In a Hurri (2 x 1/72 Hasegawa/Fly Hurricanes)

[Procopius]

"These aircraft [Hurricane IICs] were heavier [than the Hurricane I] but had hitting power if you could get the enemy in your sights."

-- Squadron Leader (later Wing Commander) Robert "Butch" Barton DFC* OBE, 249 Squadron (12 + 5 shared)

 

"People have, on occasion, asked me what it felt like, inside me, to shoot down and kill an enemy pilot. To be truthful, I was elated."

-- Pilot Officer (later Lt Colonel) William "Bill" Dunn, 71 Squadron (9, including two as an AA gunner with the Canadian Seaforth Highlanders), Fighter Ace: The First American Ace of World War II

 

Today has been so long and tiring thanks to my children and a spectacularly mismanaged playdate that I'm too tired to even tell you how or why I'm tired. All I feel now is dull rage that I ate breakfast cereal for dinner and then had to go and buy Mrs P and the children tacos. Tacos should never be a reward for abject failure.

 

In any case, now that there's finally a canopy mask for them, I decided to dig into my stash of Hasegawa Hurricane IIs to build two of them while I'm waiting for the Arma Hobby Hurricane I to come out. The kit itself is incredibly simple, with perhaps twenty parts, if that many. I'm building two aircraft:

 

A 71 (Eagle) Squadron Hurricane IIa flown by my countryman William "Bill" Dunn, who initially served in the US Army in the interwar period, joined the Canadian Army (where he claimed two Ju87s shot down as a Lewis Gunner) in 1939, rising to Sergeant, then transferring to the RAF (he had 160 hours of private flying experience, which he claimed as 560 on the transfer form), and trained at a Hurricane OTU under the legendary ace Frank Carey, then a mere Flight Lieutenant. Dunn was seriously injured on Circus 86 in August of 1941, where, after claiming two Bf109Fs for his fourth and fifth victories, he was hit in the leg and foot by cannon and MG fire, losing three toes, and barely brought his Spitfire IIa home. He briefly commanded 130 Squadron while it was working up in Canada, then transferred to the US Army Air Corps as a Captain and flew P-39s with the 53rd FG, then transferred to the 406th FG, flying the immense P-47 Thunderbolt. Dunn would claim a few more victories before being seriously injured again when his P-47 collided with a bomb that fell off the Thunderbolt in front of him -- in the long term, this accident caused him to lose sight in his left eye. In 1949, after being passed over for promotion to Captain in the regular USAF (he was then an acting Lieutenant Colonel), he was discharged from the USAF. Thereupon, he re-enlisted in the USAF as a Technical Sergeant, rising eventually to the rank of Warrant Officer. He served in Vietnam (receiving a Bronze Star for fighting Viet Cong infiltrators at on foot at Tan Son Nhut airbase during the Tet Offensive), where he worked on infrared detection systems and tactics for strike aircraft. His memoirs, entitled Fighter Ace: The First American Ace of World War II, make for amusing, if opinionated reading. The Hurricane IIa I'm building is XR-T/Z3781, the aircraft in which Dunn claimed his first 109F on 2 July 1941.

 

20180816_000940 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

A 242 Squadron Hurricane IIc based at Malta. Due to a curious quirk of fate, there were in 1941 two 242 Squadrons, one in the Far East and one at Malta. There's a famous photo of this aircraft nosed into the ground, and much debate as to whether it was in desert colours, or temperate land scheme, and if the spinner was red or black. I may go with TLS (even though I prefer desert colours) for economy of scale with the Hurricane IIa.

 

20180816_001021 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

We're off to a start of sorts. The Hasegawa Hurricane has a notoriously awful spinner that looks a little like a health class diagram of the reproductive organs of one of the weirder, smaller mammals, and the Fly Hurricane IIa supplies a replacement, which I promptly wrecked sawing off of its pour stub and had to replace with one of my Quickboost ones. The QB one has non-Rotol prop blades, which I'm sure @Troy Smith can explain for me, as I have a second set of Rotol-type blades I can use in a pinch if need be. The IIc already had a QB set in the box, a gift to current me from Past Me, like those 7th Doctor Dr Who episodes where he's done all the groundwork in the past. Sadly, Ace isn't here to help me. 

