Zvezda Hawker Hurricane IIc British Fighter (7322) 1:72 Zvezda HobbyPro Marketing

[Julien]

Hawker Hurricane IIc British Fighter (7322)

1:72 Zvezda HobbyPro Marketing

 

 

If one was to asked to give the name of a British fighter that took part in the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire would undoubtedly be the most common answer. However, the aircraft that provided the backbone of the defence in that infamous battle was the Hawker Hurricane. Designed in 1935, it was quite a step forwards to the existing front line RAF fighters of that era, key features being a fully enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage, 8 guns, powerful V12 engine and most notably, a single cantilever wing as opposed to a biplane configuration. Despite its revolutionary look though, the design and manufacturing techniques were old school, a steel frame with fabric skinning so in reality, it was very much a progressive rather than evolutionary design. This however was to provide useful in manufacturing and in the face of battle. The Hurricane was easy to produce, repair and maintain. This is in comparison to the birth of the Spitfire which used completely new manufacturing techniques which whilst offering performance, hindered early production.

Early Hurricane Mk.I’s went through a series of design enhancements. Initial aircraft had fabric wings which limited the dive speed whilst the spin characteristics were a concern for test pilots. This was remedied by the addition of a strake below the rudder that became a key characteristic of the Hurricane. The fabric wings were also changed by 1940 for new metal skinned ones which increased the dive speed by some 80mph. Other notable improvements on the Mk.I were the addition of 70lb of armour plate for the pilot, self sealing fuel tanks and a 3 blade constant speed propeller.  Of the 2700 victories claimed during this battle by the RAF, nearly 1600 ware at the guns of the hurricane. Whilst the Hurricane soon became outdated a front line day fighter in Europe, it went on to see considerable success in other campaigns throughout the war. The Mk.IIC was a much improved version, armed with four 20mm cannon and equipped with the Rolls Royce Merlin XX engine, capable of developing almost 1,500hp. These aircraft were generally used for ground attack and night fighting duties. With the addition of these bombs and cannon, it became an effective ground attack aircraft. It has its history firmly rooted in the battles of the Mediterranean, Russia and the Pacific, not to mention early night fighting over Europe where many aces earned their status. Over 3000 Hurricanes were sent to the Soviet Union under lend lease. 

 

 

The Kit

This is a brand-new tooling from Zvezda, fresh off the presses in Russia, so it is a modern kit and has plenty of detail moulded-in, with fine engraved panel lines but very subtle fabric effects. certainly on the fuselage. It is designed to be assembled without glue, no doubt for the younger modelers out there, but I suspect it will also be be bought by some a lot older! The kit is quite detailed for an easier kit, there is even different pilots supplied for the RAF or Soviet marked aircraft.  First of when building the kit the modeller needs to decide on gear up or gear down. The main gear well and ailerons are then added to the lower wing, with the radiator going underneath. The one part top main wing then goes on top being sure to add the clear parts for the navigation and landing lights before closing them up.

 

 

We now move to the cockpit. A basic lower frame goes in which contains the rudder pedals and control column. A second frame then holds the seat and instrument panel, with a decal being provided for the instruments. The top frame clips into the bottom frame, and then the rear bulkhead goes in. Moving on to the fuselage sides tow A frames go in which allow the two sides to go together. Once together a 3 part propeller / spinner goes on the front. At each side a single 3 pot exhaust is fitted. If using a pilot then there are two choices if you are going RAF or Soviet. Once he is in (or not) the fuselage can be clipped to the main wing. The canopy then goes on. At the read the rugger an tail planes are fitted. If making the model gear down then a single part tyre is attached to a single part leg, and the gear door fitted to the outside of this. A single part closed door complete with wheel is provide for a gear up option.

 

 

 

Markings

There are three painting options included on the decal sheet.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• KX471 from 78th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Northern Fleet, Vaenga Airfield, Summer 1943
• Z3778 No.1 Sqn RAF, Tangmere 1942
• BE581 No.1 Sqn RAF, Tangmere 1942 (Overall Black Night fighter scheme) 

 

 

The decals are well printed with a red band around the edge that is reminiscent of Begemot’s work, but that’s just my guess.  The colours are dense, printing sharp, with a satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. 

