Classic Airframes Hurricane - worth getting?

[Skids]

Hi All

Just wondered if the Classic Airframes Hurricane was worth getting considering the rather high prices they seem to go for on evilbay.

I really fancy doing an early fabric wing version but the price seems a tad excessive.

Or would the Airfix + Heritage fabric wing conversion be a better option? (although added together not far of the CA one)

Thanks

Skids

[Bruce Archer]

Hi!

There is another way, MDC did a fabric wing. And it had the 2-blade prop, and different keels..

The CA Hurricane , if memory serves me, had an issue with the nose and spinner........

Bruce

[Troy Smith]

Skids

The CA kit is pretty good, though as Bruce mentions there is supposed to be an issue with the nose. I've not checked mine against the Bentley plans as yet.

It suffers from being based on the Hase kit, so it has the wrong fabric effect on the fuselage panels,

please see here for an explanation of this http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/74042-italeri-announce-new-tool-148-hurricane-mk1/page-3#entry814004

This bloody fault has now been also copied by Pegasus and AZ Models 1/72 planes too boot!

Where Hasegawa got this idea from is beyond me...........

What really irks me is the much lauded Hasegawa has several rather annoying flaws, which are rather hard to fix.
Everyone knows about the break in the underfuselage fabric, at least you usually can't see that.

The first fabric covered access panel is bigger pain,
well shown here


compare, note the Hase kit has 'bands' at the edges of the panel and where it joins the rear fuselage. The real thing does not, the line of the stringers are unbroken. Also gives you a good idea about the Hase fabric representation. And there should not be a panel line behind the cockpit, this is a strip of fabric reinforcement, where the fabric covered plywood 'dog kennel' ends and the stringers begin. Annoyingly Classic Airframes also copies this error. Not an easy fix.






and a restored one.

And I think has the 3rd access panel on the starboard side, not found on early planes.

I also has the 4 spoke wheels copied from the Hase kit, which has too small hubs, and every fabric hurricane has 5 spoke wheels.

The MDC wing is for the Hase kit, but looks to be hard work, in as much as it requires you to cut off the wings outbaord of the u/c, where the outer panels do attach in reality, but that is a tricky making good job and getting the dihedral right.

And, it does not address the fabric panel at the wing root. I have the MDC set, and it says there is no evidence this exist but this is wrong.

Damaged 17Sq Hurricane, in France. The fabric covering can be clearly seen on the wing root panel.

Also Hurricanes has aluminium painted interior framework, as can be seen in the damaged pic above. This carried on until about 1942 BTW.

Have a search, there are pics here of the untouched since 1943 Finnish Hurricane showing the original internals.

I have an Aardvark wing, which i think is now sold by Heritage, it certainly looks the same, and is for the Airfix kit.

A suggestion, use the Ark Hurricane instead of the Airfix for the fuselage, as it has engraved detail. [that part of the Ark kit is based on the Airfix Hurricane anyway]

Steven Eisenmann says is a POS, he's wrong. [it's in the thread i linked to above]

Steven's pic of the Ark fuselage

Mine, with some scraping and bending, OOB it appears atrocious, as the above shows.

It's fits the Aardvark wing very well too. it has issues, but rescribing the Airfix fuselage to match the resin wings is also a pain.

I think the airfix fuselage is about 3 or 4 inches too long as well.

The only surviving fabric wing plane is hanging in the Science Musuem in London.

great walkround here, lots of high res pics

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/mark_hayward/hurricane_mk1_l1592/

You also want to check what plane you are doing, as there are lots of little variations, as a series of modifications were being introduced as the plane was getting settled into service, windscreens, ring bead sight or reflector, 3 types of exhaust pipes, different propellers, lower fuselage fairing and deeper rudder. This is from memory, i've probably missed a few....

think I need to get out more..... any clarifications or further questions please ask.

HTH

T

[Steven Eisenman]

The ARK is a POS. Show all the pictures. The detal is crude and parts are blobby. I'd go with the Airfix kit way before I did an ARK.

As for the CA kit, unless you use the MDC conversion, it was the only game. The wose part is the nose (copied Hasegawa) fit is poor and the two bladed prp cannot be used without surgery, which really does not result in a any improvement. It is not bad with the three blade props.

I have not seen the Italeri kit, although thewre have been some criticism of it (beyond price in the US).

The problem is that the Hurricane could be better served in 1/48.

ARK POS

[Troy Smith]

Steven,

please could you expand on the problems with CA and Hasegawa nose please, most of my kits are boxed up at the mo and not easily accessible. I'd like to check this when I get chance.

Though, The Ark Hurricane is to hand, as I have been working on making something worthwhile out of it. So, out with my old camera [so not the best photos]

The pics of the Ark tail Steven posted above are correct BEFORE modification, and he is right that Out of Box it fits like an abomination, and in best lawyer style, his photos paint a 'worst case scenario'.

