Italeri 1/48 Hurricane Mk. 1, Malta 1941

[Nikola Topalov]

Hi gents,

 

As I have reached the painting process on my 1/32 P51, I thought that now would be a good time to open another box. 

This time I chose Italeri's Hurricane Mk.1 from Malta as I find this scheme very appealing to my eye (that and this time I wanted to go with something that requires minimal masking) 

 

I will be building it OOB since it has some PE goodies included and will probably be doing it with an open engine so some additional wiring might be called for. I'll see.

 

So, nothing much for now, just this small intro.

 

Thank you for taking an interest.

 

Best,

Nikola

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice choice of scheme,  not seen an Italeri one on the go yet, will watch with interest. Just finished the lovely Airfix 48th Mk Tropical myself. A lot to build, interested to see how this one goes together. 

 

Chris

[Troy Smith]

10 hours ago, Nikola Topalov said:

from Malta as I find this scheme very appealing to my eye

The Italeri profile is wrong, as a most you will find on the net.

In depth thread here on the subject

,

The Italeri kit does not have the right spinner,   and the kit spinners are horrible as well for what they are supposed to be... note this drawing from the kit

 

shows the correct shape and size.... while the kit contents are, different to this.   

 

I can link you to a glitch list for the Italeri kit.......

 

despite what the instructions show, the escape hatch is not hinged, and was not a cockpit access door, and no wartime Hurricane ever had 3 spoke wheel hubs.

And the upperwing roundels are in the wrong place on the decal placement guide, ( though it does show the correct layout of the spent cartridge slots)

this shows the correct place

 

Hope of use

[mahavelona]

This scheme is a little bit of a can of worms  - Troy has linked the info already but in summary it seems like the aircraft is actually a monotone bosun blue scheme. The famous photo was taken whilst they were painting it, hence is appears with the tail in the original camouflage.

[Nikola Topalov]

On 10/10/2021 at 9:15 AM, mahavelona said:

This scheme is a little bit of a can of worms  - Troy has linked the info already but in summary it seems like the aircraft is actually a monotone bosun blue scheme. The famous photo was taken whilst they were painting it, hence is appears with the tail in the original camouflage.

Possibly, no doubt about that.

 

However, I found this photo while searching for Malta Hurricanes and from what I can see (I might be wrong) these birds, especially the closer one, have camo on their rudder which is different from the rest of the plane. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

 

But again, they have letter markings. Not sure if Malta birds had them. 🤔

 

Best,

Nikola

Edited November 23, 2021 by Nikola Topalov

[Troy Smith]

22 minutes ago, Nikola Topalov said:

have camo on their rudder which is different from the rest of the plane. Correct me if I am wrong.

Standard camo pattern. 

see here

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Hawker-Hurricane

while only NW Europe, the pattern was a standard template, and has lots of very useful information.  

22 minutes ago, Nikola Topalov said:

But again, they have letter markings. Not sure if Malta birds had them

Some did.  Sometimes just the individual letter, sometimes full codes.    There are not that many decent photos of Malta based Mk.I's though.

 

The chap for Malta is @tonyot... he wrote a book on it

https://www.burningblueaviationgifts.com/product-page/no-place-for-beginners-battle-over-malta-june-1940-september-1941

[Nikola Topalov]

1 hour ago, Troy Smith said:

Standard camo pattern. 

see here

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Hawker-Hurricane

while only NW Europe, the pattern was a standard template, and has lots of very useful information.  

Some did.  Sometimes just the individual letter, sometimes full codes.    There are not that many decent photos of Malta based Mk.I's though.

 

The chap for Malta is @tonyot... he wrote a book on it

https://www.burningblueaviationgifts.com/product-page/no-place-for-beginners-battle-over-malta-june-1940-september-1941

Thanks for the info Troy! Appreciated.

 

Best,

Nikola

[Tail-Dragon]

For what it's worth, this info was copied from a write up on V7101 over on 'WW2 aircraft.net'

 

V7101 WW2 aircraft.net

 

"George Burges was a founder member of the Gladiator Fighter Flight at Hal Far, and claimed seven victories, becoming an ace while flying a Hurricane on 18 January 1941. Later that month he reverted to his primary role of reconnaissance with 69 Squadron flying Marylands. 69 Squadron received this Hurricane for flying against more dangerous targets, the fighter being lightened and fitted with two cameras. It was also repainted PR Blue, and George Burges flew it regularly until leaving Malta on 6 June 1941. (google.com.au)

There is some contention as the exact colour of this aircraft, one sources sighting the PR Blue and another in Bosun Blue. The vertical fin in both cases retaining the original camouflage which is also contentious with it being either Dark Green/Dark Earth or Dark Earth/Middle Stone.
As for the camera fitting and the lightning of the aircraft, again this is open to conjecture. Some sources say the cameras were two or maybe three in number and that the guns were removed with modified fuel tanks replacing them.