 

Conclusion

It’s a very nicely moulded kit, A welcome addition to the range. Recommended. 

 

Available from all good model shops online or in actual buildings.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

[PhantomBigStu]

Looks really nice, and having covered several hundred Revell ones to gear up and assuming the Arma is like their mk1, seeing the gear up parts included is a big selling factor for me

[PhantomBigStu]

Hmm don't want to sound the alarm having got the kit thought and priming the spures though the wings look a little big and did a rough measurement and compared it to the Wikipedia given span which could well be wrong and its actuall came put too small by 2mm, 16.7cm vs 16.9cm. Hoping I'm wrong in my measurements and not the kit given its looks stunning 

[Graham Boak]

If, overall, the span is out by 2mm then it will not be noticeable in the assembled models - assuming that the fault is in the span only and not either in the other dimensions or specific to one part of the wing.  Witness the number of modellers who praise the Sword and AZ Spitfire kits without noticing a similar error.  I would normally expect any error within 2% to be acceptable, percentages being a better guide to how noticeable an error is than the actual error dimensions.  Something like 1% is probably unavoidable given the technologies and knowledge.

 

The problem of course if that once you actually notice something like this, it is difficult not to see it.  And at times that 2% is visible.

 

I presume you measured this from the kit's lower wing being one piece tip to tip.  It has been known for people to measure such things by laying individual panels onto plans/ruler and not allowing for dihedral.  Fortunately that's less likely to happen the way Hurricane kits are made nowadays.  (Or indeed, always were.  There may be an exception...) 

[PhantomBigStu]

34 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

If, overall, the span is out by 2mm then it will not be noticeable in the assembled models - assuming that the fault is in the span only and not either in the other dimensions or specific to one part of the wing.  Witness the number of modellers who praise the Sword and AZ Spitfire kits without noticing a similar error.  I would normally expect any error within 2% to be acceptable, percentages being a better guide to how noticeable an error is than the actual error dimensions.  Something like 1% is probably unavoidable given the technologies and knowledge.

 

The problem of course if that once you actually notice something like this, it is difficult not to see it.  And at times that 2% is visible.

 

I presume you measured this from the kit's lower wing being one piece tip to tip.  It has been known for people to measure such things by laying individual panels onto plans/ruler and not allowing for dihedral.  Fortunately that's less likely to happen the way Hurricane kits are made nowadays.  (Or indeed, always were.  There may be an exception...) 

Guilty as charged, everyone ignore my previous post, repeated the measurement using the top wing piece instead, and drum roll, 16.9cm as it should be 😳

[Troy Smith]

24 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Hmm don't want to sound the alarm having got the kit thought and priming the spures though the wings look a little big and did a rough measurement and compared it to the Wikipedia given span which could well be wrong and its actuall came put too small by 2mm, 16.7cm vs 16.9cm. Hoping I'm wrong in my measurements and not the kit given its looks stunning 

Hurricane wing span is 40 feet,   in 1/72nd that's 6 and 2/3rd inch.

or, 40/12=480 inch x25.4 = 12192 mm /72 = 169.3 

 

From looking at the images posted, there were CAD's on facebook, and , i did point this out there,   bigger issues are the wrong prop/spinner, which look to be possibly one from a warbird, and a recurring problem in Hurricane kits, and the use of the Mk.I carb intake, also a recurring problem.

I don't have one as yet.  

 

I'm intrigued by the VVS markings,  I have yet to see a decent image of a IIC in VVS service where you can see the markings,  I'm surprised that Zvezda didn't do IIb, as it would have been easier than moulding  the cannons, and the most commonly photographed type in VVS service is the IIb. 

