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Gábor Szabó
66 articles

Airfix H.P.42 1:144

April 8, 2015 · in Aviation · · 21 · 3.7K

Here is some pics of my finished "golden age" or "art deco" bird. I know what the collectors will say but it was built from a red-stripe box kit 🙂 The plastic became a bit brittle and I had to remake some of the wing struts but the build itself wasn't too bad. I fashionated some interior and added some exterior details. The fabric effect a bit strong in this "breille scale" so I sanded down most of it, repositioned the rudders and the friese ailerons. I used Tamiya TS-17 (silver) decanted for the doping and Alclads for the fuselage and the engines. I custom made the decals for the "Hannibal" in late '30s scheme (with royal mail emblem to add some diversity) and fashionated a small diorama with "N" scale figures and scrachbuilt ladders. As You may notice I was wrong placing the upper decals (I relied upon the instructions that totally wrong) so this will be repaired. I think there isn't another airplane that 'IMPERIAL AIRWAYS' looks so good on it than this type. I will add a WIP later if someone interested. Hope You enjoy thanks for looking. Any C&C welcome!

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14 additional images. Click to enlarge.


21 responses

  1. Being unfamiliar with the type of aircraft, I have to ask: what's the wingspan of this model..? Looks like a lot of work that turned out quite nicely, sir.

    • Thank You! The orginal plane was one of the biggest (if not the biggest) airplane back in 1930 when Imperial ordered it with it's 130 ft (39.62 m) wingspan. In 1:144 it is still a decent size kit with nearly 28cm (11') span. One of my favourite golden age type - originally I liked to build the Contrail 1:72 kit (vacu!) but that's extremely rare nowadays so I decided to build this oldie that also gets became a rarity itself. The kit isn't that bad considering it's age (1960).

  2. Hats off or pulling this one off!
    It looks great.
    It isn't often that one sees one of these finished.

  3. Thank You Gentlemen!

  4. Fantastic work there Gabor.
    Rigging on that scale...
    Well done that man.

  5. Very pleasing appearence for this HP 42, the diorama works very well !
    Rigging is hard job at little scale, i know with some of my 1/72 WWI models...
    Beautiful work, anyway !

  6. Thank You! Actually the warren strut fortunately doesn't make much room for rigging 🙂 The tail strut is another story. I used caenis fishing line first time and it worked fine for me.

  7. Profile Photo
    P.k said on April 9, 2015

    A great lot of work on this "dinosaur" and a great diorama !
    Like,Like!
    Will you carry HP:42 another week to "Moson" show ?

    P.k

    • Thanks! I'm afraid that this scale/kit doesn't attract enough attention in pair with my 1:48 Comet - as it seemed to me in Szolnok a month ago. The hungarian modellers society's evaluation system is not conducive to complex buildings for. I think on Moson Show You can see much more interesting subjets anyway 🙂

  8. I built the old Matchbox Stranraer in 1/72 and that was a challenge, but this is really testing your skills in small scale subjects. Well done, Gabor.

  9. Beautiful diorama and model - awful looking plane. One was blown apart during a storm on the ground...

  10. Wow, what a nice build, super unusual subject, it doesn't look like it (the prototype) would really fly! Great work.

  11. Very nicely done. I've not built back into the "golden era," usually prefer WWII and later, but the interesting lines on this are tempting! Remarkable job for the scale also.

  12. Thank You! Just to save the planes reputation: the HP42 was famous about that no lives were lost in civilian service (a record thought to be unique for contemporary aircraft). Eight were built, four of each type; all were named, with names beginning with the letter "H". The three survivors were pressed into Royal Air Force service at the outbreak of the Second World War (!). There was a RAF transport paint scheme that made this aircraft more uglier 🙂

  13. Lovely work, especially in this scale, and I don't think it's ugly at all!

  14. Gabor,
    Beautifully done. You really set the mood for this old airliner. Love the wat you have displayed it. Actually I think the airplane has a charm of it's own. I like the ladder

  15. Thank You!
    I got the camel and the arab figure as a gift from a feller modeller that's why the diorama :). The ladder is only 18mm tall almost too thin for my thick fingers 🙂 based on some photos found on the net. Well, I think 1:144 won't be my preferred scale however I have a Junkers G38 and a Do X in my stash 😀 .

  16. A rarely seen kit and even more rare to see it so well done and presented !
    Just cool !
    BTW. love the camel, a nice touch

  17. Nice work Gabor! - even after all these years! Great to see this kit built.

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