 

20180816_000914 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I also assembled the wings and attached the front portions of the fuselage to their respective halves.

 

20180816_000904 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Your rage-fuelled progress is astoundng Edward! As I recently received one of the Fly Hurricanes as a (very generous) gift from a friend I shall certainly tag along for this  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[stevehnz]

I've got a double boxing of Hasegawa Hurris, I'll be looking to see where the pitfalls are, & looking forward to " a Day in the Life " of our favourite hedgehog loving Chicagoan.

Steve.

 

[Beard]

I'll tag along, if I may, as I have a couple of Hasegawa Hurricanes in the stash (I'm also eagerly awaiting the Arma Hobby Mk.1).

[CedB]

"In a Hurri" You've certainly made a fast start PC and a good one!

I'm in - not enough Hurricanes around IMHO.

[06/24]

A raging maelstrom of hurricanes...

 

Excellent, will follow with interest.

[Christer A]

Is there a Procopius fan club that I could join somewhere?

Your threads are glorious on all levels, and the modelling that happens sometimes in them are great.

 

Have fun with these ones, but please make the IIC in desert colors, it looks that much cooler!

[Azgaron]

Nice with a Hurricane or two! Good start!

 

Håkan

 

[GrzeM]

5 hours ago, Christer A said:

Is there a Procopius fan club that I could join somewhere? 

Maybe we should start one?

[Procopius]

5 hours ago, Christer A said:

Is there a Procopius fan club that I could join somewhere?

 

4 minutes ago, GrzeM said:

Maybe we should start one?

Gentlemen, you have my attention. 

 

8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

 I'll be looking to see where the pitfalls are

As I understand it, the biggest correctable issue for a mere mortal like myself (beyond buying a replacement spinner) is that the fabric effect abaft the cockpit is rather overdone. I'm debating with myself whether I want to mess with that.

[CedB]

PC fan club? I'm in… will there be T-shirts?

 

47 minutes ago, Procopius said:

As I understand it, the biggest correctable issue for a mere mortal like myself (beyond buying a replacement spinner) is that the fabric effect abaft the cockpit is rather overdone. I'm debating with myself whether I want to mess with that.

Might I suggest, young Sir, that the answer might be 'Nah'?

[Procopius]

11 minutes ago, CedB said:

PC fan club? I'm in… will there be T-shirts?

 

Might I suggest, young Sir, that the answer might be 'Nah'?

Buh-buh-buh-but Tony did it!

[CedB]

Tony? The master modeller O'Toole? Looks like one of those 'smother it with filler and then sand away the bits that aren't Hurricane' jobs...

Go for it, if you think you can make it...

I'd, er, resist I think  

[Learstang]

Well, they're neither in proper Soviet markings, but this might still be amusing. Hmmm, now this gives me an idea about a book regarding the Hurricane in Soviet service...

 

Regards,

 

Jason (not at all obsessed with all things Soviet aviation-related)

[Procopius]

4 hours ago, Learstang said:

Well, they're neither in proper Soviet markings, but this might still be amusing. Hmmm, now this gives me an idea about a book regarding the Hurricane in Soviet service...

Do one on British lend-lease aircraft in general. Do iiiiiiiit.

 

State of play this evening:

 

20180816_210335 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Mel (that is, Mrs P) brought the children to see me at work today, which she believes to be a special treat for me. It isn't. I love my children, I suppose, but having to cart them around Chicago, which is a hellish temperature right now, as in the temperature is indistinguishable from that of the more fiery portions of Hades, where sinners burn in eternal torment, is in fact a special torture. Winston has only two speeds: standing staring at something uninteresting in rapt attention when you need to pick up the pace to make the train, or rapidly accelerating towards the sound barrier towards his own destruction. I spent two hours alternately carrying or chasing him, and of course we needed to eat lunch in the city, where everything is infinitely more expensive (lunch at a restaurant in the suburbs: 1-1.5 Eduard profipacks; lunch in the excruciatingly upmarket area of River North: 3 Profipacks), and the children scream, throw things, and spill drinks. causing my body to slowly shut down in an effort to die quietly and without a fuss before my offspring embarrass me to death. On the plus side, on the train ride home we saw a passed-out woman with a lojack, so at least it was educational. 

