Tired Old Puffers at the Last Ditch (3 x 1/72 Arma Hurricanes)

[Learstang]

Nice to see that the landing gear can be attached after the fact, as it were. Like you PC, I would break them off during construction. My subconscious mind would make it a matter of Principle to break them off. I've gotten to the point where if I know a part will break off that's already an integral part of the kit (like those wretched little rudder balances on Shturmovik kits), I just go ahead and cut it off, and put it in a safe place so I won't accidentally break it off (which I will), and lose the blasted thing.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[John Masters]

I have a few Hurricanes from other makers to get through before I treat myself to this...Yours is looking very fine indeed!

[Procopius]

15 hours ago, AliGauld said:

I have received mine but it is waiting til I feel sufficiently capable of doing it justice.

Going by my experiences so far, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

 

I generally feel that there's a definite sweet spot in terms of kit complexity. Too simple, and it's not really fun to build; too complex, and you're too busy whispering vile imprecations that your spouse would leave you were they to hear you give them voice, a millimeter away from the kit while spittle slowly drips down your chin to really be able to appreciate the experience. So far, for me, this kit is right in the sweet spot. It's not as rough as a Sword kit (it's a fair sight better in fact, most if not all of the parts fit together!) and I would say as good as or maybe even a little better than Special Hobby's current efforts. That's an incredible achievement considering Arma's small size and the fact that they put out their first injection-molded kit only in 2015. My interest in them is partly selfish, since I have a great interest in Polish aviation, but I certainly hope they keep on as they have been.

 

Now then, the kits. Tonight was low-impact, as I mostly just did the wings of the other two Hurricanes now that I'd gotten a handle on the process. I'm happy to say there were no hiccups and they went together fine. 

 

 I also got a start on the PE/decal/plastic instrument panels. The whole thing is a fairly complex-looking process, so we'll see how I get on:

 

Basically you sand off the raised IP detail, paint the plastic part black, add the first decal, then the two photoetch parts, and then the last decal? I think it has some of the gauge surrounds on it, so that must be the right order. 

 

I sanded down the IPs:

 

 

So far so good.

 

And I blasted them and the PE parts with some Gunze gloss black:

 

 

Hopefully I'll find some time tomorrow to gloss the panels, apply the decals, and then, later, come back and do the PE. 

 

Here's where I left off tonight:

 

 

While I was working on the kits, I watched an old BBC documentary on YouTube, "Churchill's Few":

 

 

Geoffrey Page, one of the most famous members of The Guinea Pig Club, is one of the subjects of the documentary. I found his closing comments particularly affecting: "My enemy today is not the Germans anymore, it's small children, who can spot you and pick you out and then say to their mother, 'oh mummy, look at that man, burnt face, and burnt hands', and this I find difficult to take." He was just twenty when his Hurricane was shot down in flames, the flesh literally bubbling off of his hands where he gripped the control column. Just imagine, twenty years old, and the best years of your life stolen from you before they could begin, swallowed up by the war. 

 

Page was lucky; he survived the war, married, and had children (the journalist William Simpson, formerly a Squadron Leader and a Fairey Battle pilot before he was disfigured beyond recognition after being shot down in flames, wrote of his own children that he felt "a psychological need to see before my eyes children of our own that were physically normal...able to do all the things I could not do myself -- flowers of my seeds grown out of my own ashes," a particularly heart-wrenching statement for me). The scars remained, clearly; even forty years after the Battle, with an enviable war record, he was self-conscious about how he appeared to others. Many other splendid, irreplaceable young men weren't even afforded the gift of a lifetime of shame and self-doubt; they were torn apart by cannon fire or burnt to death in their aircraft or dashed to pieces against the ground. When I think of them, existing now for us only as raised letters on monuments or black and white photographs of small groups of men smiling or trying their best to look unconcerned, I think too of Robert Lowell's 1964 poem "For the Union Dead", where he describes the boy-colonel Robert Shaw, later made famous by the film Glory: "He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man's lovely,/peculiar power to choose life and die..."

