My next victim....1/72 Special Hobby DH. 103 Sea Hornet F. Mk.20

[Archetype]

It took a little while and some time spent glueing and holding in position just to make sure it was right, but it worked I think and I'm happy with the results.



I needed to fill some gaps and the underside of the wings didn't line up vertically with the moulded edge of the fuselage so some filling was necessary.
All rescribed and ready for the next steps.

 

[Archetype]

To represent the Mk.20 I need to change the chin bit and install a resin casting to show the cannons.



Razor saw out, hacking complete.



Cleaned it all up and installed the part.



Not too bad a fit.

I also spent last night working on the engines, including cleaning up, drilling out and painting the resin cast exhausts. There was a little bit of work required to get the engines to mount nicely to the wings but nothing a needle file and some patience couldn't solve.



Not much left to do. Undercarriage, arrestor hook, propellers and canopy. I'm putting off fitting the canopy as the fit is terrible and is going to require more patience than I feel I can muster right now. I also need to figure out a way to do it.
The kit also came with some underwing fuel tanks which I am going to leave off this one. They are likely for the PR version since they would have been necessary for the additional range, but for the carrier borne fighter I don't think they are necessary.

Here's the canopy. My main fear is 'overworking' it. Any tips on foolproof ways to get this to fit first time?

 

[Archetype]

Progress slowed due to being awarded a new part time teaching position. It's going ok so far, but the headmistress is yet to approve 'scale modelling' as a topic for the term. She questions the education value, and despite my rigorous protestations about engineering, history and physics, she is still scepticle.

I worked on the canopy very gently using a small piece of 600 grit and improved the fit to a satisfactory level. I'm happy with the gap with the rear part of the canopy since this is the part that slides back and wouldn't be flush anyway.
The front was a different matter. In all the pictures I have studied the joint between the windscreen and the fuselage is imperceptible, so I masked and filled the gap. I then worked it gently with a sharp blade and gentle sanding before replacing the masking.
I usually use micro mask for masking because I grew up using maskol (which STANK), but noticed that masking with tape is popular here and from what I've seen gives a superior result, so I'm trying it out for the first time.



I've also masked the little observers windows in the fuselage and masked the painted exhausts.



I've also begun work on cleaning up the propellers. WOOF.

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress Chris
Steven

 

[yak face]

Great work Chris , patience is essential with kits like this . I knew the earlier special hobby kits were a bit rough and ready but this is a real dog , those props look like fun ! The canopy looks good now , the fit before was approximate to say the least! keep at it mate , it’s going to look lovely , cheers tony

 

[Jim R]

Hi Chris
I'm a bit late in - sorry. I've never built one of these short run, multi material kits and seeing the work involved I probably won't in the future. You're doing a great job and it shows that with skill and patience a great model can be made. Well done getting the wing dihedral sorted. That canopy looked hopeless but now seems good.
Jim

 

[Archetype]

Nice progress Chris
Steven

Thanks Steven!

Great work Chris , patience is essential with kits like this . I knew the earlier special hobby kits were a bit rough and ready but this is a real dog , those props look like fun ! The canopy looks good now , the fit before was approximate to say the least! keep at it mate , it’s going to look lovely , cheers tony

Thank you Tony. It's definitely not a Tamiya, but unfortunately for me my chosen subjects appear to lack mass marketable appeal! The canopy wasn't as problematic as I anticipated. I did have to take some plastic off the front to get the canopy to sit flush.
Short runs can be a pain, but to be honest I am enjoying this one. I wish there were a few more photographs though as I'd like to add more detail. All I'm able to find are 50's or 60's images with absolutely nothing recent.

Hi Chris
I'm a bit late in - sorry. I've never built one of these short run, multi material kits and seeing the work involved I probably won't in the future. You're doing a great job and it shows that with skill and patience a great model can be made. Well done getting the wing dihedral sorted. That canopy looked hopeless but now seems good.
Jim

Thanks Jim. I wouldn't say I'd recommend them, however I would say that in terms of modelling value you get your moneys worth! The main thing I've learned with this is to throw out all experience of building well engineered kits and treat every step as a new puzzle. I recently started playing escape room board games which I think helped with this mindset!

I managed to fit in some bench time today in between more decorating, cleaning and making gnocchi with the kids.

