PJ Production 1/72 Hunter T.7/8/68 Conversion

I guess it would be fair to say that among the most popular second generation jets is the Hawker Hunter. It has been kitted a number of times in all scales and aside from the somewhat crude Matchbox kit, those kits have all be single seat variants.

Many years back, there was (and still may be) a vacuform conversion that was done by Aeroclub. It was useful, but required a somewhat high skill level to properly utilize (at least higher than mine) and was based on the rather faulty Matchbox kit.

Now we have a fine conversion for use with the equally fine Revell AG 1/72 kit. PJ Production suggests the FGA.9 boxing to provide most of the correct parts. The conversion set includes a pair of very clear vacuformed canopies, landing gear and wheels in cast metal (also very nicely done) and the rest of the nose and tail cone in resin. The detailing on the resin parts is superlative and the casting are, for the most part, fault free. PJ Production includes two left nose halves as the Swiss Hunter T had two guns instead of the usual one. These nose halves have quite a few air pockets visible under a thin skin of resin on the underside where the pour stubs are located. Care will be needed in this area, as any sanding will break through this skin. If it happens, then superglue or even small sections of plastic rod will be the best way to fill these.

I also noticed that the three forward fuselage sections are a teeny bit different in length. Nothing major, but you do need to be aware that this frequently happens with resin and prepare for it. The nose sections have alignment pins and sockets, something that is quite rare with resin parts. The area for the cockpit tub is also thinned out for a better fit. The tub has the nose gear well as an integral part. Seats, control sticks and a nicely done instrument panel with shield are part of the package. other pieces are tail bumpers, antennas, windscreen wipers, fairings for the exhaust, the large fairing behind the cockpit and two different noses. The T.68 has a different nose with antennas molded into it and it will also use the tail cone from the Revell kit (which apparently has these antennas molded on or as part of the kit).

Detailed construction drawings are provided to show just what needs to be removed from the kit in order to fit this conversion. The set also includes decals for four aircraft. One is the Swiss T.68 in camouflage, a Dutch T.7 in silver and dayglo, a Royal Navy 'Admiral's Barge' in dark blue over white, and an RAF T.7 of 16 Sq in white, red and light grey (standard training colors of 1981). The decals are very well done and should provide no problems. Several paint options are also given. For those wanting yet another choice, there have been a smattering of two seat Hunter decals done over the years; Modeldecal being a good place to start looking.

Overall, an excellent conversion set and one that I know will sell well.