL they assembled the main gear!

With the gear leg and wheel in place, and having given up trying to get the U bracket through the access doors, I tried to fit the retraction jack. It looks great, just like the ones on the exploded drawings on the Net, but no way will it fit, it's just not long enough to reach anywhere inside the nacelle! 

So that's another part that's not going to be fitted, and it would have been difficult to see it anyway with the doors on.

I'm working on the props now, drilling out the backing plate and spinner to take some styrene rod, and then boring out the hole in the nacelle front to take some tubing somewhat larger than the rod. It's sort of working, but holding the prop/spinner while drilling it without breaking off the prop blades is nigh on impossible. So far I've had to super glue six of the eight prop blades in place........

See http://www.modelarovo.cz/de-havilland-dh-103-hornet-azmodel-1-72/

[PR19_Kit]

See http://www.modelarovo.cz/de-havilland-dh-103-hornet-azmodel-1-72/

Hmmm, thanks for the link Dave, at least it shows they did a test build. But it doesn't say how they got the main gear U bracket through the hole, and notably they DON'T show that assembled before they put the gear in place.

I've got both props assembled now and they need a bit of PSR before painting tomorrow.

[PR19_Kit]

Well the PR5's finished, at last, no thanks to the 'quality' of the moulding and my ever increasing frustration at dealing with it. I'm going to have a go at a Skybirds86 Hornet soon, to see what it SHOULD be like. I may use the canopy from my other AZ PR2 to resolve the apparent problems with the Skybird's canopy.

Anyway, here's PX216, a Dh Hornet PR5 of 546 Sqdn. based at Luzon during the latter years of WWII.



The normal front 3/4 view, showing the standard 4-tank configuration used by the PR5s on their long range missions over the Japanese home islands.
One tank is unpainted as they had to scrounge them from varied sources at the time, their main stocks having been delayed in India.



Rear 3/4 view. The extra detail decals on the wings were home printed with info coming from a Flight Sim model of the Hornet. 




The somehwat fearsome head on view of the PR5. You can just see the pressurisation system intakes outboard of the engine nacelles.




Close up of the nose, showing the modified pressurised canopy only used on the PR5s and the flare damping exhaust manifolds (and the fact that the spinners are smaller than the front end of the nacelles.  )




Underside of the PR5 showing the vertical and semi-oblique camera ports.

The backstory's here :- https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=48622.new#new

[kitbasher]

Very pretty, Kit.  Such a shame that the kit didn't live up to expectations and caused you so much grief.

[chrisonord]

You have done a sterling job Kit, and you  should  be proud of your achievements with such a  piece of  plastic  disappointment. 
Chris

[Weaver]

Nice one Kit - a good result, despite all the troubles.

I like the "one unpainted tank 'cos it was scrounged" thinking. Quite a few of my models have 'battle damage repair' where cammo lines don't cross panel lines or control surface hinges perfectly, shades are different, etc..

Did you print those on white decal paper and carefully cut them out or do you have an ALPS printer?

I WISH I had an ALPS, but sadly no.

I used a two layer technique, printing out the white backgrounds with a black outline, and cutting VERY carefully just inside the line, and then overlaying them with a colour decal printed on clear paper.

I've never had much success with cutting white backed decals out because you can always see the white edging, so I developed the two layer business. And with normal decals I make the black outlines slightly smaller than the coloured part so they're hidden.

Fantasy Printshop do sheets of white backing decals Kit: http://www.ebaystores.co.uk/Fantasy-Printshop-Decals/White-Backing-Patches-/_i.html?_fsub=5573184011&_sid=47761971&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322