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Biggin Hill - July 1940 - 1/48 Airfix Ready For Battle Hurricane #Finished#


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Quite a lot of deviation from the instructions, will be interesting to see how the wing root fit is after you’ve thinned the trailing edges.
 

The pilot looks super, looking forward to the next update already.

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39 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

I do not know why Airfix made the trailing edges of the wings so thick. 

neither do I, they moulded fine edges on the elevators! 

I suspect this is another relic of much of this kits origins, the 72nd fabric wing kit. 

I'd have not given a fig about the thick edges, as they are easy to scrape down,  but the ailerons are a right pain.

 

Note, if going with the kit supplied markings,  Airfix (bless  'em) actually manged to get the code order wrong on the starboard side, they should read GZ-V, NOT V-GZ....  what is sad about this, is the old 1/48th Mk.I kit had for years the GZ-B option, and got them right!  (they don't seem to keep track of what they have done before...)

hurricane-decals-jpg.236964

 

the reason for the 32 sq pics being so widely used is the Fox film studios were making a training film,  and their still photographer took those iconic images, which have been used ever since. 

 

see here

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Hurricane/RAF-32Sqn-GZ.html

 

Note, the image  of 3 Hurricane with codes reading H-GZ and L-GZ are modern fibreglass replicas, which doesn't help....

 

the confusion is the only starboard image is this one

Hurricane-I-RAF-32Sqn-GZZ-landing-at-Big

 

finally Fundekals claim here

http://www.fundekals.com/images/Spitfires/SpitfireProject2016.pdf

 that there is (they don't list the source) documentary evidence that 610 Sq and 32 Sq used Sky Blue  to repaint the undersides when the Sky

order came out in June 1940.

Interestingly both these two Sq based at Biggin Hill also went for oversized codes,  and had had smaller codes earlier in 1940.  I won't stick images in for clutters sake.....

cheers

T

 

 

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On 10/08/2020 at 15:43, Ozzy said:

Nice job, I like the fixing of the motor what voltage did you use?

Hi Ozzy and thank you. The motor is an RC Aircraft Coreless Magnetic Motor DC3.7V 63000RPM. I have now run out of all my Airfix motors. I would have used one of the latter for this build otherwise. I have used this type before but usually when motorising something in 1/72.

 

On 10/08/2020 at 15:56, modelling minion said:

Wow! Thats almost a complete build in one update!

Brilliant work again mate, and yet more deserved advertising for Revell's anthracite. :) This is pretty much a "how to" guide for those of us going to build the Airfix Hurricane, a real masterclass as you have got really good looking joints on all the major parts.

The painting of the cockpit and pilot are definitely up to your usual very high standard and the IP looks great. Good job on the exhausts and thinning the wings and ailerons too.

Thank you very much Craig. You are way too kind. Yeah Anthracite is my 'go to' paint for that type of colour. It seems to apply well too.

 

On 10/08/2020 at 16:01, giemme said:

Massive update, Stix - looking very good! :clap: 

Ciao

Thank you very much Giorgio - most kind!

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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On 10/08/2020 at 16:08, SimonT said:

Quite a lot of deviation from the instructions, will be interesting to see how the wing root fit is after you’ve thinned the trailing edges.

The pilot looks super, looking forward to the next update already.

Hi Simon and thank you very much for your comments. Yeah I have gone way off the instructions I know - but a combination of having built this kit before - and seeing what other modellers are struggling with on their versions of this kit - plus advice from @Troy Smith - has led me to adapt my approach. Hopefully it will work in the long run!!

 

On 10/08/2020 at 16:58, Troy Smith said:

neither do I, they moulded fine edges on the elevators! 

I suspect this is another relic of much of this kits origins, the 72nd fabric wing kit. 

I'd have not given a fig about the thick edges, as they are easy to scrape down,  but the ailerons are a right pain.

 

Note, if going with the kit supplied markings,  Airfix (bless  'em) actually manged to get the code order wrong on the starboard side, they should read GZ-V, NOT V-GZ....  what is sad about this, is the old 1/48th Mk.I kit had for years the GZ-B option, and got them right!  (they don't seem to keep track of what they have done before...)

