Got the bottom complete and masked


Revell Typhoon Ib 1/48 by mawz_models, on Flickr

And started spraying the top colours


Revell Typhoon Ib 1/48 by mawz_models, on Flickr

I haven't had a single minute at the bench, but here I come now! I was on vacation, had beer to brew/keg, and I got the new Battlefield and a RC heli for christmas! Time to get to it... So, for the last HQ build I chose a kit I put away because finishing it required me to put my fears aside and attempt new techniques and skills. Same thing this time! I put up Airfix's 1/72 BAE Systems Hawk because the paint scared the snot out of me! The box cover shows a plane with a multi-color scheme that is achieved supposedly with decal application ( extremely daunting! ) There are also two other scheme choices ( Indian Air Force, and a gloss Black Brit version ) The indian bird feels like a cop out to me, so I've decided to try my hand at the gloss black version and see how it goes... Of the 3 campaign builds I'm starting this one will be the toughest for sure, but I'm confident I can pull it off, and the reward will be worth the effort!!!

Ok, I missed getting things posted before the deadline last time. So I'm trying again.

I did finish the Corsair, P47 and the Predator drone for the last round. But I missed the deadline for pictures and documentation. Oh well.
It is not like I don't have a 'few' kits on the go.

So this time out, it's 2 1/72 DH 88 Comet Racers, Red Grosventor House and Black Magic.
Ancient dogs of Airfix kits, but like the SR71 and Corsair, they look fast to me just sitting there.

Both were started and even though they are destined for my classroom ceiling timeline of powered flight, their roughness cost me my momentun.

The red molded one is the oldest and will be painted and decalled as Black Magic, built (finished) as is.

The grey molded one will be painted red and decalled as Grosventor House.
I've carved out the platform cockpit , stolen a technique from George Oh of Australia and made razor saw slices into the fuselage to slide in and trim back sheet styrene for instrument panels and engine radiators.

I'll add pics to this post tomorrow.

Mike

Ray and Mike, you've come to the right place. Welcome back!
Ray, I'm going to try that Airfix Hawk for the BAe Campaign later this year, so I'll keep an eye on your build for sure. Good luck with that gloss finish-- I hear those are especially tricky-- that keeps me from jumping into auto modeling, despite my wide range of build subjects.
Have fun, guys!
-Sean H.

Sean,
I have the Airfix 48 kit of the Hawk for the BAe Campaign, which has some RAAF options on the decal sheet.

Ray,
Which scheme are you doing the Hawk in ?

huh.. I thought I could edit the post afterwards, but do not see the 'edit' button.. oh well.

starting points for both Comets




Wings on the red

little bit of filler there...

Mods to the grey



At this point the new floor is just pushed into place, but has buckled. Gotta fix that. Of course, with the 2-3mm thick canopy and hanging 8 ft from the floor no one but us will ever know it is there.

The new rear bulkhead will address the poor fit of the rear of the canopy as well.

More soon
Mike

Ah, yes. I didn't mention that Rob's back! Good to see you here and again in BAe too. Quite a selection of HQ's for you-- some very nearly complete, painted and all. Is the masking old? Will that come off alright? Cool that you don't have to scrounge for Aussie decals. I also appreciate lots of decal choices in my kits.
Mike, I've learned that there is about a 10 minute time limit after you post that you can still edit it. After that, the edit and delete buttons go away, and only site administrators can fix it then. ...and I'm editing here-- nice work adding the bulkheads, and I'm glad your gray covered that red!
thanks again, everyone, for posting!
-Sean.

Hey Rob, here's the available schemes out of the box:




and here's the decal sheet:


The first scheme is done mainly with decals and I don't see that going very well for me, and the third scheme just seemed a bit too easy, so I'm gonna give the gloss black version a go and test my finishing skills. I want to get a shiny bird with a clean finish without it looking too thick or toy-like...

Ray,

I think the two tone black scheme would look better for this bird.

The Airfix 48 scale Hawk kit offers a Canadian one in a Midnight Blue overall scheme, as well as this RAAF scheme, which is also a decal, (which I plan to do for the BAe campaign).



Sean,
Yep some of the H.Q's are almost completed as I was building some of my own birds, in between several consignment builds.
No problem with the masking tape being old, as a little window cleaner removes any undue tape residue on the clear bits.

Sam,
This is gonna sound terrible...I'm joining this campaign after dropping out of the first Hangar Queen build. Just call me a "procrastinator's procrastinator".

I've got a 1/32 F-16A I started back in (no crap) 1992. The last time it got any serious attention was in 2006.

With a 1/72 scale F-16C:


Cockpit 'tub':


Anywho, it needs a lot of rework and TLC. I won’t pretend to plan on really finishing it this year, but this campaign may be just the motivation I need to get it going.

Keith

Keith, we're glad to have you back! That Falcon looks like a whopper!
Rob and Ray, in comparing your decal sheets-- nice selections both, by the way-- why do you suppose the roundels are separated like that? Something with the different colors, because the all gray Aussie roundels have their kangaroo centers? Putting the onus on the builder for getting the center in register?
Cheers!
-Sean.

Greetings fellow HQ campaigners. Haven't done a lot as I've been struggling to get a couple of other campaign builds finished before their deadlines. However, what I have done has once again made me aware of why I never finished this chopper. A simple task such as building the two rocket pods wasn't. While the fit of the two pod body halves was somewhat good, they also aligned offset and needed a fair bit of filing and sanding. The two end pieces weren't much different.







