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1/48 Airfix Hurricane Mk 1 Tropical


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After looking through my stash, I thought I'd do another 'easy' kit, so I picked the new-tool Airfix Hurricane. Oops.

Easy? Not so much.

Great kit? Pretty much.

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This is the most accurate Hurricane kit in 1/48. For example, the cockpit does not have a floor, it simply has the framing and footrests that the real thing has, unlike some other kits portray. At the same time, all this accuracy makes for a complex build of the cockpit area.

 

The Hurricane has always been on my list of unsung hero aircraft. It was the homely cousin to the flashy Spitfire, but when you wanted the dishes done and a great meal on the table, well, which girl would you pick? I thought so. 

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I got to sit in a real Hurricane in the flying museum in Gatineau, Quebec (across the river from Ottawa). The first impression was just how cramped the little cockpit is, and also just how deep down into the well the pilot sits. I couldn't imagine trying to taxi this beast, with the forward view over the massive nose being just about nil. Respect to the pilots who fought in this workhorse.

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I honestly don't remember much about the cockpit colours, but I took some photos that will help. They confirm the colours to be pretty much the same as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's and an American example.

The Main Instrument Panel. VNE 316 kts! At the time, that was fast - but it seems quite slow to me.

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Looking at the right side, you can see the silver tubing amid the green background.

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ALF

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When I looked at the instructions, I went 'uh-oh.' The cockpit looked like a complicated mess to put together.

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In Step 3, those two spars are indeed the wing spars. The inset diagram shows how they need to be glued at 90 degrees to the tubing that forms one side of hte cockpit. In step 4, part D20 is the foot rests for the cockpit. I spent a LOT of time studying these images to make sure I did things correctly, and everything went well up until it came time (one the next page) to install the seat.

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The seat has two little pins on each side, that are meant to insert into the side tubing.

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The only problem, is if you don't know exactly how to assemble the various tube bits, the seat doesn't 'sit' quite right (pun intended).

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Being prone to asking for help sometimes, I decided to Google 'airfix hurricane seat fit', and stumbled on this web site: https://www.agapemodels.com/2015/10/09/build-report-airfixs-148-hawker-hurricane/

The guy does a great job on this kit, and he passed on a tip that he got from another in-progress build. The tip was not to locate the seat into the framework as per the instructions, but rather to chop the two locating pins off each side, and glue the seat's protective shield into the side wall of the fuselage, then insert the tubing part. This would ensure the back wall fit perfectly into the fuselage, and avoid any errors induced by minor build problems in the cockpit framing. Phew! This will help tremendously, because I was starting to look at what to chop to make the seat fit.

 

Remember what I said about simple (not) but great kit (yup) earlier? Well, here's an example of the surface detail in the moulding. Just wow.

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More soon. Thanks for stopping by.

ALF

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I had a bit of a chuckle while looking at the instructions the other day. Here is the pilot:

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This guy! Looks like an accountant, with his nerd glasses, not a steely-eyed fighter pilot. Sheesh. Curious, I looked to see if the figure on the sprue is just as inaccurate. Turns out, he actually looks more like a fighter pilot in plastic. I suspect some artist paid tribute to someone in this illustration (himself? a friend?).

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I've been doing some dry-fitting. The cockpit tubing framework fits nicely into the fuselage sides. There's even a cut-out for it in the plastic.

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Looks like the seat will fit nicely into its place. I am taking the suggestion of another modeller to heart, and will glue the seat to the fuselage, not the tubing, as I put the fuselage together.

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Here is something that's been kicking around in my spares box for years. It's a prop face and blades for a Canadian Hurricane. Canadian-based Hurricanes didn't have the large spinners that they did in Europe and North Africa. I did some research, because the base where I flew CF-18s for 10 years (Bagotville, Quebec) housed some Hurricanes during World War II. They also flew out of an auxiliary field about 8 miles north, called St Honoré, where I taught at an aviation college. 

Intrigued, I looked to see what markings they had, and if there were any differences with the kit.

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Of course, this kit is the Tropical version, but it turns out it actually includes everything needed to make a standard Mk 1 Hurricane. From the instructions for the standard Mk 1: Part C1 goes under the nose on the non-trop version.

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The little intake D45 goes under the forward edge of the wing on the Mk 1 non-trop.

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These pictures were taken in 1943 in Bagotville, of Hurricanes on the flight line.

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It's very hard to see, but you can just make out the specially-shaped spinner that these aircraft had. It is smaller than the ones used across the Atlantic, but I don't have any sort of part to make it. There's no way I'm going to scratch-build it. I've decided I'm going to go with the kit parts and decals, so I've scrapped the idea of making a Canadian version out of this kit, even though the nose could be built that way out of the box with parts C1 and D45.