Here are a couple of extracts which I have pulled off the internet which help to clarify some details.

To meet the urgent need for a suitable high level reconnaissance platform on Malta, Hurricane V7101 was stripped of all non essential items to save weight and improve performance. At some time the empty gun bays were used to house additional fuel tanks probably salvaged from other aircraft on the island so the aircraft could reach Sicily. In the hands of Flight Lieutenant George Burgess it provided valuable intelligence about enemy activity.
Burgess stated that the aircraft displayed some undesirable flying characteristics at very high altitude, probably as a result of the rearward shift of the centre of gravity when two F.24 cameras were installed behind the pilot’s seat. (aviationclassics.co.uk)

and

There was one Hurricane that was painted blue for a certainty - this was a Hurricane Mk I V7101 which had been converted to a photo-reconnaissance machine by 69 Sqn.

According to 'Malta the Hurricane Years' by Chris Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia (Grub Street 1987) V7101 was modified by removing the guns, adding extra fuel and oil tanks, two cameras in the fuselage behind the cockpit, with a perspex viewing panel in the floor of the cockpit, and replacing the windscreen with a one-piece unit made out of half a Blenheim astro-dome!

The Hurricane, apart from the tail unit, which remained in the Dark Earth/Light Earth/Sky camouflage, was in a locally mixed overall PR Blue. The only other markings were the serial No and standard roundels and fin flashes. (kitmaker.net)"

 

If correct, it sounds like V7101 was distinctly non-standard!

Edited November 23, 2021 by Tail-Dragon

[Nikola Topalov]

Hi gents,

 

I finally started working on it.

 

This is my first Italeri kit and to my surprise the plastic is very very soft. OK for cleaning, sanding and scraping, but it feels so thin and fragile. Also very bendable.

The quality of molding and fit don't seem that great as well. 

 

I started with wing and wheel well parts and in my opinion this is a very strange way to break up the parts. It's going to be a pain in the a$$ to make it right:

 

 

Best,

Nikola

 

 

 

[Nikola Topalov]

Also, initial engine assembly done. Molding quality is far from great.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Nikola Topalov

[k5054nz]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:15 PM, mahavelona said:

This scheme is a little bit of a can of worms  - Troy has linked the info already but in summary it seems like the aircraft is actually a monotone bosun blue scheme. The famous photo was taken whilst they were painting it, hence is appears with the tail in the original camouflage.

So do it with some parts remaining in camouflage and say it captures the real aircraft during a tea break for the painting crew which may/may not have occured! 😉

[Nikola Topalov]

21 hours ago, Nikola Topalov said:

Also, initial engine assembly done. Molding quality is far from great.

 

 

I'll use the engine for practice and try and make something decent out of it. If it still looks like s@#t I'll just cover it.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Nikola Topalov

[Nikola Topalov]

Hi gents,

 

Very slow progress and I now think that I chose a wrong project which will take a lot of time which I definitely don't have at the moment. 

I dry fitted the wings and this is what I get if I follow the locator pins:

 

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Nikola Topalov

[Graham Boak]

And when you remove the locator pins is it any better?

[Tail-Dragon]

I've built the Italeri Hurricane and found that the plastic is soft, thin and easily warped.  I also found it necessary to remove the locater pins and sand the mating surfaces flat on glass. Tabs can be put in place from plasticard to strengthen joints. Also, on mine, I needed a spreader bar in the wing root area to get a nice joint there.

It builds up nicely, just requires some extra work do to the misalignments and thin plastic. (Accuracy issues not withstanding)

[Nikola Topalov]

Well gents,

 

After giving it some thought I am putting this one on ice for now and moving on to a new project. I just don't have enough free time at the moment for all the unneccessary work. I need a nice, relatively straightforward kit to work on, but I think I will come back to it eventually.

 

Best,

Nikola

[Nikola Topalov]

On 12/22/2021 at 12:07 PM, Graham Boak said:

And when you remove the locator pins is it any better?

Only slightly. I cut the pins and if I align the panel lines properly then there are misalignments at the wing tips, the wing landing lights, guns, position lights... Not so big of a problem if it was the only one, but dry fitting the kit anticipates a lot of similar hiccups for which I just don't have time to bother with at the moment . 🙄 

 

Best,

Nikola

Edited February 17, 2022 by Nikola Topalov