1:24 Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib - Instrument Panels (for Airfix kits)

The Typhoon instrument panel in a large scale

For this machine Red Fox Studio offers printed instruments with pronounced relief, which are transferred into the cockpit on a carrier film. The scales and the lettering are finished, so the most laborious part of completing an interior falls away. This is an upgrade for a model under construction; the aircraft itself is not in the package. The accessory is intended for Airfix kits.

A ground-attack aircraft with the Napier Sabre engine

The Typhoon was created as a successor to the Hurricane, but it made its name somewhere other than expected. It was not suited to combat at altitude, yet in low-level flight it had few rivals. Four 20 mm cannons were complemented by rockets and bombs, and from 1943 it became the main means the Royal Air Force used against ground targets. Later examples received a bubble canopy and a four-blade propeller. The Sabre engine was a twenty-four-cylinder unit with horizontally arranged pistons and gave more than two thousand horsepower, at first at the cost of frequent unreliability.

Before you reach for the scalpel

Do not underrate the preparation; the area has to be flat and degreased. Release the elements from the sheet by pulling, not by pressing, and offer them up from the outside inward so there is room for correction. Choose a shade for the surrounding frame that is more matte than the print, as the contrast then looks more convincing. Once everything is in place, it is better not to spray over the cockpit.

Who the accessory is useful for

• Builders of British Second World War ground-attack aircraft.
• Modelers who want to show the cockpit under an opened canopy.
• Anyone interested in a large format with room for detail.
• Those who prefer finished printing to hand work with a brush.