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303 Squadron 1/72 Hurricane, Witold Urbanowicz


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I'd managed to assemble, clean up, prime and paint the kit prop and spinner before I realised that it was the wrong one altogether! Luckily, I've got a Rotol type one from a Spitfire that will serve.

I'd looked at photos of RF-F dozens of times and had I noticed? Had I hell!

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I've got the decals on, ready for a coat of gloss to seal them in. These are Techmod decals, and they seem to have gone on flawlessly with just a touch of Decal Fix. I've painted up the wheels, U/C legs and doors and the like, so next step is going to be a very subtle panel line wash, just to lift things a tiny bit. Lots to do, but nothing very big - a long list of little jobs!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The end is not merely in sight, but within my grasp. An EZ line aerial, the pitot and the least little bit of work on the canopy, then just some gun port patches. I'm really glad to be making progress because to be honest during the assembly and painting this became a bit of a mojo killer. The last one of these I built fitted like Lego, and this one assembled like a broken beer glass!

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Well it's looking good so hopefully you'll feel it's worthwhile when done. I had a similar experience with mine, it was a right pig. Possibly the least enjoyable model I've done.

Out of interest, was yours from a starter kit? Mine was and I've read someone suggesting that the dodgy ones tend to come from the starter sets.

John.

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Well it's looking good so hopefully you'll feel it's worthwhile when done. I had a similar experience with mine, it was a right pig. Possibly the least enjoyable model I've done.

Out of interest, was yours from a starter kit? Mine was and I've read someone suggesting that the dodgy ones tend to come from the starter sets.

John.

John, I will be glad to see the back of it. This was the bog-standard series 1 boxing, so it would appear that avoiding the duff ones might not be so simple. The previous one I did as a rag-wing RYAF bird didn't give 20% of the grief this one has.

I'm hoping to finally get it done this weekend, if I get a bit of time.

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Good luck, but should be all down hill now...

Drat, the starter set theory was my last hope. I have three more in the stash, guess I'll use them for spares now, to tart up some other kits. At least the nose is the right size and shape.

John.

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Well, I'm calling this done. The antenna wire is EZ-Line, coloured silver, and the gunport patches are made from green Rizzla papers (courtesy of a colleague) painted with Vallejo acrylics. These proved easy to handle, and look reasonable in-scale.

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Witold Urbanowicz's actual tally of air victories was debated. He was officially credited with seventeen confirmed and one probable kill. In addition, he scored one more against the Russians before war had broken out, and up to nine others while flying over China as a guest of Claire Chennault. What is not in doubt is his fifteen confirmed kills during the Battle of Britain, making him the second-highest scoring Polish pilot in the battle, and fully justifying the nickname "Cobra" he had earned before the war.

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My advice based on this built is as follows: to anyone wanting a simple way to build a metal-wing mk1 Hurricane from Airfix's ragwing, this isn't it! To be honest, it was a pig of a build, and I didn't really enjoy it.

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The high point was the decals. These were from TechMod and really were quite lovely. If this is the normal standard of their products, I shall buy again without hesitation if they are doing a subject I want. The famous "Adolf" doodle and 126 kill marking are absolutely pin-sharp.

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An underside shot, for completeness. I've not applied any dirt, oil or smoke. The pictures of 303 Sqn's aircraft show them being pretty pristine considering the intensity of the fighting.

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Remember these three herberts? Why they're doubling past Urbaniwicz's Hurricane is anyone's guess. Options range from the sublime (a German airman, shot down over the airfield, needs to apprehended) to the ridiculous (a nun has been spotted), but probably run more to the mundane: they've run foul of some NCO over some fairly minor point of protocol and are being "beasted" around the dispersal area to improve their memories...

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