Two (make that three) two blade Prop Hurricanes in 1/72

[Basilisk]

I originally intended to build the new tool 1/48 Airfix kit in the markings from Ian R. Gleed's mount LK A from 87 Squadron in black. But as I am already committed in the Made in UK and P-47 GBs and also like to participate in the Corsair GB, I have to give this build a miss for the moment. Instead I am building two new tool 1/72 Airfix Hurricane OOB in early RAF service.

First in line is Hurricane L1568 of B Flight from No 73 Squadron at Digby in Summer 1938.

Xtradecal 72-193 has the S and 73 represented in black, but it looks more like blue (or red) to me. Any opinions on this?

The second build is Hurricane L1768 from No 151 Squadron at North Weald in early 1939.

Unfortunately the Xtradecal set lacks accuracy and the Squadron Codes are way too skinny - I really don't get it how they can screw this up with pictures of the real deal like above ??? Also does this aircraft has the serial number on the fuselage as shown on the Xtradecal instruction? Doesn't look so to me.

So as I most likely have to make my own mask for the squadron codes, I am actually tempted to make Hurricane L1934 from No. 3 Squadron in June 1939 with the roundel on the port wing only instead. Still undecided.

Cheers, Peter

Edited February 7, 2016 by Basilisk

[Graham Boak]

A couple of points. Although blue for the tail number colour may make sense as a flight colour, much as 19 Sq had yellow numbers on some of its Spitfires, is it not also also possoble that both the code S and the number 73 are in Medium Sea Grey?

As an early aircraft, L1568 was built with a single piece nose ring (aft of the propeller) and no small bumps at five and seven o'clock. The Merlin I lacked provision for the vacuum pump and pitch control unit mounted on the front of all but the early Merlin IIIs.

[Basilisk]

Although blue for the tail number colour may make sense as a flight colour, much as 19 Sq had yellow numbers on some of its Spitfires, is it not also also possoble that both the code S and the number 73 are in Medium Sea Grey?

Possible as the tone in the b/w picture is about right for Medium Sea Grey. But was Medium Sea Grey already used for codes in mid 1938? And I thought the squadron number was painted in the flight colour on the early RAF Spitfire and Hurricanes.

Thanks too for pointing out that it is an early Merlin in this aircraft.

Cheers, Peter

[tonyot]

Personally I think that the code and number on the 73 Sqn Hurri are Medium Sea Grey although blue is also a possibility.

I cannot see the serial on the 151 Sqn Hurri and the Xtradecal codes are wrong as you say, far too skinny and the stroke of the K is all wrong too. If I were you I`d go for the 3 Sqn Hurri and didn`t this aircraft appear on a really nice 3 Sqn decal sheet which was privately released last year? Note how the fuselage roundel has been altered with the yellow outer ring painted out but still visible.

Cheers

Tony

[Troy Smith]

I originally intended to build the new tool 1/48 Airfix kit in the markings from Ian R. Gleed's mount LK A from 87 Squadron in black. But as I am already committed in the Made in UK and P-47 GBs and also like to participate in the Corsair GB, I have to give this build a miss for the moment. Instead I am building two new tool 1/72 Airfix Hurricane OOB in early RAF service.

First in line is Hurricane L1568 of B Flight from No 73 Squadron at Digby in Summer 1938.

Xtradecal 72-193 has the S and 73 represented in black, but it looks more like blue (or red) to me. Any opinions on this?

The second build is Hurricane L1768 from No 151 Squadron at North Weald in early 1939.

Unfortunately the Xtradecal set lacks accuracy and the Squadron Codes are way too skinny - I really don't get it how they can screw this up with pictures of the real deal like above ??? Also does this aircraft has the serial number on the fuselage as shown on the Xtradecal instruction? Doesn't look so to me.

So as I most likely have to make my own mask for the squadron codes, I am actually tempted to make Hurricane L1934 from No. 3 Squadron in June 1939 with the roundel on the port wing only instead. Still undecided.

