Vintage Monogram 1/48 Hurricane Mk. 2

[Radar]

Well I've decided to bite the bullet and restart plastic modelling again after a layoff of about 3 years.  I've been heavily into RC model aircraft and learning how to fly them in the mean time.  After spending 3 months refurbishing and respraying a 1/10th foam RC Hurricane and converting it to a Sea Hurricane. It got my mojo going again to attempt one of the 1/48th Hurricanes I have lurking in my stash.  I thought I'd start off with a "simple" build of the vintage Monogram Hurricane Mk. 2 first just to get my eye back in. I'm currently reading various books about the Polish Airmen flying for the RAF during WWII so decided to build the model as the Mk. 2B shown above.

 

Here's the start of the project:

 

 

 

So far so good.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Cheers 

 

Ian

[Radar]

More progress on the wheel wells, using scrap plastic card to cover the gaping hole and add some detail.

 

Then when all together some priming and pre-shading.

 

 

Rather than spend ages masking the camo I decided to try and do it free hand with my old DeVilbliss Sprite Airbrush.  I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 

 

Then a coat of Humbrol gloss coat prior to decals.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Ian

[Radar]

 

I was really pleased with the results of the decals going on. Next time to do a bit of weathering with the Valejo Black wash.

 

 

 

Firstly the wash reacted very badly with the Humbrol varnish and wouldn't wipe off it just stained everything, nightmare!

 

After I did the best I could "de-weatherin" the model I decided to finish it with a coat of Humbrol Matt Varnish, crikey it ruined the model which looked like it had been in a heavy frost.  So I re- varnished it with gloss again and tried to get some colour back.  So I tried again with the brand new £6 bottle of Matt Varnish I had just bought, yet again disaster! It went white again.

 

 

Totally ruined, well there's a lesson learned.  Don't use Humbrol products, they're expensive and crap.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Ian

[bbudde]

16 minutes ago, Radar said:

Don't use Humbrol products, they're expensive and crap.

Sorry to see that. One thing I can confirm is, that the satin and dull varnish indeed are rubbish. Especially on very light colours.  and the usual colours (enamel) were always a bit grainy. The clear fix works well for me.

Cheers

[Sturmovik]

Is there any way to save the model without resorting to stripping it and buying aftermarket decals? It was looking great.

Who would have thought Humbrol products would react badly between each other.

[keith in the uk]

I would rip the decals off with sellotape , then spray the whole thing with grey primer from any car shop.

Then start again using any paint of your choice except Humbrol. Hannants extra colour works for me every time.

[Radar]

Thanks for the advice guys, if only  I did have a spare set of 1/48 Hurricane IIB decals, I would indeed strip it and start again. Unfortunately I don’t. I’m really p’d off at Humbrol for marketing such crap varnish. They should be ashamed.

[BP85]

3 hours ago, Radar said:

Thanks for the advice guys, if only  I did have a spare set of 1/48 Hurricane IIB decals, I would indeed strip it and start again. Unfortunately I don’t. I’m really p’d off at Humbrol for marketing such crap varnish. They should be ashamed.

Sorry to see that you are also a victim of Humbrol. I had a similar problem with my Hunter

 

 

As @keith in the uksaid, prime and go again as I did on the Hunter. No need to waste a good model. I bought a bottle of W&N Galeria gloss and it has worked beautifully for me. 

[Greg Law]

I am not a use of Humbrol, but I did look at it once for the clear and matt finish on a model. One thing I noted was there seemed to be two types of matt finish. There was Matt Cote that seems to be Enamel based and Matt Clear that was for acrylic and Enamel paint. 

I wonder if you have mixed them up. 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

15 hours ago, Radar said:

Totally ruined, well there's a lesson learned.

Sorry to see and hear that, Ian!

 

You have a lovely setup and great build, but the s#!t happens sometimes... I used a Humbrol products two decades earlier, but now I’m on a «Japan Wagon» with GSI and Tamiya tools - their clear varnishes is superb and easy to use.

 

Anyway, it’s just a plastic model - so feel free to put your hands on another great project. Happy modelling!

 

Cheers! 🙂

[giuseppe]

I was a humbrol clear varnish victim too. Few minutes after spraying over a wonderful blu Bugatti, it looked wonderful. Some days after I noticed a kind of web over the paint, like cracks in the transparent layer. Like a giraffe's effect. Godawful! And goddamned humbrol! 

[Paul J]

Shame about the paint job and decals. But you might like to take the oppurtunity to add a correct serial number the one used and shown in your artwork profile is not at all a RAF serial number let alone for a Hurricane, The last three might be right but definitely not the fist two. They should be letters. Rarely should one take any art profile as gospel.

 

For matt varnish I always use artists material which are water based acrylics! Same sort of price but thinned with acrylic flow improver it air brushes very well and dries fairly quickly with a nice matt finish And not ill effects over enamels!!  Windsor and Newton brand.

[Radar]

Well I decided to start again from scratch with this one. just so glad that I had not used one of the expensive kits from my stash to re-hone my modelling skills on, this project was after all my first build for nearly 5 years!  So I decided to rub the model down with wet and dry back to the plastic. It was a bit tricky as I left the wheels and cockpit canopy in place.  I also ordered some Techmod decals that included a cannon armed Polish Mk. 2C, so that I could add the cannons from the kit.

