This will be my entry into the D-Day 70th Anniversary Group Build- the Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Typhoon Mk.1b kit #09059.
A little history courtesy of Hasegawa's instruction booklet;
Two designs of the Hawker Typhoon, known as the "Tiffy" in RAF slang, were proposed during the aircraft's development stage: the N-type was powered by the Napier Sabre engine and the R-type by the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The R-type, dubbed the Tornado, made its maiden flight in October 1939. The Sabre powered type was dubbed the Typhoon, but initial problems with the development of the engine itself delayed its maiden flight until February 1940. The top speed of the design was noteworthy, but flight characteristics were judged to be seriously flawed due to a tendency for the plane to veer to the right during take-off. Subsequently, as the Tornado design was cancelled due to production difficulties with the Vulture power-plant, the Typhoon 1a was given the go-ahead for mass production, powered by an improved Sabre IIA engine, The 20mm cannon-armed Typhoon Ib type followed closely on the heels of the Ia, and was sent into combat without the benefit of sufficient testing, with the result that the design suffered from various initial troubles in service. One of the most alarming of these troubles was the life threatening tendency for tail section failure in flight. However, these shortcomings were considered acceptable, as at the time the Typhoon was the only fighter design in the Allied arsenal capable of a speed higher than the Fw 190 in low altitude flight, and the Typhoon's armament of four 20mm canons made the fighter capable of completely devastating an opponent in a single pass. With the tail section problems ironed out, the Typhoon was seeing extensive action over Nazi-occupied Europe, seeing great success as a sea/ground-attack plane against airfields, shipping and railway rolling stock.
Crew: 1
Length: 9.93m (32.6 feet)
Wingspan: 12.59m (41.31 feet)
Height: 4.49m (14.73 feet)
Powerplant: Napier Sabre IIA liquid-cooled 24-cylinder H-configured engine rated at 2,180hp.
Top Seed: 652km/hr (405mph)
Fixed armament: Hispano 20mm cannons (x4)
Maiden Flight: February 24th, 1940
This kit offers two versions to model;
1. Aircraft # EK139 of R.A.F No. 175 Squadron known as "Dirty Dora". This is the version I will be building.
No. 175 Squadron was a part of Second Tactical Airforce No. 83 Group RAF in support of World War II Normandy landings, and supported the allied advance through France Holland and Belgium on into Germany. The squadron was active from under canvas on temporary landing grounds in a matter of days after the D-Day landings. The squadron initially flew Hawker Hurricane fighters and was later outfitted with Hawker Typhoons prior to the invasion. The squadron was based in various locations during World War II such as RAF Redhill and RAF Dunsfold.
On 13 April 1942, during a demonstration ground attack at Imber Ranges, a pilot from the squadron killed 25 military personnel, having mistaken them for targets. The demonstration was a dress rehearsal for a visit by Winston Churchill and General George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, which went ahead as planned three days later.[1]
2. Aircraft # JR371 of R.A.F No. 198 Squadron
Further information about the history of the Typhoon can be found on Wikipedia via this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Typhoon
In-Box Review:
The box art shows aircraft serial # EK139, the model which I am choosing to do model, in flight and carrying the two underwing 500lb bombs.
When opening the box, contained within is an 8 sided instruction booklet that has 12 sections of assembly, a list of paint numbers and shades, 2d views of the sprues, two decal guides for the two aforementioned aircraft and a painting guide. The front page consists of a brief history as written above, both in Japanese and English. The instruction booklet is in black and white.
There are 11 medium grey sprues, one clear sprue and one small black rubber sprue and after close observation it can be seen that all parts are crisp and clean of flash, parting line miss-match, ejector pin stress marks, warp, scratches and dinks, except for the tail wheel which has a small amount of parting-line flash that will need a little cleaning up before painting. Panel lines and rivet details are nicely recessed to provide ease of highlighting at the pre-shading stage followed by pin-washing during the final finishing stages.
The decals look really good with a matt finish and the don't look thick, so they look like they will go on well. There decals provided for the underside black stripes and the upper wing walkways on both the port side and starboard side. The fuselage tail stripe in Duck Egg Green is also provided as a decal. I will mask and airbrush all stripes on my model.
The lower wings have pre-formed blind holes on the inside surfaces, both port side and starboard side that could be drilled through for attaching rockets, but this kit doesn't include rocket rails and rockets; which, for me was a disappointment. There is no pilot included in this kit. The cockpit looks reasonable with the option to paint the instrument panel or use the provided decal. There are two options of canopy; the first is for a completely closed solid canopy and the second is for the open "Car Door" style canopy, of which I'll be using in my model.
All flaps, ailerons and the rudder are molded solid, and so there are no options to model any in a down position. Surgery could be performed to cut these out and pose them in different positions.
There are boxed in wheel wells that include rib details and hydraulic pumps for actuating the wheel well doors / wheels.
Below are photos taken following my opening and inspection of the box contents;
PLEASE NOTE: If anyone knows where I could buy aftermarket product for the underwing rockets that are not included, a resin engine to open up the cowlings and display it, PE and resin cockpit sets and flaps/ailerons and rudder parts, it would be greatly appreciated.
To see a video of my in-box review of this model, please click on my YouTube video link here:
Thanks in advance for watching and commenting on the video and for anyone that can provide supplier information for after market extras, bearing in mind that I live in the USA.
Cheers,
Martin
That's looking great!
