The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 11

Good evening,

I've been busy sorting out the wing roots on the Typhoon. Here are the results of Wednesday's efforts.



To which I added a thin coat of grey to see, well, if it worked.




It mostly did, and yet not completely. So...another touch up of filler...




...and another coat of paint over said filler...



...and that'll do.

While waiting for the filler to dry so's I could start sanding it, I started another Hawker aircraft that was named after a weather event. A Mark 1 Hurricane, nominally bound for Greece and Crete c. 1941.




Acutally, I spent the bulk of this evening searching for pictures of Hurricanes serving in Greece and Crete.


ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS OVER ALBANIA AND GREECE, 1940-1941: Pilots of No. 80 Squadron RAF relax in front of Hawker Hurricane Mark I, V7599 'YK-Q', at Eleusis, Greece

Which kinda brought up a bit of a problem. They seem to have had tropical filters! Oh bother!

Still, I have concluded a couple of things I can do...

• I can use the tail fin decal in the kit (even though the kit/RAF decal option is meant for the Battle of Britain)


• Many/some of the Med based Hurris around 1941 went without squadron codes - they were in a bit of a hurry (if you excuse the pun!) - so I'll cut off the codes around the fuselage roundel.

Model on!

Nick

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 8

Good evening,

Another quick update - I've now filled the seams of the fuselage, attached the tail and main planes and getting annoyed that I didn't get the right paints last weekend!

Ah well...




To get the main planes even I should have rigged up some sort of jig that ensured the right dihedral. Instead, I tried to do it by eye!

The jury is still out whether or not this will be good enough...

And Andy was right - there is some considerable filling to be done in the wing roots (which is why I've left off the gun barrels 'till I've finished filling and sanding and stuff).

Well done to Paul who's all but finished his Tempest. Nice job he's done on it too.

Nick

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 6

Good evening,

Against all expectations (I've had a migraine all day) I managed to paint the pilot (reminds me of a Joan Armatrading song...)




The second photo is to show the shading more than anything else. Not that it'll be seen when the the canopy's on.

And I glued the fuselage halves together.




Now to clean up those joins. Got me some Green Stuff for just such a job. (Unfortunately, I forgot to get some paints at the same time, so back I go...before Acorn Models finishes their Autumn Sale - I'm all about the cost!)

Model on,

Nick

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 5

Good evening,

Been pottering around with the Typhoon this afternoon and I managed to get the wings together, along with the u/c doors.





I painted the inside of the ailerons black for some depth. Dunno if it'll make any difference, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

The doors are not as flush as I'd like, but I managed to get a better result than on my Thunderbolt.

I'll work on the pilot tomorrow...along with getting my class' reading texts and follow up activities sorted out for this coming week.

Well done to Jack Sarge - he finished first!

Model on,

Nick

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 4

Good evening,

Had a few more hours to potter away with the Typhoon. I have, if not solved the problem of the closed undercarriage doors, at least got me a fix I'm happy with. I cut off the wheel struts that were molded onto the inside of the doors...


...and cut some card that I glued inside the wing to...

• Support the closed doors to give them a bit of strength


• And so's they'd hopefully sit flush with the wing itself

I've even managed to apply a bit of paint!


Next thing - paint the pilot.

Model on,

Nick

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Begins!

Good evening,

And here are my opening shots of The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build.






Well the pilot at least I can handle!

One of my first comments was...Arghhh! The model does not have a wheels up option! Since this is primarily for wargaming, I jumped on the 'net to see if anyone had any solutions.

From here, I found these...(by the way, these are mostly for my own reference...)




Note the retracted tail wheel...guess he cut the wheel supplied in the kit right down...

And from here, this...


Note the spinner. No blades. Looks more like they're spinning really fast...and at least they won't get broken off during a game!

From here, this...


...note the problems with the closed u/c doors...(cool scheme, though!). Mind you...


This fellow over came by filling them in.


Not a bad idea, this is a wargame toy, not a display piece.

Here's what he finished up with.


Note - no tail wheel. Certainly an easier option, given my lack of modelling experience!

So, for what it's worth, I've opened the box, washed the plastic, have discovered my first problem and now have a couple of ideas to fix it.

Best get me some model filler, me thinks!

Nick

3000 Point Epic A Game

Good evening,

Since the tables were still up and the tables set, so to speak, from Friday night's Spearhead bash, I invited Mark round yesterday for a game of his choice. He chose Epic. Good choice!

I just swapped out the WW2 buildings for some 6mm ruins (and destroyed vehicle markers) and such, sorted out two 3100 point armies using this very useful army list generator and away we went. End to end. Opps!

(The Orks were partly given me (unpainted) and partly purchased (really cheap) mostly painted. A very effective use of inks...)



Mark's first effort to march his Whirlwinds fails, so he receives a blast marker. This was to repeat next turn as well...


He scoots his Predators into [what's left of] the town...


...and I zip up my bikes to just behind the crest of the hill facing the tower.



The rest of our forces rumble toward each other.













Mark sets up his scout titans at the edge of the town and awaits developments.


Contact! The Gargant has finally rumbled into action, and has expressed exception to the Marine Bikes in way of the three Supa-Guns!


In response, Mark, well, assaults the titan! I did give him a chance to change his mind, but, well...




Next turn, the Gargant's attention swaps to the scout titans. Places a blast marker and strips a void shield or two, but, other than that...which reminds me, we didn't dice to replace the void shields at the end of the turn. Opps!


Mid game, we're almost ready to get down to it.


Mark moves a Tactical squad into one of the burning craters...


...and unleashes a Whirlwind barrage onto the bikes. For no casualties.


Finally the Big Mob is close enough to do some stuff! But not before the Cult of Speed (bikes) get done over by the scout titans - five of eight get destroyed, the other three run away.

I move in the two Stompa mobs to take on the titans (vaguely successful), which prompts Mark to get his Predators in behind the closest mob of Stompas, and they get caught in a crossfire. 'Twas almost the end of them!

Sooo, seeing how effective a crossfire can be (it reduces armour saves by 15%), I in turn sent in the boys to set one up one on these very same Predators.



To very good effect! Three of four down, with the fourth running down the road!


On the other flank Mark unleashes the second attack from the Land Raiders, and breaks yet another blitz brigade (Gunwagons). Rats, I was hoping that flank might last a little longer...



Mark also unleashes the Assault Marines over the hill and into the buggies.





Bother!

In the centre Mark finally gets his Terminators into a positions to get busy...


...but time had run out!

As I indicated at the beginning of the post, starting from opposites end of the table rather than from opposite sides turned out to be a bit of an error. The afternoon had become the evening, and it was time to end.

Hence, these shots of the final positions...





Thanks for coming round for the game Mark, it was cool. Really gotta get me those Orks painted...

Nick