TonyW Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 I've raided my Monogram stash and liberated a 1964 issue of their 1.48 scale Hurricane for the GB. It's going to be done in desert colours with the great big 40mm guns underwing. I have a soft spot for this model, I got one for my birthday when it came out, or soon after. My regular kits were the Airfix 2/- bagged ones. The sheer quality of the Monogram kit really had an impact on me as a kid. The size of it helped as well. Eight year old hands were a fair bit smaller than my current mitts and a 1.48 scale kit seemed massive to me at the time. I finished it in the desert scheme on the boxtop and it took pride of place on my shelves. Time to have another stab at it then! Here's the kit in question... ... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Welcome to the GB with this one Tony. It may be an old kit but still looks good and with no less than 5 decal options. How are the decals aging? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Plenty of choice there Looks like fun Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 On 09/03/2018 at 9:47 PM, Col. said: Welcome to the GB with this one Tony. It may be an old kit but still looks good and with no less than 5 decal options. How are the decals aging? It's good to be taking part, it's giving my building a bit of a boost! The decals, or should we call them transfers on a kit this old, are holding up well. It is a Monogram kit after all! A couple have cracked, but only across certain colours. The blue of the roundels seems to be the vulnerable colour here. The ink is thick compared to state of the art brand new ones but the colours are really rich. Sol/Set seem to get the thick inks to settle well though, so the transfers are perfectly usable. I'm more than happy to use them on this build, but then I usually build my kits straight out the box anyway. Tony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) I've made a bit of progress on the Hurricane. The wings and fuselage have been brush painted and some transfers applied. A bit of assembly can start now. The fit on early Monogram kits is so good you can get away with this approach. The fuselage and wings will get joined this evening with a bit of luck, then it's a bit of masking for the underside colour on the fuselage and on with the Humbrol Azure Blue, straight out of the vintage Authenticolour can! I'll be building this one a base, possibly two bases. A generic sandy bit of airstrip would be useful for any other similar builds and I quite like the idea of making a Monogram Dealer Display base for the plane. I've built these before for car kits and I like the look of them a lot. Here's one I made for a Monogram Little T hot rod kit. Monogram did similar bases for hobby shops for their aircraft range as well. I'm not sure if they did one for the Hurricane, but if not, I'll fake one up! Edited March 16, 2018 by TonyW 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Wow, there's a blast from the past, that tin of Airfix Enamel must be as old as the tin of Humbrol Authentic next to it! They certainly made brushable paint back in those days. That tube of glue must be of a similar vintage is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillidragon Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I tried a Fujimi Hawkeye about 20 years ago, and tried brush painting it with Humbrol. What a shock! In the end, it went out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, Col. said: Wow, there's a blast from the past, that tin of Airfix Enamel must be as old as the tin of Humbrol Authentic next to it! They certainly made brushable paint back in those days. That tube of glue must be of a similar vintage is it? I use old paint and glue whenever I can for out the box builds. The Humbrol paint shown is still in perfect condition and brushes out really well. The tin of Airfix yellow performs like Airfix paint always did, badly. Yellow is a swine to cover with at the best of times, this paint lived up to that in spades. The Airfix P40 in the picture was painted with brand new Humbrol paint I picked up from my LMS a couple of days ago. It's rubbish! No covering power whatsoever and it drys as you brush it on. The kit looks like it was painted with cement when you get a bit closer. I'll be sticking to old paints for a while it would seem. The Airfix glue in the picture is a prop, I added it for effect. It's period for the kit, around the early to mid sixties. I'm using a tube of Humbrol Poly Cement on the build. Edited March 16, 2018 by TonyW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 It's been all hands to the pumps with the Hurricane build! The wing trailing edges have been thinned right down, top and bottom, in preparation for fitting together. Trial fitting shows the usual Monogram close fit with no problems there... ...then I dropped the model while handling it. Curses. The prop lost a blade, still missing despite a hands and knees search. It will turn up at some point. The tumble also snapped off the tailwheel and aerial locating pin at the top of the tail. The tail was drilled out and a wire substitute added and the tailwheel also had its leg drilled for a bit of metal re-enforcement. Everything's a whole lot stronger now. I lied about the transfers being OK, they nearly had me in tears! The fuselage roundels and codes cracked all over the place, despite looking fine on the sheet. What seemed like an eternities worth of careful pushing and pulling finally got everything straight enough for Government work. I'll be letting the lakes of Sol/Set dry off properly before I carry on with this one. No pictures at the moment, but it's starting to look good to my eyes at least. A quick check in some period references show the Z of the code being in black, I'll be following Nelsons example regarding this. More later. Tony. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Ouch Sorry to hear that Tony but glad you're getting the damage repaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 Chip chip chip, slowly getting there... The MkI base for the model is nearly done. A wooden picture frame, darkened down with a bit of Burn Umber oil paint does the job for the base. The 'Desert' is the backing board from the frame, soaked in photomount and then sprinkled with some of Jewsons finest building sand (There's a bit of big boy building going on here at the moment) The scrub is little bits of railway scenic lichen. It looks about right, simple enough to let the plane take center stage. I might add an oil drum or Jerrycan or two, maybe not, we shall see. The plane is propped on a tin of paint in the picture, a bit more assembly and paintwork should get done over the next day or two. The end is in sight, I might just have to dig out another! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Excellent progressTony,looking good with that base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 These Monogram kits still look good! great build and what should be a great presentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 The Hurricane is nearly done now, just a flat varnish overall to do and a few touch ups here and there. A day or two should see it completely finished, then it's post away in the Gallery and back to the Fury build. I've dug out a few Vintage accessories... sorry, Modelling Supplies... and posed up a period shot. All a bit rough and ready, I'll try harder for the Gallery shots. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Turned ot a beauty Tony,love the period shot, those glass bottle's bring back memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Love it, really makes me want to build a Tropical Hurricane, very nice build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Your Hurricane looks great Tony and also a big 'thumbs up' from me for the period paints. As I recall the Authentics came in sets (of six?), complete with a painting guide. Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 They did indeed Cliff. The three tins in the picture above come from the RAF (overseas) set. They are Dark Earth, Mid Stone and Azure Blue. The rest of the set were a bit of a swiz, being Underside White, Night Black and Airframe Silver. Not exactly exclusive to the RAF anywhere really. A bit of liberty taking by Humbrol I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 Nearly a month since the last post here, I must have a word with myself! Not much to report unfortunately, modelling is on a back burner for a while as a ton of work needs doing at home. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. A couple of shots taken a minute or two ago, out in the garden. It's currently a shade over 90 degrees out there at the moment, perfect for a desert based.Hurricane. I'm still hunting for the missing prop blade and I'm making up an oil drum to take a mold from as a bit of basic scenery on the base might look nice. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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