Smithy

This is shaping up to be an absolute corker. Great work and that paint scheme is going to look fantastic.

Thanks for the review Silver Fox, it's hugely helpful. I haven't got mine yet but very interested in having a crack at this one. I built the Hasegawa about 4 or 5 years ago, it's beautifully engineered and the fit is spectacular (apart from that bloody awful underside join being smack bang in the middle of the fabric). But the two buts for me with the kit were the fabric rendition - Hasegawa have over-egged the pudding here - and the shape - there's something not quite right with the nose section of the Hasegawa which puts the shape of the whole thing slightly out of whack. The Airfix pretty much has the shape bang on, well at least to my eyes and IMHO anyway.

Nothing wrong with that! Must look and sound great with the props going and the Merlin soundtrack.

Gorgeous work. The build, paintjob, rigging are perfect. I would love to have that on my shelf!

Simply stunning

Love them!

Funny how it spent virtually just as much time being processed in Exeter as it took to travel from NZ to the UK Hope you get it soon!

Hi Cheeley, That's the pic I have although it's a lot higher res from Brooks' book about 85 Sqn, "Fighter Squadron at War". No problem if you still want me to scan it for you. Cheers, Tim

I love it Cheeley and brilliant stuff with the canopy. That Airfix 48th Hurricane really does have the shape spot on and the fabric rendition is perfect. You've done a great job! If you are interested I have a photo of this actual airframe at Lille or Merville in early 1940. Shout out if you want me to scan and post it for you. Cheers, Tim

Thanks Silver Fox. I was worried I'd put you off building your Hurri. Timt and others have put it very well, it's your model and at the end of the day it's meant for enjoyment. If it's any consolation every single model I have built since getting back into the hobby in 2001 has something wrong in terms of the build or accuracy! Once again keep going, I for one am enjoying the build and it's a great taster for my yet to arrive Italeri one. And Troy, thanks for the link. I love all this colour stuff, I find it hugely fascinating.

A real shame you have pulled the plug, you were doing a grand job. The only "colour screw up" I can see is the seat and that's not a biggie and easily rectifiable if you want. But it seems as though you are upset by comments about your build and for that I apologise for my part in it. I am a new member here (perhaps I'm not au fait with the procedure here) and only mentioned the seat colour as I thought you would've wanted to know - I know I always like to be shown anything I can do better next time but maybe that's just me. Also my previous post doesn't even regard your build but is for the earliest production run Hurricanes and I mentioned it because the conversation about Hurricane interiors reminded me of the intriguing very early scheme and I thought that other members may also be interested. Once again sincerest apologies for any offense that I caused with my comments.

Looks great, well done. Don't know whether you are still after an interesting scheme but if you are, a 331 or 332 Sqn Vb from Operation Rutter. White stripes on the cowling and tailplane, and with some airframes a Norwegian state/war flag on the cockpit door. Cheers, Tim

Great pictures Troy and you are right about very early Hurris having aluminium painted seats. One thing which I'd like to add to this and which has intrigued me ever since reading it in an article in MAM in November 2005 was the possible use of a "blue/green" shade. This from the article: "Cockpit interior colour on these early Hurricanes may not have been the interior Grey Green we have come to expect for RAF aircraft. Surviving examples of parts of Hurricanes from this period I have seen, show the interior walls to be painted dull Aluminium with the metal framework and rudder heel boards in a blue/green shade. Seats were often natural metal or painted in the same blue/green shade." Now does anybody know what this blue/green shade was and has anyone seen these surviving pieces which show it. This fascinates me hugely and I'm planning on doing my CA rag wing Hurri with this intriguing early interior. Cheers, Tim

Silver Fox, Good work thus far. I hope you don't mind my mentioning this but Hurricane seats were aluminium so therefore painted interior grey green. Haven't got one of these yet but looking forward to it. I'm very interested to see if shape-wise it's better than the Hasegawa. There's quite a few people who would argue that low tech as it is, arguably it has the best overall shape in 1/48.

Really inspirational build Nobby. Love the window winder

Here's a pic of my Lindberg showing the Tamiya TS-17 for the aluminium dope surfaces and the automotive chrome paint for the polished aluminium:

Pleased to hear you've ordered Gleed's memoir as it's very good Gruffy. Sadly, and like so many it was a tragic loss that he was killed. I'm looking forward to following your build!

Hi Jack, Went through a few books and documents and unfortunately no code whilst with 609. I have N3280's code whilst with 234 but have drawn a blank whilst with 609. I couldn't find the code whilst she was with 485 either. I haven't been through everything but it's not looking good I'm afraid. Sorry, Tim

Good grief, I got my copy out of Gleed's memoir but I can't possibly be bothered going through the whole bloody thing looking for references to red spinners. Take Edgar's advice, you know it makes sense!

Doesn't he mention red in "Arise to Conquer"? I can check in my old copy later today.

Hi Jack, One thing, be very careful assuming that the individual code would be C due to Ogilvie's flying as Red 3 during a sortie. Although in most Fighter Command squadrons, A to K codes were usually initially allocated to A Flight, they were not always then allocated down through the flight from the squadron leader having A then down through the line. Remember also aircraft could be swapped between flights due to availability issues (especially during the BoB with great strain on frontline squadrons). Also the position that a pilot flew in the flight could change quite frequently due to a variety of reasons. I have quite a large library on the BoB, and will have a look over the weekend to see if I can find if anything mentions the individual code for N3280. Cheers, Tim

Hi Mackem, I'm not at home at the mo so away from the books but IIRC Crawford for one makes no mention of the tailplanes being yellow on K2065. In fact I'm not sure 1 Sqn used coloured tailplane surfaces on flight commanders' mounts unlike 43 Sqn which did. I'll have a look in my references when I can although maybe someone here can confirm this either way before then.

I'd hesitate to use Humbrol 11 for aluminium doped fabric as it is too bright, shiny and silver. You're far better off using Humbrol 56 although it's probably a touch dark. On another hand Tamiya's TS-17 is quite a nice match and it's in an almost fool-proff spraycan. There is quite a difference between the dope fabric surfaces and the cowls. RAF Fury squadrons had their aluminium cowls fastidiously polished so you really need a chrome paint or technique if you want to be close to the real thing. I have a Lindberg 1/48 Fury on the homestretch and used an amazing automotive chrome paint which has (IMHO) done a spectacular job. This stuff is Australian - sorry can't remember the name but can find it for you when I'm home although not sure whether it would be available in the UK. Hope that helps a little.

Another vote for Humbrol 163. I've been using it since getting back into the hobby and wouldn't use anything else for RAF DG. Looks a perfect match as far as I can tell.

Hi Troy, Great stuff there on the interior details. In terms of the grey green for the tubular frame, this came from Guy Black, the Technical Director at HAC. They found restoring K5674 that the colour was used on Furies but that it was dependent on the year of manufacture. It might be plausible to assume that the grey green was used on later contract Furies whilst the black was an earlier feature. K5674 was in the last Fury I contract batch (409396/15) so very possibly aircraft of this batch and perhaps earlier were having grey green used on them. Hi Trevor, Yes that's the Fury I was referring to and is the one that the kit decals are for. In terms of the colours being lighter, maybe the decals could be a shade or two lighter but they look very light in that photo because of the intense sunlight which is affecting their appearance. Cheers, Tim