Hawker Typhoon IB "Nicky" 439 Squadron RCAF 1/48 (1 Viewer)

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Tech Sergeant
Here is my new project. I will be doing the Hasegawa 1/48 Scale Hawker Typhoon IB Bubble Top. After researching various Typhoon's I have decided to do one from 439 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force piloted by Flying Officer Hugh Fraser.

First some background information:

Hugh Fraser's Typhoon carried the markings of 5V-X and serial number RB281. This aircraft was delivered to 439 Squadron on 28th December, 1944 and was a late production Typhoon. Because of this fact It most likely had the larger tempest tailplanes and 4 blade propeller. Among the first action to be seen by this aircraft was on 1 January 1945 when Hugh Fraser engaged a large number of FW190's destroying two of them in the process during a low level dogfight. on 14 February 1945 Hugh Fraser, flying 5V-X along with F/L Lyell Shaver engaged two ME262's from 5./kG 51 flying below them at roughly 3000 feet. They dove to engage the Luftwaffe aircraft, Shaver hit one which blew up while Fraser poured 20 mm rounds into the other ME262 which started belching smoke and tumbled down through the clouds. Both pilots from KG51 FW Werner Witzmann and Lt Hans-George Richter were killed, falling about 20 miles north of Coesfeld, Germany. On 2 March, 1945 while returning from a mission 5V-X RB281 suffered an engine failure and crash landed near Eindhoven. Fraser survived as did the aircraft which was repaired but eventually written off just after the war.

Here's a shot of Fraser in Nicky with some additional details about his kills.
Note the one German Kill marking in white versus the other two. This perhaps denotes
that he was awarded a probable kill for the ME262 at the time this picture was taken instead of
a confirmed kill.

Hugh Fraser Typhoon.jpg




For this build I have added the following upgrades to bring the Hasegawa kit up to the standards of a late Typhoon.


Ultracast Tempest tailplanes
Ultracast Typhoon exhasuts
Ultracast 4 blade propeller. The kit comes with a 3 bladed prop.
Airies Typhoon bubble top cockpit for Hasegawa kit.
Barracuda cast Typhoon main wheels and anti flutter tail wheel
Eduard Canopy mask set
Aeromaster decals Storms in the sky Part II with decals for Nicky
Bombs set with pylons graciously donated by Terry AKA Airframes. The Hasegawa kit does not provide a set of bombs.

IMG_0200b1100.JPG
 
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Nice project. If you look around the forum, I think there might be some other good references related to this or similar Tiffies. Catch22 started an RCAF Typhoon not that long ago.
 
Good one. The profile with the decals probably shows the same, but here's a profile showing the aircraft in 1945, from the 'Warpaint' Typhoon book.
I also have a profile and photo of an earlier 5V-X, but not really relevant, as it's a three blade prop and a different serial number and pilot.
 

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Nice project. If you look around the forum, I think there might be some other good references related to this or similar Tiffies. Catch22 started an RCAF Typhoon not that long ago.

Andy,

Thanks for having a look. I found Catch22's build and he is also doing a 439 squadron Typhoon. He's doing an early Typhoon called Butcher Boy. I have bookmarked his build.

Cheers!
 
Good one. The profile with the decals probably shows the same, but here's a profile showing the aircraft in 1945, from the 'Warpaint' Typhoon book.
I also have a profile and photo of an earlier 5V-X, but not really relevant, as it's a three blade prop and a different serial number and pilot.


Terry,

The Aeromaster decals are very nice and I think pretty accurate. I believe they are out of print and it took a lot of searching to find a set that wasn't listed at an outrageous price. They are per your post. Complete with 3 kill markings and the Nicky decal. The set even suggests I use the C1 roundels with the thin yellow outline for the upper wings for 5V-X which it comes with and for this late stage of the war aircraft are I believe accurate.
 
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Yep, upper wing 'C1' roundels were introduced early in 1945 - can't remember the date offhand, but it was something like 2nd January or 2nd February.
One point to remember, which is bound to be incorrect in the kit instructions!
The upper walls of the cockpit were painted matt black, as was the front and rear of the head armour, and the decking under the canopy,not the usual Cockpit Grey Green. The latter colour was, however, used elsewhere in the cockpit, on the lower walls, which can hardly be seen, and on some of the tubular frames and fittings, and the seat. the rest of the frames, and very often the ribbed heel boards, were painted 'Aluminium' (matt silver).
Also, the reflector gun sight did not use a reflector screen, projecting the reticle directly onto the windscreen, unless the MkII Gyro gun sight was fitted, in which case the reflector screen, and the glare shield, were in place.
It's difficult to be certain, in the photo you posted, which sight is fitted, due to the reflection of the overhead camouflage net on the glass of the windscreen, but what looks like the top of the glare shield of the sight is just visible, and this would tie-in with the period, when most aircraft had this sight fitted by then.
 
Yep, upper wing 'C1' roundels were introduced early in 1945 - can't remember the date offhand, but it was something like 2nd January or 2nd February.
One point to remember, which is bound to be incorrect in the kit instructions!
The upper walls of the cockpit were painted matt black, as was the front and rear of the head armour, and the decking under the canopy,not the usual Cockpit Grey Green. The latter colour was, however, used elsewhere in the cockpit, on the lower walls, which can hardly be seen, and on some of the tubular frames and fittings, and the seat. the rest of the frames, and very often the ribbed heel boards, were painted 'Aluminium' (matt silver).
Also, the reflector gun sight did not use a reflector screen, projecting the reticle directly onto the windscreen, unless the MkII Gyro gun sight was fitted, in which case the reflector screen, and the glare shield, were in place.
It's difficult to be certain, in the photo you posted, which sight is fitted, due to the reflection of the overhead camouflage net on the glass of the windscreen, but what looks like the top of the glare shield of the sight is just visible, and this would tie-in with the period, when most aircraft had this sight fitted by then.


