WAK Hawker Typhoon Mk1b 1/33 scale

[gazweller]

After finishing off the MS 406 I thought I would have a go at the Typhoon Mk1b from WAK. I bought the kit, plus laser cuts parts and canopy. As yet I still don't have the confidence to build straight from the printed kit, so I scanned it and printed out 3 copies to be in the safe side. My print has little bit less contrast than the original but it is still acceptable I think.

The model it relatively simple with not much in the way of cockpit detail and no cut outs for wells in the wing for the undercarriage. On the other had it does have a full load of rockets and the weathering on the model is nicely done.

My first step was to assemble the cockpit from the laser cut parts. The dashboard was very simple, so I pimped it up a bit. 100% inaccurate I know, but it looks a bit more interesting and anyway is largely invisible once fitted!

[gazweller]

The next stage was to add the outside parts of the fuselage around the cockpit and the pilot seat. The seat part is single sided on the kit, meaning you can see white card on it once folded. I used the extra copies I made to make the part double sided and added some seat belts to make it a bit more realistic.

[gazweller]

My next step (and this is where I am at the moment) was to add the rear fuselage and make the structure for the large front air intake and the support for the tailplane and tail wheel - the air intake in particular is very complex and made me really glad that I had bought the laser cut parts! So far it has all gone together quite well and the fit or parts is pretty good with any discrepancies down to me.

[spgifford]

Looking great. I do the same thing, scan the kit in so that when I make a mistake (not if), I can print a new copy. Once my confidence is better I'll just build from the kit.

Looking forward to the rest of the build.

[gazweller]

Originally Posted by spgifford

Looking great. I do the same thing, scan the kit in so that when I make a mistake (not if), I can print a new copy. Once my confidence is better I'll just build from the kit.
....

Same here! Only problem I have found is color matching. There is always a difference between the copy I create and the original. Sometimes it takes a lot of fiddling with the scan and printer settings to get a reasonable result.

[Don Boose]

Nice work on the Typhoon.

Don

[smithdr]

Gotta love a Tiffie! Nice start...Dan

[Mike1158]

Agreed, a very nice start and I have to agree the printed copies make it easier to get to grips with. The finish looks a little closer to reality too.

[gazweller]

Thanks chaps! My next step was to cover the framework for the air intake. In the kit this is done with one piece, but I found this very difficult to get right. In the end I cut this part into three, applied the front part, then the rear part and lastly trimmed the middle part to fit. Came across my first real mismatch in the skins here. The left side of the camouflage matches perfectly, but the right hand side has a large error. Hopefully this won't be too obvious once the intake is fitted to the fuselage.

[Siwi]

Maybe some discreet marker pen, pencil or paint could fix that camo. I do wonder at how designers got the lines to match in the pre-CAD era.