 

the reason for the 32 sq pics being so widely used is the Fox film studios were making a training film,  and their still photographer took those iconic images, which have been used ever since. 

 

see here

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Hurricane/RAF-32Sqn-GZ.html

 

Note, the image  of 3 Hurricane with codes reading H-GZ and L-GZ are modern fibreglass replicas, which doesn't help....

 

the confusion is the only starboard image is this one

 

finally Fundekals claim here

http://www.fundekals.com/images/Spitfires/SpitfireProject2016.pdf

 that there is (they don't list the source) documentary evidence that 610 Sq and 32 Sq used Sky Blue  to repaint the undersides when the Sky

order came out in June 1940.

Interestingly both these two Sq based at Biggin Hill also went for oversized codes,  and had had smaller codes earlier in 1940.  I won't stick images in for clutters sake.....

cheers

T

Hi Troy and a huge thank you, as always, for your advice. I'm really pleased you mentioned the code order issue with the starboard decals supplied by Airfix. Luckily I have some suitable replacement spare roundel decals in the spares box so I can cut out the code letters from the Airfix decals, use the spare roundels first and then apply the code letters in the right order over the top (where necessary). I normally cut out all my decals from the backing film - as close to the actual printed image - so in fact this will make it easier. Thank you again.

 

No progress since the lot above - too much work to do and it's also way too warm!

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been making a bit of progress since my last progress post - so I thought I'd post some photos while I have the chance.

 

As I mentioned in my last progress post - the next job I needed to sort out was finding a route for the wires through the wings to the undercarriage legs. As you can see I ended up drilling some holes close to where the top of the legs will be located. I'm planning on running the wires down through the legs and wheels:

50241175578_b77e66886d_b.jpg

 

Just as an aside - I was working on other bits and pieces at the same time and Airfix's sprue gate planning and design shone through again - I have had similar experiences before! I cut one of these off quite carefully and it snapped. "Oh" I thought. So, I thought, I must be much more careful with the next one. I planned how I would cut the next one away and..........:

50241816231_cd9e2e66f2_b.jpg

I was able to glue them back together okay but why Airfix use such thick sprue gates on thin parts - especially with their fragile plastic - is beyond me.

 

To glue the upper wings on - because I knew they could be quite tricky - I decided to just glue them at the fuselage end only to start with - to make sure they got the best fit possible. This meant the rest of the upper wings were not glued to the lower wings until the wing roots had fully set.

 

This was the final result once the upper and lower wings were glued together:

50241815891_a2cc64a99a_b.jpg

 

50241175058_6506323f2b_b.jpg

 

50242027542_c0055966aa_b.jpg

 

50241174898_1131257e72_b.jpg

 

A small amount of filler was still required despit my efforts but generally the fit looked quite good. You can also see I got the rudder attached as well.

 

I then spent some time cleaning up/sanding the main aircraft and all the other 'non-clear' parts that need to be added:

50241175373_cc6c6c09bf_b.jpg

 

50241175273_4c448b72b2_b.jpg

 

50241175208_ca9c883713_b.jpg

 

Once the smaller parts were cleaned up I decided to get them painted first:

50255363576_9d15531d4d_b.jpg

Doing it this way means I don't have to worry about getting all the smaller parts painted after completing the painting on the main aircraft - I can just glue them in place.

 

Some close-ups:

50255363536_c561898649_b.jpg

You can see I made a bit of an attempt to add some pipework to what will be the rear section using fuse wire.

 

50255545747_ab99570aa7_b.jpg

 

50254701003_0ffbc7e65b_b.jpg

 

50254700968_edaaf7b034_b.jpg

 

Next up I will add some pre-shading to the main aircraft. Not sure when though!

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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Fantastic job Stix, 

 

the wires will look like brake cables running down the undercarriage legs, coming along nicely.

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Lovely work Stix 👍

 

The Airfix sprue gates are a pain, particularly in the 1/72 kits, where I struggle to remove the smaller parts without breaking them 😤

 

I look forward to the next instalment.

 

Cheers Greg 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 25/08/2020 at 21:04, Ozzy said:

Fantastic job Stix, 

 

the wires will look like brake cables running down the undercarriage legs, coming along nicely.

