Airfix fabric wing Hurricane canopy glitch

[Troy Smith]

Hi

i did think of adding to the old thread on the subject.

Airfix new 1/72 Hurricane - best Hurri of epic fail ?

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234952294-airfix-new-172-hurricane-best-hurri-of-epic-fail/page-1

But a very quick browse I think this is worth a new thread, partly to avoid too many quotes of the histrionic of the one linked.

I recently got the kit, courtesy of my local Aldi, I don't 'do' 1/72nd, so had not rushed out to get one of these, but the only other place in town that sells a few kits is a toyshop with a few basic Airfix this was too much to resist for a fiver....

Anyway, one thing that had struck me in builds is the canopy looked a bit tall, but not having the kit I did not comment. Now having one, I checked this.

And, there is a problem, the canopy is touch too tall, and the to frame line is too high, I added a black line to the photo to make it clearer.

and the real thing in case anyone doen't trust the drawings [the Bentley ones BTW]

Now, Airfix have made the spine correct to scale, but the that means the thickness of the canopy makes it too high.

If the top rail as not too high, then you could probably just sand the bottom edge of the canopy, but the rail means that won't work. The windscreens are also affected, forgot to photograph it, but I think the above shows the problem.

Fortunately nothing a vac canopy won't easily fix...I mentioned this to Colin at Freightdog, perhaps he could do one to go with the 5 spoke wheels he does

Graham Boak handily summed up the other noted problems

The kit does have a number of detail flaws: the wrong wheel hubs, the venturi in the wrong place, mismatch between upper and lower wing halves, thicker than desirable trailing edges, fabric effect instead of metal behind the gun positions. None of these are stoppers, in my opinion, and I've fixed them all without being a super-dooper elite craftsman (thank you Freightdog for the wheels). None of the other kits are perfect, either.

Is it the best Hurricane kit available? For an early Mk.I, yes.

And the conclusion I agree with. Apart from the points above it's a very impressive kit.

I've linked this before, but no harm adding it again, the pic is from this

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

The Science Museum Hurricane, great, very detailed walkround, and the option in the Airfix starter set as well.

hope of interest.

[Edgar]

Be very wary with the Hurricane canopy. During tests it was found that the original chattered open during flight, but also became immovable at high speeds; Hawkers got round this by having the front arch spread slightly and sprung, pulling together, and remaining under tension when closed.

This had the effect of having the top line of the canopy angled down, when open, then lifting as the canopy was pulled shut. Peter Cooke found this out, during his researches, getting his clue from an overhead photo of a Hurricane with open canopy.

Hawkers' drawings were never amended, and it was Peter's findings that led to Arthur Bentley having to redo his drawings. To be absolutely correct, manufacturers really need to supply two canopies, for open and shut options.

[MDriskill]

I very much agree that the canopy in this otherwise admirable effort is too tall. To my eye it's the kit's only real flaw from a shape/proportion standpoint in fact--noticeable from about any viewing distance.

I wonder if it's less the result of an "accuracy problem" than a kit engineering decision, though. Every other 1/72 Hurricane kit that I know of, has a big recessed "step" in the spine, where the canopy overlaps it, to help the canopy fit. This recess was non-existent in real life of course.

Since an injection-molded canopy in 1/72 is inevitably of over-scale thickness, one compromise or another is unavoidable at this spot on the Hurricane. I would probably buy a vac replacement canopy anyway, so FWIW I much prefer Airfix's solution!

Edited December 20, 2014 by MDriskill

[Work In Progress]

Yes, it is a better solution than fudging the spine which is what everyone else has done as a result of the thinness limitations of injection-moulded canopies.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Work In Progress

[tonyot]

I agree that the canopy does look odd in the closed position so my `fix' to make it look a little better was to slightly sand the `doghouse' area behind the cockpit so that the canopy can be fixed in the open position and then slightly sand the rear base of the windscreen so that it can be fitted in a more angled back position, l`ve made quite a few of these Hurri`s and here is one of them to show you what I mean and let you decide whether it is worth considering or not;

PS- I know that the pitot tube venuri is is the wrong place,.....this was a pre production test shot and it was fitted in the original place to remind Airfix that it was wrong and needed to be moved!

The Airfix canopy is still better than the Revell kit which is abysmal!

Cheers

Tony

Edited December 20, 2014 by tonyot

[Work In Progress]

That looks absolutely fine.

[MDriskill]

I agree that the canopy does look odd in the closed position so my `fix' to make it look a little better was to slightly sand the `doghouse' area behind the cockpit so that the canopy can be fixed in the open position and then slightly sand the rear base of the windscreen so that it can be fitted in a more angled back position...

Tony

That looks super! Sometimes adding what appears to be extra complexity to a model actually saves you work in the long run, LOL, and that's a super example.