Jump to content

Back into the Hurricane - Mk.I Airfix 1/72


Recommended Posts

Hello? Mmmm.... I know I've been here before, but it's been a while. I almost didn't recognise the place. I was looking around for a while wondering where all the wheels, sprockets, tracks and turrets had gone and then realised where I was.

Anyway, while I'm here, I ought to build something with wings on. I realised a while back that I hadn't built any aircraft at all this year! It's been a busy year generally, plus I've hosted two Group Builds, which took up a fair bit of time too. So, to rectify this lack of aircraft kits from me, I was wondering what I should build. So I started looking through the stash. Down at the bottom, under LOTS of tank kits, I noticed a 1/72 Airfix Mk.I Hurricane box. On opening it, I realised it had been partially started. In fact, I'd started and not completed it in the Hawker Hurricane Single Type Group Build back in 2016. I had planned on making two Hurricanes but only finished one.

 

The original build thread for both Hurricanes can be found here:

 

The kit I'm going to try and finish is this one:

51569143929_16d05f0128_b.jpg

 

For this kit I'd also got hold of the Eduard PE set for it - which had two frets:

24497405611_7bcc32e20c_c.jpg

 

24553513876_b5940546d6_c.jpg

 

......plus I obtained this wheel correction set from CMK:

24124983864_741c7dbf0b_c.jpg

 

24659654951_5e1f66952b_c.jpg

 

The original plan, which I am going to stick with, is to have this one displayed wheels-down, on the airfield. I will probably make a small base for it too.

 

The other Hurricane, that I actually finished looked like this:

26068249824_0e154002cc_c.jpg

This was photographed against a sky photo backdrop and I have Photoshopped the clear plastic stand out. More details about this build can be found via the link above or more photos of the finished Hurricane can be found here:

 

Some views of both kit's sprues and other bits can be found here:

 

On the one I'm going to work on here, I had just about completed the cockpit painting, but not assembled the parts together for the frame, seat, instrument panel and fuselage halves. Here are some photos of said work:

51569225989_0b98cb9aed_b.jpg

 

51568783558_d7fc6e3b2b_b.jpg

 

51568541836_0527689c17_b.jpg

 

51567745547_79eb45ded0_b.jpg

 

I must admit I cannot remember what overall plans I had for building this kit so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

 

I may try and get something done on this later today or tomorrow.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 22
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Stix,

 

Nice to see you building a wingy thing again. Like yourself I don't think I have done a wip thread outside GBs since I joined BM. 

 

Great start btw. I look forward to seeing more progress.

 

Cheers Greg 👍

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 09/10/2021 at 15:13, GREG DESTEC said:

Hi Stix,

Nice to see you building a wingy thing again. Like yourself I don't think I have done a wip thread outside GBs since I joined BM. 

Great start btw. I look forward to seeing more progress.

Cheers Greg 👍

Hi Greg. Thank you. I used to spend A LOT of time up here in the Aircraft Work In Progress section, but I got drawn in by loads of GBs! 

 

On 09/10/2021 at 17:17, giemme said:

About time.....

:rofl:  :rofl: 

I'm following, obvs  :popcorn: :beer: 

Ciao

 

Hi Giorgio. Wow that was quick! Thank you. I will try and check out yours and other people's builds when I get chance. There's a lot more going on here than I remember back in the old days........it's only been a couple of days since I was here and this thread was already down on page 3 when I found it again!

 

On 09/10/2021 at 18:07, bigbadbadge said:

Good to see you in the winged thing area.  Looking forward to this, are you still brush painting too?

The other Hurricane taking off looks amazing,  what a cracking model.  

Great start and restart.

Chris

Hi Chris and thank you too.

Yes, I'm still brush painting and still enjoying it. It's been quite interesting finding this kit again. It was put away sometime during 2016 and I have obviously learnt and done some new techniques since then. So, when I came to look at this one, my first job on Sunday morning was to do a bit of extra work on the bits I'd done before to bring them more in line with my current techniques. I couldn't do everything because some bits were obviously assembled.

 

So, first job was to update a bit of the paintwork where I could - a couple of extra washes and some dry-brushing. I also added the PE compass below the IP and built up the control column/pedals section:

51573425498_cbf7db694d_b.jpg

 

Once everything was set and dry I glued the IP and seat frame to the inside of the port fuselage half - a few photos here, as hardly anything will be seen once the two halves of the fuselage are glued together:

51574113995_a6d746fa23_b.jpg

 

51573425638_b3dc5ca550_b.jpg

 

51573869999_6c71802c03_b.jpg

 

51573425563_f3c7faeb37_b.jpg

 

.....................and with the starboard fuselage half ready to be glued in place:

51572376952_b2e359a059_b.jpg

 

After this they were glued together.

