Airfix 1/72nd Hawker Hurricane MkI

[Heather Kay]

As you may know, my main interest bubble is things 1940. Some years ago I volunteered to build some models that would help illustrate the Battle of Britain, the models destined to be placed in dioramas for display at a small local museum. That, sadly, fell through, but I retained the various kits. One of those kits is the 1978 Airfix retool of the Hurricane MkI, and so here I find myself again!

 

(I also have the contemporary Spitfire MkIa, which will appear in another thread later on.)

 

 

This boxing I believe dates from the 1990s. I'm afraid Squadron Leader Stanford Tuck is going to be usurped by Fight Lieutenant Josef Maly of No 310 (Czech) Squadron, out of Duxford in October 1940. I'm quite pleased to add this model to my collection, since this will represent a metal-winged Hurricane. The current resident in the cabinet, from the current Airfix tooling, is the fabric wing version.

 

 

The instructions are nice and simple. With so few parts I shall have this kit built by teatime. 

 

 

I may even manage to get paint on it before bedtime.

 

 

Proof, if it was needed, of the original date for this kit. Let's see… I think I was about to sit my O Level Mocks at secondary school that year. 

 

 

Oh, hang on. What's all this? Well, that's the teatime deadline blown out of the water. When I got this kit the World Wide Web was barely a twinkle in Sir Tim Berners-Lee's eye. To get upgrade kits, one had to pore over the small ads in the modelling press, send off stamped self-addressed envelopes for catalogues, choose what you needed and order it accompanied by a cheque. Happy days. I don't recall whose resin cockpit parts they are, but the Eduard PE isn't for an Airfix kit. It's for a Hasegawa Hurricane, but I'm sure various bits will help to enhance this model whether they fit properly or not! I note I've already nicked the seat harness for something else - lucky I have a couple of extra frets about.

 

 

If you're familiar with the new tool Airfix Hurricane, you'll know the detail in the wheel wells is sublime. The PE includes the parts to box in the area on the Hasegawa kit, so I set about seeing if things will fit. First, I marked where the upper wings fitted on the lower wing, then carefully scraped and filed away the landing strips intended for the raised undercarriage doors to glue to.

 

 

The PE part folded up. Let's see if it will fit nicely...

 

 

I suppose that's a no, then. Oh well, it was worth checking. The bare wheel wells won't be seen under normal circumstances anyway, so onwards. What's next?

 

 

The resin instrument panel doesn't really fit, either. Surgery would be required on either this part, or the floor, in order for it to fit. Happily, the PE IP fits nicely, but I will need to reinstate the moulded ledge I carefully removed from the fuselage halves some time previously. 

 

 

The kit includes a rear bulkhead with the seat moulded to it. It's bare bones, but if Pilot Officer Prune is installed it probably looks fine. However, I have lots of shiny PE to play with. Here, posed with my specially trained British Penny for scale, is the sum total of about 45 minutes of going boss-eyed and cursing. Looks nice, doesn't it?

 

I'm lucky, I guess, that this part does actually fit in the cockpit. A tiny bit of reshaping is required to the plastic parts to match the profile of the PE back, but it will go in. I know this because of countless dry fitting sessions! Even the original kit cockpit floor will fit, so that's nice, too.

 

 

Speaking of floors and bulkheads, it became obvious it would be useful to fit the kit parts, with some modification, to help support all that dainty PE stuff. I chopped and sanded the lump of seat off the bulkhead, and glued it, with the floor, in place in one half of the fuselage. The other half is currently holding it all in place while the glue goes off. I did this, of course, after some more boss-eyedness and cursing that saw the PE side wall details go on.

 

 

You can see some of it there. Obviously, being intended for another kit entirely, some surgery has been required here and there. 

 

 

There's some more on the other side. I added the teeny tiny weeny bits of detail, at least as far as I felt was prudent. A lot will never been seen again, so it's been pragmatically left attached to the fret. The PE includes a representation of all the tube framework. Since it's intended for another maker's kit I will be leaving it out, mainly because it simply won't fit in this one. Another reason is I'm not sure how it actually goes together, as the drawings are a bit vague. I might dig out the new Airfix Hurri destructions and see if they might help, but I'm happy to leave them out.

 

Next, I will make a replacement styrene plank for the instrument panel, and then attempt to paint the lacework. I suspect the first brushload of paint will knock most of the details off! More later.