Hi Ozzy and thank you. Yes I'm hoping they will look a little brake-cable-like!

 

On 26/08/2020 at 07:59, GREG DESTEC said:

Lovely work Stix 👍

The Airfix sprue gates are a pain, particularly in the 1/72 kits, where I struggle to remove the smaller parts without breaking them 😤

I look forward to the next instalment.

Cheers Greg 

Thank you very much Greg. Yes Airfix do need to sort their sprue gates better. I agree - in 1/72 they can be even more of a nightmare! Next installment below - sorry it's taken so long.

 

On 26/08/2020 at 23:30, giemme said:

Excellent progress, Still! Lovely paint job on all the sparse bits, and the main AC is coming along steadily  :clap: :clap:

Ciao 

Thank you very much Giorgio,

 

On 27/08/2020 at 19:27, Cookenbacher said:

Excellent work so far Stix, I love the exhausts.

Hi Cookie and thank you. I was reasonably happy with the exhausts - I'll reserve proper judgement until they are in place .

 

On 27/08/2020 at 20:47, Johnson said:

Excellent job with the wing fuselage join, a good idea. Lovely paintwork as always!

Thank you very much Charlie, most kind.

 

Right. Once again I must apologise for taking so long between updates. I do keep managing to find a bit of time in the evenings and weekends but nothing like the blocks of time I used to do my kit building in. No excuses - just time is a bit all over the place recently.

 

As I mentioned at the end of my last post above - pre-shading was next:

50307938603_7857320b30_b.jpg

 

50307938503_b84260ba3f_b.jpg

 

50308613736_9df905b724_b.jpg

This was done using very thinned, with water, Revell Aqua's Anthracite applied with a small pointed brush.

 

Next I applied several thinned, again with water, coats of Acrylic Humbrol 90 to the undersides using mostly a medium flat brush:

50307938308_75098145d6_b.jpg

 

50308776277_0f485e03a1_b.jpg

 

Once dry, I used very thinned Revell's Gunship Grey - applied with a very, very fine pointed brush into all the panel lines and around any raised detail:

50308613541_47627029c0_b.jpg

Over this I dry-brushed a lighter version of Humbrol 90.

 

For the upper sides I used thinned (with water) Humbrol Acrylic Dark Earth - applied with a medium flat brush:

50308613491_5ff19560dd_b.jpg

 

50307938073_c94bc4a961_b.jpg

 

Between the last photo and the next I did a lot of work during evening sessions and didn't remember to take any photos. In the next photos you can see some of the basic weathering had been applied and it had all been given a coat of Pledge - the new version of Klear:

50311577008_3d67b91e8d_b.jpg

 

On the upper sides the green camo areas had been applied using thinned Humbrol 116 (US Dark Green) put on with a smaller flat brush. I also masked off and stippled on the Reddish Brown patches (rather than use the decals) but I did use the black decals at the wing roots. The panel lines on the upper surface had thinned Revell's Anthracite applied into them using a very fine pointed brush. Everything shown here is after some basic weathering and the Pledge had been applied:

50312244181_dc1f7f69c1_b.jpg

 

50312418192_ab4a931801_b.jpg

 

So decals will be next when I get the time! Hopefully soon.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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Hi Stix,

 

This is (as expected) rather special! As I was reading through I thought I was going to see servos and an Rx being installed :wink:

 

Outstanding so far, I'm here for the remainder of the duration 🍿

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On 08/09/2020 at 15:27, giemme said:

Impeccable paint job, Stix. The camouflage demarcation lines are simply outstanding - and lovely weathering! :clap:  :clap: 

Ciao

Thank you very much Giorgio. Hope you are keeping well.

 

On 08/09/2020 at 16:03, Ozzy said:

Top job Stix

Cheers Ozzy! :cheers:

 

On 08/09/2020 at 20:25, Johnson said:

When I look at your paint jobs Stix, I do wonder why on earth I use an airbrush. What a fantastic finish!

Hi Charlie. that is very kind of you to say.

 

On 09/09/2020 at 21:23, wimbledon99 said:

Hi Stix,

This is (as expected) rather special! As I was reading through I thought I was going to see servos and an Rx being installed :wink:

Outstanding so far, I'm here for the remainder of the duration 🍿

Hi Nigel and thank you for your, as always, very kind comments.

