Crikey... It's Special Hobby's 1/32 Whirlwind

[Chaotic Mike]

 

Another racing-quick build for me, about 6 weeks flash to bang.  Special Hobby's Whirlwind, like the real thing, is a thing of beauty and joy forever, with the possible exception of the undercarriage which is closer to being an invention of Satan.

 

Fit is superb, there were no vices to this kit (apart from the undercarriage... did I mention that?) and the quality of the interior out of the box contains pretty much all you would want to find.  So I immediately added in a Yahu instrument panel and groovy 3D seatbelt decals from a company I can't remember!  On with the show:

 

A general overview:

 

Front view, showing the extraordinary attention to detail that resulted in a frontal area apparently less than a Hurricane:

 

Another 3/4 view:

 

Bubble canopy is of exemplary quality:

 

Aforementioned Yahu IP.  Note also tactical use of EZ-Line.

 

Another view of the pit.  In real life, the radio mast doesn't seem quite so wonky.  Drilling a hole through it to enable the EZ-line to have something to adhere to was 'challenging'.

 

More pit goodness.  If you look *really really* closely you can see a pneumatic line I added to the control column for the cannon trigger.

 

The underside.  The instructions would have you paint the starboard stabiliser black, but I didn't believe them, so I didn't!

 

Tail wheel bay:

 

An undercarriage bay.  You know what?  Tricky...

 

In a rare attempt at figure painting, a resin bloke I acquired from somewhere (possibly he came along with my SH Tempest V, although I really can't remember), Flight Sergeant Hampton Wick, is fighting his way into the cramped cockpit:

 

Meanwhile Leading Aircraftsman 'Nobby' Nobbs considers whether or not to remove his hand before Sgt Wick turns the engine over:

 

And there you have it!  I think I will take a short break before re-visiting my current theme of 1/32 Sydney Camm objects: I have the choice of a Lukgraph Nimrod, a Special Hobby Tempest II, or, the piece de la résistance, a Fisher Pattern Sea Fury that has travelled from America, to New Zealand, and now to me.  Decisions, decisions...

[GiampieroSilvestri]

Very nice!

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely Whirlwind,  looking forward to building mine one day!!! Looks very impressive and it's good to know of the good fit.

 

Great work 

Chris

[Pete Robin]

Nicely built and well photographed.

Regards

Pete

[spitfire]

Nice one, looks great, it is a very attractive looking subject, well to me it is.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Pete in Lincs]

Crikey! indeed. Very nice result. I like the figures too. 

[SAT69]

It's obvious you enjoyed the build and the results are outstanding.

[Chaotic Mike]

Thank you all. Regarding the photos, I've stopped using my posh Panasonic micro 4/3 system camera, and started using my 3 year old phone's built in one, I'm sure there's a message there somewhere! 

[Markh-75]

Nice!👍 I see what you mean about the landing gear!Still a very nice model; lots of detail, easy enough to add on a 1/32, I'm a tad limited on my gentlemanly 1/72 (and I haven't built a whirlwind!)

[bryanm]

Excellent!  Great detail and I think the first 'Crikey' kit to have correct trailing edge radiators.  Perhaps they will scale it down to 1/48..........

[Chaotic Mike]

I did spend a little time scraping down the mating surfaces of the wings and elevators from the inside, to make the trailing edges sharper. Similarly I filed the exhaust shroud leading edges from the inside with a half-round file to make them look better - a bit less agricultural! 

[Natter]

Mmmmm... looks like a Whirlwind to me. Looks like an excellent Whirlwind to me actually.

[Chaotic Mike]

On 4/30/2022 at 11:27 PM, Natter said:

Mmmmm... looks like a Whirlwind to me. Looks like an excellent Whirlwind to me actually.

Thank you! 

[BerndM]

Neat build, looks fantastic.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Very smart. I love the cockpit.