 

 

[Lawzer]

Oh my eyes hurt just thinking about PE in 1/72!!!!

 

Great start and another airfix classic added to the gb!! 👍

[BIG X]

54 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

With so few parts I shall have this kit built by teatime. 

Good on you Heather - I hoped we would see another 'masterclass' - after the fantastic Rotodyne.

 

Britmodellers love a bit of confidence - what time do we have tea round here...

[Heather Kay]

I wuz brunged up proper like, so our evening meal is actually "dinner". I know. Don't shoot me.

 

 

More dry fitting turned up the brass doily seat assembly wouldn't actually fit quite as neatly as anticipated. The solution was to cut off the floor runners and glue them to the kit floor. 

 

 

The seat and back plate were trimmed so the seat more or less sat directly on the kit floor.

 

 

I glued the IP parts to some sheet styrene, and when dry it was trimmed and sanded to shape. I added a compass and reflector sight from offcuts of styrene rod and strip. I rarely use the printed dials that come in such kits. At this scale, buried inside a cockpit, often with a canopy in place, you never see anything that a few drops of PVA or gloss varnish won't replicate. 

 

 

More of the PE got used to detail the radiator rear flap and add grilles front and back inside the radiator. The seat and IP got some paint via hairy stick, as did the cockpit side walls and the floor. A little detail work and some dry brushing has brought up the details, all now lost inside to view!

 

 

The final act today has been trimming the elevators from the stabilisers so they can be positioned separately, and joining the fuselage halves and gluing the wings together. For a relatively elderly kit there has been little flash to deal with, and there will only be a smear of filler required around some joints. 

 

More tomorrow, though if the weather holds we might pay a visit to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum down at Hawkinge. 

 

 

[TonyW]

An insane amount of detailing in such a small kit!  If I was wearing a hat, I would raise it to you.

My prototype Lancaster build has an Eduard detail set in the cockpit. I'm telling you now, as you would never see it now the canopy is on. Grrr. 

 

I'll be watching your progress here with much interest. If it comes out like your Rotodyne, we are all in for a treat.

 

Tony.

[BIG X]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

I wuz brunged up proper like, so our evening meal is actually "dinner". I know. Don't shoot me.

Hey Heather - I was only 'joshing' - quality takes time - so don't rush - your doing great things here - enjoy yourself at your own speed.

[Heather Kay]

8 hours ago, BIG X said:

Hey Heather - I was only 'joshing' - quality takes time - so don't rush - your doing great things here - enjoy yourself at your own speed.

I know. In many ways I am enjoying this little kit. Firstly, I built one decades ago, so this is bringing back memories. Secondly, it is nice to be able to build something reasonably quickly, even with the extras. While I really appreciate the state-of-the-art modern kits, they don’t lend themselves to a Saturday afternoon build. 👍

[Heather Kay]

9 hours ago, TonyW said:

I'm telling you now, as you would never see it now the canopy is on. Grrr. 

Nuts, isn’t it? I’m hoping to have the canopy open on this Hurricane, so something of the internals will be visible. 

 

We do this for fun - well, most of us do! - and it’s really down to each of us to do as much, or as little, work on our models as we see fit. When I finally get round to my new tool Wellington, I shall fit all the interior parts, and I shall enjoy myself doing it. It might mean the build takes a fortnight, but that’s part of the fun.  

Edited July 29, 2018 by Heather Kay

[TonyW]

The fun factor is the most important bit for me as well. 

 

The new Wellington looks very tempting. It's got me wondering if it would be possible to sand off the outer skin, leaving just the framework. That way, all that interior detailing would at least be on show.

 

Tony.

[Heather Kay]

Well, the heatwave has broken and we're getting some much needed rain here in this corner of Kent. Our trip down to Hawkinge has been postponed for another day. So, workbench time. Housework can wait!

 

 

The fit of most parts in this kit has been excellent. The radiator only needed some mild fettling to sit down nicely under the fuselage. It seemed a good idea to fit the undercarriage parts while I was there. Two parts each: door with oleo leg, plus a strut. nice and simple.

 

 

The modular method of construction means it's possible to dry fit the wings to the fuselage easily. This revealed a bit of a gap along the upper edges of the wing roots. By trial and error, I found some 10 thou styrene sheet filled the gap nicely, so I glued some to the roots on the fuselage. It was all trimmed back and sanded down later.