 

I think of them often. 

 

 

[GrzeM]

Major Pilot Zdzisław Krasnodębski known as "King" (he was very good and liked leader), in 1939 commander of the Warsaw fighter III/1 Wing (including 111 "Kosciuszko" Squadron and 112 Fighter Squadron) was shot down by Bf 110 on 3rd September, bailed out wounded and burned. Went to hospital, but managed to return to the squadron, then evacuated through Romania to France. In 1940 fought in France, then went to Britain where he took command of the forming 303 "Kosciuszko" Squadron (successor of the 111 "Kosciuszko" Squadron traditions), trained and organized the very effective and sucessful unit. On 6th September 1940 for the second time during the war was shot down in his Hurricane in  flames, heavily burned, bailed out. Photo shows him in British hospital, during ceremony of decoration with Virtuti Militari Cross by Polish Commander in Chief and Prime Minister Gen. Władysław Sikorski. Later Krasnodębski came back to active service as an Air Force officer, but no longer as active fighter pilot.
Witold Urbanowicz, his deputy-commander and later successor as the 303 Squadron commander wrote: ""He didn't score many victories in the air, his victory was on the ground — in the training and upbringing of the young officers in his command."

Edited January 5, 2019 by GrzeM

[Procopius]

Winston and I went down to the grotto this morning and he brushed on several (many, many) coats of Future onto the IPs in preparation for decalling. He was very pleased to be a part of this great endeavour.

 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Good work Winston!

[perdu]

Good work PC getting the little...

 

...fellow in the hobby quickly especially in the intricate work in the cockpit

 

Nice work Edward

[Procopius]

I regret to inform you all that Winston didn't do a very good job glosscoating the IPs, and I had to strip them down. His efficiency in eating all of my wine gums (which he informed Mrs P are "for model airplane people only"), on the other hand , is sans pareil. 

 

Winston had his first non-sibling bout of fisticuffs today, the moment that every parent dreads. We were at the world-renowned Chicago Botanical Gardens (which are a fair hike from Chicago, but not far from us) enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (57 F/14 C) when Winston, about twenty yards from us, saw two boys a little older than him restraining a boy his age. They were just siblings playing, but he didn't know that, and what happened next was possibly my fault, because I have a framed print of Leslie Illingworth's cartoon "THE COMBAT" from a 1940 issue of Punch on the wall at home (as one does), and he's always asking me about if it's a monster in the picture and it's okay to break its wings or hurt it to make it stop being mean*, which is one hell of a parenting minefield for me, but onwards. Winston started yelling at the boys, and they all stopped and turned and looked at him, and then the one who'd been restrained stepped forward and hit Winston in the head. I was already jumping to my feet to run over, but Winston had matters in hand; he staggered the other kid with a punch and then knocked him down, flat on his back. By now, another and I were both sprinting over to collect our wayward offspring, and the other guy looked at me and said "my kid deserved it". I said nothing, because I didn't trust myself to answer and I knew I'd need every ounce of strength I had to tell Winston hitting was wrong. Later Mrs P and I excitedly went over the incident. I proposed stenciling the silhouette of a toddler on Winston's car door, but we probably won't. 

 

Anyway, later he punched his baby brother for "making me feel sad", so clearly he's discovered the alluring simplicity of violence, that most American of all afflictions, the firm belief that a good solid punch will fix everything. Work in progress!

 

Anyway, some incremental, but deeply satisfying work on the Hurricanes. I'm again forging forward with one, rather than trying to do them all at once, but here's a tip for free: DO NOT, as I did, paint the PE sidewalls before putting them in -- it's easier and makes more sense to add them and then paint the area. Of course, I'm also using enamels, but some minor clamping is indicated to get them to best conform to the fuselage shape, and it can scuff the paint.