 

ALF

Edited by ALF18
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15 hours ago, Emvar said:

Nice Alf.....hope you did a manicure before your next pics. 😉 

 

 

Cheers

Emil

Suck it up, dude! I did clean my nails after the BBQ peanuts, though... 🙂

 

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Did some painting, and a bunch more dry-fitting.

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The seat is not glued in place, of course.

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Here I've chopped out the forward portion of the lower wing, so I can make it a trop version. Dry-fitting shows that the fuselage to wing join is going to be okay.

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I've glued the cockpit structure into place atop the lower wing. The spars are also glued in place, setting the dihedral angle nicely. I am impressed with how well-engineered this kit is. I love the new Airfix kits!

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ALF

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The upper and lower wing halves are now glued together. Superb fit.

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I used a metallic silver pen to colour the backs of the two landing lights, to give them a realistic reflective look.

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End result inside the wing structure.

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The fuselage halves are glued together here, with the seat and its armoured back-plate installed in the fuselage (and not in the framework, as the instructions ask). I also love how realistic the fabric-covered rear fuselage is in this kit.

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The underside of the cockpit after the fuselage is glued together. The main problem is going to be shimmying the seat assembly into the framework, while seating the fuselage in place above the wing. Tight fit, but it worked eventually.

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This, believe it or not, is what the fuselage to wing join looked like with no glue or pressure applied. Nice and close already.

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I've just now glued the wing in place, and allowing it to set. So far, really tight tolerances and almost indiscernable gaps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now to watch my Habs lose to AX_365's Senators... lol. Hopefully the Canadiens will get a good draft pick this year.

ALF

 

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Looking good so far. If it's not too late, I don't think many Hurricanes had interior grey/green wheel wells, the vast vast majority were silver. That said I have seen a pic of a desert painted one with azure blue painted wells & legs etc...........It's your choice.

 

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Edited by barkin mad
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On 3/18/2022 at 1:43 PM, ALF18 said:

Here's the excellent reference I used, from IPMS Canada, for Hurricanes. On page 25 you can see some Bagotville aircraft.

https://www.ipmscanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/RT-38-3-Decal-Instructions.pdf

 

Wow, thank you for posting that Facebook info about the Hurricane, great info there!  And, you're doing a nice job on your build, too!  I built one not too long ago, and I found, like you, that the fit was really, really good.  I've got 2 more in my unbuilt collection, and am looking forward to making another few Hurricanes!

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On 3/20/2022 at 9:51 AM, barkin mad said:

Looking good so far. If it's not too late, I don't think many Hurricanes had interior grey/green wheel wells, the vast vast majority were silver. That said I have seen a pic of a desert painted one with azure blue painted wells & legs etc...........It's your choice.

 

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Hey, thanks for posting the great picture. That azure blue sure is pretty (as are the women working on it). 🙂

No, it's not too late. I had painted the wheel wells green without checking the instructions, and I've actually corrected that to silver. From this picture, it looks like I chose a colour that was a bit too redish for the dark brown, but I like the look of it and I won't change it. 

ALF

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  • ALF18 changed the title to 1/48 Airfix Hurricane Mk 1 Tropical

Speaking of the wheel wells, here is a picture of the assembled landing gear (still with the green paint inside).

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Here is how nice the wing to fuselage join was. No filler! Fantastic kit engineering.

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Painting is coming along nicely. I used Italeri acrylic Azure Blue paint. Love the colour. For the silver leading edges, I used Tamiya acrylic X-11, and the green and brick red are both Tamiya acrylic as well. I still have to paint the pitot boom, footstep, and the black in the gun slots.

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For the top colours, I used Tamiya dark yellow (XF-60), and Modelmaster Acrylic Burnt Sienna. At first I'd used more of a green colour, but I like the reddish brown better. I know it's not the exact colour for the top, but it looks somewhat like the one I sat in in the museum, and also like the box art. The spinner is Brick Red (Tamiya). Still have to do the blade tips in yellow, and paint the radio antenna and canopies. I think I'll pose the canopy closed on this one, since the cockpit detail is so-so.

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Thanks for coming along!

Next up: final painting, gloss coat, and decals.

ALF

Edited by ALF18
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Decals done, dull coat drying.

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Done! Another 3-footer, this time with a fancy decal scheme. I can only imagine that the red and green blotches in the silver leading edges would have been applied a bit like the Me-109's blotches, not exactly clean. That's what I was going for. I also left off the radio aerial, because it just breaks off in a move, and hopefully we'll be moving within a year or so. I can fix it up then if I feel like it.

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Now it sits with its 1/48 WW II brethren and adversaries.

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Next up: my big Dual CF-104. Thanks for stopping by.

ALF

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