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Best 1:48 Hurricane kit?


RichardPrice

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So, having started my upgrade project to 1:48 with the Spitfire (currently building several Tamiya and Airfix Mk.Is and an Airfix Mk.V), but next on the list is the good old Hurricane - so whats the best kit (accuracy, build quality, fit etc) currently out there? What do people enjoy?

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Oh bob.... why think of me?

Richard, the answer is...it depends.

bob is the best quick answer, overall, Hasegawa.

Problem here is is not easily available, I think the only fairly current catalogue item was the IIC variant in King Air Race markings. And that was blinkin expensive new!

The Hase kit came in multitude of boxings, with the usual Hase tactic of version specfic sprues, and less than optimum decals [the Kings Air race one look decent though]

Hase kits can be got secondhand fairly easily, for £20-30 depending.

have a look here - http://modelingmadness.com/splfeat/kr/has48b.htm

lists them all...

Sadly the only really available option in the Italeri kit, which is overpriced, it's RRPof abut £30 is silly, and full of issues, which may or may not annoy you.

see here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935596-sea-hurricane-148-italeri/#entry1390213

I can give you chapter and verse, and headache too boot if you want the full picture...how bad is you AMS?

what variant did you want to do? Refine your questions and I'll see what i can do.

bit busy, hint google - 'britmodeller troy hurricane 1/48' and you find many threads on the subject shall we say :whistle:

HTH

T

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If you read through Troy's threads there is a lot of info to be had, and its all a good read. I have tried to build the Italeri offering but it sits in its box at pesent.

I have built a couple of Hasegawa kits and apart from the really stupid underneath wing join that cuts right through the fabric pattern I have really enjoyed them. I can live with the inaccuracy that the Hasegawa has because it still builds nice, Then again I have seen a few of the old Arfix kits looking sweet too.

Stevej60 is doing one now, also look for Tonyot as he builds alot too

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Well I am no expert in the class of Troy and the others but I know what I would do. I'd go to Kingkit (I stress I have no connections there other than as an occasional customer) and buy this http://www.kingkit.co.uk/search.php, and just improve it a bit, a much loved kit in its time..

Have fun and if you follow this, it will be CHEAP.

Nige B

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Troy, thanks for the links and hints - no idea what AMS means, assume it has something to do with accuracy etc ;) If so, I prefer detail over accuracy (so long as it still passes off as the aircraft it professes to be...), which some take as a form of heresy I know!

The Hasegawa one seems to be it - I dont see the Tamika ones mentioned much, anything wrong there?

Viscount, unfortunately your link is to the search page with no keywords, so I have no idea what you are wanting me to see :(

Thanks to everyone else for their feedback.

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previous threads

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234914349-148-hurricanes/

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/69999-148-hurricane/

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/74528-148-hurricanes/

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/74042-italeri-announce-new-tool-148-hurricane-mk1/

On 12/09/2014 at 19:31, Skids said:

If you read through Troy's threads there is a lot of info to be had, and its all a good read. I have tried to build the Italeri offering but it sits in its box at pesent.

I have built a couple of Hasegawa kits and apart from the really stupid underneath wing join that cuts right through the fabric pattern I have really enjoyed them. I can live with the inaccuracy that the Hasegawa has because it still builds nice, Then again I have seen a few of the old Arfix kits looking sweet too.

Stevej60 is doing one now, also look for Tonyot as he builds alot too

Underwing join is oft commented on, annoying, but unless you turn your models over....not the biggest flaw.

For this, I suggest cut out fabric on wing, attach to fuselage before try to mate wings to fuselage, add plastic card to make new place for fuse to rest on.

This will allow the join to be worked on, as the main problem is a small misalignment of wings to fuse will be hard to fill.

The BIG problem with the hase kit is this.

 

49967824266_b433c382bb_o.jpg

 

 

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[as do Pegasus and AZ...]. Not an easy fix.

lewis3.jpg

lewis1.jpg

accurate restoration.

7.jpg

I have a Hase fuselage I've been trying to sand in the correct shape. Made more tricky by butting up against a metal panel. I'm not sure how best to correct this.