 

While waiting for the glue to set I looked at some of the other parts incuding the exhausts. Like on my previous 1/72 Hurricane, I decided I couldn't leave the ends looking like this:

51573427868_cf46dc7d13_b.jpg

 

After a bit of work with a micro-drill and a scalpel blade they looked like this:

51573871999_a3606026be_b.jpg

 

And that's where I stopped.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/10/2021 at 16:54, bigbadbadge said:

The cockpit internals look great as does the hollowed out exhausts.   Looking forward to seeing the new techniques too.

Chris 

Hi Chris. Thank you very much for your comments. I always enjoy making the cockpits of aircraft - even in 1/72 - but it's always a shame how little can be seen later on.

 

On 11/10/2021 at 18:47, 2996 Victor said:

Great work - the cockpit looks excellent! I'll be following along, if I may?

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark.Thank you for your comments and you are more than welcome to tag along.

 

On 11/10/2021 at 19:19, giemme said:

Glad to see you haven't lost your touch with aircraft, Stix :D Impeccable job, as ever :clap: :clap:

Ciao 

Way too kind as always Giorgio, but thank you.

 

On 11/10/2021 at 19:28, Flight Line Media said:

Hi Stix, awesome project! I look forward to seeing this build completed.

Hi FLM. Thank you too for your comments.

 

Over the weekend, I did manage to get a bit more done. Before that though, I thought everyone would like to see the highly sophisticated, very technical, way I kept the fuselage halves together while the glue set:

51578876719_3bef73328c_b.jpg

 

51578194486_18e2897ab7_b.jpg

 

51578876614_94427db2ee_b.jpg

 

Impressive eh? 

 

Actually, I do like the way Airfix have done the fuselage - with the rear lower section as a seperate piece. It means I was able to tape up the halves, without any glue on, as can be seen above, and then I applied the glue from the inside:

51579741546_fd8b78ab47_b.jpg

The result, for me, is a reduced chance of glue oozing out over the detail.

 

With the glue set and the tape removed, it looked like this:

51596233531_2829c66ab0_b.jpg

 

51596452063_947c0231d2_b.jpg

 

Then I started work on some of the additional things that needed to be done before the wing sections were added. First off, I scribed the panel lines for the outsides of the panels which should be behind the armament bays:

51596452188_73ea28cc98_b.jpg

 

Before adding the filler to the fabric areas in these panels, I decided to file off the inner sides of the rear trailing edges of the wings. They are way too thick:

51595418002_8fe6d79472_b.jpg

You'll be able to see the result once the upper and lower wing sections are joined together later......(yes I forgot to take a photo of them at that stage! :doh:)

 

Then I used filler in the areas Airfix have as fabric in those panels:

51596898224_e3e9d570aa_b.jpg

This photo showed me the areas I still needed to add some filler that I hadn't noticed by eye alone. You'll see the improved filler in a photo later on.

 

I then got the parts attached for the wheel bay on the lower wing section - including adding the necessary PE parts:

51599615805_c163e59afb_b.jpg

 

51599377689_de4b5f99ac_b.jpg

 

Once the glue was set I got these wheel well parts painted with a couple of thinned coats of Revell's Aqua Aluminium metallic paint - applied by using a small pointed brush:

51598014027_2cde7351b2_b.jpg

I used a small piece of 0.6mm lead wire to represent the pipework.

 

51599494824_18c97af32b_b.jpg

 

Then, having read through my eperience with the other Hurricane that I made, using the same basic Airfix kit - I decided I'd glue the upper wing section in place onto the fuselage, before gluing the upper and lower wing sections together. I know the fit of the wing roots was a bit 'gappy' on my first build and a test fit, with this one, showed similar issues. So, the photos here show the upper wing section glued in place and I have done some work to fill the gaps in the rear sections of the joins at the roots:

51598719776_11213a2317_b.jpg

 

51599615675_9932c640f5_b.jpg

 

You may be able to see the gaps better on this photo from underneath. I think it was easier fixing this issue without the lower wing in place:

51597894402_7c95b51483_b.jpg

 

This photo should show the better coverage of the filler in the panels behind the armament bays:

51599376964_80553a4344_b.jpg

 

Finally, yesterday, I did a little cutting and scribing with a scalpel blade to get a bit of movement in the elevators:

51599377654_45090fb6fe_b.jpg

 

Next up will be gluing the lower wing section in place and cleaning up all the edges of the wings.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 18/10/2021 at 13:07, bigbadbadge said:

Looking good Stix, I use that same technical way of holding the fuselage and wings together😄.

Great to see it coming together and progressing well.

Nice work. 

Chris

Hi Chris. Good to know I'm not the only one who makes use of masking tape in this way! Thank you again for your comments.