 

After I fell asleep on the sofa upon returning home and Mrs P nearly killed herself by almost passing out from dehydration, we coaxed the children to bed (but not before Grant managed to eat half of the dust jacket for Volume I of History of the English-Speaking Peoples) and I escaped downstairs. 

 

The Hasegawa kits are fairly basic in terms of interior -- it's hard to imagine a manufacturer escaping withering scorn were they to introduce a Hurricane onto the market today with so little interior detail, and you might think I'd want to spruce up the interior a bit, but have you seen the tiny canopy and how deep that 'pit is? Not on your life, cowpoke. Might have to do something with the rudder pedals once the RAF interior grey-green dries, though.

 

It was nice to be able to break out my Colourcoats again after a long absence from the bench, this time thinned with hardware store naphtha; my last experience with naphtha previously was using it to start the grill when all of the lighter fluid was sold out at the local store, an unforgettable experience that depilated both of my forearms comprehensively. My magnificent eyebrows, which have been (cruelly) compared to those of Mentat Piter De Vries in the David Lynch-helmed Dune film, at least escaped intact. In any case, it seemed to work fine.

 

20180816_212735 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I sprayed both spinners Sky, on the theory that even the black (or red) one still had a Sky baseplate, and then, like a man with a hammer in search of a nail, I sprayed the gear door legs.

 

I may yet gussy up the Hasegawa kit seat -- the Fly kit comes with a nice-looking resin seat (huzzah!) with molded-on belts (boo!) -- for the second kit with a spare PE seatbelt I found lying about: 

 

20180816_213103 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

12 minutes ago, Procopius said:

lunch at a restaurant in the suburbs: 1-1.5 Eduard profipacks; lunch in the excruciatingly upmarket area of River North: 3 Profipacks

 

The new international exchange rate for modellers has been established  

 

I have the feeling you may have meant "it's hard to imagine a manufacturer [not] coming in for withering scorn" for the undetailed cockpit area of the Hase kits? (Thankfully from the 3D models it doesn't appear that this will be a problem with the Arma Hobby one, even if you won't be able to see it afterwards)  

 

Anyway after a day like that  I am impressed that you could get anything done at all, good work mate.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Procopius]

Just now, Stew Dapple said:

I have the feeling you may have meant "it's hard to imagine a manufacturer [not] coming in for withering scorn" for the undetailed cockpit area of the Hase kits? (Thankfully from the 3D models it doesn't appear that this will be a problem with the Arma Hobby one, even if you won't be able to see it afterwards)  

I'm sure I don't know what you mean. As you can see, my post says something very similar to that.

 

1 minute ago, Stew Dapple said:

Anyway after a day like that  I am impressed that you could get anything done at all, good work mate.

I also spent a not-inconsiderable amount of time locked in my study with the lights off and my headphones on, listening to music, but let's not dwell upon that.

[Learstang]

I actually added the idea for the Soviet Hurricanes to my ever-expanding list of book/short story ideas. At the length it is now, I will have to live approximately 534 more years in order to complete all the books on the list. Wasn't there a figure in mythology, perhaps Norse, who as long as they (or perhaps it was someone else, like their mother) kept weaving (something or other), they would not die? Or did I dream it? At any rate, I'm attempting to do that with my books. I may just add your idea about the British lend-lease aircraft (a book about Western lend-lease aircraft sent to the Soviet Union is not only on the list, but contracted for with my publisher, the fine folks at Fonthill Media). If contracted, the British lend-lease book should extend my life for another year or so. So you have that on your conscience now, PC.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Edited August 17, 2018 by Learstang
Additional comments added.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, Procopius said:

and the children scream, throw things, and spill drinks. causing my body to slowly shut down in an effort to die quietly and without a fuss before my offspring embarrass me to death

Of course PC theres an upside to that. You are allowed to embarass them when they're teenagers. It is your given right as a parent to do so, I did. 😉

[corsaircorp]

Hello Mr P !