As can also be seen the fabric effect is not great, a bit 'skinny cow' the real thing has fabric taught between the stringers.

and the other side, which well shows how the fabric should look, in particular look at the '7' and the highlights.

look carefully at the yellow in the roundel, and you can just make out the tapes applied over each stringer.

060717_rfoster_mp_warfare_016.jpg

Now you know what too look for, here's a restoration, and you can see this clearly. Also note the spurious panel line on the Hase at rear of doghouse.

70.JPG

Airfix kit, old, has some useful parts, but I think it has a wing and fuselage that are too thin! Not horribly, but compare to a hase kit.... I printed out the fuselage sections from the Bentley plans on thin card, and the Airfix fuselage is about 2mm to thin at base. Wing is also a bit thin.

On 12/09/2014 at 20:42, RichardPrice said:

Troy, thanks for the links and hints - no idea what AMS 1 means, assume it has something to do with accuracy etc ;) If so, I prefer detail over accuracy (so long as it still passes off as the aircraft it professes to be...), which some take as a form of heresy I know!

The Hasegawa one seems to be it - I dont see the Tamika ones mentioned much, anything wrong there? 2

Viscount, unfortunately your link is to the search page with no keywords, so I have no idea what you are wanting me to see :( 3

Thanks to everyone else for their feedback.

1 = Advance Modeller Syndrome or the like, inability to build OOB....

2 = Tamiya Hurricane is a rebox of the Italeri kit

3 = I would guess Nige is pointing out the Airfix Hurricane can be had cheap.

On 12/09/2014 at 20:52, Bill Clark said:

I'm currently hacking my way through a Classic Airframes 'rag-wing' MkI, it looks okay to my eye, though this is of course long OOP, question is though, how accurate is the old Airfix MkI? I know it is of a certain vintage, but how is it shape wise?

Jon Kunac Tabinor did a very through job on the CA kit. It has issues.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234958668-classic-airframes-hurricane-mk-1-fabric-wing/

Plenty more witter from yours truly of course.

Basilisk is doing a more major rebuild at the mo

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234964631-classic-airframes-148-fabric-wings-hawker-hurricane-mki-l1555/

Might have to edit it more in later....

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Building the Airfix one now,it,s an old mold but never seen anyone "tear it to bits" from a reviewers point of view Kingkit are knocking them out at £6.99

right now if you are prepared to put the work in on one but they are not up to Far east standards,The Tamiya issues I believe are Italeri re-boxings.

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I hear Tamiya has a new kit coming (I read it on the internet, so it must be true) :)

Maybe rebox of one of the other Italeri versions as they did the Mk I

Building the Airfix one now,it,s an old mold but never seen anyone "tear it to bits" from a reviewers point of view Kingkit are knocking them out at £6.99

right now if you are prepared to put the work in on one but they are not up to Far east standards,The Tamiya issues I believe are Italeri re-boxings.

The Airfix Hurricane. As it stands it makes a very acceptable shelf model.

Now, i'll 'tear it to bits' for you.

Any closer than a foot and the problems arise.

Raised panel lines, for the cowl and fuselage ad gun bays access panels this is not acceptable. Rescribing can be done but is very tricky to do without damaging fabric detail.

The wheel well has a terrible seam which is really not possible to deal with unless you line the walls [as the Eduard etch set does]

gear well shape is a bit off, as is some of the detail on the underside.

Radiator bath is clunky, and lack a proper core, no detail on faces. Carb intake is solid block, can be drilled out carefully.

The gear doors are thick, but sanding them down is difficult due to the complex shape, the back edge is 1mm = 2 inches in real life.

gear legs are incomplete and lack top retraction rams. Wheel hubs very simple. Exhaust chunky, tailwheel lacks detail, though can be a good basis with a lot of carving.

No wing tip lights, no landing lights behind landing light glazing, which is thick and poor fit.

Cockpit is very simplified, though if built closed and with canopy, would suffice. Rocker cover bulges poorly defined.

and fuselage and wings too thin.

With much care and modelling skills, it can be made into a good model, but the thin fuselage is probably unfixable. The wing could be shimmed.

Many years ago [eg 1981] I started doing many of the above fixes, as then it was that or the Monogram kit.

Sadly it seem more of a scaled up version of the 1979 era 1/72nd kit rather than a scaled down 1/24th kit.