 

 

 

 

Above shows the model after a primer coat of Tamiya light grey.

 

 

This time I decided to mask off the camouflage pattern with masking tape to get a hard demarcation between the colours (wish I had invested in some proper masks though.

 

 

[Radar]

Time to update this post with what happened next! The Tamiya RAF dark Green went on really well.

 

As did the Tamiya X-22 Gloss varnish.

 

 

However the Techmod decals left a lot to be desired.  They cracked very easily (I could understand it if they were the original Monogram decals, but I only bought them a couple of months ago).  the sky fuselage band being the worst one.  however after a lot of faffing about I got there in the end and applied another coat of gloss varnish to seal them.

 

 

 

This time I decided to use Vallejo Matt varnish and kept my fingers crossed when I sprayed it on.

 

 

Pretty pleased with the results after all that.

 

 

For a first model for several years and after all the trials and tribulations, in the end I am pretty pleased with the results. An awful lot re-learned, so on to the next model a .......... Hurricane Mk. 1

 

 

[Troy Smith]

44 minutes ago, Radar said:

However the Techmod decals left a lot to be desired.  They cracked very easily (I could understand it if they were the original Monogram decals, but I only bought them a couple of months ago).

 

You can buy Microscale Liquid decal film, made for treating old or fragile decals.

 

I note the Hurricane datafile in background,  I only have a pdf of it, but I was not impressed enough to buy a copy,  specifically the information about props and spinners is incomplete

check it against this

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234980181-hawker-hurricane-propellers-and-spinners-a-modellers-guide/

and the information about the different wing and panels also is incomplete. 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234963507-all-the-hurricane-questions-you-want-to-ask-here/&do=findComment&comment=3069353

 

If you have time,  the 2nd thread is well worth a read through if you are a Hurricane buff  

 

The old Monogram kit has scrubbed up well, I remember it being the only game in 1/48th!    

 

HTH

T

[Radar]

Thanks Troy some really useful gen there mate. I have most of the Hurricane books on the market, you can never have enough references.

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, Radar said:

Thanks Troy some really useful gen there mate.

Glad it was of interest, and i hope use

1 hour ago, Radar said:

I have most of the Hurricane books on the market, you can never have enough references.

 

Well, that why I posted the above links, as sadly,  it's not in the books!   

 

Seems that most(all?) are based on Francis K Mason's work,  one fascinating item is the Sea Hurricane IC,  standard references say about 100 were built,  but more recent research says maybe 2 or 3,  and not used operationally. 

But, have look through 'the books' and the same info is trotted out.    Still,  doing this keeps me off the streets!

 

I even have 'plans' to try to make a accurised model of the Monogram kit...   

odd thing about the 1/48th kits,  they are all OK in overall outline,  while in 72nd there are some horrors...

 

I note you are doing the Pegasus kit now,   Pegasus kits are (it seems) based on other kits,  their Hurricane  is based on the Hasegawa Mk.I,  so it's pretty good overall.

 

cheers

T

 

 

 

 

[Radar]

Thanks Troy, I’m working up to doing the new 1/48 Airfix Hurricane Mk. 1 so I can do it justice. The Pegasus one is nice but lacks small details.

[Troy Smith]

12 minutes ago, Radar said:

I’m working up to doing the new 1/48 Airfix Hurricane Mk. 1 so I can do it justice.

the best build I have seen of it so is the by @Basilisk

 

Some people have had fit issues,  one member here had real troubles,  here's a potential soloution

note the there are stages early on where if you get something misaligned,  it can cause big problems later,  plus the tolerances are very tight, a coat of paint can cause things not to fit..

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235027581-airfix-148-hurricane/&do=findComment&comment=2859315

Quote

I had just received the kit when I saw your thread and it filled me with dread however fortunatly I have had no issues and a perfect fit all round.

In order to help address the chin issue here is how I built it

 

1) fitted all spars to lower wing ( missed out gun bays  detail as leaving these closed)

2) fitted top wing to lower

3) built up cockpit on lower wing

4) fitted internal bulkheads and instrument panel to port side

5) mated fuselague together and then joined to wing section

6) fitted lower engine cowel and bottom of rear fuselague

 

I did extensive dry fitting at each stage prior to glueing but didnt need to trim or clamp anything.

I painted the cockpit when all glued up on lower wing, taking care to mask off any mating surfaces.

 

the main difference I think was fitting the lower engine cowel after mating wings and body, it was tight fit and I had to slide it back in and then click it down to fit.

 

thanks for your post ,it made me think about this instead of rushing in and probably saved me a big heartache

 

 

HTH

[stevej60]

That's a great save Ian and a cracking end result too sit's so well on the old Monogram Hurricane,I feel your pain having had my finger's burned

with Techmod decal's in the past.I also find Vallejo black wash is best watered down further and doesn't like being sludged on but ran into panel

line's,I personally love and only use Humbrol Gloss cote for decal's and washing and Matt cote for final finishing mind they don't like enamel thinner's

I thin with white spirit,here's my last effort finished with both.