Hawker Hunter F.6 (Revell)

Bill Gilman
Finally got a chance to get started on my Hunter, here are the first pictures. My plan is to finish the wings separately, and join them to the fuselage after they are painted. This reduces some of the masking for this scheme. This also means I have to paint the fuselage while it is on a stick! Next, I'll mask off the outer segments of the wings, prime with white and then paint red. There's not much here yet, but I'm looking forward to finishing this nice, shiny paint scheme.

Holger Kranich
Wonderful work on the flap!!! Didnt knew that you are paying with Euro in the states😢

Philip De Keyser
Looks awesome Bill, great job, a Red devil from Belgium? Greetz Phil

Bill Gilman
Thanks, mates. @Holger, I use the Euro coin for scale since most of the folks here are from Europe. I visit Germany about six times a year for work, so I have collected quite a few Euro coins. @Philip, the markings will be British I'm afraid. I have to use Wilfried's avatar or he gets upset. 🙂 So it will be 4 FTS based at RAF Valley in 1973. My next Hunter might be the "Papyrus Hunter" from the Swiss Air Force, just because it is so odd.

Holger Kranich
@Bill: 6 times a year in germany? Sounds good! Do you know ehen you are next time in good ol germany?

Bill Gilman
@Holger, well it was supposed to be this week! Unfortunately I have a problem with my back, and I need to have surgery which is scheduled for June 27. I'm not supposed to travel until after I've recovered (4-5 weeks). So my next trip will probably be in August. I normally visit Goettingen and Munich (I work for Qioptiq and they have facilities there), but I want to visit Berlin so I can go to the Luftwaffe museum. Maybe I can schedule this for my next trip - I will let you know, maybe you can come down from your island and meet me at the museum! Cheers.

stefan natus
Nice clean work on the flaps and seat.

Holger Kranich
@Bill: That sounds like a good idea!🙂

Bill Gilman
I've added some more WIP photos that show the progress on the Hunter. I had it all painted when I realized that the fuselage roundels would straddle the white/red demarcation line, and the line would probably show through the decal. So I masked off circles where the roundels would go and sprayed white. That way they will all look the same!

Bill Gilman
The kit decals for the underwing numbers had guidelines for cutting them to fit on and around the gear doors. I made a photocopy of the kit decals, cut them along the guidelines and used the cut pieces to transfer the proper shapes onto the aftermarket decals. It worked much better than I thought it would! Everything looked good!

Holger Kranich
You did a great job in painting and i love your range of Alclad-coloures on the Tamiya-stand! Keep on rocking!

Philip De Keyser
This is gonne be another beauty from Bill, it looks great Bill, nice paintjob, i like it, greetz Phil

Bernd Korte
Very nice work. It's always a treat to see your models!

Bill Gilman
Thanks guys!

@Holger - you can't have too many shades of Alclad!! My wife thought they were multiple bottles of one shade and got on my case for buying more than I need! Ha! There is always something else that I need to buy!! 70% of the US GDP is consumer spending and I need to do my part!!

stefan natus
Great and clean paint job bill,color full bird you got there.

Bill Gilman
I've finished my Hawker Hunter and posted too many pictures. This was fun, right after doing a very heavily weathered Tomcat, I make a shiny clean, right out of the paint booth Hunter. Refreshing change! Enjoy!

Zimmermaniac
looks great Bill

Wilfried Bogaerts
Looks fantastic! In my humble opinion most models look a bit toy like when factory fresh, but with your Hunter this is certainly not the case, it looks really really good, I like it a lot!

Philip De Keyser
Hi Bill, you did a great job, it looks a very nice and fresh factory Hunter, I love it, greetz Phil

Holger Kranich
As always, i have to say: Great Job!!! Wheel wells, Flaps, i like it!

Bill Gilman
Thanks guys! @Wilfried, I know what you mean - I think the really colourful schemes, like this one and the recent F-4EJ Kai that I did, prevent the toy-like look. I was working from 20 or so photos of 4FTS Hunters, and in every shot they look clean and very well maintained (except for a couple of photos of this plane as it is today sitting in some field), so I really couldn't weather it much. Although, now that you've got me thinking, I could do another another model that does show the sad state of affairs that this airframe is currently in...that would make a very interesting contrast. 🙂

stefan natus
Go for it bill,like this look also maybe a soft panel line wash.

Bill Gilman
Bill Gilman @stefan, I thought about a light wash, but these planes were impeccably cared for. Here is a shot of a sister ship from the same time (1974):

abpic.co.uk/photo/1022447/

It is really difficult to see any panel lines at all! Here is what my aircraft (XF526) looks like today:

thunder-and-lightnin../survivor.php?id=205

Cheers, Bill

stefan natus
Your right bill looks perfectly clean,should look great next to a model with today's status.i am now even more convinced about your idea.
2e image looks great with all that weathered paint job.

Christian Lehmann
Hi UNB 🙂 , this colorful plane looks very nice.