Douglas Bader Hurricane 242 squadron 1/48

[nickhenfrey]

So here's something new: Douglas Bader's 242 squadron Hurricane in 1/48 scale!

 

OK it's been done before, but not by me, so here goes

 

Why Douglas Bader? Actually why indeed? I don't think I would have liked him, he was iconic, and driven, and crashed lots of planes. On a serious note I see there is quite a lot of Bader-bashing going on, particularly amongst non-Brits - I ask this simple question: Would you rather he be on our side or the opponents? Exactly - I think that's why he merits the admiration and respect of recreating his aircraft

 

The kit will be Airfix of course, no Tamiya or Eduard alternatives yet…

 

(correction - I see Tamiya reboxed Italeri's 2011 model - most reviewers suggest the Airfix kit is better)

 

I've tried airbrushing Vallejo acrylics, which I didn't get on with, but do leave a great finish, and Humbrol enamels, which I didn't like the finish of, so I've settled on Tamiya acrylics which spray well and leave a nice fine finish

 

I intend to do some pre-shading with some post panel line enamel wash. I'll be aiming for minor wear, putting down some aluminium, then isopropyl alcohol, then sodium carbonate over the chipped areas around the front of the cowling and wings and on the panel lines of the wing roots before painting the camo

 

I'm aiming to mask the camo pattern using Frog delicate decorator's tape hand cut. I used thick leather sewing thread under the edges on my Spitfire to give the soft transition, very fiddly but came out well, so aim to repeat

 

I've taken to hand painting canopies with a 000 brush, excess acrylic is quite easily removed from the glazed areas using a fine wooden toothpick, so will be aiming to do that here

 

I built the original Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1, which I thought was a nice kit, but the decals were a nightmare, so I'm aiming to airbrush most of the roundels and lettering (LE-D), then use the kit stencils with Humbrol Decalfix, which I've not used before. I'll hand cut the lettering masks, but use Montex for the roundels, another first for me

 

I have the full 491104 Eduard photoetch kit, although the second fret is mainly gun bay stuff, and I'm in two minds whether to open the gun bays at all

 

Reading around I see Wikipedia mentions that Bader actually flew three different Hurricanes while at 242. I'm aiming for the one in the group 242 squadron photo

 

In fact I've only found four photos of his aircraft:

 

• Bader standing on the wing 
• Bader sitting on the edge of the cockpit
• Bader and two others standing in front of the 242 boot kicking Hitler
• The 242 group photo

 

These are probably all the same aircraft and appear to have the Rotol spinner and the A camouflage scheme

 

There are some colorized versions of the B&W photos, but these seem to be wrong!

 

So it seems the boot kicking Hitler should be on the panel under the port exhaust which should be (mostly) Dark Earth. The boot is pretty clear in the B&W photos, of course the colours aren't. I don't have any Bader decals so I'll attempt make my own using some old Jetcal - that is the boot, Hitler and the Squadron Leader graphic

 

Having looked at various cockpit pictures, it seems there was a migration from aluminium finish to interior green from before the war to around 42, I'll be following the Finnish photos, aluminium tubing, rudder pedals and seat, green panels, aluminium gear and gun bays

 

I'm not really certain if the aluminium finish is lacquered aluminium, or alloy painted in aluminium coloured laquer, I'm assuming the latter because it seems to flake off with age, so I'm thinking of reverse dry brushing (painting the parts in flat aluminium, then dry brushing with white and light grey for the wear) - we'll see what it looks like...

 

I'll be aiming to use Airscale 1/48 cockpit placards, they do seem to add some sense of realism

 

I'm never very happy with photoetch harness, so I will try and make my own from tape, but estimate a 50% chance of success...

 

OK, so that's the plan, we'll see if it survives contact with the kit itself, off to open the sprue bag and dunk in some detergent water

 

I should add this is only my fourth model since I restarted, I'm expecting it to take about six months. I doubt it will be the best Hurricane you'll see on this board, but it may give hope to others restarting the hobby...

 

All comments very very welcome...

[PattheCat]

 

So do I hope for your build. I'm taking a seat ......

[nickhenfrey]

OK - so a little progress - but first a test of photo embedding - washing the parts - and yes a bigger tub would have helped!

