New Airfix Hawker Hunter F.6 in 1/48th scale
Computer rendered 3D planform image of the new Hawker Hunter F.6
The entire Airfix team are excited to start 2018 by bringing you news of a spectacular new model tooling in 1/48th scale – the magnificent Hawker Hunter F.6. We have already seen why the Hunter occupies such a significant place in the history of British aviation and it will come as no surprise that the aircraft is always amongst the front runners in any poll of suggested new Airfix tooling requests on modelling websites, forums and our ideas box at Scale ModelWorld each year. Joining our growing range of 1/48th scale model kits, the new Hunter will bring the classic shape of Hawker’s first RAF jet to this slightly larger scale and complement the previously released Gloster Meteor, one of the aircraft the Hunter went on to replace in RAF service.
As you would expect, the Airfix design team will be working hard to ensure they produce a faithful scale representation of this classic British aircraft, using all the modern development technologies they have at their disposal. For such a high profile project, the Airfix team could not only call upon their extensive collection of research materials and original design drawings, but also had the opportunity to perform a LIDAR scan of a preserved example of a Hawker Hunter. Once again calling upon our good friends at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the team were allowed access to Hawker Hunter F.6A XE627 in one of the display hangars, with this detailed scan data affording the designer responsible for this project a valuable additional level of reference information. This particular aircraft made its first flight on 13th June 1956 and was later delivered to No.45 Maintenance Unit at RAF Kinloss – it went on to see RAF service with Nos 1, 54, 65 and 92 Squadrons, as well as spending time with both No.229 Operational Conversion Unit and No.1 Tactical Weapons Unit, before retirement in the early 1980s. The aircraft is now preserved at Duxford wearing the markings of one of its former operators, RAF No.65 Squadron, but this aircraft is unusual in that it is currently on loan to the IWM from the United States Air Force.
The team were able to obtain a LIDAR scan of Duxford’s Hunter F.6A XE627. Image from Creative Commons belonging to Alan Wilson
When bringing our readers news of any new model tooling, we always attempt to speak to the individual designer(s) overseeing the project, to get their educated opinion on the project which has been dominating their working day for some weeks. With regard to the new Hunter, we wanted to ask some direct questions around the LIDAR scan technology and whether access to this kind of information makes a big difference – does it ensure a more accurate model and does it cut down on the time they will need to spend developing the model tooling? The answer we received was rather surprising. It seems that the majority of new tooling projects all follow a very similar path, relying heavily on drawings, plans, books and research materials, along with the undoubted skill of the designer (we added this bit ourselves). All this information has to be assimilated into the powerful design software used by the team to produce the model in its kit form - the data received from any LIDAR scan is clearly of huge benefit, even though this does not actually cut down on the amount of work the designer has to do on the project. In essence, the scan data acts more like an extremely reliable (and rather expensive) insurance policy for the designer.
A selection of Hunter LIDAR scan data images, captured at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in 2017
As you can see from some of the Hunter scan pictures we have included, whilst this scan data accurately captures the beautiful shape of the Hunter, there are certain areas that do not scan quite so well and require significant additional work, such as the area around the cockpit canopy. This raw data also needs to be tidied up in powerful software before it can be used effectively, but significantly for the designer, once he has access to this information, it can be used to check the shape and dimension details of the computerised drawing and CAD data they have for the aircraft. It is used as an incredibly accurate shape trace for the designer, against which he can base all his CAD development work, bearing in mind he is working on the production of a model kit and will need to reduce this shape information into large numbers of individual components and highly detailed sections. Although the LIDAR scan provides the designer with a significant amount of additional project reassurance, it will not necessarily reduce the time spent working on any new tooling project.
A montage of computer rendered 3D Hunter images
The selection of images we are exclusively bringing Workbench readers show some of the early computer rendered 3D images which have been produced to support the model’s entry in the recently released 2018 model range and show details for both the Hunter F.6 and F.6A variant. We also have some of the first detail images, showing cockpit and undercarriage areas, as well as the air intake detail which will all benefit this impressive kit once it is released. The designers will undoubtedly face some challenges as this model advances through the development process and we hope to bring you these details and how the designer overcame them, as this project progresses. We will also be looking to report on any areas they are particularly proud of or detail they feel is deserving of special note.
Workbench readers are always keen to see the computer rendered 3D images produced to showcase any new tooling announcement
The new Hawker Hunter F.6 is still relatively early in the design and development process, however, we very much look forward to bringing you many more updates from this exciting project in the weeks and months to come, as this heavily requested model advances towards its currently scheduled October release date. We also intend to go back and look at some of the very first CAD images as the Airfix designers transform this iconic British aircraft from a series of detailed files on a computer to the latest highly anticipated model release in the Airfix range.
That’s all we have for you in this latest edition of Workbench, which we hope you found an interesting read. We have devoted the entire edition to the fantastic news regarding the new Hawker Hunter F.6 tooling, even though the latest Airfix model range has now been announced – we will look more closely at the new range in our next edition.
A final look at a computer rendered 3D image from the beautiful new 1/48th scale Hawker Hunter F.6
