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DH 103 Hornet F.1

RichB

Well-known member
A private venture development of the Mosquito as a long range fighter for operations in the Pacific. It first flew in April 1944 but did not enter service until mid-1946. During its short 10 year career, the Hornet participated in several air races and record attempts, was used operationally in the Malaysian Emergency and modified for naval service.

Start~17.JPG


Cheers,
Rich
 
I have always thought that this is the most elegant British propeller aircraft .

Cheer, Christian B)
 
One of the first things to do is fill the extra panel lines on the upper wing surface. The darkened lines will remain. The upper wing panel lines were filled and sanded and then had fabric doped in place leaving only access panels and major assembly joints visible. The lower wing was skinned with aluminium so its panel lines can stay. The fabric effect also needs filling on the ailerons as they were of all metal construction.

Upr_Wing_Fill.JPG


Cheers,
Rich
 
Wings filled and assembled. The rudder and elevators also required the fill and sand treatment.

Wings.JPG


In between that, the cockpit was built up. Tough to see details as this was "Black Period" for British cockpits.

Ckpt_1~5.JPG


Ckpt_1~5.JPG


Ckpt_3~3.JPG


I replaced the kit seat with one salvaged from a Spitfire. Poking around the web I found that the Hornet and Spitfire seat were very similar

Kit_Seat.JPG


With that done, time for assembly to begin.

Assy_1~5.JPG


Assy_2~5.JPG


Assy_3~4.JPG


Now its on to the nacelles.

Cheers,
Rich
 
The Hornet bears a family resemblance to the Mosquito but was a new design. It was about 6 ft shorter, 9 ft less in span and weighed 2,000 lbs less. It's Merlins provided an extra 600 hp each giving it a maximum speed of 475 mph and a 5,000 ft/min climb rate.

Primer is on and should be ready for top coat tomorrow. The props are a work in progress. There was a scribed circle on the port, aft fuselage for the camera window on later Marks of Hornets that can be filled on the F.1. If you look back at early photos , the wingtips had "horns" that extended aft of the ailerons. They should be cutoff flush with the trailing edge and reshaped.
Primer_1.JPG


Primer_2.JPG


I cutout the shell ejector chutes, they were just scribed panels on the kit. The kit smooth tread wheels are temporary. I have a set of the more commonly used block tread wheels in the mail.

Primer_3.JPG


Cheers,
Rich
 
Nice work so far, (y) I suspect the kit is an easier build than the CA kit I have in my stash.
 
Nice work so far, (y) I suspect the kit is an easier build than the CA kit I have in my stash.

Yes it is. The kit isn't over engineered or the usual sanding fest with CA kits. The cockpit is basic but busy enough. There are some detail errors but only a Hornet super-fan would likely notice.

It hasn't been a stressful build at all.

Cheers,
Rich
 
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