 

this is using the embed code from flickr

 

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/142843097@N05/50336698062/in/album-72157715954543732/" title="IMG_20200830_160513"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50336698062_d544618a17_k.jpg" width="2048" height="1536" alt="IMG_20200830_160513"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

See how that comes out

[Biggles87]

Yes, Bader was like Marmite, either loved or hated. I read somewhere ( possibly Bob Tuck’s biography ) that after a meeting with Tuck and Sailor Malan amongst others, Bader swept past them and roared off in his car, and Tuck said to Malan “ Why does he always have to be so bloody minded “ to which Malan replied “ He probably wouldn’t still be here if he wasn’t “ which probably just about sums him up.

Looking forward to this.

 

John

PS. Can’t see your photo. I also use Flickr but cut and paste individual photos to transfer them to BM.

[nickhenfrey]

OK - that didn't work

 

Let's try Insert from URL

 

 

ah, that seems to work, but not from any public sites - just as well my good friends let me use their training site for hosting!

 

So above is the main sprue  on my rather cramped workspace

 

here are the extras I'm expecting/hoping to use:

 

 

 

and here is the rather typical start to this kit - with two very oof pix:

 

 

 

 

 

So, some progress made on cockpit, some good news and bad news:

 

Good - the Airfix kit seems to have a nicely detailed cockpit

Bad - the frame design of the Hurricane is very open so there is a lot of detail visible that wouldn't be in say a Spit.

Bad - I went for several light sprays of grey, aluminium, grey and aluminium, but not at all happy with the finish

Bad - is it me or are the side consoles completely missing on the kit? By this I mean sections of I assume plywood between the frames and side of the aircraft. The starboard one seems to be fairly empty but the port one holds some trimmers, the pitch control (maybe absent for Rotol) and the throttle quadrant. Have I misunderstood something????

 

Here is what the cockpit looks like in my go to reference (IL2 Cliffs of Dover - which happens to match most photos I have seen):

 

 

As far as I can see the kit has nothing between that top part of the frame and the sidewall of the fuselage....

[nickhenfrey]

oh and another try from Flickr

 

 

oh - perfect!

 

[nickhenfrey]

John, I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have like him - unless I were someone very senior and he was trying to impress me - but he's certainly the sort of guy you'd want on your side

 

So I asked flickr to give me embeddable code which is this

 

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/142843097@N05/50336698062/in/album-72157715954543732/" title="IMG_20200830_160513"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50336698062_d544618a17_k.jpg" width="2048" height="1536" alt="IMG_20200830_160513"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

and then extracted the <img src> part

 

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50336698062_d544618a17_k.jpgyadda

 

and just pasted into the post - I added the yadda to make it show the link not the pic

Edited September 27, 2020 by nickhenfrey
typo

[John_W]

On the Love/Hate for Badder, he was my father's CO for a time after the war and my father couldn't stand him.

[Troy Smith]

On 01/09/2020 at 14:23, nickhenfrey said:

or alloy painted in aluminium coloured laquer, I'm assuming the latter

Correct.  All the internals apart from the rear bulkhead and upper cockpit walls was painted with aluminium dope. 

 

in this shot you can make out the the insides of the metal access panel under the cockpit are also painted aluminium

Hawker Hurricane Mk. I &quot;HC-452/Black 5&quot; by Nils Mosberg, on Flickr

 

You seem to have done your research well though! 

On 01/09/2020 at 14:23, nickhenfrey said:

 

I built the original Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1, which I thought was a nice kit, but the decals were a nightmare,

It's a well engineered easy to build kit, but a bit fat.

Tamiya decals are notorious,  this a a suggested method of dealing with, which makes sense, as the Japanese domestic market is big, and why would Tamiya, who are noted for quality, include sub standard decals

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235008098-dealing-with-thick-decals-ie-tamiya/&do=findComment&comment=2464801

  

On 29/08/2016 at 23:26, Gary C said:

The best way to get all Japanese decals ( Fujimi, Hasegawa, Tamiya etc)to work as they're supposed to is use hot water and the correct setting solutions. You'll need a bottle each of Gunze Mr Setter and Mr Softer. Micro sol and others won't work as they're formulated differently. Do not use Gunze on Microscale or Cartograf decals as it will chew right through them.