IIRC KX741 is in the Osprey Soviet Hurricane Aces book though.

the profile, along with some more of the 78 IAP is here. 

http://ava.org.ru/iap/78m.htm

 

[Troy Smith]

Frank Campey is building one on Facebook Hurricane modellers group, and mentioned is was short.  Eventually  I just checked mine, the panel between the engine and cockpit on a MK.II is 15.9mm,  the kit is 14mm, making is fractionally shorter than a Mk.I 

I've only just  opened the bag up to check this, so have not checked anything else, but it lacks the flare of fuselage to wing panels.   

 

Certainly better than a lot of 72nd Hurricane kits,  but there have been some pretty poor ones .....

 

I'd suggest the serious builders choice for a IIC is still Arma Hobby though.   

[PhantomBigStu]

That sucks, regulated to paint mule it is for those of us who purchased 

[Julien]

47 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

That sucks, regulated to paint mule it is for those of us who purchased 

Why? just build it an be happy,

[PhantomBigStu]

7 minutes ago, Julien said:

Why? just build it an be happy,

Got me there, this morning I declared I’m finishing a kit that cost a lot more than this and is way more dimensionally wrong…..plus probably could do something radical and lengthen the nose rather than a be a killjoy. 

[Wulfman]

A number of Hurricane rebuilds use Constellation spinners, probably why the spinner looks wrong. It’s a shame they didn’t do the lIB with the option of the replacement Russian guns .

 

Wulfman

Edited October 12, 2021 by Wulfman

[AWFK10]

It might also be worth mentioning that the pitot head has been omitted. That's understandable as it would have been very difficult to include it considering that the kit's intended to be assembled without glue, even though there's some pretty ingenious engineering to allow the navigation and landing lights to be snap-fitted. The pair of vents above the wing root on Mk II Hurricanes are also missing, though they're visible in the box art. Essentially it's a kit of a Mk I fitted with a four-cannon wing and the deeper radiator of the Mk II, plus a Constellation spinner. It's a real shame as it's very nicely moulded, beautifully detailed and doesn't suffer from the narrow nose syndrome that some other Hurricane kits have.

[Troy Smith]

9 hours ago, AWFK10 said:

The pair of vents above the wing root on Mk II Hurricanes are also missing,

Not all Mk.II's, these are tropical vents, and are seen on Trop Mk.I's as well, though in later Hurricane batches they do become a standard fitting, as a lot of Hurricane by this point were going to the ME and FE.

[rs2man]

Since the nose is approximately the length of a Hurricane I , would this not make it a good candidate for conversion to a Sea Hurricane Ic ?  Obviously I could be talking drivel here but my brief researches suggest the Sea Hurricane Ic to be a Hurricane I with a 4-cannon wing , which is I believe is essentially what the kit gives you .

[AWFK10]

It's certainly a possibility. The kit has the correct radiator for a Mk II (compare with the Mk I, here), so as well as adding the arrestor hook you'ld need to replace that and also the prop/spinner. A certain well-known supermarket sold cheap starter kit boxings of the Airfix Hurricane I in the run-up to the last two Christmases. If they trot them out again this year, that would be a cheap source of the relevant bits. When you say "a Sea Hurricane Ic", "the Sea Hurricane Ic" is probably closer to the mark as it seems likely it was a one-off.

[rs2man]

30 minutes ago, AWFK10 said:

 When you say "a Sea Hurricane Ic", "the Sea Hurricane Ic" is probably closer to the mark as it seems likely it was a one-off.

Yes , I suspect you may be right - I made the mistake of believing Wikipedia . It says 400 were converted , but further down it also says 400 IIc's were converted so it looks like somebody got his Ic and IIc mixed up .

[PhantomBigStu]

On 10/7/2021 at 12:01 AM, PhantomBigStu said:

Got me there, this morning I declared I’m finishing a kit that cost a lot more than this and is way more dimensionally wrong…..plus probably could do something radical and lengthen the nose rather than a be a killjoy. 

Finally stopped being a ninny and started it this morning, lovely kit issues aside, should be a really quick completion given its going to be a nightfighter.