Racing Hurricane: Hawker's G-AMAU

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 10/1/2022 at 11:04 AM, PLC1966 said:

G-AMAU, under its Military reg of PZ865, is owned by the Royal Air Force and flies as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, in fact it was flying out of Coningsby today. 

Thanks for the correction. So I guess at some point Hawker must have sold her to the RAF. 

 

On 10/1/2022 at 12:25 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I have both sheets and strips of Evergreen plastic. I tend to use the strips of various sizes for gap filling. The sheets are more for bulkheads and floors to fill internal voids. 

 

14 hours ago, Col. said:

I tend to use the sheet for almost everything as I've got plenty of it and can be sliced into strips when needed.

Thanks, @Corsairfoxfouruncle and @Col.. I should get to the model shop on Tuesday, we'll see what I come back with... appreciate the advice.

 

Meanwhile, I did a little seam work where plasticard won't be required, plus drilled a hole for the ID light.

 

[Troy Smith]

2 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

So I guess at some point Hawker must have sold her to the RAF. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hurricane_PZ865

 

"In 1972 the aircraft was refurbished and presented by Hawker's successor company, Hawker Siddeley, to the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight then based at RAF Coltishall, reverting to its RAF serial as identity"

 

Your probably not too worried, but the air intake is the Mk.I type, the Mk.II had a fairing at the rear, and was wider. 

Hurri BBMF underside crop by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

I think the ONLY kit that has this is the Arma Hobby Mk.II, but I'd need to check to be sure.  Only really visible when upside down.  

 

 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

1 hour ago, Troy Smith said:

 

"In 1972 the aircraft was refurbished and presented by Hawker's successor company, Hawker Siddeley, to the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight then based at RAF Coltishall, reverting to its RAF serial as identity"

Well there you go, I could have just checked Wikipedia 🙃

[ModelingEdmontonian]

1 hour ago, Troy Smith said:

Your probably not too worried, but the air intake is the Mk.I type, the Mk.II had a fairing at the rear, and was wider. 

Ugh, I just went with the version that matched the Revell kit. Should have checked. I have some spares of the Mk II version from Arma. I'll see if I can pry it off.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

2 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

I'll see if I can pry it off.

Nope tet did its job and I don't think it's going anywhere. 

[Col.]

12 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Nope tet did its job and I don't think it's going anywhere. 

Some more TET may help free it off again.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

17 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Hurri BBMF underside crop  

@Troy Smith another thing I see in this picture are three ID lights, were those a later edition or did I miss when Hurricanes went from one to three?

[Troy Smith]

1 minute ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

were those a later edition or did I miss when Hurricanes went from one to three?

I'm not sure,  I think these maybe a post war addition,  it's one of my unanswered Hurricane questions to be researched.   Prior to this the outer holes had been used as the ports for the flare chutes.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

1 hour ago, Col. said:

Some more TET may help free it off again.

Hmm didn't think about this... theory being the TET softens it all up before it hardens?

[Col.]

2 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Hmm didn't think about this... theory being the TET softens it all up before it hardens?

That's correct. Although theory and practice are not necessarily always the same it has worked for me in the past with caveat it has the potential to require some clean-up of parts afterwards.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Back from the hobby store and here's what I found:

 

 

Work has begun with these on the underside gap, but will have to update later.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Yep almost exactly the sizes I use, an added benefit besides gap filling. You can build the stringers and ribs on the inside of bare cockpit's and fuselages by gluing these in a grid pattern.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I started working with the plasticard yesterday and more today. I like it! As a reminder, this was the gap I was dealing with:

 

 

First step:

 

 

You see also, by the way, my attempts to use putty to "correct" the air intake. We'll see what it looks like with primer on. Anyway, back to the gap. Second step:

 

 

And third and final piece of plasticard affixed:

 

 

And all done, sanded, filled in here or there, and it seems to have worked!
 

 

Next is the exhaust stacks. The Eduard pieces are a bit short and too narrow up/down. I glued a piece of plasticard on the bottom.

 

 

Seemed to work well, so went around to the other side as well, and a bit on the front, too, to eat up some of the space forward. 

 

 

In the end I had overdone it, so had to take a piece of the top, but otherwise they fit nice and snug. A bit of putty plugged the remaining gap forward and I think this worked well! Usually I like to install exhaust stacks after painting, but in this case this was the way to go given the work required.

 

 

So, I think I can say my foray into plasticard has started well, thanks for the help and advice @Corsairfoxfouruncle@Col.!

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I drilled a hole for the pitot tube--actually the pitot tube isn't too bad by Revell standards, but there was nowhere to put it.

 

 

I moved to the landing lights next. First, silver painted.

 

 

In this case the Revell parts are fairly lousy, but I installed them, sanded, dripped some superglue in gaps, and will fill in the rest of the space with Kristal Klear later on. They're looking ok already, really--here's the port wing with landing light and pitot tube.

 

 

I had painted the landing gear aluminum, but realized in the photos that I think the landing gear is royal blue, too. So went ahead and installed them now.

 

 

And then went to put on the doors, which come in two pieces. Only problem is the two pieces aren't designed properly (at least not to model it with gear down, because the two parts do not meet). So, I opted to go with a spare set from a Smer kit. These are ugly parts, but at least they're one piece.