Dip the decal in hot water, it doesn't need to be boiling but it does need to be fairly hot. The temperature of a drinkable tea will do. The glue is heat activated and is what makes up most of the thickness. If you dip it in cold water you'll spend the rest of the day waiting and cursing.

Lay down some Mr Setter, this is in the blue bottle. It acts as an additional glue. Slide the decal onto it and into postion and leave it alone. The decal should wrinkle a little.

Give it 10 mins or so and go over the decal with a brush with a little Mr Softer (green bottle) on it. Use sparingly as it is extremely hot. Too much and it will damage the paint, especially the weaker acrylics. The decal will now wrinkle a lot. Do not touch it as it is almost liquified at this point.

Once it is dry it will have smoothed out and will lay down beautifully over just about any raised or recessed detail you care to think of. Used properly it is probably the best conforming decal process in the industry. Used incorrectly and you'll be just another guy complaining about crap Japanese decals

 

Re Bader

Famed, inspiration leader, strategic liability.....

 

"What was perhaps the most amazing part of Bader’s career during the Battle of Britain was how a lowly Squadron Leader managed to get the ear of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the Air Officer Commanding 12 Group, to which 242 Squadron was assigned. It was apparently due to force of personality on the part of Bader, and the fact that Leigh-Mallory had no understanding of fighter warfare, having spent his career in Army Cooperation Command.  Leigh-Mallory was also well-known as being a sucker for flattery regarding his unseen-by-everyone-else intellectual abilities. (In 1944, Air Chief Marshal Tedder, second in command of SHEAF, threatened to resign if Eisenhower didn’t get rid of Leigh-Mallory for incompetence in his role as commander of Allied tactical air forces in the invasion.  The problem was solved by kicking Leigh-Mallory “upstairs” to take command of Air Defense of Great Britain, which by then was not the crucial command it had been four years previously, and was thought to be an assignment Leigh-Mallory would not screw up.)

Where 11 Group’s assignment was to intercept the bombers before they unloaded, that of 12 Group - which was mostly out of range of the Luftwaffe at its bases in East Anglia and the Midlands - was to be the “back up” for 11 Group, with an important assignment to defend the airfields in 11 Group as they increasingly became the targets of the Luftwaffe through August, 1940.  While 11 Group sent interceptors in two-squadron units, Bader was an advocate of the “Big Wing,” also known as “the Balbo” for General Italo Balbo, the Italian airman who had pioneered mass long distance formation flights.  Bader advocated sending forth formations of anywhere from three to five squadrons.

The argument against this “Big Wing” strategy was that it took too long to organize such a large formation, and that the enemy would have already bombed and be returning home.  In fact, this had happened on several occasions when 12 Group squadrons were supposed to be flying cover over 11 Group’s airfields, and failed to appear in time to prevent attacks while assembling their “big wings”. 

There was the additional argument that involving the RAF in extended fighter-vs.-fighter combat in large numbers would lead to unnecessary losses, given the pilot superiority of the Luftwaffe over many of the hastily-trained RAF pilots.  Dowding just couldn’t afford those potential losses, not when the losses he was suffering as it was were stretching Fighter Command nearly to the breaking point.  Bader’s strategy, had it been adopted by 11 Group in August 1940, would have assured the RAF losing the Battle of Britain 

Bader’s reply to this agreement was strategic nonsense: “I’d rather shoot down 20 going home than 10 before they bomb.”  This was said during a confrontation at Fighter Command H.Q. between Leigh-Mallory and Keith Park, to which Leigh-Mallory brought Bader as his intellectual voice.  Park’s reply was “you’re not shooting down 20, you’re not even shooting down 5!” (This scene is shown in the film “The Battle of Britain,” sans Bader; no one could bring themselves to put Britain’s most famous pilot on the wrong side of history.)

Following Hitler’s decision to divert the Luftwaffe to the bombing of London after August 24, 1940, the nature of the fighting changed.  Once the RAF knew where the Luftwaffe was going, there was finally time to organize the “Big Wing” and launch it against the raiders in time to have an effect.  With the Bf-109s operating at the extreme limit of their range, the likelihood of an extended air battle was minimized.