But, in the interests of fairness, I'd like to demonstrate it's possible to get the tail parts to match up a lot better than that.

First, get rid of the locating pins, they cause problems.

Then use the outside edge of the parts as guide, you will need to scrape/sand every mating surface flat.

Note, the Ark instructions are nearly useless, they don't even show all the parts! [some small detail bits missed off]

You will also need to carefully trim the join at tail fairing/fuselage, as this cause a lot of the 'different length' problem. It's mostly an alignment problem.

OK, now cleaned up and squidged together, still a mismatch.

A lot of the problems here arise from the separate rear under panel, lining this up helps a lot, note the gap I'm pointing too, squeeze this up and the tail fit gets better. This is what I mean about it being an alignment problem.

The plastic is quite rubbery and soft, so it's easy to do. [also easy to clean up and scrape]

You can get to this. Not tight joint as possible due to being held with worn Tamiya tape, hence the open top seam.

Also note the sink mark it inherited from Airfix. [read Aeroscale review , link posted below]

here's the Ark fuselage dry fitted to the Aardvark wing [i believe this is the one now sold by Heritage]

For a fabric wing plane that 3rd access panel needs filling.

In many ways this is a very good use for the Ark kit, as the engraved detail matches the wing detail well, and it gets over the real bug bear of the Ark kit, a crap wheel well, like the airfix but worse, and the 'pull your hair out' 3 piece lower wing.

This really is a pain, and not easy to align. Why they did this is beyond me.

the under nose is also tricky, and there are some funny gaps you need to shim with plastic card.

One caution, you may need to trim the tail plane tabs to get correct alignment from above, that's what the black marker pen lines are for.

All the above are dry fitted. I must stress this kit will need 3 or 4 dry fits, and carfeul scraping and some home made locating tabs will help, as will having an extra hand!

There are better pics of the 'blobby detail' in the Aeroscale review

http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=4082

Don't even think about trying this if you are impatient, or want a kit that fits.

As Steven's signature says on Hyperscale, "There is no such thing as an unbuildable kit, just some kits one may consider not worth building."

But as these can be picked up for under £10 with post off ebay for example, and as can be seen in the Aeroscale review the kit has some useful options, 3 kinds of propeller, note two are also useable on early Spitfires [good replacements if you correct the too high thrust line on the Airfix Spitfire I/II kit] trop filter, early and late type tail wheel and arrestor hook.

So, it's mixed bag, but not the complete POS Steven asserts it to be, even if you just used to for some donor parts [maybe for the Pegasus kit?]

Bear in mind the other options for Mk I Hurricanes. [metal wing]

Hasegawa, Unavailable and/or expensive, with some problems detailed above

Italeri, expensive, with it's own problems, detailed elsewhere on the site.

Airfix, cheap, raised panel lines, basic. Requires careful dry fitting/scraping and some tweaking to avoid problems.

Pegasus, cheap, based on Hasegawa, thick wing. snap together, so a lot of simplified detail.

All need new wheels BTW.

In time I'm going to collate all this and more in one place....

cheers

T

Edited April 13, 2013 by Troy Smith

[ludwig113]

overall, the best option is the hasegawa kit with mdc wing conversion.

paul

[dragonlanceHR]

Only as long as you don't try to compare the Airfix and Hasegawa noses. Don't even think about it.

Thanks for the pictures Troy, I sold my ARK kit but now I'll just have to get another one.

Vedran

[Panoz]

Do you like your Hurricanes Kestrel engined???

There is no way a Merlin could fit in the CA Hurricane kit nose (And no, you don't need plans to verify it.)

[Gary]

Only as long as you don't try to compare the Airfix and Hasegawa noses. Don't even think about it.

Vedran

So does this possibly lead towards a Hasegawa fuselage fitted with an Airfix nose, as much work as that might be?

Edited December 14, 2013 by Geebar

[dragonlanceHR]

I'll be having some free time in the Week52. I already made resin copies of the Airfix upper cowl.

Plan is to cut out the Hasegawa upper cowl along the panel line and replace it with the Airfix resin copy. Hasegawa upper cowl line is an almost straight line down to IMO undersize spinner. It will probably require some shimming to widen the engine front.

I'll post some pictures then.

Vedran

[FZ6]

I built the Classic Airframes kit when it first came out and enjoyed building it. As far as I remember it did require it did require some clean up at the time but it went together better than any Classic Airfames kit i've attempted. The biggest problem I had was fitting the insert part that represents the front of the engine you attach the spinner to. It needs some trimming to fit properly. Since building this kit I've heard there are problems with the nose.

I've included a pic of mine so you can see how it looks when built. I thought it was expensive at the time for £25 so current ebay make it even more so, but as stated above there are other cheaper ways to get a fabric winged Hurricane.