The last step was the undercarriage, the undercarriage doors and the arrestor hook. The leg assembly consists of a one piece moulding plus a hydraulic part. No.11 blade included for scale.



There is a fair bit of fiddly cleaning up to do on the legs and I decided the hydraulics were woeful, so I reached for the styrene rod and made a pair of replacements. While I was at it I decided I didn't like the look of the arrestor hook either and after reviewing the fit of the doors thought some hinges would help with the mounting post paint.



The hook on the arrestor assembly is a resin piece which is teeny tiny and there are a pair of hinges in resin too, which I glued to the hook assembly off the model as I felt I'd make a mess of it if I tried to put it on the model and felt it would be easier to line them all up this way too.



I then glued everything on. I also popped the completed propellers on for the benefit of the picture.



I was about to call it a day and go for tea and was checking over the instructions to make sure everything was done, and noticed some PE I missed on the undercarriage legs. These too are TINY!



If I get some time tomorrow (let's face it, I will. It's not like I'm going out anywhere!) I'll get some primer down.

Thanks for stopping in.

 

[Vaughan]

Great attention to detail Chris, nerves of steel with those p.e and resin parts.

 

[Archetype]

Great attention to detail Chris, nerves of steel with those p.e and resin parts.

Thanks Vaughan! I learned a long time ago that I have a threshold for repetitive, fine work, and this one has been putting that to the test!

I thought I was finished with the last round of updates, but I found a PE antenna that need to be added and needed to make a pitot from stretched sprue.

While I was doing that I considered the nav lights. Generally I would just paint them, but I have been curious about using clear sprue so I decided now was the time.
I removed the plastic nav lights from the wings and I dug out the left over clear sprue from my Tamiya Spitfire and began fashioning with my flat needle file.
Once I had a broad profile that crucially was square and fitted well, I separated two pieces and drilled holes in the rear end. These were then filled with red and green paint.



I painted the cut and cleaned tips of the wings and gave the faces a coat of bright aluminium paint before CA'ing the new nav lights in place.



I then set about matching them to the profile of the wing, again with my flat needle file.



Once I was happy with these I polished with wet 1000 grit. I was skeptical about the toothpaste polishing method but gave it a go anyway. I am now convinced it works! No more scratched canopies on my builds! Ahem...



Complete with antennae and pitot.



The next step really is final degrease and primer!


Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Lots of great work going in to this Chris. Love how you've done the nav lights.

 

[scottie3158]

Chris,
Nice work on the lights they really look the part.

 

[Archetype]

Thanks Andy and Paul!

The lights represent about 3hrs work I would guess, maybe a bit more.
Seems disproportionate to the result, but what’s important is I enjoyed it.

 

[scottie3158]

Thanks Andy and Paul!

The lights represent about 3hrs work I would guess, maybe a bit more.
Seems disproportionate to the result, but what’s important is I enjoyed it.

Time well spent

 

[Archetype]

Time well spent

Thanks Paul.

 

[yak face]

Top work chris , the lights look excellent , its coming together beautifully now , cheers tony

 

[Jack L]

Chris can you briefly explain the toothpaste? Not sure I have heard that one before!

 

[Archetype]

Top work chris , the lights look excellent , its coming together beautifully now , cheers tony

Thank you Tony! I'm pleased with how it's coming along.

Chris can you briefly explain the toothpaste? Not sure I have heard that one before!

Sure. All I did was buff the clear part with a piece of kitchen towel with toothpaste on. Simple, but effective!

 

[Archetype]

Did I say the fiddling was done? Not quite. The spinners needed a little work to level them out.

Primer on! Ordinarily I'd prime in white and preshade in black, however I am reversing that with this one to see what the results are like.



The primer showed up some areas that needed a little more attention, mainly scribing tool slips that I'd thought I'd get away with!



Sanded....



Reprimed....



I'm happy with the underside. The seam is visible but it won't be visible when displayed.



Undercarriage and wheel wells to receive silver treatment and then I will be highlighting with white primer prior to painting.

 

[yak face]

Looks very tidy now chris , no signs of the battle fought to get it to this stage ! Cheers tony

 

[Archetype]

Looks very tidy now chris , no signs of the battle fought to get it to this stage ! Cheers tony

Thanks Tony! That’s what we all strive for, a model that looks like it was easy!