 

That said, the PE is nice and flexible by comparison with the Eduard stuff in their Spitfire profipacks, which I have a devil of a time with. That's good news, because I had some bending to do tonight; there's a tiny photoetched map case. Now, I don't have any special PE bending tools beyond a pair of blunt-nosed pliers, and I wasn't wearing my glasses (which have developed a distressing tendency to fall off my head when I look down, as I invariably am when modelling), but gentle reader, I did it! I feel like a champ, too.

 

 

This was another once I painted before installation, and I recommend just waiting.

 

 

I then got to work on the IPs. A very pleasant surprise was that the decal and the PE panels are in fact the correct size and fit perfectly atop the plastic part. This may seem like a low hurdle to clear, but I've been burned many, many, many times on this front, so it was nice to see that level of QC in play. I used solvaset on the decal, and then Gator's Grip thin blend glue to add the PE over it:

 

 

Gorgeous.

 

Then more solvaset (I had Winston put Future over the PE parts this morning, which to his credit, he did at least as good a job on as he did on flooring that kid), and the top decal:

 

 

It's just applied in this photo. 

 

And my meaty paw, for scale:

 

 

Now, one minor issue is that all of this makes the IP a bit thick. I'm a little worried about that -- probably should have sanded more -- so once everything dries and gels and whatever tomorrow, we'll see how that's looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* This sort of question requires a certain amount of equivocation to answer at this stage of the ol' not-raising-a-serial-killer game, but I do admit that when pressed, I suggested that "whatever it took" to make the monster stop hurting people would be acceptable in that special circumstance.  

[Stew Dapple]

Looking good mate  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

the Eduard stuff in their Spitfire profipacks, which I have a devil of a time with.

Ive heard that the Photoetch in eduards kits works better if it has been annealed (heat treated). Ive also heard heating using a candle or lighter for a few seconds does the trick. It softens the metal and makes it easier to work with. Ive not done it to P/E myself, and it would ruin  pre-painted etch. I know it works on Brass/steel casings when you reload or make your own ammunition. Principle and possibly the materials (brass/steel) are the same, the subject matter isn't. Might be worth investigating further on the etch ? 

 

Dennis 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Procopius]

17 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Ive heard that the Photoetch in eduards kits works better if it has been annealed (heat treated). Ive also heard heating using a candle or lighter for a few seconds does the trick. It softens the metal and makes it easier to work with. Ive not done it to P/E myself, and it would ruin  pre-painted etch. I know it works on Brass/steel casings when you reload or make your own ammunition. Principle and possibly the materials (brass/steel) are the same, the subject matter isn't. Might be worth investigating further on the etch ? 

 

I've annealed in the past, but unfortunately, for obvious reasons, it doesn't work too well on the pre-printed stuff.

[neil5208]

Nice looking IP, I can recommend getting one of the photo etch bending tools. Like you I use small pliers before but with the proper tools you can achieve much more accurate folds and less likely to ping across the room.

[Hamden]

 

Nice looking I.P.

 

  Roger

[perdu]

I like that PC, looks very realistic and of course scaling (sizewise) is always a problem

 

I tend to the idea of thinnest coats of anything and minimal shine in the glazing but you have it looking spot on

 

Oh yes well done Winston, I think he got and did the clobbering with the best intentions so I'd give the lad a pass on the ruckus

 

Not bad Clearing too

 

👍

[Brandy]

Very nice! For small PE parts such as the map case, I put the piece on a glass kitchen cutting "board", place a small metal rule on it to: a) hold it in place, and b) fold against, then insert a knife blade under the area to be folded and gently ease it up. Works a treat, and you have more control than with a PE folding tool.

 

Ian

[Procopius]

Hullo everyone. 

 

Work continues apace. The complex cockpit interior of the Hurricane is pretty faithfully replicated by the kit, which can be a little daunting, especially for those of us (like me) more used to the Spitfire. So I'm once again proceeding carefully. 

