“Repeat Please?” Josef František - No. 303 'Kosciuszko' Sqn. Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 ** FINISHED **

[Rabbit Leader]

I suspect this'll not be the only thread to represent this famous squadron, nor this infamous pilot, however the exploits of these 'European' airman during the BoB is fairly new to my reading material, so I'll do my best to honour them here.

Within my ever growing stash is the very nice Airfix 1/48 Battle of Britain 'Ready for Battle' gift set, which includes the excellent 1/48 Hawker Hurricane. Also included are many other great airfield additions (and if time permits) I may consider building some of these as well. Should the local postman also be working, I've ordered a set of DK Decals (48008), which has two options for František's Hurricane's, RF:O - L2099 and the his most successful mount RF:R - R4175. I'm not sure which option to choose, however L2099 has the Kosciuszko fuselage badge which takes my fancy a little. 

 

 

So this thread is just a place holder for the meantime, I'll take some photo's when the decals arrive and hopefully get a timely start on or around the 10th of July. 

Cheers and best of luck everyone... Dave 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Good to have you along Dave and a good choice of aircraft too  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Ozzy]

Nice choice Dave, the kit builds into a really nice Hurricane.

[Valkyrie]

Great subject, great pilot, il enjoy watching this one 

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Dave

Great to just be building rather than hosting as well eh !

Cheers Pat

 

[Greg Law]

Good choice Dave. I like it that you choose the Europeans to honor.  They fort with great skill and courage. 

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #1 - Start

 

Thought I’d take advantage of the +10 hour GMT time zone (plus Mrs RL’s short away from home absence) to make a start on this BoB Hurricane build. 
 

Airfix provide quite a lot of parts to make up the tubular framework around the cockpit and thankfully it all seems to go together quite convincingly. So far it looks to be a well engineered kit as all the internal parts go together really well. These new CAD designed kits build up with tight tolerances, so I decided to build up as many parts as possible, prior to adding any evidence of paint.
 

I soon realised I didn’t have any AM seatbelts, so I’d best order some soon to not stall this build too much. Might use the waiting time to get some of the kits accessories built up? Anyway, that’ll do for Day 1. 
 

 

 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[PeterB]

Hi Dave,

 

Don't believe I have ever come across this set - looks interesting.

 

Good luck.

 

Pete

[Cookenbacher]

Excellent choice Dave, and off to a nice start.

I believe that RF-O, L2099 had a cylindrical 'pole' type aerial that sort of sets it apart from its 303 brethren.

[OutcastJoel]

That looks like an interesting set from Aifix there, it may end up on a wish list...😁

 

I will watch this build with interest, it should be good!

[Rabbit Leader]

55 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Excellent choice Dave, and off to a nice start.

I believe that RF-O, L2099 had a cylindrical 'pole' type aerial that sort of sets it apart from its 303 brethren.

Thanks Cookie, I didn’t know about the pole type mast however should have thought as much as L2099 falls within the first production batch of 600 Hurricanes. From what I’ve also calculated, this serial also makes it past the initial 480(?) odd that were fitted with Fabric Wings so I should be right for the Metal wing parts. I haven’t seen a photograph of said machine, however if someone has one, please feel free to post it within this thread. 
 

Yes @PeterB and @OutcastJoel, it is a lovely set and from memory didn’t cost much more than the price of the basic Hurricane kit. I was very surprised with what was included, however cannot see it as part of Airfix’s current catalogue. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Cookenbacher]

I was instructed in the 2015 BoB GB that L2099 had metal wings, which I attempted (and failed) by modifying the Airfix fabric wing kit. Thank goodness for Arma.

[Stew Dapple]

There was a thread on here about the fabric/metal wings switch, I can't find it but if memory serves it was metal wings from L2027 onwards. It might have been L2023*, but in any case you should be safe enough  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

*Memory doesn't serve that well  

[Rabbit Leader]

Got any photos of her @Cookenbacher?

[Greg Law]

Good start Dave.

[MattG]

Yes, great start.  This Airfix Hurricane really is a nice kit, I'll follow with interest.

[Greg Law]

Anymore progress Dave? I finally got a start on my Ju 88 today.

[Rabbit Leader]

10 minutes ago, Greg Law said:

Anymore progress Dave? I finally got a start on my Ju 88 today.

Good to hear you’ve made a start. Should have something in a few days Greg. I’ve been doing one of those “Mrs RL little home projects”, although when I mentioned this to my son earlier today he said “well where’s Mum then?”

