1/48 Airfix new tool Hurricane Mk.I P3039 from No.229 Squadron - Completed on 31-10 at 11.50 pm

[Basilisk]

Thank you Blitz, Rob, Stix and John for following my build,

These landing lights certainly tested my patience. The first lot I done showed stress cracks in the bend, so I had to make them again. The bend gad to be spot-on when bending over the candle as any bending when cold created the stress cracks in the bend. After five goes I finally had a pair!

I decided to use Gator's Grip Acrylic Hobby Glue to attach them to the wing. Here it is in place.

When masking them, I had to move some of the masking tape and when I tried to remove the tape- you guessed it - the lens came loose! So the stuff wasn't strong enough. I then used odorless CA. It didn't mist the lens and the grip was much better - so far. Here is the model ready for priming.

And here after two coats of primer on.

The next step with the Hurricane was also adding the HGW positive rivets. And the wings are full with them! Check out my Spitfire build for some of the detail.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986185-148-airfix-new-tool-spitfire-mki-x4382-from-no602-squadron-primer-on/page-3

I found it tricky to get them straight onto the wing - it needed lots of patience. With so many rivets, It means that the application of the rivets has to be done in stages as the wide carrier film will be in the way for adjacent rows.

After the first lot of rivets had been applied, I removed the carrier film with these plastic tweezers. This works great as they don't scratch the paint. They are intended for electronic assembly as they are anti-static and therefore not damaging the electronic components. I bought a set of 6 different shaped tweezers on eBay from a Chinese seller for A$ 1.98 including postage!!!

And here in place and cleaned up. The double row of rivets on sheet 481010 came specially handy here.

Well, it is a start, but many more rivets need to be applied ...

But they do look great.

Difficult to see, but they do stick out nicely.

I also noticed that the rivets along the wing leading edge are countersunk, so there is a bit more work for "Rosie the Riveter". I hope to have all the rivets done and the sky painted by next weekend.

Better go riveting now. Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

Edited October 4, 2015 by Basilisk

[PlaStix]

Beautifully detailed work as always Peter.

[Biggles87]

Ditto from me. I have some of those plastic tweezers from an iPad screen replacement kit, I know what to use them for now.

Cheers

John

[Troy Smith]

Hi Peter

stunning work, the HGW rivets are a superb touch...now when are they going to a specific set!

Regrding the wing lights, I have wondered if the very thin plastic used to wrap flowers would work, it's very thin, but could perhaps be added at the end. One that I need to experiment with.

One other point, have you looked into the tyre size problem?

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986817-eduards-new-148th-hurricane-wheels-too-small/

Looks to me the tyres are too big.

HTH

T

[Basilisk]

Thank you Stix, John and Troy. Yes a positive rivet set for the Hurricane would be great.

You are right Troy, there has to be a better way of making the landing light covers and I will certainly check out some alternatives for future builds.

Thanks for pointing out the wheel discrepancy. I did purchase the Edwards wheels, so I have an alternative. It is also a shame that Eduard couldn't correct the exhaust, giving us a copy of the Airfix exhaust with all its errors...

But back to the build. It was a crazy week and I spent 20 hours adding positive rivets to the wings So yes HGW, give us a pre-defind set for the Hurricane please!

But first I had to use Rosie on the wing leading edge as Hawker used flash rivets there. And I believe a bit further into the wing as well, but I read about this after I placed all the rivets...

Here ready to add some primer along the wing leading edge after Rosie was in action and sanding away the burrs.

I quickly run out of the staggered double row rivets on the two sheets of 481000, so I used some spare rivets from a 1/48 Bf-109 pre-defined set. BAD idea!

For whatever reason, they left some "gosting" behind when moved after placed on the model which looked terrible. So I decided to remove them and replace them with two single row of rivets instead...

Riveting in full swing.

And about halfway there...

And then there is the fun of replacing rivets which ended up in rivet heaven.

Done - Whoever designed the Hurricane wing didn't sink about the crazy rivet counter

And there are still some spots which could do with some MORE rivets, but I used all the rivets I had - and frankly, I had enough,

Here the Gun mounting from the bottom.

And here the radiator housing.

I told these rivets to stay in line all the time - but no, one just couldn't.

Here how it looks in real.

And some rivets on the fuselage.

I used rivets for 1/32 scale as the pitch was a bit wider. Unfortunately the rivets are a bit larger too.

And boy was I glad when I could start painting. Here a thin cote of Xtracrylix sky followed by some pre-shading.

And followed by another coat of sky.

The pigments in Xtracrylix are much larger that in Mr. Paint and the pre-shading wasn't as effective as on the Spitfire build, but still is much more noticeable than on these pictures.

