Yugoslav Hurricane - Airfix 1/72 3/10/14 - Decals on

[Mitch K]

Here's the latest, Airfix's rag-wing Hurricane, which will end up in the markings of the RYAF. As with Bf109's, sprue shots of this are two a penny so there's no point using bandwidth to repeat the process.

The cockpit's pretty nice out of the box, with a clever construction of footboards, rear bulkhead and instrument panel including the structural members.

Here's a quick shot of the pit before closing. The additions from me are the trim wheel, seatbelts and buckles, the leather patch on the seat and a flap/undercarriage control in the starboard side. The colour is home-mixed, based on discussions on this site.

I added a ring and bead sight: as far as I can tell the RYAF Hurricanes didn't have any sort of optical gunsight. This was simple stretched sprue, heat-formed over a kettle around a drill bit. Assembly went pretty well. I think the cowling seam needs a bit more work, but it's nothing serious. I have to say I don't think it fell together like the Bf 109's did, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well the lower fuselage fillet went in. I had visions of that being like Airfix of old...

Unfortunately, the build has stalled. The unarmoured windscreen has vanished, along with one of the landing lights: I coated them in Kleer to improve the clarity and they became so transparent they completely disappeared! I'm hoping Airfix's customer service department can help.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Mitch K

[Vanja #66]

Looking forward to seeing this one...

[Mitch K]

Cheers Vanja! I'm updating and progressing this as I can, but there's a not a lot of momentum to be had in painting undercarriage legs!

Close inspection of the Hurri reveals that the radiator has reinforcements at both the front and the rear. Stretched sprue, cyanoacrylate and patience provides these.

The rear two were fitted into tiny holes I drilled in the bottom of the fuselage, then glued to the back of the radiator structure.

The front one was more difficult. I measured twice, cut once,then took my eye off the bit of sprue and it vanished!

Edited August 17, 2014 by Mitch K

[Basilisk]

Comes along nicely. I don't know how important accuracy is for you. If it is, you may like to fill the fabric effect in the front and behind the gun servicing openings as this was metal on the fabric wing Hurricane (upper wing only).

Cheers, Peter

[AdrianMF]

Hi there,

I was interested in Peter's comment and I note that the London Science Museum Hurricane looks to me to be fabric behind the gun covers in the photos here and here.

So was this introduced mid-life, or was it a mod?...

Regards,
Adrian

[Mitch K]

In the photos I've got the evidence seems at best equivocal either way, which is deeply unhelpful. I'll dig a little deeper tonight (although I think a parcel from Hannants bringing my next build has arrived today...)

[AdrianMF]

FWIW we could arguably be looking at lines of rivets on the Science Museum pictures, so I'm not 100% sure it wasn't metal from those photos...

Regards,

Adrian

[Mitch K]

Hi there,

I was interested in Peter's comment and I note that the London Science Museum Hurricane looks to me to be fabric behind the gun covers in the photos here and here.

So was this introduced mid-life, or was it a mod?...

Regards,

Adrian

I concur - on this one it very much looks like metal in front, fabric behind. Which doesn't shed a lot of light on the Yugoslav ones! The best pictures I've got are two I found on ww2aircraft.net, one an aerial shot of a Hurricane banking, the other an in-flight profile. I've blown up the images and examined both careful.

In the first there are no signs of tell-tell fabric ribbing in the area in question. However, the ribbing only seems visible on the darkest-coloured areas of the wing, and is indiscernable (to my eye anyway) on light-coloured pieces of the wing that would definitely be fabric covered.

In the second, the ribbing is indistinct across the whole wing, but could be present in the area ahead of the gun access panel.

Go figure!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Mitch K

[Basilisk]

Definitely rivets! http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/mark_hayward/hurricane_mk1_l1592/images/hurricane_mk1_l1592_08_of_26.jpg

Also see this picture from this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234931483-fabric-wing-hurricane-question/

You can see the worn-off paint on the metal part (and slightly lighter paint on the fabric).

It had to be metal as fabric would got damaged when arming the guns.