 

Seems to be full days at work or doing anything around the house but modelling at the moment. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[PeterB]

On 7/10/2020 at 11:04 PM, Stew Dapple said:

There was a thread on here about the fabric/metal wings switch, I can't find it but if memory serves it was metal wings from L2027 onwards. It might have been L2023*, but in any case you should be safe enough  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

*Memory doesn't serve that well  

Hi Guys,

 

Sources obviously vary on this. According to Bishop in the Airlife Hurricane book the first batch of 600 built by Hawker (L1547-L2146) "almost all had fabric wings" and it was not until the 80th plane of the second batch (N2431) that metal wings became standard. Of course when in for repair metal wings were sometimes fitted to machines that had fabric ones! Another source says that the first metal wing was tested on L1877 in April 1939 but that production was initially very slow and no more than a dozen were built before the end of August. Production then increased and the last one with fabric wings was made in March 1940. So all in all it is a bit complicated.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #2 - Construction continues 

 

I’ve been slowly working on this Hurricane kit and have just cemented the fuselage to the wing and cockpit assembly. I can’t quite work out what’s wrong with my kit, however I’ve had a tricky time just getting to this stage. For some reason the lower wing seemed warped and did not want to sit nicely within the lower fuselage opening, so I’ve had to apply CA to the front section and tightly clamp this in place until the glue set. Then I repeated this action to the rear of the main wing and now hope it all remains firmly in place.
 

To be honest the initial fit was actually worse, so I cut away the forward section of the cockpit framing which helped it slot in a little better. I’d be interested to know if this is a typical trait of this kit, or (hopefully) just an issue with my copy. Anyway, now that this major step is over I’m hoping the rest will just fall into place like it should. 
 

Cheers.. Dave  
 

 

 

 

 

[Troy Smith]

On 10/07/2020 at 22:52, Rabbit Leader said:

L2099 falls within the first production batch of 600 Hurricanes. From what I’ve also calculated, this serial also makes it past the initial 480(?) odd that were fitted with Fabric Wings so I should be right for the Metal wing parts. I haven’t seen a photograph of said machine, however if someone has one, please feel free to post it within this thread. 

I have not. (and my Frantisek book is not too hand)  Perhaps this is a 'best guess' profile. 

But, two things that are typical of L**** series.

 

5 spoke wheels (the Airifx wheels are too big BTW, try fittting them into the wheel well) but if not a bother to you, see if some 5 spoke hubs from an Eduard Spitfire will fit.

There is not the rectangular hatch in the starboard side.  Probably a faff to fill and not stuff up the fabric.

 

I'd also expect the De Havilland prop.  Caution, either set of blades with fit either spinner.  

 

This page

http://aces.safarikovi.org/biography/cz/cz/frantisek.html

 

shows his main mount was R4175, which there are photos of.  

https://fcafa.com/2018/10/02/josef-frantisek-top-scoring-battle-of-britain-pilot/

 

 

Seems  R4175 had the badge later 

 

http://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2018/10/27/sergeant-frantisek-the-best-of-the-few/

 

 

"Close view of the Hurricane R4175/RF-R, visible different colours on fin flash and roundels as well as aeroplane weathering. Photo from collection of Wojtek Matusiak."

 

"Photo of two famous František Hurricanes Mk I. In the background V7235/RF-M, which he has landed forgotting to drop undercarriage on 8 August 1940. In the foreground is the R4175/RF-R on which he has achieved nine of his seventeen kills in Battle of Britain. Noteworthy is difference of national insignia shades. RF-R has lighter shade of fin-flash (painted by Gloster factory) than underwing roundels (paintedin unit with stdandart colours). RF-M has all insignia painted with standard colours. Wojtek Matusiak collection photo."

 

33 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

For some reason the lower wing seemed warped and did not want to sit nicely within the lower fuselage opening, so I’ve had to apply CA to the front section and tightly clamp this in place until the glue set. Then I repeated this action to the rear of the main wing and now hope it all remains firmly in place.

I've been doing horrible thing to one. How that turns out depends on if the results get posted....

 

But, as I'd read about possible fit problems,  I also wondered if i could fit the cockpit into the fuselage,  and as such went for dry fitting the spars and back of wheel well into the wing, and taping the upper wings into place. 

I'd suggest to anyone building the kit this is a good plan, as it make a jig to ensure all the cockpit parts are aligned.    I'm not really impressed with this set up,  another builder found that you can fit the rear bulkhead separately if you cut the locating pins off, and the framework will go round it.

 

The over clever design is not helped by Airfix trademark plastic that is 10% soap it seems.  

 

HTH

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks for the great post @Troy Smith and really appreciate both the links and additional photographs, great stuff. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about which scheme and serial to choose and the main reason why I was thinking L2099 was to apply the 313 Kosciuszko badge. Now that you’ve added a later photograph of R4175 with this on, I might just go with that one and readily accept that this was a standard Metal wing Mk.1 with all the usual kit bits. @Greg Law is also after a Grey ‘O’ decal so I’ll go with R’ and help out a good mate at the same time. 
 

The brighter Gloster national red is also of interest so will see what other roundels I have there, I’m sure I can find something in that overflowing decal bank. 
 

Once again, thanks for the input and I’ll post another update shortly. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Jabba]

coming along well, but that was some heavy clamping to get the fuselage and wings together.

[Greg Law]

Looking good Dave. Looks like I have another build to do in this GB. Mind you a change in colours will be a good thing.

[Rabbit Leader]

You’re right there @Jabba, I was quite surprised myself and hope it’s just an issue with my kit as I’ve seen many nice models built up. 
 

Another one @Greg Law, that’s the spirit. I must admit I eyed off my Tamiya Spit a short time ago however thought best to get one in GB Gallery before starting yet another! 
 

Cheers.. Dave