And here a close-up with the over painted rivets.

One thing I noticed is that I should have sanded smooth the wings first before adding the positive rivets. The Airfix plastic has a kind of frosty surface and it does unfortunately show after painting.

I used the Xtracrylix paint so I have a slightly different hue compared to the Spitfire build. It airbrushed ok, but it needed a needle tip clean every 5 or so minutes so typical with acrylic paint.

Also this paint compares well with the paint chip in "British Aviation Colours of WWII".

But they are slightly different when next to the Spitfire and in real even a bit more so.

Was it worth the effort in adding all these rivets? They are certainly to scale, but the weathering will show how well they show.

Upper camouflage is next. Thanks for watching.

Cheers Peter

[Biggles87]

WOW, that's all.

John

[rob85]

Riveting stuff...

Truely awesome work, and the time you have spent on this really shows

Rob

[Hepster]

I suppose you noticed that the 3's in the serial are the incorrect style on the Aeromaster sheet compared to the photo?

[PlaStix]

Your patience is amazing. It all looks excellent under the paint.

[MIkeMaben]

Nice work Peter !

If I may ask, what are you using as a pattern guide for the rivets ?

TIA

[Basilisk]

Thank you John, Rob and Stix.

I suppose you noticed that the 3's in the serial are the incorrect style on the Aeromaster sheet compared to the photo?

Yes I did and I have to come up with a replacement.

Nice work Peter !

If I may ask, what are you using as a pattern guide for the rivets ?

TIA

Thanks. I used the Bentley drawing and pictures for the rivet pattern.

Like with the spitfire, I also made nice progress with the Hurricane. Here is the bottom masked in preparation for the upper camouflage.

I used Gunze Aqueous H72 for the Dark Earth.

I lightened it slightly on the fabric covered surfaces.

Then the masking commenced. I felt like a pastry chef, but I wanted to keep the blue tack thin to get just a slight overspray.

I photocopied the Bentley drawing as it showed the camouflage line. But I had to mirror it to get the A scheme.

I placed all the pieces to get the spacing correct.

And here are the parts masked which will stay brown

And all ready for painting the Dark Green.

Paint is on. I used Gunze Aqueous H73 for the Dark Green. I read Tamiys XF-81 is a better match as the Gunze is too olive. I airbrushed both on a spoon and they looked identical to me. As I prefer the semi gloss of the Gunze Paint, that was the paint I used.

What took 2 hours to put on was off in 10 Minutes!

I am very pleased with the outcome.

And the rivets look great under the paint.

Also the fasteners look nice.

Next in line are adding the markings and weathering all. I hope I can manage that all in two weeks as I also still have to do the all the small bits to go on the model.

It doesn't help that I decided to paint the roundels and squadron code as I wasn't happy with the decals. I also feel that it is a shame to cover all these lovely rivets with decals! I scanned the Aeromaster sheet.

The red Letters are what I think the code should look like. The Aeromaster code is far from what I think it should look like.

These paints are hopefully all I need to paint the roundels. They will be different to the Spitfire roundels as Gloster built Hurricanes apparently used the pre-war colours for some time.

That is all. Thanks for watching.

Cheers, Peter

[Basilisk]

Time for another update. Spent a lot of time trying to come up with correct roundel colours. When mixing lots of paint, the paint in the paint jars are a pain in the but.

I prefer it like that.

So much easier. I "convert" all my paint like that. Add a mixing ball and the paint is always ready to be used. No mess, little clean-up.

I used one of the Xtradecal Hurricane sheet as a reference to get the colours for pre and WWII roundel colors. Boy was this fun...

And these are the chosen colours.

Here I repeat my self with the info from my Spitfire build http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986185-148-airfix-new-tool-spitfire-mki-x4382-from-no602-squadron-markings-painted/page-3#entry2144059

But before I could use the paint in anger, I had to plot the masks.

And this is how the mask looks after the plotter done its magic.

Now the masks aren't perfect. Specially the smaller circles aren't 100% round and the letters aren't 100% strait. But I think this is a good thing as it gives a bit of individuality to the markings!

Next was adding the transfer paper so all stayed together when peeling the vinyl masks of the sheet.

Now the real challenge was to place the templates at the exact location on the model - you can't slide them into place like a decal! After some trail and errors, I came up with a method which worked well. I attached the mask to some scale plan cut-out, so that I could line-up the whole thing with the help of panel lines.

Still a fiddly task, but it works.

The same process I used for the fuselage roundel.

Here are all the masks in place.

After adding some masking tape to guard from over spray, the transfer paper could be removed and the center circle (or two if markings had a white ring) too.

And white applied.

To see a step by step sequence, check out my Spitfire build. I will omit some of the steps here. Anyway, red was next.