On September 7, 1940, Bader led 242, 616 and 310 Squadrons from Duxford against the Luftwaffe over London.  The wing claimed 20 German planes destroyed, 10 by 242 Squadron.  On September 15, he led a wing of five squadrons, the largest RAF formation to take on the Luftwaffe, and claimed 30.  “The Legless Ace” was immediately the toast of Fleet Street.

Following the successful end of the Battle of Britain, the usual British policy of not allowing any good deed to go unpunished resulted in Dowding being summarily fired as AOC Fighter Command and forcibly retired from the RAF, while Keith Park - the man who won the battle on the front lines - was exiled to Malta, where he would repeat his performance of 1940 to good effect over that embattled island.  The men who had it wrong about how to fight the Battle of Britain were the winners of the bureaucratic war.  Sholto Douglas became AOC Fighter Command, while Leigh-Mallory took over 11 Group.  When the victors shared the spoils, Bader became a newly-minted Wing Commander.

1941 saw the RAF take another wrong turn in strategy, a turn lauded and led by Bader, with the traditionalists making the entirely-idiotic decision to “lean into France” the way the RFC had “leaned across the Western Front” on the Somme in 1916.  Granted the Luftwaffe seemed to invite such a strategy when all Jagdgeschwadern but JG 1, JG 26 and JG 2 were returned to Germany, but the fact was the RAF could not really  accomplish anything of strategic value by exposing six to nine wings of fighters during a mission to potential combat with enemies mounted on superior aircraft (the new Bf-109F was clearly superior to the Hurricane I and II, and the Spitfire II, and was marginally superior to the then-new Spitfire V - not to mention the average German fighter pilot individually was still superior to his RAF opponent).  All those fighters were there to defend four Blenheims, carrying a maximum of four ineffective 250-lb bombs each - a total of two tons of bombs combined - on raids that never penetrated further than 50 miles past Dunkirk, hardly the site of strategic targets in the Third Reich. Even when Stirlings were substituted for the Blenheims to create a “high value target” to entice the Luftwaffe into combat, the result was the loss of valuable brand new airplanes for no military value.

During the “Non-Stop Offensive” (called by the Luftwaffe “the Nonsense Offensive,” a far more accurate name), RAF losses approached those of late 1916 and early 1917 over the Somme, with the Germans (as in 1916-17) mounted in the superior fighter - Bf-109F and the even more superior Fw-190A that appeared that summer - with the additional benefit of being able to pick and choose the timing of combat, to maximize their strengths.

Had all the fighter pilots and all those Spitfires and Hurricanes so uselessly wasted by the RAF traditionalists over the Channel Front in 1941 been sent where they could do some good - to the Western Desert, to Malta, to Greece - the outcome of the Second World War might have been significantly different. The home font propaganda value of the “Non-Stop Offensive” did not outweigh these military facts.

Not only was Bader a strategic nincompoop, his grasp of developments in fighter technology was wrongheaded.  While he used his position as leader of the Duxford Wing to obtain metal ailerons for his wing’s Spitfire IIs in the Spring of 1941 - which did provide a serious performance enhancement - he rejected the introduction of the Spitfire Vb with its armament of two 20mm cannon, saying that it would encourage fighter pilots to open fire at too great a range.  Bader himself obtained one of the few 8-machine gun Spitfire Va’s built when the unit switched over in June 1941, with the rest of the Duxford Wing happy to get the additional punch of the cannons."

 

from

http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/cleaver/gb/tmcbobh1.htm

 

(ignore the build details, the prop is wrong for starters)

 

HTH

T

[nickhenfrey]

Troy - Thanks for all that info, particularly about the Japanese decals - I've not read that before - too late for the Wildcat I did, but that came out quite nicely with just paint

 

 

So here's an interim update...

