Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[Second Air Force]

Since the Sea Fury project is finishing up I've decided to do it's "ancestor" next, the Hawker Typhoon. I wanted the early "car door" style of Mk. 1b so I found an old Hasegawa kit:

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

I've read some reviews about this product that weren't very complimentary, especially about the fit of the cockpit section. You see, Hasegawa designed the molds so that the kit could be updated to the bubble canopy version with relative ease, and their solution was to make the top of the fuselage a drop-in section with either car door or bubble details. As you can see by the next photo, some care is required to fit these sections in place, but it isn't the huge problem I've read about on the web. I simply taped the fuselage halves together and then carefully fitted the insert parts with glue and aligned these as the glue cured. It still requires a little filler, but not anything we haven't had to do on other kits. Other than that little issue, this is a fun kit so far!

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[No.1]

Hey- I did not know for this kit at all, this is nice build add!!

[draken35]

[Second Air Force]

Thanks, friends!

I have seen this kit and the bubble canopy version before but I never saw fit to purchase one then. I'm finding it quite relaxing actually! I'm not sure why most of the reviews online had negative feelings in them.

Here is a little more progress and I've seen fit to also give a review of another of the fabric seat harnesses offered by Eduard:

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

49062 is very similar to the other seatbelt sets we've reviewed on LLL and everything went together quite smoothly. I'm becoming more and more comfortable with building up these fabric sets and I'm starting to like them almost as much as the PE version.

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

After the cockpit "basket" was completed I decided to spend a bit of time on the radiator assembly. Hasegawa did a decent job here, but the central oil cooler/carburetor inlet was missing the four braces that form an X in the central element. I simply made these out of styrene and painted them to match the fairings:

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[draken35]

Well done...

[Second Air Force]

I've not updated this lately and I apologize. In one early morning (I couldn't sleep, so went to the model desk) I was able to correct most of the seams with some filler and assemble the primary parts. While the fit of the wing roots was a little loose it was easily corrected with some filler and CA glue. After the filling, it was on to some primer and re-touching filler where needed. I've also sprayed the inside of wheelwells after some research on the coloring. This I decided to spray in aluminum color after reading about how Hawker finished their early Typhoons. I could be wrong on this but there are differing opinions on the subject.

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[No.1]

Crisp work, no gaps, I like it

[draken35]

[Second Air Force]

A little paint, Azure is unusual on a Typhoon.......

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[No.1]

Interesting, this will be great result I guess

[draken35]

[Second Air Force]

Thanks, friends!

This Tiffy will lead to at least one more--I am enjoying this build even though it's taking a long time to complete. I'm going to find another Hasegawa kit of the later bubble-canopy type and do the more typical European scheme.

[Second Air Force]

Short of time last weekend and no progress here.....this morning I started masking the Azure while having a cup of coffee.

Hasegawa Typhoon 1b

[No.1]

Coffeee

[Second Air Force]

Yep, but when the cup went dry I quit masking..... and had to start cooking. Maybe more tomorrow!