Frog Hunter FGA.10

Hi All!

The Hawker Hunter has been well represented in 1/72nd scale, from Frog's F.1 from 1955 to Revell's F.6 from 2008. This posting is about Frog's FGA.9 from 1974. The kit is a product of its time, with a sparse cockpit, no wheel wells, and some vague detailing. But it does look like a Hunter and has very fine raised panel lines. This kit was acquired while working in "Jersey Shore Hobbies" on the weekends. A gentleman came in with a box of Frog, Airfix, Airlines, and Buzco kits, all from the 70s and before. These were his father's, and his father had passed. So I bought them.

It was time for the Frog Hunter FGA.9. I had done the Frog F.1 as a desktop model ( not much else can be done, unless you do a LOT of work), and the FGA.9 was much improved. I started to prepaint the kit. Weight was added to the nose to keep the model from being a tail-sitter. Since the kit was allowed "to age" before building, some minor warpage was encountered. Careful use of a hairdryer and some spreaders took care of any problems. The kit still required filler on most of the seams, especially on the wing-to-fuselage seams. Again, when the filler cured, the model was wet sanded over the kitchen sink to cut down on dust. When the seams were finished, to my satisfaction, the model was wiped off with Isopropyl Alcohol. The scheme of Dark Sea Grey, Dark Green uppers, and Light Aircraft Grey lowers was marked and masked. Vallejo and Hataka acrylic paints were hand-brushed onto the model. Again, Future was used as a gloss agent. When dry, the Super Scale decals from sheet number 72-549, "Hunters Mk.7,9,&10" were used. A second coat of Future was applied, and when dry, the model was sprayed with a flat clear.

A word here about the decals: the colors looked correct, they were in register, and, of course, they worked very well with the Micro System. They do provide stencils. But they do not identify the stencils. They have many with no idea of where they go or even if they belong. Superscale provides only a left-side drawing and upper and lower drawings. This is a fault found with many of their decal sheets.

After the drop tanks, SNEB rocket pods, and canopy ( which was dipped in Future, which helped to clear it up ) were attached, the model was done. The model represents a Hawker Hunter FGA.10, Serial XE580, Coded "D" of No.4 Squadron based at Guttersloh, Germany in the 1960s.

This would have been an enjoyable build, but the decals ruined it. Hunters had lots of stencils, and Super Scale let me down. This kit was on my SOD (Shelf of Doom) for a lot of years and I am glad to have finished it. Do not be afraid of those older kits; build them for fun. I also have a Frog Buccaneer and Canberra on the SOD and I think it is time to finish them.

Bruce

PS: Let me apologize for the images, but the camera was acting very weird

3 additional images. Click to enlarge.