Search the Community

The backstory .. 21+ years ago, I acquired the Airfix 1/24th Hurricane Mk 1, which I began with so much enthusiasm and grand plans. So much for that, and due to various reasons, it was put in the loft, where it laid quietly waiting for the build that never came until late 2021 when I decided to pick up the modelling tools again. I wasn't sure if the kit had survived a house move 10 years ago, but it had. I wasn't sure how well it would go together, but the trials and tribulations can be found in the work in progress Here I've now decided that I'm calling this finished, but before the pictures .... There are some areas that I'm not entirely happy with, such as the tailplanes due to the fit and my rusty skills The decals are the originals that came with the kit and there is some silvering on the fuselage ones, despite using decal softener and fixer The tail fin red/white/blue are painted on rather than use the decal Weathering is a mix of oils and pastels and I wanted to attempt to give it a look to represent constant sorties and the toll it would take on the airframe So onto the main event ...... Thank you for taking the time to look and your comments/feedback are welcomed. Keith 😁

So here's something new: Douglas Bader's 242 squadron Hurricane in 1/48 scale! OK it's been done before, but not by me, so here goes Why Douglas Bader? Actually why indeed? I don't think I would have liked him, he was iconic, and driven, and crashed lots of planes. On a serious note I see there is quite a lot of Bader-bashing going on, particularly amongst non-Brits - I ask this simple question: Would you rather he be on our side or the opponents? Exactly - I think that's why he merits the admiration and respect of recreating his aircraft The kit will be Airfix of course, no Tamiya or Eduard alternatives yet… (correction - I see Tamiya reboxed Italeri's 2011 model - most reviewers suggest the Airfix kit is better) I've tried airbrushing Vallejo acrylics, which I didn't get on with, but do leave a great finish, and Humbrol enamels, which I didn't like the finish of, so I've settled on Tamiya acrylics which spray well and leave a nice fine finish I intend to do some pre-shading with some post panel line enamel wash. I'll be aiming for minor wear, putting down some aluminium, then isopropyl alcohol, then sodium carbonate over the chipped areas around the front of the cowling and wings and on the panel lines of the wing roots before painting the camo I'm aiming to mask the camo pattern using Frog delicate decorator's tape hand cut. I used thick leather sewing thread under the edges on my Spitfire to give the soft transition, very fiddly but came out well, so aim to repeat I've taken to hand painting canopies with a 000 brush, excess acrylic is quite easily removed from the glazed areas using a fine wooden toothpick, so will be aiming to do that here I built the original Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1, which I thought was a nice kit, but the decals were a nightmare, so I'm aiming to airbrush most of the roundels and lettering (LE-D), then use the kit stencils with Humbrol Decalfix, which I've not used before. I'll hand cut the lettering masks, but use Montex for the roundels, another first for me I have the full 491104 Eduard photoetch kit, although the second fret is mainly gun bay stuff, and I'm in two minds whether to open the gun bays at all Reading around I see Wikipedia mentions that Bader actually flew three different Hurricanes while at 242. I'm aiming for the one in the group 242 squadron photo In fact I've only found four photos of his aircraft: Bader standing on the wing Bader sitting on the edge of the cockpit Bader and two others standing in front of the 242 boot kicking Hitler The 242 group photo These are probably all the same aircraft and appear to have the Rotol spinner and the A camouflage scheme There are some colorized versions of the B&W photos, but these seem to be wrong! So it seems the boot kicking Hitler should be on the panel under the port exhaust which should be (mostly) Dark Earth. The boot is pretty clear in the B&W photos, of course the colours aren't. I don't have any Bader decals so I'll attempt make my own using some old Jetcal - that is the boot, Hitler and the Squadron Leader graphic Having looked at various cockpit pictures, it seems there was a migration from aluminium finish to interior green from before the war to around 42, I'll be following the Finnish photos, aluminium tubing, rudder pedals and seat, green panels, aluminium gear and gun bays I'm not really certain if the aluminium finish is lacquered aluminium, or alloy painted in aluminium coloured laquer, I'm assuming the latter because it seems to flake off with age, so I'm thinking of reverse dry brushing (painting the parts in flat aluminium, then dry brushing with white and light grey for the wear) - we'll see what it looks like... I'll be aiming to use Airscale 1/48 cockpit placards, they do seem to add some sense of realism I'm never very happy with photoetch harness, so I will try and make my own from tape, but estimate a 50% chance of success... OK, so that's the plan, we'll see if it survives contact with the kit itself, off to open the sprue bag and dunk in some detergent water I should add this is only my fourth model since I restarted, I'm expecting it to take about six months. I doubt it will be the best Hurricane you'll see on this board, but it may give hope to others restarting the hobby... All comments very very welcome...

This is my second entry. I was wondering why no one has entered with this yet...? Very good model, easy to build.... hmm, strange.... So I will fill this gap. I started yesterday and this is what I build.... Begun with undersides.... I use the photo etched parts from an expert box. Becouse it is the variant which you should put the main gear on place before gluing the wing together, I manage to paint the underside of the wing before gluing. I think it could be a good idea not to fight with masking weel bays with protruding main gears. We will see.... And this is the result.... The wing ready for next step....