 

Slow progress on the cockpit, as usual for me, down to indecision and indecisiveness

 

I discovered I had some Alclad aluminium bottles, loaded up the airbrush, and wow the bits of plastic now look like metal

 

 

I like the Eduard parts, they certainly seem to be adding a realistic feel, I managed to fold the compass holder completely the wrong way at first, fumed thinking it would break when I folded it right back, but in fact it was OK, and looks quite good

 

I got totally bogged down doing the two, I guess hydraulic, lines from the hand lever brake on the spade grip down the column. I eventually stretched some sprue to form 0.1mm lines, (about 0.2") but they actually look too thin now

 

I made my seat harness from paper in the end, I scanned an Eduard set, printed them then cut them out. They still don't look right in my mind, but as good as the metal parts I think. It also looks way too short, but seems to match photos

 

 

I have turned my attention to the flap position, and radiator flap, indicators, which are on the left and right side respectively, attached to the frames. I've cut some photoetch, painted it white, cropped the indicators from pictures, printed to Jetcal and attached (using Pritt Stick in the end), not really sure it was worth the effort…

 

I've given a bit more thought to the left and right "consoles", the left side one seems critical since it has the throttle control. However I can't decide whether to build out from the fuselage halves, or attach to the frames, and watch it get knocked off every time I do a dry fit. Part of the problem is when I loosely dry fit the fuselage halves to the wing, it's impossible to tell where the fuselage halves come relative to the frame, so I'm going to defer at least the left console for later

 

Incidentally every picture I've looked at has a pitch control mounted on the left sidewall, was this left in for Rotol props even though it wasn't used?

 

Now for my next issue, every picture has a large lagged pipe running outside the frame on the right side, with two smaller pipes above. I assume this is the hot water running back from the engine down to the radiator, but the way Airfix has designed the kit there is precious little room for it. Again I can't really tell, I made a lagged pipe and painted it - but I'll wait to see what will fit

 

I suspect everyone agonizes over the look of the cockpit, then closes up and doesn't bother look inside again, oh well…

[Chauncey]

On 01/09/2020 at 23:23, nickhenfrey said:

So here's something new: Douglas Bader's 242 squadron Hurricane in 1/48 scale!

 

OK it's been done before, but not by me, so here goes

 

Why Douglas Bader? Actually why indeed? I don't think I would have liked him, he was iconic, and driven, and crashed lots of planes. On a serious note I see there is quite a lot of Bader-bashing going on, particularly amongst non-Brits - I ask this simple question: Would you rather he be on our side or the opponents? Exactly - I think that's why he merits the admiration and respect of recreating his aircraft

 

The kit will be Airfix of course, no Tamiya or Eduard alternatives yet…

 

(correction - I see Tamiya reboxed Italeri's 2011 model - most reviewers suggest the Airfix kit is better)

 

I've tried airbrushing Vallejo acrylics, which I didn't get on with, but do leave a great finish, and Humbrol enamels, which I didn't like the finish of, so I've settled on Tamiya acrylics which spray well and leave a nice fine finish

 

I intend to do some pre-shading with some post panel line enamel wash. I'll be aiming for minor wear, putting down some aluminium, then isopropyl alcohol, then sodium carbonate over the chipped areas around the front of the cowling and wings and on the panel lines of the wing roots before painting the camo

 

I'm aiming to mask the camo pattern using Frog delicate decorator's tape hand cut. I used thick leather sewing thread under the edges on my Spitfire to give the soft transition, very fiddly but came out well, so aim to repeat

 

I've taken to hand painting canopies with a 000 brush, excess acrylic is quite easily removed from the glazed areas using a fine wooden toothpick, so will be aiming to do that here

 

I built the original Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1, which I thought was a nice kit, but the decals were a nightmare, so I'm aiming to airbrush most of the roundels and lettering (LE-D), then use the kit stencils with Humbrol Decalfix, which I've not used before. I'll hand cut the lettering masks, but use Montex for the roundels, another first for me

 

I have the full 491104 Eduard photoetch kit, although the second fret is mainly gun bay stuff, and I'm in two minds whether to open the gun bays at all

 

Reading around I see Wikipedia mentions that Bader actually flew three different Hurricanes while at 242. I'm aiming for the one in the group 242 squadron photo

 

In fact I've only found four photos of his aircraft:

 

• Bader standing on the wing 
• Bader sitting on the edge of the cockpit
• Bader and two others standing in front of the 242 boot kicking Hitler
• The 242 group photo

 

These are probably all the same aircraft and appear to have the Rotol spinner and the A camouflage scheme

 

There are some colorized versions of the B&W photos, but these seem to be wrong!