Cheers, Peter

Edited August 19, 2014 by Basilisk

[Mitch K]

So, does this apply to every single fabric-winged Hurricane, or just some? The drawing (p104) in the SAM Datafile (which is a Crown Copyright original) clearly shows a fabric leading edge in the area around the blast tubes. The drawing on p110 reinforces this. I'm not sufficiently convinced that the Yugoslav Hurricanes had any metal wing structure, and I'm doubtful that they would have had any later RAF-type modifications/retrofits.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Mitch K

[Basilisk]

I am sure all fabric wings are the same. Are you sure you look at the SAM drawing correctly? The drawing clearly shows riveted metal blanking in front and behind the armament opening panel.

Even though it is the prototype, this picture shows this too. http://www.raf.mod.uk/downloads/wallpapers/1930s/hurri1024.jpg

Sorry Adrian to have brought this up. Looking forward to your further pgrogress and I am interested to see in what colour scheme you paint your model.

Cheers, Peter

[Mitch K]

I'm 99% sure I'm reading the drawing correctly, but I'll check tonight.

The question is are we comparing like with like? Was this metal fitting the case on EVERY SINGLE fabric wing? The reason I ask is that the UK-built Yugoslav Hurricanes were very early examples, and the remaining 20-odd were built by Zmaj and therefore more unlikely to be subject to Air Ministry driven changes. All the ones you have shown definitely have the metal section in the upper wing ahead of the armament access panel, but looking at the photos of the Yugoslav ones it really is not at all clear.

[Basilisk]

Why should the locally build Hurricanes be different? What would be gained in having this part of the wing fabric covered - an area which needed to be accessible (by standing or kneeling on it) to re-arm the guns. I don't think there is a conclusive picture - you have to make an educated guess.

And the few pictures on locally build Hurricanes are mostly in poor quality.

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=15329&printertopic=1&start=0&finish=-1

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234951133-yugoslav-hurricanes-recommended-schemes/

But lets Adrian continue with his build.

Cheers, Peter

[Stew Dapple]

Peter, it's Mitch's build that's why he's asking so many questions.

Coming along very nicely Mitch

Cheers,

Stew

[Basilisk]

That is embarrassing What shall I say - sorry Mitch.

Cheers, Peter

[Mitch K]

Why should the locally build Hurricanes be different? What would be gained in having this part of the wing fabric covered - an area which needed to be accessible (by standing or kneeling on it) to re-arm the guns. I don't think there is a conclusive picture - you have to make an educated guess.

And the few pictures on locally build Hurricanes are mostly in poor quality.

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=15329&printertopic=1&start=0&finish=-1

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234951133-yugoslav-hurricanes-recommended-schemes/

But lets Adrian continue with his build.

Cheers, Peter

Peter,

I think that I am not making myself clear. Are you saying that the Airfix Mk1 Hurricane is fundamentally incorrect because there is a fabric area ahead of the armament access panel, and that IN NO CASE what this area EVER fabric covered?

That is embarrassing What shall I say - sorry Mitch.

Cheers, Peter

S'aright, Peter - let's get to the bottom of this. It's an easy fix, but I'm a strong believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[Basilisk]

Mitch,

Yes I am saying that the new Airfix 1/72 Fabric Wing Mk1 Hurricane is NOT correct as IN NO CASE what this area EVER fabric covered. But it is an easy fix, so not a big deal. This build has it corrected (I think the build was published in one of the magazines in detail) http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234952982-hawker-hurricane-mki-172-airfix/

Here is the Crown drawing and I marked the metal parts.

One other thing, I noticed that you used the part with the armor plate behind the seat. I would have thought that this wasn't in place on the Yugoslav Fabric Wing Hurricanes delivered from the UK. And if it was on the locally produced aircraft is everyone's guess. Maybe someone else knows more about this.

Cheers, Peter

[Mitch K]

Cheers Peter, that's very clear now. Easy fix! I wonder than in all the reviews I've read no one has mentioned it!

The armour behind the pilot is as you say anyone's guess. The photos are equivocal. There's one good shot of a captured Yugoslav Hurricane in Italian hands which seems to NOT have head armour, but in the same shot it doesn't seem to have the slot for the seat harness either!

By April 1941 (timeframe for my representation of the aircraft I'm building), the experiences of the Luftwaffe, RAF and others would have percolated through and the value (necessity even) of pilot armour would have been well understood. I'm calling it a "local field modification"

[AdrianMF]

Very interesting (and about 3 weeks too late for my build!). Strange that Airfix missed it...

And Peter thanks for putting us straight.

