discussion Contrail 1/72 Hawker Horsley vacform

[Steve-the-Duck]

The Horsley was a large day bomber, entering service in 1926 to replace the Fairey Fawn. It was later adapted to carry torpedoes, and even served out in the Far East until replaced by Vildbeests in 1935. It could be said to be the 'uncle' f the Hawker Hart series of light bombers

This is an OLD Contrail vacform, actually the first vac I've ever completed. Observant viewers may have noticed the finished beast with pics of my scratchbuilt Aldershot
I thought I'd post a quick build thread separately




All the kit parts, including the strut material. No transfers were included in the kit, but that was no real loss

These are all the small injection parts, of which I think I only used the prop

Wings cut out. I must have sanded them thin four or five times before I was happy with the thickness

These are all the vac parts I ended up not using. The wheels were too small, the seats the wrong shape, the torpedo pointless as I had a couple of later marks from two different Beaufighters.
The radiator piece was too damaged to even think about using

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Always start with the fuselage interior. The layout is inspired by my Montex resin Fairey Fawn, as there are precisely NO cockpit pics of the Horsley I can find
The radio set is out of an AModel Hart, which will eventually mutate into a Hart trainer

The pilot seat is asymetric, mounted on the starboard side. Once it was actually in place, it still wasn't far enough over. Inspiration this time is the Hawker Fury cockpit, and the seat is out of ubiquitous Airfix Ju.88s. I must get another Ju.88 A4 to do an Italian one...

And paint on, with seat belts from Tamiya masking tape. I always do the insides red, as per Swordfishes and Harts

I found an online build, where the used micro rod in indented rib detail to make them stand out m ore. Labourious, to say the least. But it did paint well
After having to peel off the first pass of grey undercoat

Next time I do something like this, I'm going to go with the scribed 10 thou sheet for skinning. Not that I've got anything else this big in the offing