Cheers, Peter

Hi Peter

you may or may not have seen these

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234938125-hurricane-question/

some colour pre war pics

this is OP-R

Squadron line up

from the front, note the lights are closer in than a metal wing

and thank you for the shot of L1934/OP-D,as it made me notice just now that the shot of L1936 above only has the roundel under the starboard wing!

The overpainted yellow rings are visible as well.

Also of note on L1940 is the difference between the fabric and metal visible on the wing.

The dull blue and red on the roundels is also of note.

Also, the under appreciated point that L**** and N**** fuselage serials are 6 inches high, later Hurricane serials are 8 inch, but are the same overall length.

Once noted, this becomes obvious, but the decal instructions don't show it, they look 8 inch.

Overpainting of serials was common for security, especially in France in the phoney war period.

L1568, either med sea grey or blue, I'd be inclined to go for blue just for a splash of colour. Again, 6 inch serial.

Regarding decal sheets, there was a thread on here,now gone, where me and Tony contributed some detail accurising on the Xtradecal BoB Hurricane sheet, where I had to point out, in the end with with lines on photos, that stroke on the 601 Sq F in 'UF' was longer, along with a few other small detail points.

Bear in mind that decal artists are graphics people, and not type specialists, so subtle details are not always obvious, and getting it right can take a long time, which they are not paid for.

from

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234919787-yet-another-hurricane-fabric-wing-question/

note the difference of rear inner wing centre section fabric panel, and a very very rare shot of a Hurricane with dropped flaps on the ground.

Regarding Graham's point on the early Merlin,please see this thread on the subject

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234950986-early-hurricane-mki-details-and-a-challenge-or-two/

HTH

T

[Basilisk]

Personally I think that the code and number on the 73 Sqn Hurri are Medium Sea Grey although blue is also a possibility.

I cannot see the serial on the 151 Sqn Hurri and the Xtradecal codes are wrong as you say, far too skinny and the stroke of the K is all wrong too. If I were you I`d go for the 3 Sqn Hurri and didn`t this aircraft appear on a really nice 3 Sqn decal sheet which was privately released last year? Note how the fuselage roundel has been altered with the yellow outer ring painted out but still visible.

Cheers

Tony

Thank you Tony for your comments. As it was tradition to have the squadron numbers painted in flight colours on early Spitfires and Hurricanes, I may do this on this aircraft too.

Was the A-Flight red and the B-Flight blue normally?

And when had grey code letters been introduced?

I may do the 3 Squadron Hurricane in addition to the 151 Squadron aircraft as I like both and just can't decide.

Troy, some interesting comments and observation of yours!

Hi Peter

you may or may not have seen these

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234938125-hurricane-question/

some colour pre war pics

this is OP-R

Yes I have seen these, but totally forgot about it. Thanks for mentioning them.

Also of note on L1940 is the difference between the fabric and metal visible on the wing.

The dull blue and red on the roundels is also of note.

Also, the under appreciated point that L**** and N**** fuselage serials are 6 inches high, later Hurricane serials are 8 inch, but are the same overall length.

Some interesting observations!

Kind of strange is the colour difference on the wings from metal to fabric, but not on the fuselage from behind cockpit to engine. Yes, the darker roundel colour on this aircraft and 6 inch serial is certainly noteworthy.

and thank you for the shot of L1934/OP-D,as it made me notice just now that the shot of L1936 above only has the roundel under the starboard wing!

Now this cought my attention!

It puzzled me why there is only one roundel on the port wing, but above picture may has a clue.

These roundels had been modified by overpainting the outer yellow with the camouflage colour and the inner yellow by blue and red. If existing roundels have been modified, why was the roundel removed from the starboard wing? Most likely it wasn't there to to start with.

Could it have been that No. 3 Squadron had A type roundels on the port wing above and the starboard wing below for a short period?

Either way, I may add the starboard roundel below the wing when I build L1934.

Squadron line up

I assume that this picture was taken at the same occasion than L1940, but the hues of the camouflage colours are rather different. This shows that colour pictures of the period can be a bit misleading.