Followed by blue.

And last was Yellow.

The process went very smoothly with the Spitfire, but the Hurricane was a diffrent story The fuselage roundel was like a magnet to my fingers - I managed to get my fingers into the wet paint on ALL four colours, making a real mess of it.

And then I realized that I used the wrong size fin flash for my mask - way to small. would have helped to cross check against my picture. So I decided to repaint the flash.

With the roundel, I will use the decal from the Xtradecal sheet as I will end up with too much paint on it otherwise as I cant sand pack easily due to the fabric representation on the fuselage.

Have to move on and the squadron codes are next. It was a bit of a challenge as they are on the large side.

Ready for painting.

I used Medium Sea Gray, but I lightened it with white, just to be a bit different to the Spitfire. Also the code on the picture does look not very dark.

Now I could pop the rivets - hat is make them visible by rubbing over them with a polishing cloth.

I like it, but unfortunately the rivets didn't "pop" under the roundels as the paint build-up was too much.

Painting the roundels wasn't planed and doing it over the camouflage pattern needs unfortunately more paint to get an even coverage. The next time I will paint the markings first (against a white background colour) and then apply the camouflage. This will ensure that equal amount of paint is covering the model everywhere.

Added some gloss varnish in preparation for decaling.

I replaced the 3 from the Ventura sheet as Aeromaster got he style wrong. I also slightly corrected the Be Be inscription, looking more like a Bi Bi as on the picture Troy found. And the roundel decal saved the day!

As my second paint job on the fin flash didn't go too well, I was intending to use decals on the fin flash too, but the flash on this aircraft is anything but a normal size and the decals I have in the pre-war colours are all too small. So I will paint it a third time - hopefully third time lucky...

It was fun making the serial number sown as painted over by the squadron code. I also checked on the squadron code position and I found one 229 Squadron Hurricane with the code RE-E. So I done it the same, but it was a bit of a squeeze.

And that is it for this week. Still have to place the stencil, do the weathering and place all the little bits. I may just make it by Saturday. Took Friday a day of work just in case

Thanks for watching. Cheers, Peter

[rob85]

Having done masking myself I am incredibly impressed by your results, well done!

Rob

[Biggles87]

That looks like a serious piece of kit you have there for the masks, but I think I will stick with transfers. I like the camouflage demarcations with just the slightest hint of overspray, I have to keep reminding myself that this is all 1/48 scale.

Cheers

John

[Basilisk]

Thank you Rob and John for your continuing support.

I maybe in with a chance to finish the Hurricane on the deadline with an upcoming 24 hour modeling marathon...

I thought I had the riveting behind me, but I was wrong.

Just had to do them as well.

The Undercarriage bay needed some silver paint as the sky bleeded into it.

Then I was ready to put a coat of varnish on. I wanted the metal structure in a satin finish and the fabric covered structure dead flat. Easier said than done.

apparently Vallejo 520 Matt Varnish gives a good mat finish. Not with the example I had. It was actually shinier than their satin Varnish! Fortunately I found a varnish giving me the results I was hoping to achieve. It is Gunze Mr. Color 182 Flat Clear. I was a bit uneasy to use it as it is a lacquer based varnish and my gloss coat is acrylic.

But it worked without a problem. And the nicest Satin Varnish I came across is Vallejo 651 Clear Matt with around 75% Vallejo thinner added. Looks great and airbrushes beautifully.

Also added some stencils from Aviaeology. But I think they are a little too large.

I bought the Eduard Brassin wheels to replace the kit wheels, but I found them to be too small and they only had 4 spokes.

The Airfix wheel is a tad too large. At the end I used the CMK wheel (on the left) which is only 0.2mm too large.

Here are some of the parts for the Hurricane with paint on.

I added a rear view mirror - How could Airfix forget it???

So now is the time for weathering and assembly.

Cheers, Peter

[Troy Smith]

really great work on this and your Spitfire Peter, been a pleasure to watch, but you want 4 spoke wheel hubs.

The only Hurricanes I have seen with 5 spoke are ones from the first two batches, L**** and N**** serials, everything after has 4 spoke.

Hurricane wheels seem to cause problems, note the hubs are the same as the Spitfire, and I have drilled our the too small centres of the Hase wheel using a 6mm drill bit (or 1/4 inch, which is touch larger, the hub is 12 inch in real life), and used a 4 spoke from an Eduard Spitfire as replacement, which has 3 options in every kit. Same thing for a 5 spoke.

HTH

T

[PlaStix]

Amazingly detailed and beautiful work as always Peter. Stunning!! Good luck - looking forward to seeing it in the gallery.