 

So it seems the boot kicking Hitler should be on the panel under the port exhaust which should be (mostly) Dark Earth. The boot is pretty clear in the B&W photos, of course the colours aren't. I don't have any Bader decals so I'll attempt make my own using some old Jetcal - that is the boot, Hitler and the Squadron Leader graphic

 

Having looked at various cockpit pictures, it seems there was a migration from aluminium finish to interior green from before the war to around 42, I'll be following the Finnish photos, aluminium tubing, rudder pedals and seat, green panels, aluminium gear and gun bays

 

I'm not really certain if the aluminium finish is lacquered aluminium, or alloy painted in aluminium coloured laquer, I'm assuming the latter because it seems to flake off with age, so I'm thinking of reverse dry brushing (painting the parts in flat aluminium, then dry brushing with white and light grey for the wear) - we'll see what it looks like...

 

I'll be aiming to use Airscale 1/48 cockpit placards, they do seem to add some sense of realism

 

I'm never very happy with photoetch harness, so I will try and make my own from tape, but estimate a 50% chance of success...

 

OK, so that's the plan, we'll see if it survives contact with the kit itself, off to open the sprue bag and dunk in some detergent water

 

I should add this is only my fourth model since I restarted, I'm expecting it to take about six months. I doubt it will be the best Hurricane you'll see on this board, but it may give hope to others restarting the hobby...

 

All comments very very welcome...

 

Wow !  I've taken notes, reads like a kit I should hunt up, love the Hawker Hurricane aircraft.

[Broadway]

I'm goind to follow this with interest, Bader's Hurricane is a ni good subject.

Edited November 5, 2020 by Broadway

[nickhenfrey]

So, a couple of weeks on and the cockpit tub is (sort of) finished

 

I say sort of, 'cos as ever as soon as you take a few photos with a macro lens you see all the defects!

 

So, maybe another week of touching up, but I've dirtied the ally frame a bit with a black wash, and done a bit of dry brushing with light grey to represent the ally paint wearing, but I can still a lot of grey plastic exposed (can't see it all with the naked eye!!), and even the yellow edges of the masking tape straps

 

 

 

 

Apart from the Eduard parts I've added:

 

the two (hydraulic) lines from the hand brake on the spade grip

the chain from the vertical trimmer on the left side (ok it's a bit of thin tape, painted then ruffled with a  knife blade, but even in these photos it looks ok, and you will barely see it in the finished model), and an indicator plate

the horizontal trimmer

the flap and radiator position indicators

an adjustment lever on the LHS of the seat

a lever on the right hand side (unknown)

the actuator rod from the fuel selector doen to the valve by the left foot plate

some piping and wiring on the LHS frame

 

oh, and I'm starting to quite like the printed paper harness, it's got that irregular flow to it you just don't get from photo-etch

 

I have dry fitted this into the fuselage, and I see that there are a couple of ridges in the inside fuselage sides that are the consoles - obviously the thickness of the plastic fuselage prevents them being any wider, but there's enough there to get the throttle and other controls onto, so them next, along with the controls on the fuselage insides....

 

[Jonny]

On 01/09/2020 at 14:23, nickhenfrey said:

So here's something new: Douglas Bader's 242 squadron Hurricane in 1/48 scale!

 

(SNIP)

I built the original Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1, which I thought was a nice kit, but the decals were a nightmare, so I'm aiming to airbrush most of the roundels and lettering (LE-D), then use the kit stencils with Humbrol Decalfix, which I've not used before. I'll hand cut the lettering masks, but use Montex for the roundels, another first for me

 

(SNIP)

 

All comments very very welcome...

 

Nick ...

Your modelling to date looks great.

 

You could save yourself a bit of trouble by buying an Xtradecal sheet X48144 - one of Bader's 242 Sqdn Hurricanes (V7467) is featured - along with 4 other BoB Hurricanes.  It's currently out of stock at Hannants but their website indicates it'll be back soon - or you could try looking at a certain well known online auction site!

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jonny

 

[nickhenfrey]

2 hours ago, Jonny said:

 

Nick ...

Your modelling to date looks great.