 

 

I popped those on and they fit nicely. Almost ready to spray primer. Meanwhile, pulled out the prop and wheels and thought about painting yellow and silver on these, but haven't quite got there just yet.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by ModelingEdmontonian

[Col.]

Nice progress and it seems you're having fun working with the plasticard  

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I had G-AMAU ready for primer, with liquid mask on the landing lights and the cockpit taped up...

 

 

... but in looking again at photos, I realized the starboard landing light was almost certainly covered over. So, mask off and some putting in the cracks. Not good adherence, so will try again after primer. In looking at the photos again I also realized how inadequate the kit wheels are, and decided to scrounge around for alternatives. I found a set from AZ that I had rejected, but now look pretty good!

 

 

 

I also figured while I was actually pursuing accuracy I might try working on the air intake again. Nippers, knife, and sand paper later, I had it off and flush:

 

 

The spare Arma air intake fit well over top once it was sanded down too.

 

 

Ok, primer now, I think...

[Col.]

Nice attention to those final details

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Primer on!

 

With the spinner dry-fitted, a good chance to start painting the gold.

 

 

Here is the paint I found to use--"glorious gold" (not just gold!).

 

 

And now the royal blue, Tamiya X-3, per @Troy Smith advice.

 

 

Meanwhile, the replacement wheels are looking pretty good! 

 

 

[Col.]

Good to see this one taking on its colours 

[bigbadbadge]

This is coming on well, great job  so far

Chris 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

More coats of X-3. Looking a tad on the dark side maybe versus the photos, but a lovely colour nonetheless.

 

[Col.]

This one's looking rather smart in her blue even before all the livery is added

[Troy Smith]

On 14/10/2022 at 04:58, ModelingEdmontonian said:

More coats of X-3. Looking a tad on the dark side maybe versus the photos, but a lovely colour nonetheless.

Oxford Blue BS105 is WW2 Roundel Blue, and it's a pretty dark blue.  

Hurricane close up by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

PS as G-AMAU was a gloss finish, 

The last Hurricane, 1958. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

if you look at the grass on this, you can see this is a bit washed out 

Civvie Hurricane       1950. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

while searching for the Tomtit pics, the info on the baove turned up

"An extremely rare Dufaycolor transparency of G-AMAU at White Waltham on May 14, 1950, taken from beside the tail of Hawker's similarly-painted civil-registered Tomtit, G-AFTA. Unusually, this photograph was taken from the starboard side, revealing that the legend, "The Last of The Many", was painted only on the port side in the initial iteration of the Hurricane's blue-and-gold scheme."

http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/HI/HI-5/27-2.jpg

 

The same blue was used on Hawker Tomtit also kept by Hawkers

"Hawker Tomtit G-AFTA (the full-size aircraft is seen here at Old Warden in 1960), and finished it in the very same paint used on all the Hawker “heritage" aeroplanes."

 

 

"From 1959 G-AFTA maintained its Hawker house colours while with Shuttleworth. Following overhaul at Dunsfold in 1967 it took on military markings once more."

 

PPS just spotted this

http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft32176.htm

 

"Following publication of our article on Hawker Hurricane PZ865’s post-war racing career in TAH5, Chris Farara and Dick Poole alerted us to the fact that the late David Lockspeiser had built a 1/72nd-scale model of Hawker Tomtit G-AFTA, and finished it in the very same paint used on all the Hawker “heritage" aeroplanes. TAH has borrowed the model from David’s family, to examine the colour - which is close to Methuen 20F8, and just a touch lighter than Humbrol 15 Gloss Midnight Blue."

 

 

[Troy Smith]

On 19/09/2022 at 01:10, Troy Smith said:

one detail that is really useful

https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/23820-blue-hurricane

 

"During the current work being undertaken on PZ865, we removed a blanked over air scoop about the size of a 2p coin. Under the rivetted blanking plate was the intake scoop in the original blue paintwork:) I duly fetched my books of colour chips and set to work. Although the colour does change in different lighting conditions (they all do) it was a strong match for one of them: Oxford Blue. Here's a picture, you decide..."

Note BS105  is  wartime RAF Roundel Blue.

 

 

On 15/10/2022 at 23:46, Troy Smith said:

PPS just spotted this

http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft32176.htm

 

"Following publication of our article on Hawker Hurricane PZ865’s post-war racing career in TAH5, Chris Farara and Dick Poole alerted us to the fact that the late David Lockspeiser had built a 1/72nd-scale model of Hawker Tomtit G-AFTA, and finished it in the very same paint used on all the Hawker “heritage" aeroplanes. TAH has borrowed the model from David’s family, to examine the colour - which is close to Methuen 20F8, and just a touch lighter than Humbrol 15 Gloss Midnight Blue."

 

I'm going to @Casey  on this, to see how BS.105 VS Roundel Blue vs Methuen 20F8 and Humbrol 15 may interact....   I'm interested to know myself....

[Casey]

8 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

I'm going to @Casey  on this, to see how BS.105 VS Roundel Blue vs Methuen 20F8 and Humbrol 15 may interact....   I'm interested to know myself....

I'll work on it as soon as I am back in civilization