Cookenbacher Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I've been busy trying to get the bench cleared up for this one, the modelling event of the year. I've become an admirer of the Polish 303 'Kosciuszko' Squadron over the past year or two, and I figure this GB is a great opportunity to honor them. I'm planning on building the new tool Airfix kit as L2099, RF-O, one of two 303 fabric winged Hurricanes I've managed to find (the other is L1696). It was used by Walery Zak, Josef Frantisek, Athol Forbes, Marian Belc and Witold Lokuciewski (and that's just the pilots I could find in various sources) to claim victories throughout September and October of 1940. The second Hurricane will be converted to a metal wing following Tony O'Toole's (tonyot) example. I'm still not sure which specific 303 aircraft it will be though. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Here is my little 303 Sqn collection so far: From front to back, AZ Spitfire IIB, AZ Spitfire IXC, Airfix Spitfire IIA, all 1/72. I'm looking forward to adding a couple Hurricanes. Thanks Procopius, Enzo, Paul and Mish for putting this one together. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Good luck Cookie. Will be watching. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Cookenbacher, Nice looking set of hurricanes. Do you buy your models in New Mxeico? As when I've been I could never find a hobby shop. Nice collection of spits. Ozzy Edited July 10, 2015 by Ozzy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Thanks Hockeyboy, Hurricanes for both of us it is. Hi Ozzy, the new tools were purchased online, but the old tool came from Hal's Hobby Warehouse in El Paso, TX, the nearest big city to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Thanks Hockeyboy, Hurricanes for both of us it is. Hi Ozzy, the new tools were purchased online, but the old tool came from Hal's Hobby Warehouse in El Paso, TX, the nearest big city to me. Wow looks like you could spend a lot in that shop. My time in NM was spent in albuquerque and socorro, if I had known about this shop I would have driven down and had a look. Ozzy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Hi Cookenbacher the old tool gets a panning, but the wings are good in outline compared to the Bentley plans once you sand off the battleship rivets! I'm not sure that L2099 would be fabric winged. L2047 is metal winged see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234963507-all-the-hurricane-questions-you-want-to-ask-here/#entry1673827 dinner calls HTH T 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Snap! Another 303 Hurricane. These guys were really something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Great subjects cookie! Really excited to see how you get on with your conversion. Good luck mate!! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 Ozzy, Hal's seems to be one of the few remaining true hobby shops around here. RC cars and planes seem to be its main emphasis, but it's got an amazing model section with lots of kits, old and new. Troy, the old tool is to mainly serve as a metal wing donator. Thanks for the link to L2047. Now I'm not so sure L2099 would be fabric winged. I've been going on the fact that the AZ kit of this aircraft is fabric winged, and a reference pic that shows the old 'pole' type antenna mast (the wing itself is not really visible in the pic). But, the pics of L2047 show the 'pole' type mast and metal wings. Worst comes to worst, I can do two types of conversion: one with metal wings donated from the old tool kit, and one with wings filled and rescribed along with moving the landing light to represent another metal winged bird. Mitch, since you're doing Urbanowicz's Hurricane, perhaps I'll build Kent's. Between us, we could have our own 303 section. Rob, we've been looking forward to this one for a while! I'll follow your 151 Sqn builds/modifications with great interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Indeed we have! I need to get cracking as the tiffie is not playing ball... Time to break out the trusty hurricane! If you need a spare set of wings I can rip them off my hurricanes for you? Might take a while to reach? It's looking like they will need to be sacrificed for their prop anyway! Now I know whey there are no decent hurricane kits in 1/72 too many variables 4 types of prop (i think) and that's not counting the whatts (?). Good job there are people on this forum that know more than me! (Hi troy) Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Troy, the old tool is to mainly serve as a metal wing donator. Thanks for the link to L2047. Now I'm not so sure L2099 would be fabric winged. I've been going on the fact that the AZ kit of this aircraft is fabric winged, and a reference pic that shows the old 'pole' type antenna mast (the wing itself is not really visible in the pic). But, the pics of L2047 show the 'pole' type mast and metal wings. Worst comes to worst, I can do two types of conversion: one with metal wings donated from the old tool kit, and one with wings filled and rescribed along with moving the landing light to represent another metal winged bird. . the pole antenna is standard fit on the L**** and N**** serialed planes, which were the first two production batches, possibly even some very early P**** planes too. As always, try to work from a photo. HTH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Hi Cookie, nice choices. I'll be keeping an eye on these as I'm building three Hurricanes myself, although one is a Revell kit. Best of luck with the conversion, Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Hi Cookie, I'm in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_c67 Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Didn't realise Worf took part in the battle! ;-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Rob, thanks for the wing offer, but I have a few sets too! Troy, thanks for your insight. I've decided to do both Hurricanes with metal wings as a result. Thanks Sean, I'll need to pop over and see what you're up to with your Hurricanes. Ced! Charlie, it took me a while to get it! Here's a couple pics of a Hurricane XII that I took during a trip to the Pima Air Museum in March with the esteemed Procopius himself. As you can see, the wings are surprisingly rivety. Not 'battleship' rivety, as Troy would say, but you can see what the old Airfix designers were going for. Well, I just plowed ahead as otherwise I'd sit around forever worrying about how to do the conversions. I sanded down the monster rivets on the old kit, but left them a little bit visible as a guide to future scribing and then hacked away. For the other set, I used generic wood putty and then some precious Perfect Plastic Putty to fill the fabric portions. The main problem with PPP is that it can't be wet sanded, so it left quite a mess. If you happen to be watching this thread for tips, I recommend Troy's conversion with the old kit, and Mitch's putty method as they are definitely more accomplished!l I promise that the wings will eventually look better. They certainly can't look any worse. Time for some clean up and learning how to scribe properly. Nothing like jumping into the deep end! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Nice pictures and progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Nice work Cookie, again taking notes as I have need to convert a fabric to metal wing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Looks like quite a bit of work to get this correct but it looks like you're up to the job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Blimey, a brave man indeed, I hope this works out. I wouldn't even attempt this, Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Interesting, your donor wings look quite different to mine. Different eras of tooling I guess. Waiting for the transfers to turn up before I decide which 303 kite to add to the section scramble... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Nice cookie! Your cracking on .... Looks like you have done a great job on both sets. I will be interesting to see which method you prefer! Cheers Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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