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

[Cookenbacher]

Great info everyone, thanks for that. I think I may try for RF-G, just to help round out the squadron during this build.

[Franz75]

WOW, excellent choice,. Thanks  Rabbit Leader. I will be cheering for you. 

[mick]

good progress

[SimonT]

Nice paint job on the cockpit and also a good save on the fuselage to wing fit. It seems to be a feature of the kit, with just the slightest misalignment causing bigger problems later on.

 

looking forward to the next update now 😀

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #3 - Construction almost complete

 

The troublesome wing to body join has held up for over a week now, so I suspect this will stay fixed for a good while yet. All seams have been filled with Mr. Surfacer 1000 although once primed I’ll be able to check how good (or bad) they really are.

I had a little trouble aligning the lower fuselage part to the rear underwing piece.  There’s some nice detailed fabric work here that I wanted to retain so in order to avoid sanding this away I used this as my reference join height and accepted the large resulting gap that can be seen in the photos on the lower port fuselage. A thin piece of plastic card closed this gap, more Mr. Surfacer was applied and it was all sanded smooth until I was happy with the end result. 

 

Now Airfix also suggest to glue the one piece elevator in place before you attach a small lower rudder post part, however to ease seam clean up later on I deviated slightly by cutting the one piece elevator connecting bar through the middle to make two seperate elevator parts. 
 

I still have to attach the lower radiator, however will prime and paint it first to get into all those fiddly spots. 
 

That’s about it for now. Although it’s no shake and bake it, it’s really starting to look like a Hurricane and I’m quite impressed with how she’s turning out shape wise. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

[franky boy]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:06 AM, Rabbit Leader said:

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  
 

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

Ive built two of these kits now. The first I had the same problem as you and used the same remedy. The second I can’t remember the exact sequence but I got rid of the instructions and opened up locating holes some more and chopped tabs down a bit, scraped quite a bit of of the mating surfaces of the wing spars constructed as much as possible before painting and it was ok. Second time lucky!

 

Nice progress by the way. 
 

James

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #4 - Primer & Paint & a little friend joins in! 
 

Apologies for the lack of updates, I have been slowly ticking along, just not spending much time on here of late. I’ll let most of the photos do the talking however here is my Hurricane all primed with Mr. Surfacer 1000, which was followed up by a light rub of Micromesh. My kit had a somewhat overall pebbly plastic finish, however the Mr. Surfacer did a lovely job smoothing this all down. I’ve now also sprayed two coats of Gunze’s Mr. Hobby H74 Sky (Duck Egg Green) which doesn’t quite show up the real green tinge of this paint in the photo below. It’s leaves a lovely eggshell finish which I’m liking a lot. 
 

 

 

 

Now hang on, I thought this was a Hurricane thread.... what’s this?? Well all this chatter about Eduards latest 1/48 Spit got be interested, however having an old tool Tamiya kit in the pile I thought why not build this too! I was going to start a seperate thread, however there’s no point repeating another potential 234 Squadron build and it takes the pressure off if I happen not to finish in time. Anyway, this kit has less parts than a new tool 1/72 Airfix single seater and I know it has its faults when compared to the newer tools so here’s a few snaps of my Spit build just for a bit of fun. Just for info - I pinched the seat armour from a scrapped Tamiya Vb kit.
 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

[Greg Law]

All looking good Dave. Seeing your Hurricane build reminded me I forgot to add the light glass. Now I will have to get some chrome in there.

My Sky is quite close to yours. I added white to the Tamiya Sky as we discussed. 

The Spitfire is looking good. I'm sure it will be first class.

[Rabbit Leader]

7 minutes ago, Greg Law said:

Seeing your Hurricane build reminded me I forgot to add the light glass

Yes Greg, I made the error of leaving these off on another build, then cursed myself for fitting them later and not being happy how they sat. I now add landing and wingtip lights prior to painting to save repainting again later on. The Sky paint looks like MAP Sky in the above image, however it's certainly 'green' and more akin to something you'd find in a Laura Ashley catalogue.. no guesses who has Duck Egg Blue cushions on their couch.  

Cheers.. Dave 

 

[Greg Law]

fixed the light. Your build will always be nicer than mine. Still I will be happy with it. I will be building another one so lessons learned will go into that.

[Johnson]

Lovely work on the Hurricane paint Dave - as I would expect!

 

And always nice to see another Spitfire! But aren’t those rudder pedals going to be a bit difficult for the pilot to get his boots into?

 

Cheers,

[Rabbit Leader]

2 hours ago, Johnson said:

... But aren’t those rudder pedals going to be a bit difficult for the pilot to get his boots into?

Perhaps Charlie, but my models never have pilots as the Ground Crew always ‘own’ the aircraft, not those pesky drivers! I’ll double check the instructions, but I’m sure that’s how Tamiya tells me to place them.