The stub wing Hellfire end pylons are a different matter. The one side has a prominent ejector pin mark while the other side has a equally prominent sink hole. Obviously I am spoiled by some of the newer kits that I've been building and this one is rather dated. :-)





@Ray and Rob - - Those two part roundels are positively idiotic! What were the designers thinking! That's like those 1/72 vehicle kits where you have to create licence plates or serial numbers with individual tiny characters.

@Keith - The size of that larger F-16 is crazy! I've built a 1/72 version so I'm quite familiar with its size. From the looks of the big one you'll need about a half gallon of paint to cover that thing. The cockpit though, does look impressive.

Now back to filling those darn sink holes.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan, I've got a pair of rocket pods from my Italeri UH1N that I'm not going to use which will probably be far superior to those ones. As a bonus, I can throw in a set of Eduard etched end caps for them. If you're interested, PM me your mailing address.

Jan,

Unfortunately no AM decal manufacturer does the tri coloured RAAF roundals for the Hawk, (not even here in OZ), as they are a slightly smaller size as to what was used on the RAAF's F-111c's. We just have to make do with what comes in the kit.

Kieth,

I also built the Hasegawa 32 scale F 16 kit and I agree it does need a lot of paint to complete.

Paint and decals are usually my favorite part of a build, but like I said before this one's going to be a challenge. I don't have a single finished kit that sports any roundels so I guess we'll see if this dicourages me from another try ( although I do also have the Airfix 1/72 Canadair Sabre in my stash that I'm looking forward to building...

@Jessie_C - Thank you very much for your generous offer but I fear that the better parts would be wasted. Both this kit and my skill set to use them effectively are lacking. Since returning to the hobby my only purchase and build of a "modern" aircraft kit (or any aircraft kit for that matter) was the Revell 1/144 Super Tomcat. This endeavour, amongst other things, is quite a departure from my current comfort zone and therefore a major experiment. IF I can get this build done and looking somewhat presentable it will be a major victory.

Thanks again,
Jan

Well then, Jan, we look forward to your major victory!
-Sean.

Sean, Jan, Rob,

Thanks guys. I wish it was it was the Hasagawa kit, but it is an Ace from Korea knock off which I picked up while stationed at Kunsan. I had an old Hasagawa one from my teen years which had been through one too many PCSs and ended up in the spares bin. I kept parts of it, including the smoked canopy and radar array, which I plan to use on this kit.

Anyway, I've repaired the landing gear, gear wells, intake, and gun housing white to give them a proper Future layer and oil wash.

In the mean time here is a pic of the Block 15 console.


Keith

I'm going with the Heller (Airfix) A-1H Skyraider.



It's been in various stages of sand and fill for several (10?) years. It's about ready for paint and final assy.

Keith that's a lot of detail in a small part! It's a treat to look at all by itself.
Mark welcome back for round 2! The A-1 is a tough plane. Nice subject choice. You've piqued my interest though, with your "Heller (Airfix)" notation. I have a pile of Corsair models from Heller/Humbrol, and built two so far. They had very simple interiors, raised panel lines, and rough fit. Do you know more of the Heller/Airfix story? I read some people saying Airfix was rough, now better. What's the deal?
thanks,
Sean.

Heller and Airfix co-operated for a while in the late 70's and early 80's and then ended up under the same ownership (along with Humbrol) which resulted in a number of their kits ending up in each others boxes. They have since parted ways and Airfix is now owned by Hornby while Heller seems to be on hiatus due to being in Administration since 2006.

As to Airfix kits, they were classics, then things got rough for about 20 years when they were owned by the same group that owned Heller at the time. Since the Hornby buyout things have been rapidly improving and their most recent releases have been excellent (aside from the MiG-15bis oops).

Hi All,

My Fw 190a3 'Red 2' has finally got a little weathering, another flat coat and removal of the masking tape from the canopy, just the foot styrip to paint and this one can be called finished.




The scheme is a 'what if' Nth African campaign.

Sean, at this time I'm mostly going on memory. My first clue was in Kinsey's Skyraider Detail and Scale. There's also this: MM Skyraider1 claims both molders. This one MM Skyraider2 is the same box and plastic I started from.

Mykroft has most of the details. To add just a little, in the 1970's AirFix, Heller and MPC were all owned by General Mills. Yes the American cereal maker. MPC's only homegrown airplane kit was the F2H-2/2P Banshee. They were grouped into the CPC Consumer Products Corporation. This group tooled up what is now the Airfix F-105G Wild Weasel. General Mills got tired of the toy business in the early 80's and sent Airfix and Heller on their way. Don't know what happened to the MPC car molds.

You can also check out the Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum for more history.

Thanks, Adam and Mark.


I just checked Wikipedia and found "MPC was eventually absorbed by Ertl. Today the brand has been resurrected by Round 2 LLC, which also owns AMT, Polar Lights (who reissued Aurora model kits) and Ertl." Ironic, since MPC originally spun off of AMT (as stated earlier in the article).
Anyway, Rob, that's a good looking Fw. I was thinking how I didn't remember a camo scheme like that, until I read where you said that it was a what-if. It's a good-looking what-if.
Cheers!
-Sean H.

I'm actually making some head-way on this thing!

A Before and After shot of some redone washes.
The before is from about 15 years ago, before I learned about Future and Artists' Oils paints.
The after was just done a few days ago using the modern method. Still not perfect, but a bit of a difference.



Keith