1/32 Revell Hawker Typhoon Mk 1B

Gallery Article by Steve Negley on Dec 23 2009

 

I built this kit about 8 yrs ago where it has sat on my shelf a proud addition to my 1/32 scale fighter collection. It always seemed to be missing something though and I felt it was left a little unfinished. After giving it some thought and viewing some pictures of some front line Typhoon's I decided it was time to add those 8 rockets that were missing under the wings and to do a little weathering to the paint job. This is one of those Revell kits that is just a bear to put together. There are so many weak points of construction to this kit, the worst being the wing to fuselage fillets. There is absolutely no good area to cement to if you build it OOB. There is a way to fix this and strengthen the wing root area by adding some sheet styrene to the fuselage at the wing root and to the wing at the root itself. By doing this, it made fitting the wing to the fuselage alot easier and also made sanding the wing root to shape easier also.

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This kit comes as the birdcage canopy version of the Typhoon but I always preferred the bubble top version. When I decided I wanted to do this conversion Tom's Modelworks was the only one that I could find that offered the conversion kit so I purchased it. This conversoin kit offered a vacu-formed canopy and the four bladed propeller but it didn't offer the HVAR rockets so I never put them on. I don't think this conversion kit is available anymore though. After searching the internet and some model sites I found the rockets from Model Design Construction in the UK and promptly ordered them. Much to my surprise they arrived in my mail only a couple of weeks later so I started the project of assembling the rockets and rails and putting them on the model....finally! When I opened the box these things were a small kit in themselves and I think very nicely done. The fins come on a PE sheet with the rockets and rails made of what seems like some soft gray resin. Some of the rails were a little warped but they bent back into shape easily.  The rockets and rails had a little flash on them but that sanded off easily with a sanding stick. It's tedious work cementing the brass fins to the rocket bodies but it was made much easier by using accelerator to set the CA glue once you get them in position. I painted the rockets and rails by hand with a brush using Model Master paint. Attached are photos of the finished rockets and rails after they were applied to the model. 

I was really pleased with the final outcome and after sitting so long on my shelf as a model I felt was not complete this Typhoon finally looked finished. Model Design Construction now offers a complete resin kit of the Typhoon in 1/32 scale but I have another of these Revell kits that I think I will pull out of my box of unbuilts since MDC offers a resin cockpit and other aftermarket stuff for the Revell kit. 

Steve Negley

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Photos and text © by Steve Negley