Cheers.. Dave 

[Cookenbacher]

The Hurricane is looking great in primer Dave, and a Spitfire is always a welcome addition to any build.

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #5 - Masking and Dark Earth application 

 

Now not exactly a modelling chore I enjoy, however masking is both time consuming and energy sapping. I've exhausted a good deal of expensive Tamiya tape to the lower Sky undersides and applied two coats of Gunze H72 Dark Earth to the top. Mixed with their own levelling thinner, these paints really go on super smooth and maintain a lovely glossy sheen when dry. Now according to this website, Gloster delivered R4175 to the RAF somewhere between May and July 1940 and as this build will represent a September / October period I gathered that the fabric surfaces may have had a good dose of sun during the heatwave that was Summer 1940.  To 'attempt' to reflect fading, I've masked off the fabric sections, lightened the Dark Earth with a few spots of white and gave these areas a quick respray. the results are illustrated below. Now to mask off the camouflage pattern and apply the Dark Green. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Website extraction 

Block 2/G, Second Gloster Produced Block

Serial Range R4074 - R4123 (50), R4171 - R4200 (30), R4213 - R4232 (20) Total 100

The second production batch of 100 aircraft manufactured by Gloster Aircraft Co., Brockworth. To contract 19773/39/23a. Aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin III's, with either Watts two blade fixed pitch, or De-Havilland three blade variable pitch propellers. All aircraft delivered between May 1940 and July 1940, average rate of production 2-3 aircraft per day. All aircraft manufactured with metal wings, most aircraft serving with the R.A.F. during the Battle Of Britain.

 

 

 

 

[Ray_W]

Looking very good Dave and fully agree on how well the Gunze goes down. I like the colour variation you have achieved on the fabric surfaces. 

 

Ray

 

 

[Greg Law]

Good work Dave. I almost missed this update. I think you colour variation will work out well. I might try it on my next  Hurricane. 

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #6 - Dark Green and a spot of weathering

 

Home made masks were made (which I forgot to photograph) and Gunze H73 Dark Green applied over the Dark Earth. I wasn’t quite happy with a few of the heavily feathered camo demarcation edges, so went over a few areas a second time to create a harder edge. A thin Dark Earth wash was brushed into the nice crisp upper surface panel lines, some subtle white and smoke weathering powders applied within various panels and an attempt at paint chipping was created with Chrome paint and small pointy paintbrush. I’ve not finished weathering as yet, so will apply decals and take another look to see what else needs doing. Once I removed the masking I realised the lower fuse sky demarcation seemed a little too low, so I’ll raise this by about a millimeter or two to correct it. Enough chatter, here’s some photos. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

[Johnson]

Looking really great Dave.

[Greg Law]

Dave Don't forget the step pads on the wings beside the cockpit. I'm sure you haven't. They always look better painted on.

[Ray_W]

Dave, the paint job is exceptional. Subtle variation is extremely well done. Ray 

[Jabba]

A very good paint job.

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #7 - Belated Finish. 

 

I must apologise for not providing regular updates to this build, however I’ve been caught up with the very large and popular Heller GB... so that’s my excuse anyway. Thankfully, I’ve now been able to finish this Hurricane off and am pleased to say that I timed it for October 7th, Sgt. Josef František's birthday. 

 

On this day in 1940, František would have been celebrating his 26th Birthday, however returning from a patrol the very next day, his Hurricane crashed in Ewell, Surrey. The cause of the crash is not known, however it has been suggested he may have been trying to impress his girlfriend performing aerobatics and mistimed a manoeuvre. Either way, lets just hope he was able to celebrate his 26th birthday long and hard.
 

R4175 was František‘s most successful Hurricane with seven of his victories claimed whilst flying this aircraft. A Gloster built machine, evidence suggests that Gloster’s were still using up their stock of pre-war ‘bright’ colours paints which is shown in the upper surface national insignia. The lower wing roundels were applied at unit level and are painted in the ‘correct’ dull colours of the day. 

 

Thanks to the GB hosts and all other members for the support and encouragement throughout this build.. and apologies once again for channeling my recent BM time to a rival GB. I’ll get some Gallery photos up a little later (edit - now added). 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

[Johnson]

Lovely Job Dave, as I'd expect! Hoping to join the Heller GB when I get by BoB build finished!

[Ventora3300]

Congratulations, Dave , on an excellent result - that Hurricane looks brilliant. (I'm loving the shape of these aircraft at the moment so no doubt will rummage the stash and dig out all those old kits for a comparison). Great detail on show here and a good advert for the new tool Airfix kits. You must be delighted with this one? All the best. Mike.

[GREG DESTEC]

Excellent modelling Dave 👍

 

Thanks a fine looking Hurricane.

 

Well done. 

 

Greg 🍺