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Hobbycraft 1/48 Mk.IIc


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Quick and dirty Hurricane build coming up! I've been meaning to get this one done since the Malta GB in 2012.

Hobbycraft's old IIc is, I think I'm right in saying, based on the old tool Airfix Mk.I and for the purist it does neither one thing or the other. It looks like a Hurricane, however, and I still think that the old Airfix is the nicest 1/48 Hurricane out there for shape. Keep the cockpit closed and nobody will mind too much about the lack of detail.

The subject is to be that old favourite, BE402, which was photographed with 242 Squadron markings LE-S after nosing over on the Island. Mostly people paint her up in Desert colours but I think that's a bit of a wrong turn. 242 Squadron arrived in Malta on 12 November 1941 in Operation PERPETUAL, flying 18 Hurricanes off HMS Argus under the command of Sqn Ldr W.G. Wells. As with most 1941 deliveries, the Hurricanes are pictured in Temperate Land Scheme.

There is some confusion about 242 Squadron in this period because the ground crews were sent onward to the Far East, so for a short period at the end of 1941 there were two 242 Squadrons! Ground crew from 605 and 249 Squadrons was seconded to 242 in Malta. 242 is listed in the order of battle in Malta from November 1941 to March 17 1942 when the few surviving aircraft and men were absorbed into 126 Squadron.

Here is the famous upturned full-size example:
5c72176023a665f69baa95da9eb84165_zpsi2so
And here is the kit.
IMG_1772_zpsmfyf21tx.jpg
I shan't be adding any extra details unless I find the tail wheel that I was very kindly sent in 2012 - if I recall the kit item is from the Mk.I and the replacement is a Mk.II from a Hasegawa kit.
I'm not going to do too much in the way of weathering. November 1941 on Malta was what Gandalf would describe as the deep breath before the plunge. The Luftwaffe was returning to Sicily and preparing to unleash its full force upon the Island but it had been a relatively quiet summer and autumn in which the Italians had seldom pressed home their attacks with any great vigour. By December the world would be a good deal less pleasant.
Onward, to Malta!
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Forgot to add that I've lost the instructions. Should be fairly simple regardless.

Famous last words...

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A fine choice! And one I would expect considering you name!

Malta birds are the best kind. I had a go at this very same aircraft but using the 1/48 hase mkii kit. I finished it in the KUTA build just gone.

Look forward to your work

Rod

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Interior Green is on and pre-shading is complete. As I don’t own an airbrush, I’ve often struggled with pre-shading but I stumbled across a new idea in the Starter Kit GB, which is to slap on the cheap and watery version of Airfix Matt Black that comes in most Stater Sets and then let it dry.

Once it’s dry I go back and, using a thumbnail, rub the excess off like a scratchcard. Boom! Nice crisp black lines.

I’m never 100% sure of the merits of pre-shading or how visible it will be once the main colours are on, but the effort has been made!

IMG_1773_zpsggmbofva.jpg

Meantime I’ve settled on Sky for the spinner. On the carriers bringing the Hurricanes out during 1941, a mixture of both Night and Sky spinners can be seen (plus aircraft with a Sky band around the tail and without).

Fighters arriving on the Island in summer-autumn 1941 were not under as much pressure and this gave ground crews time to work on the aircraft, so I assume that the prevailing orders of the day would have been carried out. Unless Graham pops up genie-like I think it’s safe to say that for fighters (Tomahawks, Hurricanes etc.) in the Med and North Africa the order was to be painted in Temperate Land Scheme with Sky spinners and no tail band.

Certainly this looks like the standard finish on aircraft operating at the time, although there were still one or two black spinners around! Here's 249 Squadron in the summer, not long after arriving:

large_zpsfasrb1yq.jpg

And here's 185 Squadron towards the end of the year:

Hurricanes_185_Sqn_RAF_at_Hal_Far_1941_z

The Malta Aviation Museum's restored Hurricane is in TLS with a black spinner, depicting Bill Hollis Hallet's 261 Squadron aircraft 'Death Warmed Up' as seen in March 1942.

malta-aviation-museum_zpsfraoka9y.jpg

There is a different view of 'my' Mk.IIc BE402 upended and I'm trying to dig it out. From memory the spinner isn't visible, in which case I'll go with Sky, but if it is visible and appears dark I'll go back to Night/black.

