FLY 1/32 Hurricane : spinning wild

[stevej60]

This is looking like an epic build,great work so far

[quangster]

When the kit was released, I remember someone stating that it could be finished in one week-end.

Now two months on, the initial excitement doesn't appear to wane. Everyday I'm discovering and learning new things about the Hurricane.

Talk about a best bang for the buck!

[quangster]

Hello again, Hurri fans,

Today's menu: transparencies.

The clear parts provided by Fly are very good but as always with injection- moulded plastic, they're rather thick. So I decided make my own by vacuforming over the Fly parts.

The kit parts (landing light and position light covers) are filled with milliput and slightly raised to act as masters.

I went to my old friend Daniel (AKA 'madcop' elsewhere in this forum) who happens to own a venerable Mattel Vac-U-form machine. After a few tries, we found out that Old Faithful was not too much rusty (and nor were we ).

The master parts still embedded in the clear plastic carrier. Note the master for the landing light reflector shaped from the tip of a bush handle.

The clear parts removed from the carrier sheet and ready to be cut to shape and adjusted for assembly.

Twas just a quick one for today. Next time we'll try to add some nitty-gritty to these all-too smooth radiator and filter housings.

Until then,

Keep well,

Quang

[F4u]

Hi Quang,

Great progress on the Hurricane and the vacformed clear parts look good.

Guy

[quangster]

Thanks Guy!

Let's go on with the build.

Today we'll be adding rivets to the radiator and Volkes filter using the Archer rivets decals that a good friend gave me to try out.

For the newbies (like your humble servant), here's what they look like:

The equally-spaced tiny resin (!) rivets are attached to a clear decal film carrier. The method consists of cutting single rows of rivets and applying them to the area to be riveted just like you'd do with a normal waterslide transfer/decal. Decal softeners (Micro-Sol and Set) are used like with regular decals.

A little practice (and a lot of water) is needed to take the wrinkles out and keep the decal strips aligned.

For double rows, work on one row at a time

It's time consuming but not at all difficult to achieve.

When the riveting's completed, a final coat of Future/Kleer (or whatever) will seal of the decals before the moment of truth: a coat of surface primer to reveal the final effect.

The result is very realistic and well up to my expectation: the rivets remain very sharp under a coat of primer and quite undistinguishable from the other riveted areas of the kit.

This first experience is proving to be quite satisfactory. Archer's rivets will be a valuable tool in my next projects.

That's all folks.

Keep well until next time

Cheers,

Quang

[F4u]

Those rivets do look good and make all the difference well worth the effort, have made a note to myself !

Great work.

Guy

[quangster]

Indeed, Guy.

I think the added rivets help blend the modified areas into the surrounding. They also give a 'finished look' overall. Definitively a must-have tool in my future builds.

Q

[The Spadgent]

I've missed out on your progress of late but have caught up now, wonderful attention to detail and a great looking bird you have going on. I'm watching this closely as I have an Airfix 1/24 hurri to build possibly as my next project. Those rivets look awesome too. I might have to invest in some.

Great work. Keep it up.

John

[quangster]

Thank you for the kind words, John.

Today I received this set of Type2 cannons that Jiri Valek at Fly Models obligingly sent me.

Here they are. Left: stock cannons – Right: Type2 cannons.

They compare very favourably with the one on this photo of the a/c I'm planning to model after:

– AX°Z, 1 SQN SAAF, Egypt, Nov 1941. Pilot: 'Bomb' Finney seen here with his armourer. (Picture courtesy Tinus le Roux)

Cheers,

Quang

[MIkeMaben]

Here are a couple of links to 'Bombs' photo albums :

http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/bomb-finney-north-africa-photographs-album-1.php

http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/bomb-finney-north-africa-photographs-album-2.php

Might be interesting and helpful.

[quangster]

Thank you Mike for the links. Very interesting to read about the men and their life in the squadron. It gives some necessary background to the build.

One question about the springbok on the nose. It's much more precise and finely done than the usual nose arts. I wonder whether it's not a decal. I have seen the same springbok on at least one other a/c of the 1 sqn. Here on a Mk.1(?). Note exhaust deflector.

