This
was the original Hunter prototype modified to beat the world air speed
record in 1952. This really was the best looking Hunter, without the
cartridge collectors (who was Sabrina anyway?) or air brake which marred
the later ones. The plane was not scrapped and still survives at Tangmere,
the south coast airfield from which the record breaking flight was made.
Click on
images below to see larger images
It
amazes me that you can get almost every detail of the Hunter as a kit or
after market but not this most famous one! Construction was based on the
Academy F6 kit. I started by cutting the wing leading edges away back to
the original shape. The gaps were blocked with some sprue on the inside
and then shaped from Milliput. The kit tail pipe was modified to the
afterburning nozzle and the original side airbrakes were scribed on with
stiffeners added from plastic strip. The tail plane was moved back 2mm
with the bullet fairing reshaped. The most noticeable difference is the
pointed nose which was the easiest to make from a blob of Milliput,
whereas the hardest was reshaping the canopy which is almost unnoticeable.
Seat and cockpit came from Aries which is a superb set. Larger diameter
wheels and shorter undercarriage legs came from Aeroclub.
As
was common in the 1950's the panel lines were sealed and painted over so the
plane looked very smooth and devoid of panel lines other than around the engine.
Paint is Mr Colour red. Decals from the spares box.
Thanks
to Damien Burke for Thunder and Lightning's excellent reference web site as I
haven't managed to get to Tangmere yet and get my own pictures but I do remember
it at Cosford in the old days.
I
finished this in February and was saving it for September which is the 54th
anniversary but with his recent death it seems more relevant today.
Colin
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