Regards,

Adrian

Edited August 19, 2014 by AdrianMF

[Mitch K]

Roughly a month later I'm finally progressing this again. Airfix have (at long last) sent a replacement windshield, so it's onwards. I mixed up the colours based on the discussions on this thread, using Tamiya acrylics. I blew a coat on the underside and I'm happy enough to proceed.

[Mitch K]

For the last few nights, I have mostly been... keeping a wet edge! And here's the result:

The colours are Tamiya, XF60 for the yellow-brown, XF27 for the green and XF10 plus a bit of yellow for the dark brown, matched with my Mk0 eyeball and guided by the good folks on Britmodeller! The white patches were left masked on the primer to try to account for the thinness of the Kora decals I'm using. I've left the wings without the red gun muzzle area. The decals don't show it, and having looked at a number of photos of Yugo Hurricanes, there's only one where it looks to me like there might be something like that going on. Interestingly, Kora put the Kosovo cross on the starboard wing. My efforts at remediating the fabric effect around the armament access panel aren't perfect and it's something I'll keep in mind for the next one I build (there will be more!)

The underside is as near the slightly greenish blue colour I can get.

The pre-shading is visible on this. I did the uppersurfaces too, honest, but multiple coats of each of the camoflage shades has buried it completely! Get her glossed, then it's decals on. Therearen't many so it shouldn't be a long job. All the oddments are painted: wheels, gear doors, prop, exhausts and w.h.y. so will pop on quickly. Home straight now!

[Stew Dapple]

Hi Mitch,

I like your colours - in fact I like your dark brown better than mine, it looks nice with a hint of red about it, and all the other colours look good to me - I have never seen the originals but they compare well with the pictures I have seen.

Speaking of pictures, here is a link to a flight-sim skinners' forum; the second post contains a fair number of pictures including a reproduction of an Aeroplan magazine article about no. 2337 with plans - incidentally the plans show the gun-port covers as being red and the photos do seem to show gun-port covers on 2337 but as you observe this does not seem to have been universally done so I offer it for your consideration only as an interesting read.

Nice idea providing a white backing for the uppersurface markings Interesting that Kora have put the Kosovo Cross on the right wing and Lift Here! on the left... I noticed on the Azur IK-3 markings guide that two of the aircraft have the cross on the right upper wing and one on the left... anyway at least this way one of us will have been right

Looking forward to seeing your progress,

Cheers,

Stew

[Mitch K]

Cheers Stu! This one's actually 2347, so the wing crosses might be right on both! One thought that has crossed my mind is that this was a deliberate act by the RYAF, to attempt to confuse enemy pilots. Or instructions came through from on high to "paint over one upper wing marking" without any additional detail or guidance!

[Stew Dapple]

Cheers Stu! This one's actually 2347, so the wing crosses might be right on both! One thought that has crossed my mind is that this was a deliberate act by the RYAF, to attempt to confuse enemy pilots. Or instructions came through from on high to "paint over one upper wing marking" without any additional detail or guidance!

Well when you consider all the variations in RAF markings in the early war period due to varying interpretations of the official edicts, I suspect it might be the latter

The Lift Here! Markings were for 2347 too, so they can't both be right though I believe it entirely possible that the markings appeared on different wings on different aircraft... and to add to the confusion no.2337 is shown as having no upperwing crosses at all so that offers a third choice

Cheers,

Stew

[Mitch K]

The number of bits put on is quite small, the time taken wasn't long, but the impact is serious in terms of how finished she looks.

The decals went on without a hitch. I think leaving some white where the upper surface markings go has worked well in terms of keeping the colours "truer" on the Kosovo cross and tail cockades.

Masking isn't complete on the windscreen: trying to mask the compound curves while the screen wasn't in situ defeated me, but once it's dry it'll work. Before I installed the glazing, I had to make another ring sight, as the one I'd laborious built before snapped off and was eaten by the carpet monster

The landing lights are stuck in with some fiendishly sticky yacht varnish I got for a DIY project: it's plenty strong enough for items like that or tiny windscreens and can't fog or cloud them at all. I just can't seem to get on with PVA for this purpose. The spinner and prop are black-grey. Most of the pictures of Yugoslav Hurricanes don't show any propellor tip warning markings, so that's what I went with.

The decals were fine on the underside without a white backing. I've shaded the cartridge ejector slots with black grey acrylic - the pre-shade wasn't enough. I'll blow a coat of gloss on tomorrow and move on to final assembly and weathering before matting down.