GB-47 1/48 Hawker Typhoon - WW2 D-Day and After – Western Front

[Crimea_River]

There is a small thing that I'm still not sure of and would like confirmation if I can get it. In the below crops of previously posted pictures, there appears to be a sloped object at the front of the sight. I'm assuming that this is the angled mount for the reflector pane, the pane itself having been removed to allow the reticle to shine onto the windscreen. In the second pic, there also appears to be a lip on the pilot's side of the sight which I'm assuming is a field mod addition of a screen to stop the sun glaring off the sight lens.

Note that I will also be adding the crash pad, seen in the first pic, to the frame that I just installed.

 

[Airframes]

That sounds about right, although in the first pic posted, the glass screen may be fitted, but not visible due to lighting and contrast.
Pics below show the MkI Type III sight, with the deflection dial for RP use on the right-hand side, and the red arrow indicating the support brackets for the reflector screen.
I've seen, and have got, somewhere, pics of basically the same sight, without the reflector glass screen and without the brackets, so it should be acceptable to have the sight "bare", without screen or brackets.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. The bracket, I think, is clearly visible in the second pic I posted so I will want to have this in place. To be honest, I can't reconcile the two pics as the installation looks different to me. The pic with Hardy in the cockpit was taken earlier than the second pic, the latter displaying the Vargas girl motif which was added later. Maybe the first pic has a modified MkII sight whereas the second one has the upgraded Type1 MkIII.

 

[Airframes]

I think they are probably both the same type of sight, or vey close variations of the type. The support brackets certainly appear to be present in both cases, and it's very possible / probable that the reflector glass has been removed from both sights, which, from memory of my temporarily misplaced notes, was common before "glass-less" sights were supplied and fitted, lacking the glass and the support brackets. Again trying to remember my notes, I think the mounting position needed to be altered, when the glass was removed, to allow the illuminated reticle to project onto the windscreen at the correct angle and definition.
In the second pic you posted, it may be that the sight is the one shown below, as seen in the link you posted, with what appears to be something faintly showing on the rear body being the glare shield (arrowed in the pic below).

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep that was my conclusion as well though the reflector pane supports are also present in my picture. If I recall, the picture you posted there is labelled as a 1945 vintage Tempest.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Hugh.

The nav lights have been installed with the usual drilled hole and dab of red and green. If you look really close, you'll see that I screwed up the green one in that I ended up drilling the wrong face. Once off the sprue, the parts are hard to orient being almost but not quite symmetrical. However there's a definite right way t attach them to the model and so I elected to chose fit over form.

So, back in the pit. I added a crash pad, simple enough, and found a resin Mk II gun sight with the mounts discussed above. The only thing missing was the glare shield and so I fashioned one out of thin card from which I punched a crescent shape and rolled it around a file before gluing it to the sight.

And here it is all painted.

Once the windscreen is stuck on I'll mask the pit and start painting.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Airframes]

I agree, really looks the biz.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks friends. Means a lot.

 

[rochie]

Really great looking sight Andy

 

[Wayne Little]

Totally agree......looking Good Andy.

 

[T Bolt]

Real nice work Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Thinking ahead, I think I will try that salt technique on this one in order to capture the heavily weathered finish. I'll need to dig up JKim's old threads where he did this.

 

[Airframes]

Or you could just leave it outside, where I live. Very realistic weathering achieved within a day or so !!!

 

[fubar57]

Really nice mods Andy. Had issues with my lights as well

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Today I launched into painting after having stuck on the windscreen and cannon fairings. The windscreen needed to be persuaded a bit in that it was a bit narrow. I ended up CA gluing the front and one side and then pulling the other side onto the correct location which also had some CA applied beforehand. It worked alright but in doing this, I discovered that the gun sight was slightly off center. I decided to live with this as there was too much already committed to this detail to rip it all apart again.

The underside had received preshaded patches using left over black paint from other projects. I sprayed the white area of the fuselage stripes tonight and then the black portions were carefully measured and masked using Tamiya bendy tape on the edges and regular tape for the infill.

Perfect. TOO perfect actually.

I then masked the outer white stripes and applied the Medium Sea Grey to the undersides, leaving some of the preshading to show through. I find that the camera never picks this effect up fully but it is definitely visible. So, to begin the griming up of the stripes and underside in general, I prepared a very thin mix of Tamiya Deck Tan and Rubber Black and began spraying this dirt mix starting with the white border that we talked about earlier and then spraying over the stripes from a distance. I then turned the pressure right down to the point where the paint was barely coming out and allowed it to splatter behind the wheel wells and onto the fuselage underside to represent mud that was kicked up. Eindhoven wasn't the cleanest place at the time and so there will be plenty of grime yet to come.

Thanks for looking guys and I appreciate the kudos.

 

[fubar57]

Neato. For what its worth, my windscreen was also a tad narrow

 

[rochie]

great effect on the dirty stripes Andy