Dear Fellow-Modellers, let me present to you two Hurricane Is that I built in parallel: a very early Mk I (fabric-covered wing, 2-blade prop) from 85 Sqn in Lille-Seclin a late Mk I from 306 (Polish) Sqn One is the Airfix-kit more or less out of the box, , for the other one I used the Airfix kit and the Alley-Cat tin-wing resin conversion. Decals are Plastic Planer Club (for the 85 Sqn) and Techmod (for the 306 Sqn). Specials thanks go to the kind Britmodeller Beard who generously sent me the the 2-blade propeller! Thanks for watching!

"Hauptmann Tietzen, my Staffel commander alone has nineteen [sic] [aerial victories]! I witnessed most of his kills. It is fantastic, the way he shoots. He is the boss, he moves us into position and selects the victims, and we have to do little more than cover him...During the last few days the British have been getting weaker, though individuals continue to fight well. Often the Spitfires give beautiful displays of aerobatics. Recently I had to watch in admiration as one of them played a game with thirty Messerschmitts, without itself ever getting into danger; but such individuals are few. The Hurricanes are tired old 'puffers'." -- Leutnant Hans-Otto Lessing, II.JG/51, 17 August 1940 When they finally come to destroy the earth They'll have to go through you first I bet they won't be expecting that -- OK Go, "Invincible" On 18 August 1940, the Battle of Britain's hardest day, when the losses for both sides were heaviest, seven Hurricanes of 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron and eight more from 32 Squadron attempted to break through German fighters escorting 58 Dornier 17s of KG2 over Herne Bay. It was an unequal contest. Four jagdgeschwaders of Bf 109s swept in to attack the RAF fighters as they climbed to meet the enemy; Flight Lieutenant George Stoney, leading 501 into action, was separated from his comrades and shot down and killed, one of nineteen members of 501 to lose their lives during the Battle of Britain, more casualties than any other participating squadron. Severely outnumbered, the other Hurricanes were unable to cut their way to the bombers. But they did not leave empty-handed. Pilot Officer Pawel Zenker, who had flown fighters in defence of Poland in 1939, where he had shot down a Henschel 126, headed straight for the escorting German fighters and got behind a Bf109. In his combat report, he wrote that the Messerschmitt "turned back towards France and I chased him as he climbed firing from 300 [yards] and closer ranges and about 10 miles over the sea I saw smoke and fire come from the fuselage and he rapidly lost height. The Me 109 did not adopt evasive action but flew straight on until it crashed into the water somewhere near the North Goodwin Lightship." Hauptmann Horst Tietzen, Staffelkapitan of 5./JG51, the fourth-highest scoring pilot in the Luftwaffe, with seven victories over Spain and twenty more claimed since the start of the war, was dead. Pilot Officer Stefan Witorzeńć, who had been a flying instructor in Poland in 1939, was flying as Red 2 on F/L Stoney's wing when he was bounced by two 109s. Throwing his Hurricane about the sky, he outmaneuvered both of them in a diving, turning fight that dropped in altitude from 14,000 feet to 10,000 feet. As he regained height, he found himself below and abeam a 109; he gave it a long burst of fire from the Hurricane's eight machine guns, at 150 yards. The 109 tried to turn away in a shallow dive, a fatal mistake against a Hurricane. Witorzenc followed hot on its heels and gave it another long burst from dead astern; it burst into flames and crashed near Wingham, where it exploded. Leutnant Hans-Otto Lessing, with four victory claims, had written a letter to his parents the day before, describing the RAF's Hurricanes as "tired old puffers". Now he was dead. Pawel Zenker was last seen chasing a an enemy aircraft out to sea on 24 August, 1940; aged twenty-five, he never returned to grow old. Perhaps he waits in Avalon with Arthur to this day. Stefan Witorzeńć survived the war and, after a period of imprisonment, served with the postwar Polish Air Force; he died in 1994. I'll be building three Hurricanes from 501 Squadron using the new kit from Arma. Unfortunately, decals for Zenker (possibly P3208/SD-T) and Witorzeńć's (L1868/SD-D) machines on the day aren't available, but there was a fair degree of mobility in the squadron, and it's likely that of the three decal options I have for 501 (two in the kit and one in the excellent set of Stanislaw Skalski decals), Zenker and Witorzeńć probably flew in at least one of them once. In any case, the aircraft in question have distinguished pedigrees regardless, having been flown by the Polish aces Stanislaw Skalski DSO DFC (18 victories and offficially Poland's highest-scoring ace) and Antoni "Toni" Głowacki DFC DFM (8 victories), who famously became an ace in a day after shooting down three 109s and two Ju88s on 24 August 1940. Skalski died in 2004 in Poland; Glowacki, in 1980 in New Zealand. It would perhaps be foolish to think that building what is after all a plastic toy could be in any way a meaningful tribute to the men and boys who flew the Hurricane in the Battle of Britain, whether they were a thousands miles or more from home or whether their parents saw them fight and die in the skies above their childhood homes. But howevermuch an act of love and admiration it can be, let this build be that. If you wish to hear George Stoney's voice seventy-nine years after his death, he gave a short talk for the BBC on 3 August 1940: He was twenty-nine and had fifteen days left to live. I just received my first order of kits from the mailroom here at work. Shall we begin?

No sooner had the new 1/72 fabric-winged Hurricane I hit the streets, then our very own Tony O'Toole was marrying it up with the wing from the old Hurricane I kit to provide a metal-wing Mk I. Unfortunately the associated B-M thread seems to have fallen down a crack in the time-space continuum: neither a site nor a Google search has found it. Can anyone provide a link please? I should like to tread the same path - or at least be reminded why I may not wish to. Thanks in advance.