 

On 11/09/2020 at 05:25, Greg Law said:

Very nice paint work  and weathering.  I like the way you achieved the tight curves of the green camo. I couldn't get the masking tight enough to that degree. My 605 sqn

Hurricane will be finished tomorrow. 

Hi Greg and thank you. Your Hurricane looks superb in the gallery. Well done. I suppose that's one of the benifits of painting the camo freehand with brushes - no masking involved!

 

On 11/09/2020 at 20:51, Cookenbacher said:

Incredible brush work Stix.

Hi Cookie. Hope you are keeping well and thank you for your kind comment.

 

Well! Yes, I know I keep saying this but, time has been getting away from me again. I had intended to post some updates over the weekend but didn't get chance. Once again I have been finding the odd bit of time to work on this - plus start another build in the MTO GB! :banghead:

 

All of the time I spent on this over the past week or so was on the decals. Here you can see they have been applied and been given a couple of coats of Pledge - the newer version of Klear. As I usually do - where I could - I cut the decals as close to the printed design as I can - to try and minimise any silvering from the clear carrier film. They mostly went on okay - I only had to use some Humbrol Decalfix in a couple of places to get them to settle better onto the detail:

50337143246_efae01ea29_b.jpg

 

50337143276_92e177c0e3_b.jpg

 

50337301857_13a2698f0d_b.jpg

 

50336455098_e4aa14b812_b.jpg

 

50336455083_3a940271d7_b.jpg

 

For the fuselage codes I cut up the original Airfix decals and replaced the fuselage roundels with some I had in the spares box. Thanks to @Troy Smith's advice and @patmaquette getting there first - I was able to get the code letters in the right order on the starboard side.

 

Next I need to add a bit more light weathering in places before getting some Matt Varnish applied.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 16/09/2020 at 15:49, giemme said:

Impeccable decals posing, Stix :worthy:  :clap:  :clap: 

Can't wait to see that propeller working :winkgrin:

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you.

 

I have to apologise once again for the lack of regular updates. Over the past month or so work has been incredibly hectic and, although I have managed to drop into Britmodeller occasionally, to keep up with other people's projects, I have had little or no time to actively partcipate. It also doesn't hep that Microsoft have decided BM is a dodgy site and some of us no longer get email updates - so I frequently miss when someone updates a thread I am following. Please note - I'm not complaining about work - I am one of the lucky ones whose job hasn't disappeared...........yet!!

 

Over some evenings and weekends I have managed to scrape some time together to do some actual modelling. Not as much time as I would have liked, but there has been some progress. The Hurricane itself is basically finished - bar some weathering touches I still need to add. Since my last update, everything was sprayed with rattlecan, Humbrol Matt varnish and the remaining bits were added. The canopy and windshield framing was painted with a fine pointed brush - I used very thinned Anthracite as a base coat before painting it with Humbrol 116.

 

So this is what it basically looks like at the moment:

50417780931_7beedf7071_b.jpg

 

And with the motor running:

50417088183_4ae9eb89a8_b.jpg

 

50417781011_8438c851ba_b.jpg

 

So I also decided to make a start on the ground equipment:

50424067393_08e38f006e_b.jpg

 

50424931822_ea221d7d05_b.jpg

 

Then assembled:

50424763576_4a0de08987_b.jpg

 

And some paint and weathering added:

50417780786_468b2dc5fe_b.jpg

 

50417946737_b9eda232df_b.jpg

 

I am very aware we are into the last few weeks of this GB. Hopefully I will be able to drag this project over the finish line before the end!

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

 

 

 

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Hi Stix,

 

When you say 'Microsoft' have decided, do you mean browser or Outlook? Just asking as I lost email for a while and found that they were dropping into my 'Junk Mail'. Once you approve one, the rest should flow through (though not retrospectively). If the browser, have you tried another?

 

Sorry, hope I'm not telling you how to suck eggs?!?!  :worry:

 

Cheers

 

Nigel

 

P.S. The Hurricane looks rather spectacular with the prop running :clap:

 

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