AMG 1/48 scale Hawker Hart I build log

 

 

 

AMG supply optional parts for the single fuel tank or double fuel tank but don't give any explanation. A bit of research showed that the twin tanks were used for a small batch of aircraft built to be operated in India. The decal options in crude one of these but I'm building one of the single tank versions. 

The AMG instructions are a bit vague and in some cases simply wrong! be careful when fitting the wing spare as it has a very slight dihedral on the outer parts which is not obvious (until you glue it in the wrong way round of course). 

A quick dry fit of the main fuselage parts (without the interior) shows it should go together ok. 

 

Something's not right here! AMG admit that the CAD man had an off day and made a mistake when drawing the exhausts, there should only be 6 ports each side. 

That not so famous Rolls Royce V14 engine!! 

A fairly simple fix, if not wholly accurate for spacing. 

 

 

After a day of plodding along I have this collection of bits. I suppose I should get started on the cockpit, of which there are a lot of parts, that will disappear once the fuselage is closed up. 

After a break I am back on this project again. The cockpit is really nice but the instructions are really bad. 

There are no colour call outs in the instructions so I had to best guess all the colours 

 

No need to worry about using the wrong colours for the cockpit, it disappears anyway! 

The tailplane needs to be pinned to give it any strength 

More pins for the fin and rudder 

 

 

I found a photo of the actual aircraft I am doing. The exhausts and rudder are different from the kit parts. The exhaust stubs provided are for a later mark. 

The rudder was an easy fix, chop off the aerial post and add a trim tab 

The exhausts are a bit more of a problem. I managed to remove the kit parts then boxed off the opening. I then filled the opening. 

Using the kit exhaust parts I plunge moulded the shape of the exhaust ports into the still soft putty. It's not perfect but will do. 

Primed with Mr Surfacer and then a coat of Mr Color C8 Silver all over. 

A coat of Mr Color Super Metallic SM201 Super Fine Silver for the polished metal areas. 

The kit decals for the Squadron markings and Xtradecal RAF Roundels as the kit Roundels were not a great colour match. 

 

Into the jig to get the top wing fitted 

It was a little fiddly but probably just because I was out of practice. 

Wing rigging completed. My lack of practice and CA glue that was past it's best made it a tricky job. Once I switched to using VMS CA glue things started to go a lot better. 

The undercarriage assembly fitted and rigged. 

Working on the elevator and rudder control lines now. 

AMG forgot to include the decals for the rudder serial number so I had to go to the spares box and make it from spares and paint. A bit rough but it will have to do.
 

Adding the finishing touches now. I decided to leave the Lewis gun off as all the photos of the real thing show they normally didn't have it fitted.