Revell 1/144 Hawker Hunter FGA.9 By Bill Powers

Introduction

The Hawker Hunter first flew in 1951, a beautiful, sleek, swept wing plane that briefly held the world speed record. Problems persisted with the original design; so changes were made and the sleek design developed bumps, protrusions and jagged edges. The kit version has all these: saw tooth leading edge extension on the outer wings; two streamlined pods under the fuselage to catch cartridge links; torpedo shape at the junction of the vertical and horizontal stab; bump at the exhaust for a parachute and the bolted on speed brake under the rear fuselage. Still a beautiful plane, easy to fly and used by air forces all over the world. But, the original sleekness was gone.

Construction

This was to be an easy build, a break from scratch-building and conversions that were dragging on. The kit has two sprues with beautifully molded tiny pieces, about 36 pieces counting landing gear, drop tanks and rocket pods. The only flaws: landing gear struts are too simplistic and the main wheels too small in diameter. The wing to fuselage joint is recessed and creates a very strong and tight fit. The intakes are curved inside the wing just like the real plane! The canopy is a gem! Decals have British and Swiss markings and stenciling...more decals than parts! If you were turned off by the early 1/144 kits...try again. This kit is beautiful!

I wanted to capture the original prototype sleekness...so AMS kicked in. The leading edge extensions were cut off. Some filler was required but shaping with a sanding stick resulted in a smooth and straight wing. The bullet on the tail was removed...when I cut it off, the plastic shattered requiring filler, so try sanding instead. More sanding and the speed brake was gone. The link pods are “glue on items”, no attach, no problem! Oops...forgot about filling the location holes! I did add the boundary layer plates inside the intakes...only took a few minutes and they are a prominent feature (see photo).

Flying is the best way to capture that sleek look, so gear up. A tube was glued into the fuselage, capped at one end, to receive a clear acrylic rod through the exhaust.

Now to find a pilot! The Dragon F-5E has several pilots...or they are supposed to be pilots. Actually they look more like “it came from outer space”. A little shaping with a sharp #11 gave this monster a head, neck and chin so “he” looks more human. (see photo) Some creative painting and aluminum foil shades...looks pretty good. The seat was detailed, but I could have saved my time since only the top can be seen. The ejections handles are prominent and were made from a strand of copper electrical wire. Unfortunately, I forgot to use the beautiful dash decal!

The plane was painted the “pale green” of the prototype...mostly white with some Sky added. The kit roundels were used plus some larger ones from the spares box. The small decals supplied in the kit are beautiful and added a nice touch to the model, but they are very small...correction....tiny! The kit fin flash was replaced with one cut from a spare decal.

The registration number was made on my computer...Arial Narrow in Word is a pretty good representation of the British Numerals. Size 12 for under the wing and about 4 for the fuselage; maybe use “bold” setting. I let them dry two days and sprayed a cover coat but unfortunately, one “smeared”!.

This was fun...lots of fun. So much fun I bought another Revell 1//144. Now if someone would make some pilot and crew figures!