Nice start on your Hurries !

I will follow if you Don't mind !!

Sincerely.

CC

[CedB]

Great post again PC  

I remember eating out with the children - gnnnggghhhh. Well done that man.

Nice work with the Colourcoats - I love 'em too. Jamie says if you thin with their thinners you can pour any excess back into the tin so I do that. He does say that one can clean the AB with cheaper white spirit so I do that too. 

Hurris are looking good  

[johnd]

17 hours ago, Procopius said:

As I understand it, the biggest correctable issue for a mere mortal like myself (beyond buying a replacement spinner) is that the fabric effect abaft the cockpit is rather overdone. I'm debating with myself whether I want to mess with that.

I'd have said that correcting the wheel wells was the hardest thing, but then my natural painting style takes care of the heavy ribbing. The wheel well issue partly explains my adoption of the, "if it's underneath, it doesn't matter" rule.

 

Fine thread and modelling, as usual. Keep up the good work!

 

John.

[Christer A]

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

The new international exchange rate for modellers has been established  

Are we talking 1/72 or 1/48 Profipacks?

I'm guessing 1/72...

 

PC, have a stab at the belts if you please. It would make a noticeable difference even with that greenhouse glass in the way.

[Procopius]

Damme, these go together fast:

 

20180817_224604 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

19 hours ago, Christer A said:

PC, have a stab at the belts if you please. It would make a noticeable difference even with that greenhouse glass in the way.

Done.

 

19 hours ago, johnd said:

The wheel well issue partly explains my adoption of the, "if it's underneath, it doesn't matter" rule.

The only way to live.

 

Apparently Winston opted to take after his true father, the Devil, today, as Mrs P started to text me that he was being rotten (as he so often is) only to abruptly change tone midway through the stream of texts after she angrily slammed a door to make a point and instead managed to probably break three of her toes in doing so. Mrs P is alive today only because pain makes her too angry to think about how much nicer it would be to be unconscious (she went over her handlebars while cycling and fractured her skull on a steel pole, to the point where her forehead was literally cracked open with an immense flap of skin peeled back, but instead of passing out and dying, as the immutable laws of nature dictated, she stormed up a culvert and into the road, nearly giving a passing good Samaritan a heart attack), and so she opted to still drive the children an hour to the zoo and then returned home, left Winston with me and told me to call her when he was in bed, and promptly vanished with the squirming sack of warm lead that is our other child, Grant. 

 

Winston accepted this development with equanimity.

 

20180817_174913 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

After repeatedly chanting "I don't wannnnnt youuuuuu", which is not at all hurtful if you've spent your entire life desperately seeking love and approval, he was finally placated with a visit to the grotto, where he was very impressed with my Gunze Mr Cap Opener. When he was informed it was a tool, he replied, in his halting, burbling little voice, "it is not a tool, it is a plaything for me." Really, who taught a two-year-old to say plaything? We used this plaything, this mere bagatelle, to open two jars of Mr Color (probably shortening his life, but gentle reader, I was desperate), which mercifully weren't spilled, and then he toddled over to the completed models cabinet, where he first told me "I yub the Mustang!" (a dagger to my heart) and then made off with one of my Fine Molds Bf 109Fs, entirely because it's one of a very few models I have whose prop turns. As to what happened to the 109F thereafter, it's best to draw a veil upon the unhappy scene. Seeing him joyously play with it was the first time I ever felt qualms about including swastikas on my builds, though.

 

Fly totally omits an IP decal or anything...I suspect a deal with Yahu fell through, because the instructions seem to imply a PE panel. No worries, I used the decal from the Hase kit, and looted another from a cut-up Airfix Hurricane from a botched attempt to make a metal-winged machine a while back, so all good there. But if you buy the Fly kit, be aware of this issue. 

 

I have to say the Fly resin seat paints up fairly well. 

 

20180817_224616 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

 

[06/24]

I shall gloss over the tribulations of parenting and merely observe that if that is the seat with the moulded on belts, to which you previously referred with disdain, then damme hasn't it come out well.