 

I folded and attached two of the compass mountings to the IPs. The folding was a little tricky, but I managed it with tweezers and a hobby knife, but not before two of the mounts escaped a total of three times, one scoring a home run and making it back to wherever the homeland of photoetch is, to take up arms and rejoin the fight once more.

 

 

I want to reiterate, because I found it so remarkable, but the PE compass platform fit very nicely onto the IP, without any of the hassle I was expecting.

 

The office is, as I mentioned, quite complex. In addition to the seat, affixed directly to the seat armour, there's the tubular metal framework in three parts: two side pieces and a third piece, which lives on a diagonal line from the bottom of the IP to the lower rear frame:

 

 

Here's how it all went together. The instructions looked rather daunting, and I did a fair amount of test-fitting, first to figure out how I should even be test-fitting, but everything ended up going in quite nicely.

 

Some thoughts:

 

• I wish I'd sanded down the IP slightly more.
• As with their previous Fokker E.V, you need to be very careful cutting out the parts that represent the tubular framing -- I've had two breaks merely from the stress induced by clipping one out, though I was able to easily glue both and it's not noticeable now.
• As you can see the photo, the sligtly rounded ends of the V-shaped centre piece of the framework need to be sanded flat or it's not gonna work.

 

I did a quick test fit with the floor to make sure nothing was fouling anything. All good.

 

Then with the other fuselage halve:

 

 

 

The addition of the PE side panels gives the kit perhaps a bit more rigidity than it had without them, but I think it should close up well enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

That cockpit looks wonderful!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[CedB]

Wow, what a cockpit! Good job PC (and Winnie)  

 

As far as your 'have a go hero' is concerned I'm impressed and I agree with you; let him use his strength for good and teach him what's appropriate and acceptable. "All it takes for evil to succeed…" etc.  Good Man Winnie, just don't hit your brother (unless he deserves it). Of course Mrs B disagrees, being in the 'don't get involved' camp. Which is right? Who knows… but your great post above about our aviation heroes certainly does it for me. We owe them so much.

[perdu]

With you all the way Ced, Winnie is lucky in that his dad will teach him right from wrong

 

Also when to run away I hope

 

I do love these cockpits, I can see why the devotees enthuse so

 

Brilliant if done right.

[Cookenbacher]

That cockpit is very impressive, I can't help but think about how 2014 PC and Cookie would be amazed at the skill on display.

[Procopius]

1 minute ago, Cookenbacher said:

That cockpit is very impressive, I can't help but think about how 2014 PC and Cookie would be amazed at the skill on display.

 

12 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

That cockpit looks wonderful!

 

7 hours ago, perdu said:

I do love these cockpits, I can see why the devotees enthuse so

 

10 hours ago, CedB said:

Wow, what a cockpit!

 

I was, to be entirely frank with you, so deep in getting it all done that I didn't even notice how crazy it was that this was all in 1/72 scale until I was looking at the photos on Flickr. It's a very impressive cockpit. (And between you and me, I'm pretty sure 2014 Cookie would be more than capable of this.)

 

10 hours ago, CedB said:

Good Man Winnie, just don't hit your brother (unless he deserves it). 

I will pass on part of your message.

 

 

[perdu]

5 minutes ago, Procopius said:

I will pass on part of your message.

Respectfully recommend sir that you do not censor the message

 

Stet

[CedB]

Ah, educating the youngsters, a continual source of frustration amusement concern something or other  

[Procopius]

Not a lot to report this evening, as I just caught the other two Hurris up to my trailblazer kit.

 

 

Does anyone (say, like @Troy Smith) have a good photo of the map case? There's a little PE inset part for it and I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a different colour or not.

 

Getting close to being able to close these up, I hope. 

 

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

There's a little PE inset part for it and I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a different colour or not.

A  canvas colour, same as the seat straps, and colour variations too, so buff is good bet.

 

The map case in the Hendon Hurricane has had a coat of interior grey green slapped over it..... If you run across that image.