 

On 18/10/2021 at 16:20, giemme said:

Neat job, Stix - once again using your proven ad tested "glue the top wings to the fuselage first" technique :clap: :worthy:

Ciao

Thank you Giorgio. Thank you too for your comments and yes, I still think occasionally not following kit instructions, works well - like with the lower wing section. I have got the lower wings part glued in place and cleaned up and it looks to have worked okay. No photos yet. I will try and take some at the weekend.

 

During some research into the actual aircraft I found a photo on the Imperial War Museum's website. It can be found here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205207589

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love what you're doing with this Stix. Lovely mods and detail. As you may know, I've just finished one of these and put it up in RFI, but I chose the simple OOB route. 😀

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Stix !!

Great job on the Hurri !!

I still have 2 Hurricanes to finish....

But I bought a 3rd one, and ordered another one....

Glad to see you back on here...

Sincerely.

CC

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 19/10/2021 at 17:47, IanC said:

Love what you're doing with this Stix. Lovely mods and detail. As you may know, I've just finished one of these and put it up in RFI, but I chose the simple OOB route. 😀

Hi Ian, Thank you for your comments and for letting me know about your finished version in the RFI section. As you already know, I was well impressed and am using yours as a reference for mine. :thumbsup:

 

On 19/10/2021 at 18:28, AdrianMF said:

I hope you are going to have an open cockpit with all that lovely detail...

Regards,

Adrian

Hi Adrian. That's what the plan is at the moment and hopefully I will be able to sort it so the cockpit can be seen.......at least a little bit! 

 

On 19/10/2021 at 20:55, rob85 said:

Very much in for this one Stix, it’s been a while since I built one of these!

Rob

Hi Rob. Thank you for your comments and I'm sure this won't be the last one for me either.

 

On 19/10/2021 at 23:14, corsaircorp said:

Hello Stix !!

Great job on the Hurri !!

I still have 2 Hurricanes to finish....

But I bought a 3rd one, and ordered another one....

Glad to see you back on here...

Sincerely.

CC

Hi CC and thank you very much for your comments. I have two more Hurricanes in the stash - one in 1/48 and one in 1/32. I'm probably going to get another (or two) of Airfix's 1/72nd Hurricanes at some point too. They are a bit addictive, aren't they! 

 

So last time, above, I mentioned that the lower wing section would be glued on next - and it has been and it's all been cleaned up and looks like this:

51625724825_89917f5241_b.jpg

 

51625428305_7f231a7f60_b.jpg

Hopefully, from the above two photos, you can see the results of my efforts with thinning the trailing edges of the wings to make them look thinner and less squared off.

 

51624865246_8275d7ec4c_b.jpg

 

51625094043_98ff6880d0_b.jpg

 

51624865171_a587581f23_b.jpg

 

I also did a bit of work on the PE parts for the radiator - PE fitted in place:

51624569651_d9b8398b36_b.jpg

 

Painted with thinned Revell's Anthracite and then dry-brushed with Revell's Aluminium:

51624569611_66dfcb873b_b.jpg

 

Fitted inside the plastic unit:

51624569551_d8c3606a79_b.jpg

 

51623741922_a652230984_b.jpg

 

....and the PE part for the flap glued in place with CA glue:

51625219249_d1d07ae855_b.jpg

 

A quick couple of views of what the wheel well looks like at this stage:

51625106043_0ee6958f71_b.jpg

 

51624050467_ae7503bec8_b.jpg

 

Finally, a photo showing some of the work I have been doing on some of the other parts that will be glued on later:

51625515659_e37002d8a1_b.jpg

 

A couple of things to note in that last pic: Firstly, the wheels are the replacement 5 spoke, resin ones, from CMK. They are very nciely detailed. Secondly, I used the radiator and landing gear doors for practicing how I'm going to paint the black and white undersides. Those three parts were first painted with Revell's Anthracite. I don't tend to use actual black paints to represent black paint. Then, once fully dry, I experimented using very thinned, with water, Humbrol Matt White paint - which I applied with a stippling brush. I have used this technique before, as I think - in my opinion - white paint is harder to weather well, if it's applied looking pristine. Stippling watered down matt white paint allows me to build up a slightly 'blotchy' effect which, to my eye, looks weathered from the get-go. I did the white gear door first and then, once happy with the effect, I taped off the black half of the radiator and applied the white paint in the same way as on the gear door. Once dry, I used a very fine, pointed brush to apply very watered down Gunship Grey into the panel lines and details.

 

Next time I hope to be starting to paint the undersides.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent job, Stix - the trailing edge thinning down looks very effective :clap: Same goes for the weathered white paint, I shall store that trick away for future reference :worthy:

 

Ciao 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had forgotten about the thinning of the trailing edge. It certainly was needed! I ebayed a set of furniture scrapers for that and similar scraping expeditions.

