And so it begins, the Airfix 1/24 Hawker Typhoon 1b
for the Hot Out of the Molds I Campaign!



I'm starting by going through the instructions and trying to figure out what multiple part assemblies will be aluminum and gluing them together before painting. Meanwhile, I painted the fuselage interior flat black inside the cockpit as indicated by Airfix, which leads to my first stumbling block. The wing center section is the "floor" of the cockpit. Airfix does not indicate a color for that bit. Anyone out there know if it's supposed to be black as well?

Thanks! REALLY looking forward to this kit!

Michael

I am really looking forward to your build Michael. My brother and I are planning a mini group build of the Typhoon in the near future so yours is going to be a valuable resource. Thanks again and take care. Jim

Hi Michael

Watching with interest!

Awesome kit, that was added to the stash as soon as it came out!

Russ

Hi Michael, the Tiffie cockpit is one of "those" questions from what I can gather. Little remains in the way of original air frames and the cockpit colours are a best guess scenario. I did find this information here on aeroscale though.

Thanks all, no pressure!

Thanks Chris. I went ahead and painted it black but plan to stick to the instructions where they call something out.

Michael

Michael,
Good luck on the build. While I can't help you with colors, here's the link to Grem's build blog that should answer all your questions throughout the build.

Grem's Typhoon Build Blog

Joel

Interesting kit. I will be great to follow this one and see how one of the big new kits from Airfix goes together.

Looking forward to see more

looking forward to seeing this progress, it is a wonderful kit.
I have produced a set of paint masks for this. My PC is getting fixed at the moment, so I will post some pictures when I get it back.

Thanks everyone, and if you haven't already you should definitely go have a look at Mal's Tiffie! He's done his usual excellent job.

Not a lot to report from me, I'm in the pre-painting phase. I normally like my aircraft to look like they're ready for the pilot to jump in and take off, so despite all the lovely engine and gun detail mine's going to be all closed up. It's also out-of-the-box, no aftermarket for me on this one (I don't think it needs any.) I'll be doing Wing Cdr. Charles Green's aircraft on D-Day.

First I marked all the trees with a masking tape tab with the tree letter on it. This will make the many parts easier to find. Then I went through the instructions and picked out all the multi-part assemblies that needed to be aluminum and glued them together. Really only the air intake duct, oil tank, main gear doors, main gear legs and main spar:




Then I airbrushed Tamiya flat aluminum (I almost always use Tamiya paints these days, when I can), flat black (interior of fuselage around cockpit), semi-gloss black, dark gull gray (XF-54, the seat), and medium sea grey (the insides of the chin intake) as per the instructions. I'm now into the detail painting phase.

The thing's so big I can't take pics of all I've done. As I get some construction done, I'll post sub-assemblies. Here are my two main references:



Both have been a big help so far.

Thanks for looking!

Michael

Off you go then. Will be monitoring this thread. monitor.jpg

Ill have to build a whole bunch of HOOTM Welsh models resin kits to even hold a candle up to that project.

I bet that kit weighs more than my entire stash of over 100 1/144 scale models kits.

Haven't weighed it, but it's definitely a big box with a lot of plastic!

I've seen a few builds of this beast on line and the most famous picture seems to be of the basic cockpit/spar build-up, the first four steps in the instructions. Here are my contributions:









And here's one you don't normally see, the instrument panel with the kit decals rather than the Airscale ones (which I'm sure are very nice, but which all of us don't have):



After I actually inserted the instruments into the panel, there are definite clear surrounds showing, so I recommend painting the back of the insert black. Heck, you can probably paint the front of it black before you put the decals on. Not sure why they made it clear, actually. If you put the decals on the back of it the clear would be way too thick. I overpainted the instrument decals with clear gloss before I inserted it into the panel to make sure they stayed on and to make it look like glass.

Loving it so far!!

Michael

OK, some more work done on the cockpit area today. Finished up to step 21.

Here's the finished instrument panel (which proved frustratingly difficult to photograph today, sorry):



I have several shots of the framework as I went along, but it gets kind of confusing. The instructions are not always easy to follow, the arrows pointing where things attach are the kind that sort of zig-zag around before they get to where they belong. Each step seems to show the previously mounted part in red to give you an idea how it's supposed to look, which helps some. Anyway:











The plastic seat belts and harness actually look pretty good, though I'm not sure they're the correct version. I think the Typhoon continued to use the Sutton harness. But I said out of the box, and out of the box it shall be!

Michael

I found them particularly easy? You need to get your head around the 3D nature of the drawings; a bit like those drawings that you can see different things depending how you look at them!




The seat harness will be correct, believe me, I know of the research that went into this model

Oh, I forgot to say Michael, make sure that you clean the mould line from the engine mounts?

Excellent progress Michael, such a great looking aircraft the Typhoon. Inspired decision by Airfix to release the Tiffie in 1/24.
tim

Thanks all! Mal, I have filed down the mold lines on the engine mounts, per your suggestion. Though I won't be displaying the engine, I will want to make sure that what there is fits correctly for the sake of the prop and exhausts. I wish Airfix would give the builder the option to install a minimal engine frame to support those and allow you to build the full engine outside the airframe, it really is awfully nice!

Here's yesterday's progress. Cockpit without the instrument panel:







And with the instrument panel installed:





I know what Mal means about getting used to the instructions, but I still find following the arrows to where the ends of the various pipes/wiring go can be a little confusing. Hope they ended up in the right places! I'm not sure brown is the technically correct color, but it adds a little variety to the black/silver cockpit.

Thanks for watching!

Michael

Looking good Michael I know what you mean about the engine but that would necessitate more parts and therefor further cost!