No 486 (NZ) Sqn. RAF Tangmere 'Operation Spartan'
In 2014, Airfix contacted me and asked if I would build them the original bubble-top incarnation of their 1/24 Typhoon. As they had three other modellers also building, I was left with the shark mouth scheme....not that I was complaining. The model took around 7 weeks from start to finish and was one of the most satisfying builds I'd tackled in years. The blue infill on the mouth was also a talking point
. There's no doubt that the finished model is impressive and imposing, yet not without its issues, such as seams that need removing, and some complicated plumbing work. Like many other modellers, the Typhoon that really interested us was the earlier car-door version. Thankfully, Airfix recently released this one, and I was asked again to build too. Original kit photos
The new release looks as engaging, but isn't without a few niggles. I will be building scheme 'B' which is the earliest machine from the options given. This means removing the fish plates from the tail strengthening joint, meaning the missing detail from under the plates will need to be restored. Despite this being a necessary evil, for some bizarre reason, Airfix will have you slice away the plastic on the deck to the rear of the pilot, and replace it with an insert. The reason? Simply to replace the moulded detail with a less detailed alternative. Having tried this and screwing up a fuselage half, I decided to just remove the raised plastic detail and recreate the lapped panel detail, as per the tail unit fish tail area. Makes sense? Good, I thought so.
Before
After
This Typhoon is quite interesting. Like all schemes in this release, it has a three-bladed propeller, but it also has the early style car door canopy, early narrow chord tailplane, and short cannon fairings. If you think you'll see lots of weapons underneath the wings, then you'll be wrong. This one carries no external ordnance. Yes.....a plain wing, unhindered by things hanging from it!
After scraping the frames and other internal parts (for two whole days), the entire internal framework was assembled and then airbrushed with Xtreme Metal Aluminium. After a coat of Klear, a wash was added. Here is the result. I still need to add further staining and detail paintwork, but you get the idea. You'll also note the early pilot seat headrest/bulkhead.
More soon........
Wow!
