1:72 Hawker Typhoon Ib

The Typhoon comes back into the game

The Hawker Typhoon Ib started out disastrously. The 24-cylinder Napier Sabre engine was unreliable, the tail section tore away on the first batches and exhaust gases seeped into the cockpit. Once these ailments had been brought under control, it turned out that a machine with a thick-section wing did not excel at altitude but was extremely fast down low. An unsuccessful interceptor thus became the hardest-hitting attack aircraft of the Royal Air Force.

The year 1943, from which all four options on the sheet come, was precisely the period of that change. EK139 coded HH-N flew with No. 175 Squadron in the spring, EK224 with the markings ZY-B served with No. 247 Squadron from Bradwell Bay airfield in June, EJ906 is listed with No. 451 Squadron RAAF at El Daba in Egypt, and R7855 coded PR-D was flown in February with No. 609 Squadron by the Belgian Raymond Lallemant, one of the best-known Typhoon pilots among the continental exiles.

For the build it is useful to know that from the end of 1942 Typhoons carried broad black and white identification stripes under the wings, because ground defenses and their own fighters regularly mistook them for the Fw 190. On the decals this element is essential to a faithful overall impression.

The package is intended for a finished Typhoon model in 1:72, ideally with the seams smoothed where the large roundels will go.

Roundels with a thin yellow surround are among the most difficult markings on a curved fuselage, because the slightest misalignment shows at once. It helps to lay them out dry side by side first and to align them against the panel lines of the wing.