Positives, reasonable fabric, overall well shaped, has two reasonable props, De Havilland Spitfire type and Rotol Spitfire type.

The Rotol spinner needs a little reshaping and the blades need moving back in a bit [thanks to Iain Wyllie for that detail] , the DH seems OK.

Both can be used to correct the Airfix Spitfire Mk I/II kit which has oversized spinners.

Lacks the 5 spoke wheels which would more usually be seen with the Spit type DH, and for later mk I's it lack the Hurricane DH unit or the Bullet Rotol.

So, makes a decent 1 foot shelf model of a Mk I BoB era.

the Airfix kit is also the basis of the Hobbycraft mk IIC kit.

Despite what the various boxings say, it's a IIC OOB. Same comments and faults but has heavy engraved panel lines.

Also a part basis for the Ark kit. The Ark kit..hmm.

Has potential in the right hands, worth considering for certain spares for other kits if not, eg could provide detail parts for the Pegasus kit.

Useful spares if found cheap, cockpit and UC legs based on Hasegawa parts, and has 3 props, Dh Spit, Rotol Spit and Hurricane Bullet, both types of tail wheel, Sea Hurricane fairing and hook, trop filter and PR camera bulge.

one day I'm going to do photo comparisons and collate all this..... I just got a Monogram Hurricane [thanks Mike] which was the last I 'needed' for the comparisons.

One final point, oddly, in 1/48th all the kits are reasonably well shaped, but in 1/72nd most of the kits are not!

.... the best 1/72 kits seem to be the Airfix Mk I's, hasegawa [though they have the above fabric problem] and it seems the AZ kits, all the rest have quite major shape errors

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I've built the Italeri Hurricane and I'm just finishing one from Hasegawa, both have some accuracy issues but both certainly looks like Hurricanes to me.

The difference is that I'm itching to build more Hasegawa Hurricanes but I'm done with Italeri. Hasegawa made for a much more trouble free build.

There's something wrong with the shape of the Hasegawa nose that to me seems most visible when using their dehavilland spinner. With the Rotol spinner on it seems less noticeable.

/Anders

Edited by Cpt_Farrel
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Tearing my hair out at the moment with the Italeri Hurricane. A real shame as many of the parts are nicely detailed, but just as many of the parts don't fit! I've stopped building the Sea Hurricane to pinch the parts from it to build the Mk IIc as a cannon armed Sea Hurricane ( see earlier threads re "Niki"). I then plan to finish the Sea Hurricane as a Mk I Hurricane in Finnish colours. Whilst the engine covers don't fit very well on either kit, the break out panel fits even more badly on the Mk IIC. I think its because the plastic used seems more flexible so the starboard fuselage half is slightly warped. The main components went together quite well on the Sea Hurricane, but for some reason the wings just don't fit well on the Mk IIC. The wheel well insert seems to foul the upper wings not allowing them to pull into the fuselage. I had to shave off plastic from the top of the wheel well and the underside of the upper wing halves. The landing light covers and the leading edge covers for the guns were I think made for another kit because they certainly don't fit this one on either boxing. I have to say that this will make me consider future purchases from Italeri. Can't understand how they can produce the quality of the CR-42, then go backwards with the Arado 196 and the Hurricanes.

Edited by neilh
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Troy has covered everything in regards to the Airfix Hurricane and given an excellent guide to how to bring it up to an accurate representation and

also touched on the point that divides all modelers:do you want a shelf model that looks like a hurricane and 90% of even fellow modelers would say

yea,Its a Hurricane or a 100% accurate belt and braces model that would pass the scrutiny of the most enthusiastic Hurricane fan? including yourself

if thats the Modeler you are! either way they are beautiful beasts.

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One annoyance, for me on the Hobbycraft Hurricanes is that there's NO indication of where, exactly, the cannon barrels are to be attached. I guess using a good drawing and the appropriate measuring/marking device(s) I could figure it out, but IMO I shouldn't have to.

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Viscount, unfortunately your link is to the search page with no keywords, so I have no idea what you are wanting me to see :(

Sorry Richard, it was meant to point you towards an Airfix 1/48 Hurricane I, on sale at just under £7.

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