discussion Airfix 1/72 Hawker Typhoon 1b

[yak face]

Heres something I picked up on ebay yonks ago . The well regarded Airfix Typhoon 1b . Ive been having a bit of a run on 1/72 stuff lately and this looks to be a nice build .
Oops! Spoke too soon - heres what I found when I opened the sealed bag containing the transparencies. The plastic is marked and looks as if it wasnt quite set when it released from the mould . Anyways ,Email was sent to Airfix ,which they replied to after a few days asking for more details . After supplying the batch no. etc they are going to see if they can find me one , so for the time being I’m just going to start the build . If they cant source one then I’ll have to try and polish up this one .

 

[rickoshea52]

Another great little Airfix 1/72 kit I enjoyed building when they first came out.

 

[yak face]

So made a start on the cockpit , priming up various bits and the kit threw up another surprise . Despite the sprues being in a sealed bag the pilots seat was missing ?!
Seen as I’ve already raised a missing part issue with Airfix I thought I’d just scratch one . So out with the spares box for a donor seat to alter - think this was from an old Matchbox kit ( the lurid green was a bit of a giveaway !)
I had to chop it up a bit and add some bits of plastic card but the most prominent part of the typhoon seat is the padded cushion . To sort this a piece of thin metal was found in the “ random but useful “ spares box . Its a bit of tomato puree tube which was perfect - wine foil might have been too thin to withstand the scribing.
This was scribed in the diamond pattern of the cushion and cut and glued on . A bar was added at the top from bent brass wire and its near enough to the kit part for me .

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

After supplying the batch no. etc they are going to see if they can find me one

Hope you have more luck than I had when I tried to source a replacement escape tower for my Saturn 5. The model was discontinued and they didn't have one.

 

[yak face]

Happy with how the seat turned out , finished with Eduard etched belts ( RAF late style) . The fuselage sides have been painted , cockpit green on the lower fuselage , black above the seat level and aluminium for the tubular framework.
Ive got a confession to make - I made the schoolboy error of not looking at the instructions and raced ahead gluing the undercarriage bays to the wing bottom . I found out later that they should have been glued to the fuselage after it had been fitted together then the wing bottom offered up . The upshot of this is ive now got a tricky assembly whereby Ive got to slot the wing bottom into the not yet glued fuselage halves then fit them together after -all while trying not to dislodge the cockpit parts

 

[scottie3158]

Very nice result on the seat.

 

[Jim R]

Shame about the canopy and the seat. Hope Airfix find a canopy and your replacement seat is probably better than the original.

 

[flyjoe180]

That cockpit is looking good Tony. Very nice work on the quilted pattern. Hope the canopy can be sorted out, that's a shocking state to find a part inside the box.