 

You could save yourself a bit of trouble by buying an Xtradecal sheet X48144 - one of Bader's 242 Sqdn Hurricanes (V7467) is featured - along with 4 other BoB Hurricanes.  It's currently out of stock at Hannants but their website indicates it'll be back soon - or you could try looking at a certain well known online auction site!

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jonny

 

Johnny, 

 

Thanks for the compliment! 

 

I think I must be one of the slowest modellers out there! But then more or less everything is new to me

 

I will try masking, but it's good to know decals are available, so many thanks! 

[dogsbody]

As someone who's username is dogsbody, I guess I should be following this build.

 

It looks great so far.

 

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

[nickhenfrey]

Chris, 

 

Thanks

 

Looking ahead I would like to build DB's 19 squadron Spit, he was with them from about Feb to May 1940, then moved to 222 just before Op Dynamo

 

No-one seems to know his call-sign though, QV-? 

[nickhenfrey]

On 13/11/2020 at 21:57, dogsbody said:

As someone who's username is dogsbody, I guess I should be following this build.

 

It looks great so far.

 

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

Chris, just looking through your 1/72 build. 

 

Nice! 

 

Just too small for me! 

 

Interesting to see the hard lines between camo colours, I assumed the Hurricane would have soft lines like the Spit. Or have I got that all wrong? 

[alt-92]

12 minutes ago, nickhenfrey said:

Interesting to see the hard lines between camo colours, I assumed the Hurricane would have soft lines like the Spit. Or have I got that all wrong?

The full size article had ½-1" overspray per regulations. 
Now downsize that to a scale model

 

[dogsbody]

53 minutes ago, nickhenfrey said:

Chris, just looking through your 1/72 build. 

 

Nice! 

 

Just too small for me! 

 

Interesting to see the hard lines between camo colours, I assumed the Hurricane would have soft lines like the Spit. Or have I got that all wrong? 

 

It's my first time using an airbrush and my first use of vinyl masks. It is what it is. Also, it's the first kit I've gone that far with in over 30 years. There are plenty of other little flaws.

 

 

 

Chris

[Troy Smith]

59 minutes ago, nickhenfrey said:

Chris, just looking through your 1/72 build. 

 

Nice! 

 

Just too small for me! 

 

Interesting to see the hard lines between camo colours, I assumed the Hurricane would have soft lines like the Spit. Or have I got that all wrong? 

 

There are examples of a softer lines,  but here's a couple of pre war colour shots,  as @alt-92 says, the ideal was a very tight pattern.  very difficult to do to scale!

 

Hurricane by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Spitfire  Mk. I by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

[nickhenfrey]

ah, ok, just spent an hour writing an update and linking pictures - then Britmodeller crashed - I think that's if for this build report for the moment - I will try and share some pics when done

 

Thanks for looking.....

[Troy Smith]

13 hours ago, nickhenfrey said:

ah, ok, just spent an hour writing an update and linking pictures - then Britmodeller crashed - I think that's if for this build report for the moment - I will try and share some pics when done

 

Thanks for looking.....

hmm,  I get browser crashes,  if you click on the box you type in, I usually get a "restore previous content" or similar, click and you are back to where you were. 

 

Alternately, as you use Flicker,  you should be able to just draft in a text editor and post in. 

 

Look forward to the update, and I know 'oh bloomin' heck' all that typing has just been lost feeling! 

[Grey Beema]

18 hours ago, nickhenfrey said:

ah, ok, just spent an hour writing an update and linking pictures - then Britmodeller crashed - I think that's if for this build report for the moment - I will try and share some pics when done

 

Thanks for looking.....

I got frustrated with similar behaviour so now, if I’m doing a significant update, I usually write it in notes on my iPad then copy and paste.

 

Your Hurricane is coming on a treat.  Some great modelling in there.  Keep at it..

 

I have done a couple of 242 Hurricanes myself in the past (Airfix 1/48).  Aircraft flown by SLt R Cork & SLt J Gardner when they were seconded to the RAF in July ‘40.

 

 

[nickhenfrey]

well, thanks for the kind words!!!!

 

Actually a lot of the time was uploading to FlickR, and the text is largely in OneNote - so will take another shot at it this week

 

thanks again!!!!