Terry,

Looking at the Airies gun sight and the Hasegawa they look like the following.
I was planning on using the Airies sight.

Airies
Round size and gun sight glass, no reflector glass
Like so

0412497.jpg


The Hasegawa sight look like an MK IIc.


images.jpg



And here's another picture of Nicky though I believe its a different aircraft from the one I posted above. I can't tell if it has the reflector screen on the gun sight.

bigtiffie021.jpg
 
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The second pic of 'Nicky' could be a different aircraft, as the name appears to be in a slightly different location, and the kill markings are different too. But both photos appear to show the Gyro sight, as shown in the small pic you posted of the gun sight. Look carefully at both pics, and you can see the rectangular shape of the glare shield and it's support frame, and the fact that even the indistinct parts are a lot 'bulkier' than the standard, 'round' reflector sight without it's screen. This was the Ferranti manufactured sight used as the design model for the later, American K-14 sight, and first introduced into RAF service in late 1943, on the Spitfire MkIX, although the Typhoon didn't get it until much later. But, by the period for your model, it would normally have been fitted by then.
 
Regarding the cockpit colours,

The photos I have seen of Typhoon cockpits show the sides to be black and the frame to be silver except near the upper cockpit areas which are black as in the photo above.

Terry, I beleive you indicated elsewhere on this site the colours for painting the cockpit of the Tyhoon including the seat back padding which I believe you said was light sage green.

If anyone has other photos showing some difference that would be great.
 
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Yes, the upper cockpit walls were matt black, and the lower walls, virtually hidden below the seat level and behind the tubular frames, were normally left in the Cockpit Grey Green colour.
There were variations in the colours of the tubular frames, with the upper frames, more or less at the level of the lower instrument panel, in either 'Aluminium' (silver), or Grey Green, and the bottom frames, again virtually out of sight, in silver. The cross-frame tube, under the instrument panel, was sometimes painted black also, and these differences can be seen in the photo you posted (which is the original cockpit preserved at Duxford, before it was moved to an area where it's impossible to photograph well!), and in the B&W war time shots, plus the partially restored cockpit exhibited at Cockpit Fest.
The final cockpit photo, slightly bright due to the flash, shows the seat cushion. This looks a little lighter than normal, due to the flash and the fact that it's 70 years old, as this is the cockpit of the World's only complete (almost) Typhoon, currently under renovation at the RAF Museum, Cosford. Basically, anything close, in the way of 'sage green', or light greyish green, would be acceptable, bearing in mind this would get somewhat grubby with use, especially after the aircraft moved to the Continent.
Note that the seat itself looks grey in this photo, although it was normally either Cockpit Grey Green, or 'Aluminium' painted (silver), the same as the tubular frames. I've also seen what appears to be a black, rather chipped seat, so again, anything in the way of silver-grey, dull silver, black with paint scuffing, grey green etc, would suffice.
The last shot shows the full harness, this being the late type Sutton, as fitted to the Typhoon, Tempest, and later Mks of Spitfire.
 

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Good additions Andy.
I forgot to mention - in the first two B&W pics I posted, the upper tubular frames look like they are probably in the Grey Green, and in the colour pics of the Cockpit Fest example, the upper longitudinal frames, in bare metal, have traces of Grey Green paint on them too. Other photos, and some film footage I saw not long ago, have shown black, silver, Grey green and various combinations.
I tried taking various shots of the cockpit at Duxford, but, since it's been moved from the hangar (as shown in the pic posted where the white, brick pillar is visible) to the gallery in the 'Superhanger', the results are far from good, as there is too much reflection on the Perspex panels which have replaced the metal fuselage skin, allowing the interior to be viewed. However, I'll have a look at them and if I think any might be of use, I'll post them here tomorrow.
 
Andy,

Excellent shots, especially of the floor section. Very helpful.


Terry,

Looking forward to seeing more of your excellent reference information.



I am going to build up the side panels first before priming. Hope to post some shots by this weekend.
 
Here's the only (barely) usable shots of the cockpit at Duxford. This is now on the upstairs gallery, under mixed lighting causing reflections so bad, it's difficult to see inside with the naked eye!
The side panels have been removed, and replaced with Perspex, which would have been great if there wasn't so much light bouncing around here, there and everywhere, and had there been more room around the exhibit, instead of more glass panels and display boards with more lights!
First view is looking through from the starboard side, and an unusual angle on the seat, again through the Perspex side panel, and it can be seen that it's Cockpit Grey Green.
Looking down and to port rear, over the seat, showing the faded pale greenish / light buff back pad, and a couple showing the gun sight bracket, albeit grainy and not very sharp, again due to lighting and shooting through Perspex.
Note that, as there is no rear armour or head armour plate behind the seat, with a clear Perspex 'wall' here instead, there is no anchor point for the shoulder straps of the seat harness, which are draped over the seat and fastened out of sight. These straps would normally be attached to a bar on the armour plate, just above the top of the seat, as per the cockpit shot of the RAF Museum complete aircraft.
Oh, and apologies to Gary (Geedee), as I forgot to credit him for the pics from Cockpit Fest.

EDIT: I forgot to mention - the two B&W pics posted by Andy are of the 'car door' version, which had some fittings in different locations, and, of course, totally different upper side walls, due to the doors, and had a roll cage behind and around the seat, forming the rear 'hoop' of the main canopy/door frame section.
 

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