I've always seen the springbok on the port side. Is it repeated on the starboard as well? Can you or some other member shed a light on that matter?

Thank you all for your contribution to this build.

Sincerely,

Quang

[quangster]

Hello Hurri fans,

Let's get on with the build. It's about time we give our bird some feathers.

The wings are assembled and given plasticard tabs to aid to a positive assembly with the fuselage. The tabs also help to keep the mating parts level thus avoiding the dreaded step at the wing root.

The lower join is near perfect.

The upper join much less so.

I could close the gap by sheer force but then the dihedral would not be correct. So I decided to glue the wings with the correct dihedral and close the gap with milliput.

Here's how to use milliput with minimal fuss. First protect both sides of the gap with Scotch tape (sellotape).

Milliput is applied using a toothpick as a rolling pin then smoothed with a wet finger. Leave overnight. Smooth the excess with # 800 wet-or-dry. Remove tape. Et voilà!

The lower join is conveniently hidden by brass etchings. Note that the 2 strips are sided (right and left)

I tried to smooth out the rough spots on the radiator housing … and ended up removing my painstakingly applied rivets

So I thoroughly cleaned up the area and added new rivets.

I also added rivets to the metal panels on the fuselage. Thanks Ray for the heads-up!

Here's how they look under a coat of primer

These rivet decals really add a great deal of realism to a build. The more I use them the more I'm convinced they will be unavoidable in my future projects.

Cheers,

Quang

[F4u]

Nice fix with the wing root (roots!) Seems to be coming together now but not with out the odd hicup but then these things are ment to test us now and again.

Good work Quang.

Guy

[quangster]

Nice fix with the wing root (roots!) Seems to be coming together now but not with out the odd hicup but then these things are ment to test us now and again.

Good work Quang.

Guy

We modellers are on a permanent state of being tested.

[Biggles87]

Positively riveting ( sorry but someone had to say it ).

John

Edited August 8, 2016 by Biggles87

[The Spadgent]

Ace stuff. I think I shall use your tape on both sides of the seam tip. I'm going filler mad at the moment and that seems like a neat way to go.

Thanks.

[Pete in Lincs]

Quite lovely.

[max39]

Looks great so far.What a big ol beast of a kit phew.

Richard

[quangster]

Thank you gents for your comments. I wouldn't have gone this far on a model without your support.

Quang

[mick]

great work

[Greif]

I realized that I had missed 4 pages of wip.

The progresses are very interesting and the result amazing.

It's a kit that I was planning to do in the future, so thank you for all the tips....and keep going with the brilliant work!

Regards

Erik

[mixup_1]

Only catching up on this now...Fantastic work!! Keep going lol

[quangster]

Thank you guys.

Glad you found this WIP of some help.

Today's subject: the canopy

The one supplied in the kit is too thick to be represented in the open position. That is why Fly offers a vac-formed accessory as an alternative. The problem is that the framing moulded on the Fly vacform canopy is not as crisp as I would like it to be. So I decided to make my own.

The stock canopy is used as a master for the new vac-form.

First the inside of the clear part is painted black. The part is then filled with milliput and the moulded framing removed by careful sanding.

Note how the milliput extends on both sides and the bottom of the canopy. It will help to trim the vac-form canopy to size later on.

A first moulding is made from clear acetate. A second moulding is made over it, this time using white plasticard. Strips of masking tape are then added to represent the framing.

The whole canopy is painted black using a felt pen.

The masking tape strips are then removed revealing the framing in its full glory.

Now the fun part: the black squares are removed using a new, sharp X-Acto blade. The result is a full framing in plasticard.

The framing is then painted in interior green

then glued to the clear canopy using PVA adhesive

trimmed and details added. Then the whole assembly is dipped into Future/Kleer to seal everything off

Test fit

Note that the forward port glass panel is removable in case of emergency. On the real a/c of course!

Until next time,

Keep well,

Quang

[The Spadgent]

Brilliant.

[Biggles87]

Yes, that's certainly a great canopy.