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Found the front-on shot and guess what? The spinner looks black. D'oh!

IMG_1774_zpsysmdrd9g.jpg

Well if that's the only reversal I have in the next 72 hours it will be a miracle! Pre-shading all finished and the first coats of Sky going on. I'm using Tamiya this time - I remember when this was considered the height of exotic modelling by my schoolfriends and self. About 1986 or so. You'd only invest in Tamiya paints if you were building something re-e-eally special!

IMG_1775_zpsxgg1byxt.jpg

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Pretty happy with this one so far - she's starting to look a bit like a Hurricane.

IMG_1776_zpsumlb8upj.jpg

I painted the straps and buckles onto the pilot's seat. It all looked rather nice but once it's down in the cavernous depths you can't blooming well see it!

Quite a big job to get it ready to finish tomorrow but let's see how we go. The only really angst-y moment should be painting the canopy - a job I really don't like.

I'll mask off the underside and slap a bit of camo on later today.

IMG_1777_zpshgx0mi5d.jpg

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Well, the camo was all finished last night.

image_zpsbsrngfjg.jpeg

I touched up a few spots this morning - sunlight is much better for picking these things out. Of course all my pre-shading is now invisible beneath the treacle-y paint but overall I'm quite happy. The Klear went on at lunchtime and I'm now putting decals on as fast as humanly possible.

image_zpsewrv5bdc.jpeg

The code letters are a bit bigger than the 1:1 aircraft had. Shouldn't look too bad, though.

More as it happens...

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The 242 Squadron decals are on. I'm afraid that there was no small amount of decal break-up. Some of them fell apart as soon as they touched the water, others waited until I tried to align them properly. As a result the 'S' in the starboard code letters has a ragged bottom (terrible affliction!), the roundels on top of the wings are from an Airfix Hurricane and the red centre of the starboard under-wing roundel is fractionally different in size and tone to the port one.

Starting to look a bit more convincing, however.

This is as far as I can get until Tuesday night. Work needs me to head out to cover for an ill colleague, so I will be away from hearth, home and Hurricane. I will try and slap another dose of decal softener on the Airfix roundels to minimise the silvering too before heading out of the door. While away I shall be thinking on how much weathering to do and whether a Mk.IIc should retain the little flag at the top of its aerial. I think probably not as I am not convinced there is an aerial wire.

image_zpswfs7ewic.jpeg

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I,m liking this a lot,not many of these kits seem to get built here on BM possibly they are hard to come by but it certainly looks Hurricane shape to me!

keep up the good work.

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Thanks, Steve. It came courtesy of Canada Moe several years back for the Malta GB and it was he who reminded me that the Hasegawa tail wheel was taped in the box - which is exactly where I found it!

Stout fellow, that Moe!

Of course the four 'hat racks' are yet to go on and they come as complete assemblies that wouldn't fool Mister Magoo at 20 paces but they have charm - and affordability - in their favour!

Edited by maltadefender
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Right, I'm back on the job. Canopy, cannons and undercart tonight. Weathering and finish tomorrow. Time for some suitable music!

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I got called away with work again today - at least not an overnight trip, but I'm afraid that I fell short by achingly little.

Just the guns to paint, aerial to fix and weathering to add.

A great opportunity to build this kit, though, and thanks to CanadaMoe once again for the bits and pieces he sent me four years ago.

I'd forgotten how hard it is to paint a Hurricane canopy when you're firstly no great shakes at canopies and equally useless at masking. My Ju88 and Fairey Fulmar might be a bit poor.

However it was a great opportunity to brush the dust off what skills I do have. And a subject that's very dear to me - so thank you.

Here's the closing state of play:

image_zpsh78vggnt.jpeg

She'll be in RFI in a day or two.

Thanks to the Mods for this one. Well done all who completed.

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She's done. I upped the ante on the weathering somewhat. Just playing around, although the original aircraft survived quite a while in the eye of the storm.

image_zpsfgceh0yy.jpeg

I'll put her in RFI with some nicer pics tomorrow but thanks for the ride, it was fun.

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