 

 

That's better. There's still a hairline on the port wing root, but a smear of filler will deal with that. As you will have noticed, I have elected not to scribe panels on this build. The fine raised lines are not offensive to my eye, and with a new tin-wing Hurri on the horizon from another company, this build may be relegated to background duties eventually.

 

 

The landing lights were fitted. A bit of silver paint went into the wing slot, and I carefully drilled the backs of each transparency to simulate the bulb. It's not quite right, but better than nothing. Once the glue has dried I shall gently sand and polish everything along the leading edges.

 

 

As I said, fit is generally excellent. The only issues I've found have been around the trailing edges of the wing assembly where it meets the fuselage. It's not a disaster, certainly nothing a tiny amount of filler and sanding won't handle.

 

 

Some black paint all around the insides of the wheel wells and the cockpit will help to cover the lack of detail. This is after the wing assembly has been cemented in place and some filler applied to the small gaps.

 

 

It's time now to consider painting. I'm tempted to go hairy stick all over for this one, though the temperatures in the paint shop are now ideal for airbrushing. It's whether I can be bothered with the faffing about or not. I find brush painting quite relaxing. I think I shall ponder for a short while, then decide whether to even bother squirting rattle can primer over the thing. If I do, I'll use the kit canopy to mask the cockpit, as I have a vac-form replacement I will be using to complete the model.

 

More soon, I suspect. 

[Heather Kay]

 

I went with the paintbrush method. Several thin coats of Xtracrylix Dark Earth and Dark Green went on an unprimed surface - as the occasional inadvertent fingernail showed well. I used Humbrol 90 Sky acrylic underneath. This has been followed by a couple of coats of Humbrol Clear, which I hope will offer some protection against scuffs as well as give a nice surface for silver-free transfers.

 

Yes, I can see brush strokes, but I don't really care. This is a model to please me, and while the materials are modern, the techniques are those I used in my teens.

 

I will leave this to harden a bit before I think about decals.

[Ray S]

Nice work Heather! I always liked this model and you are doing it justice!

 

I am heartened that I am not the only one who gets fingernail marks on their nice fresh paintwork!

 

Looking forward to seeing more,

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[Heather Kay]

 

Transfers done. I’ll let this sit overnight to dry, then top coat with some more gloss coat. Then I’ll varnish with matt and organise the canopy.

[nimrod54]

What a fantastic job you have made of this older kit Heather. I'm already looking forward to the Spitfire build once you are ready to start. 

[Heather Kay]

12 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

What a fantastic job you have made of this older kit Heather.

Cheers John! It's not turning out badly for a forty year old kit. Shows how good the pattern makers at Airfix were at the time, really.

 

That said, has anyone noticed the lack of cartridge ejector holes under the wings? Hmm.

 

 

 

This morning I painted the exhausts and the gun protective covers, fitted the main and tail wheels, added a final brush coat of Humbrol Clear over the transfers, and then headed for the paint shop for some airbrushed matt varnish. Pleasingly, almost all the brush marks have vanished. It almost looks a decent paint finish now.

 

I really should get back to "proper" work this morning, but the final details to sort out here will be the canopy, yellow tips to the prop blades, and some mild weathering here and there. Not bad for a weekend project.

[Lawzer]

That was quick!!!!!

 

Nice work! 👍

[AdrianMF]

5 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

lack of cartridge ejector holes under the wings

Rectangles of black decal cut from from a spare sheet (invasion stripes are a good source of black and white) were my friend for that occasion!

 

Regards,

Adrian 

[Heather Kay]

8 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Rectangles of black decal cut from from a spare sheet (invasion stripes are a good source of black and white) were my friend for that occasion!

 

Regards,

Adrian 

I think I might ignore them! Lazy? Well, yes.  

[AdrianMF]

That works too 

[Heather Kay]

All done, and posted in the gallery thread. Now, where's me Spitfire gone?

 

 

[TonyW]

I've just checked out the Gallery pictures. Very nice work indeed.

The canopy adds so much to the finish of the model and it's a relief to be able to see the detailing you have added to the cockpit. It makes the cockpit area take center stage.

 

I'm looking forward to the next one!

 

Tony.

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Tony!