[rob85]

Looks to me like your nearly there peter! Great work, and looking forward to the end result.

Rob

[Biggles87]

Same from me

John

[Basilisk]

Can't upload to the Gallery even though it is still the 31st. Anyway, here is the finished Hurricane.

More to come, but after working on the models for 42 hours over the last 48 yours to get them finished, I need a rest.

Cheers, Peter

Edit. I was thrilled to see that the Gallery was again open after I had an overdue sleep.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Basilisk

[Biggles87]

That's great Peter, Your post is dated 12.52AM here so the problem probably has something to do with the time difference. What a shame.

Hope you're having a well deserved rest

John

[Biggles87]

Me again, if you look in the GB chat you will see that the gallery deadline has been extended, but you're probably asleep now. Hope you make it.

John

EDIT

Ignore this, I see you already know.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Biggles87

[PlaStix]

Well done on getting both your builds in the gallery. They are both excellent and really inspiring builds. Fantastic! Well done!

[Basilisk]

The only Hurricanes I have seen with 5 spoke are ones from the first two batches, L**** and N**** serials, everything after has 4 spoke.

Hurricane wheels seem to cause problems, note the hubs are the same as the Spitfire, and I have drilled our the too small centres of the Hase wheel using a 6mm drill bit (or 1/4 inch, which is touch larger, the hub is 12 inch in real life), and used a 4 spoke from an Eduard Spitfire as replacement, which has 3 options in every kit. Same thing for a 5 spoke.

HTH

T

Great to know. I didn't know when the change happened. Too late to replace the wheels for now, but I will do it later.

Thank you all for dropping in. Your feedback is a great motivation during this build.

That's great Peter, Your post is dated 12.52AM here so the problem probably has something to do with the time difference. What a shame.

Hope you're having a well deserved rest

John

Thank you John for your kind words. The browser shows local time and I guess France is 1 hour ahead of the UK.

Sorry for repeating myself if you already read my Spitfire WIP. But maybe not everyone did.

The world looks so much better after some needed sleep! I had the day off on Friday and commenced working on the Model at 10 AM, finishing on Saturday Morning at 5.30 am. Had 5 hours sleep and was back on it on Saturday 11 am finishing on Sunday morning 10 am without a brake - that is Saturday 11 pm UK time (there is an advantage to live in the colonies). That gave me just under an hour to photograph the Model, upload the pictures and add them to the Gallery - You can imagine my disappointment when the Gallery was locked. Fortunately Greg unlocked it for the participants who cutting it close to the deadline. Many thanks

My wive and kits thought I gone crazy and I better go and see a doctor - but I don't think there is a cure for this kind of virus

Better getting back on topic. My modeling marathon was manly weathering and finishing the small parts. Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures as time was on short supply.

The first step was a green filter for the underside and a brown for the top. This gave the markings a much more "used" look - gone is the bright white - and blended the colours nicely together.

Then I ventured into the oil dot weathering technique.

It is unfortunately very time consuming as it is done in sections at a time and the change is very subtle and doesn't show up well in JPEG compressed files. But It does give a weathered look without looking over the top.

And things are starting coming together.

The exhaust provided by Airfix has unfortunately not much in common to the real exhaust and the Eduard Brassin representation is unfortunately not much better

Ultracast (top) makes one which come the original much closer.

I further enhanced it by changing the shape a little and make it fit the Airfix Hurricane. Here after painting.

All in place.

And finally it is finished

Airfix provided a great starting point, but it could have been so much better with better research and engineering as the model contains some silly mistakes. I am also looking forward to the day Airfix manages to give us a "state of the art" wing trailing edge!

Please view the Gallery for some additional pictures.

When participating in this Group Build, I had no idea what to expect and I thought it is a bit of a daft idea having a GB over the web. Boy was I wrong! It is a great way to get the inspirations to keep you going and receiving feedback and information from people who know the topic like the back of there hand!

This was a venture of FIRST for me. Not was it only my first GB, but it was also my first model I built in 33 years (together with the Spitfire) since I got back into the hobby last year. My previous build was an 1/72 Frog Heinkel He 162 which I made in 1982 - things were a bit simpler then...

In addition, it was also the first time I used an airbrush, using acrylic and lacquer paints, using oils and pigments, riveting a model and making my own masks for markings.

It was a great experience with not too many mishaps (they are part of model making anyway) and I am looking forward to my next model. I would like to thank the hosts of this GB for all their efforts and also would like to thank everyone who dropped in to offer encouragement or advice.

Cheers, Peter

Edited November 1, 2015 by Basilisk

[sean]

Superb Hurricane Peter, the detail you've added has brought this to life in a big way. Hopefully

it won't be 33 years before your next build!

Sean