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1/32 scale Hunters of Revell, Echelon (vacu) and the Fisher trainer conversion set
The Hawker Hunter has always been a beautifull plane and although numerous kits appeared in 1/72 scale, no real kit was available in 1/32 scale for many years. In the nineteen-eigthies ECHELON from the UK came with an excellent kit but is was a vacuform. This vacuform enables you to built all marks of the Hunter and a separate vacuform enabled you even to build the two-seater.
Fortunately, Revell of Germany came with an injection kit (no. 04703)in 1/32 scale in 1998 representing the FGA9/mk 58 variant. It still was not possible to make a popular mk.4 or F mk.6 without some rework. In 2006 Revell issued a Hunter F.mk6 kit (No.04727 ) by adding some extra parts to the original Hunter kit and new decals.
Hawker Hunter in 1/32 scale
This modelling report will cover all 3 kits and will focus on the Hawker F. mk6 and Hawker F mk.4 as used in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. It will not cover extensive Hunter history as there are numerous sites on the internet and books on this subject. Please see the references below.
Look at various 1/32 Hunter Kits:
- Revell
1/32 Hunter F.mk.6 Dutch RNeth AF
- Revell
1/32 Hunter FGA9/mk 58, reworked to mk.4 Dutch RNeth AF
- Revell/FISHER
conversion of T.mk7 two seater Dutch RNeth.AF
Lets look a little to the Hunter history.
The Hawker Hunter was developed in the early nineteen-fifties with the first production version F mk.1 being build May 1953. After testing and further improvements, the RAF set the F1 into operational service in mid 1954. Hawker continued work on the Hunter, coming up with the mk.4 that was put into RAF service beginning 1955. The mk.4 had an Avon series 100 engine.
The later much improved variant was the mk.6 that came of the production line end 1955. The mk.6 got wing leading edge extensions with the sawtooth on the outboard wing section.
Note: the wing saw tooth was also often retro-fitted on earlier mk.4 planes that were still in operational use. This was also the case for mk.4 used by the RNeth AF.
The mk6 also got a more powerful Avon series 200 engine with a large exhaust pipe diameter. Internally the systems and avionics were also improved. The mk.6 was also capable of firing the first early Sidewinder missiles.
The improvements made during service life and the various variants often also involved better ejection seats of Martin Baker. Hunter have flown with several seat versions, the earlier types with the 3H seat and later types with the 2H seat. But often these Hunters were retro-fitted with the 3H, so check the particular Hunter you want to model.
One of the final
Hunter versions was the FGA9 developed from the mk.6. It got the most powerfull
Avon engine and a parachute pack on top of the exhaust pipe. The wing got
reinforcements and was capable of carrying the larger 230 gallon fueltanks.
Also new systems and avionics were fitted. Depending on the particular
air force needs, systems were added particularly for the Swiss AF Hunter
mk.58 type delivered in the early sixties.
The Dutch air
force, or RNeth AF, obtained Hunters through the MDAP program. (Hunters
were also produced in license by Fokker in The Netherlands and SABCA in
Belgium under this program). The first mk.4 was delivered to the RNeth
AF beginning 1956 with 96 mk.4 delivered. Also the mk.6 was ordered with
deliveries starting 1958 with 93 F mk.6 planes delivered. Many mk.4 planes
were retro-fitted with the later F mk.6 wing saw tooth modification to improve
safety and stability.
In addition, 20 T.mk.7 two seaters were delivered to the RNeth AF directly from the UK. Hunters were used in various squadrons by the RNeth AF not only in NATO use but also in Papua New Guinea in 1960-1962.
References:
0. ECHELON 1/32 kit drawings and information, by Frank Brown
The best there is! (see Echelon page)
1. Hawker Hunter in action no.121,
Squadron signal publications, USA
2. Hawker Hunter in Colour, Squadron
signal
3. Hawker Hunter, Vliegend in nederland,
no. 4, Horsthuis, Flash. About Dutch Hunters
4. Hawker Hunter, Warpaint 8, Alan Hall publications, UK
5. IPMS The Netherlands, 35th year
jubilee magazine MIP 2006- no.4
Feature on the Hunter history, 1/32
F.mk.6 kit and 1/72 kit overview (in Dutch)
6. Hawker Hunter - Biography of a Thoroughbred, Francis Mason, 1985, Patrick Stephens Ltd.
7. Hunter, several others like.....
Aeroguide 9, 1985, Linewrights Ltd.
8. SAM publications: a very good reference
Internet:
- http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/hunter/index.html
Walk Around
on Dutch IPMS Site:
- IPMS NL Hunter Walk Arounds
- IPMS Nederland KLu Dutch Hunter information pages...
On the internet: use DuckDuckGo to search with privacy!
(c) Copyright Meindert "designer"/ All rights reserved. Your comments are welcomed by webmaster
Created this page December 27, 2006