But does this picture shows aluminum coloured control surfaces on the first two aircraft? looks to me that way.

One other question. Am I right in assuming that none of these Hurricanes had armor plates fitted behind the seat?

There is such a variety in early Hurricanes colours and marking - rather fascination! I love this "playing dedective" to work out some of these mysteries.

Cheers, Peter

[johnd]

One other question. Am I right in assuming that none of these Hurricanes had armor plates fitted behind the seat?

It's my understanding that machines fitted with the two blade propeller couldn't have seat armour fitted because it would aggravate the problems the Mk.I Hurricane had with centre of gravity.

John.

[Basilisk]

Thank you John, that is good to know.

[robw_uk]

Kind of strange is the colour difference on the wings from metal to fabric, but not on the fuselage from behind cockpit to engine. Yes, the darker roundel colour on this aircraft and 6 inch serial is certainly noteworthy.

presumably the colour difference is due to fading on the fabric due to sun (and possibly rain) - the sides of the fuselage will be less in direct sun that the tops of the wings (just my thought - I am going to try to replicate the effect on my Mk I when I get round to building it)

[Basilisk]

presumably the colour difference is due to fading on the fabric due to sun (and possibly rain) - the sides of the fuselage will be less in direct sun that the tops of the wings (just my thought - I am going to try to replicate the effect on my Mk I when I get round to building it)

Maybe, but shouldn't have the top of the fuselage faded similarly? Maybe the fabric covered part of the wing was re-painted or replaced.

The good news is that I got started, but I wont bore you with showing all the kits parts of three identical kits. After cleaning up the part and fill the ejector marks in the undercarriage bay, I primed all black ready for silver and interior green.

Cheers, Peter

[Basilisk]

The three Hurricanes progressed nicely this week. The first task was thinning the wing trailing edge which is nearly 1 mm thick.

I found it best to scrape down the height along the edge first to avoid the plastic flexing.

Specially so with the soft Airfix plastic.

Then slowly reduce the height along the the trailing edge.

Until the angled line disappeared completely.

The plastic will get rather thin.

It is a bit of work with three wings. I do prefer a scraper over a motor tool as I have more control and much less dust - just lovely shavings!

Here the comparison between the unmodified and thinned trailing edge.

It looks even thinner after it is glued together.

Glued the wings together and finished three wheel wells. At least Airfix did a great job with them.

The cockpits parts are now painted and only need a bit of detailing to be finished.

Unfortunately the wings will take a bit of time to finish. Removal of canvas representation where the guns are and placement of navigation lights.

Cheers, Peter

Edited February 14, 2016 by Basilisk

[robw_uk]

nice work..... what green did you use in the interior? i probably dont have a green in stock to match and a i normally build armour dont need a whopping great bottle just for 1 hurricane but might be able to mix some up to match

[Basilisk]

Thanks Rob. I used the Mr. Paint lacquer interior green, but you should be able to mix something similar looking together.

Cheers, Peter

[rob85]

The work you have done on the wings makes a big difference, I wish I had done it on the one I did... Luckily all the others have been sanded and had their wings chopped off to make a tin wing.

Love the pic of all the wings in the shavings

Rob

[Basilisk]

No I haven't lost interest in this build and no major stuff-up happened either, but a rather unpleasant respiratory infection made it impossible to work on my builds for most of March - getting sick is such a waste of time!

Fortunately things are getting better and after catching up with all the neglected tasks more important than making models, I should be able to continue on this build.

Unfortunately I will be unable to finish these models in the time-frame of this GB, but I will continue to post my progress here and when finished post some pictures in the RFI section.

Cheers, Peter

[TeeELL]

Basilisk,

I am following your construction with more than just a little interest. I am working on a Hurricane for a local model competion! May i ask: what do you use to thin down the trailing edges? I am minded to use wet and dry glued to 'tongue depressors', but you clearly have a potentially better method with the scraping.

Thank you, in anticipation of some superior guidance.

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Peter

I hope you are better now ..

Patrice