 

If I understand you correctly, the white is stipples thinned white over a black base? It looks great.

 

Regards,

Adrian

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 25/10/2021 at 18:11, bigbadbadge said:

Nice job glueing together, I like the idea for the white side, for the black I use Humbrol 33 Matt black mixed with humbrol 78 interior grey/green, this makes a nice faded black.  

Looking forward to seeing the paint go on .

Chris

Hi Chris. Thank you for your, as always, kind comments. I like the sound of your idea for the faded black. I will try that at some point. The paint for the undersides has started to go on, as you will be able to see below.

 

On 25/10/2021 at 20:00, giemme said:

Excellent job, Stix - the trailing edge thinning down looks very effective :clap: Same goes for the weathered white paint, I shall store that trick away for future reference :worthy:

Ciao 

Hi Giorgio. Thank you too for your kind comments. You'll have to check out the weathered white paint, in the photos below, to see if it's what you can use as an effect.

 

On 25/10/2021 at 21:01, AdrianMF said:

I had forgotten about the thinning of the trailing edge. It certainly was needed! I ebayed a set of furniture scrapers for that and similar scraping expeditions.

If I understand you correctly, the white is stipples thinned white over a black base? It looks great.

Regards,

Adrian

Hi Adrian and thank you for your comments. Yes, Airfix didn't do a great job with those trailing edges. Odd really, because they can sometimes get them right on some of their other kits. The very thinned white paint is built up, using a a stippling brush, over the base coat of thinned Revell's Anthracite, in about three very thin layers. I have taken a photo after each coat, below, to show how it builds up.

 

On 25/10/2021 at 22:24, jackroadkill said:

Fantastic work, Stix.  I've a number of these kits in my stash and I love them - this thread may receive many visits from me when I get around to building the next one!

Hi Jack and thank you very much for your comments. Not surprised you have a few of these kits in the stash, it is nicely done.

 

On 25/10/2021 at 23:44, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Sorry to be late to the party, but please add me to the guest list! Love what I'm seeing/learning so far!

Hi ModelingEdmontonian. Absolutely no need to apologise. Britmodeller has so much going that it's easy to miss stuff. I know I do!! Had to find this thread of page 7!!

 

As I mentioned last time, a couple of weeks back - next up was getting the undersides painted. First off I painted them with a couple of coats of thinned Revell's Anthracite. I thin all the paints I use with water and apply them with a, in this case medium, flat brush:

 

51662307585_3ef2692dab_b.jpg

 

51661434741_5a8e744073_b.jpg

 

I didn't make to much mess on the upper surfaces!:

51661434696_d8806ec1cd_b.jpg

 

I did a quick test fit of the radiator unit:

51661434681_6b445db8b0_b.jpg

No glue involved at this point.

 

Then I got the masking tape applied to mask a line for the white paint:

51662307265_b9dd8d5c0f_b.jpg

 

It was then time to stipple on a very thinned coat of Humbrol Matt White:

51660626587_e50852b658_b.jpg

 

Once dry I stippled on a second, very thinned coat:

51661434921_ce17322c39_b.jpg

 

By the third coat I felt I'd got to the effect I wanted. I think, if I had added a fourth coat, the effect would have been too subtle. So, this is three coats:

51660626497_36d73407dc_b.jpg

 

And with the tape removed once it was dry:

51661434806_2eefd801ba_b.jpg

I was quite happy with the result. I then stippled some very thinned Anthracite on the Anthracite side to give it a more weathered look, although it doesn't show at all that well in the photos as it does to actually see it.

 

Then I added some very thinned Revell Gunship Grey into and around some of the detail on both sides using a very fine, pointed brush:

51662307210_36c64728de_b.jpg

The radiator unit is still not glued in place.

 

I thought someone might find it useful to see the two stippling brushes I used for the white paint:

51660730092_2d961e443a_b.jpg

They are, basically, cut down, pointed, brushes that had become too damaged to use for their intended purpose.

 

I have also applied some base paint to the spinner and prop:

51662117714_dccc2f0ec1_b.jpg

They were painted with thinned Anthracite applied with a small flat brush.

 

Next week I hope to start getting some paint onto the upper surfaces.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This build is going to look amazing.  I'm always envious of how you 1/72 builders do such detailed and involved jobs on such tiny subjects.

 

30 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Not surprised you have a few of these kits in the stash, it is nicely done.

 

It's a fantastic kit, and it shows just what Airfix can do when they're on song.  I just wish they'd issue this kit in 1/48.  I really want to build a ragwing 1/48 Hurricane and at the moment just about my only option is a Hasegawa kit and an MDC converstion kit.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I wouldn’t have guessed that would work so well. I did light blue over darker blue like that once (basically because I’d chosen the wrong colour) but never that contrasting. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

 

Regards,

Adrian

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...