Hurricane Prototype in 1.48th where do i start ?

[Peter Roberts]

I recall Dick Reynell once flew the Hurricane prototype with one metal wing and one fabric wing. Don't have the details to hand, but that would make a great plane for discussion, or a comp! 

 

PR

[galgos]

May I use this thread to ask the experts a question for my own planned build, which will be to adapt the PCM 1/32 scale fabric wing Hurricane to the prototype? Having read and looked at drawings and photographs of the original it seems to me one of the most noticeable differences to later production Mk Is is the nose, a smooth line running aft from the spinner rather than the two “bulges” port and starboard which presumably are fairings over the Merlin engine. 
The actual shape of the prototype’s elegant nose is however difficult to define. I’ll be using Apoxiesculpt, so if I used the existing  nose bulges  as a reference and faired those in, would I be on the right lines?  It seems the top curve is little affected?

Sorry if this is a bit rambling, hard to put my meaning into concise phrases!

Regards

Max 

[Graham Boak]

The early Merlins had what is known as a pagoda cylinder head, where the inner valves were upright and the outer ones inclined.  The valve gear on the production engines  was tilted outboard, so that the maximum height was slightly lower but the overall width at the top increased.  Hence the top of the production cowling was wider, a smooth shape retained by the addition of the small bulges at the corners.  This does suggest that the top line of the cowling was slightly lowered in production, which I suggest may be visible near the nose.  For most of the cowling length the engine top is below the cowling top line anyway, for all Merlins.

 

I have to agree that the differences are quite subtle, but do leave models of the prototype using a production cowling looking just a bit off.

 

Of course it is only comparatively recently that model Hurricanes had noses that looked right even for production cowlings, so we should be grateful for that.

[galgos]

Thanks Graham!