Romanian Hurricane Mk.I 1940 - Arma Hobby 1/72

[Fin]

 

 

I know the plane in the foreground is a Messerchmitt, but I was - sort of - recreating this photo:

http://www.cartula.ro/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=142957

 

It shows the Romanian BF 109 E-3 no.1 next to Hurricane Mk.I no.1 in pre-Eastern Front markings. The Bf was destroyed in an accident on December 4 1940 so this picture was probably taken earlier that year. The first Emil was flown to Romania in December 1939 and the Hurricanes were delivered in crates at about the same time. In the summer of 1940 when the Soviet Union presented Romania with a 24 hours ultimatum to give up its eastern and northern provinces under the threat of invasion, these few Hurricanes and Messerschmitts were the most modern fighters Romanian had. I think it`s something of a poetry to see an 109 and a Hurricane next to each other under the same country colours. Indeed, the 12 Hurricanes that Romanian bought from Britain formed the 53rd Squadron, which initially was paired in the 7th Fighter Group with the 57th Squadron equipped with the first batch of 11 Bf 109 E-3. These acquisitions made after the war had already started in Europe created the situation where the British pilots and technicians sent to help press the Hurricanes (and Blenheims) into service found themselves neighbours at Pipera with the German personnel who was doing the same for the He-112s.

 

 

 

The no.1 Hurricane was flown by Emil Georgescu, the 53rd Squadron`s commander. For anyone interested in the subject, the book under my model is a good starting place and I`ve reviewed it HERE, on BM, several years ago.

 

My build is not the most fortunate and better modellers will notice quite a few things that could have been done better. The lighting conditions were not ideal either these days, being mostly cloudy, but somehow able to make both my models and the Coastal Kits base more shiny than in reality. Still, three photoshoots - and several sessions of fixing small issues and removing particles of dust virtually invisible to the naked eye, but popping up in pictures - later I`ll call it done for now.

 

 

I`ve used the Arma Hobby 70021 Hurricane Mk I Trop kit (simply because that`s the one I found locally and the plastic is the same as in the other Mk.I boxes). The five spoke wheels characteristic of the L series Hurricanes that Romania had came with a decal set by Kora (Dec7269) dedicated to the Yugoslav Hurricanes. The De Havilland Spitfire Propeller is a Quickboost (72166) product. The cockpit ring gunsight is from an Eduard PE sheet (72403) and the bead on the cowling is from a Master set dedicated to British P-40 B/Cs (AM-72-123). I`ve replaced the kit`s antenna mast with a 0.9mm brass tube as the L series had the early, pole type. I`ve also removed the extra access panel on the right side of the fuselage that was not present on this series. The roundels and numbers are from a dedicated RB Productions decal sheet (RB-D72022); the stencils are from the Arma kit. I`ve also used the dedicated masks from Pmask (PK72154) which are great and Eduard`s Superfabric early RAF seatbelts (73025) - wish Eduard would still be making these.

I`ve used Lifecolor`s UA 092 for Dark Earth as recommended by the RB decal`s instructions. The UA 091 that was recommended for Dark Green proved to be a rather bright and saturated green so I had to overpaint it with the only other Dark Green I had available, Italeri`s 4726AP. The Black (36108), White (36105), Aluminium (36199) and Blue (36156 - on the rudder) are from Revell`s Aqua range. The Yellow is also Revell (36115), but I`ve addded a bit of Carmine Red (36136) to try and match the RB Productions decal yellow and for once I think I`ve done it. The red on the rudder is Vallejo`s 70.817 and the interior grey green is Hataka`s B025. The model is brush painted so having to add a couple more layers of dark green was not fortunate. The white and yellow also do not brush easily and need several layers and this made it harder for the wash to settle in the panel lines. The wash is a combination of 4 parts Light Grey, 1 part White and 1 part European Dust from Vallejo. With half the underside being white and the other black I`ve tried to choose something light enough to show on black, but still dark enough for the white and the two colours on the upperside. I think it ended up too dark for the white wing. The plane would have been fairly new and well maintained at this point. The small bump between the antenna pole and the canopy was actually a light on the real thing and would have been better represented by a transparent piece, but I`ve realized this late so I`ve just painted it gloss white.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Fin

[stevehnz]

Superb, a lovely bit of modelling on a interesting subject. 👍

Thanks for the history behind it & the comprehensive rundown on what you used, saves me asking the usual inane questions, you've already given the answers.   I wish everybody wrote up their masterpieces as you have. A great effort in every way. The photos are pretty nice too.  

Steve.

[SoftScience]

Wow! Hurricane looks really pretty in Romanian markings;

[VG 33]

Hello

 

This is very nice. I like very much those Romanian aircraft with roundels. I have a project around a couple of Savoia 79 B and B1 in the near future.

 

Cheers.

 

Patrick

[Fin]

Thank you very much for your kind words, guys!

 

I`ve started a He-112B in the meantime and will try to make it in the same 1940 markings. It`s my second attempt at this after abandoning a RS kit in progress as nothing in that box fits. I`ve bought the old Heller kit on ebay and it seems such a nice kit to assemble so far, despite needing some scratch building. The only problem is it has raised panel lines and I`ve never attempted to engrave a whole plane before. Hopely I`ll manage to get it done.

 

9 hours ago, VG 33 said:

Hello

 

This is very nice. I like very much those Romanian aircraft with roundels. I have a project around a couple of Savoia 79 B and B1 in the near future.

 

Cheers.

 

Patrick

I hope you`ll post that. I`ve rarely seen it done. Are you going to do one of the original lot with Gnôme-Rhône 14K engines by any chance? FRROM/Azur only offers the later Junkers equipped machines.

[georgeusa]

Really nice Hurricane in unusual livery.  And, I like the 109 that it is paired with.  White, black and silver colors do not lend themselves to brush painting so you are to be commended for the job you did on this kit.  Thanks for sharing.

[VG 33]

2 hours ago, Fin said:

I hope you`ll post that. I`ve rarely seen it done. Are you going to do one of the original lot with Gnôme-Rhône 14K engines by any chance? FRROM/Azur only offers the later Junkers equipped machines.

 

 

No they will be both FRROM kits with the two different Junkers engines.

 

Patrick

[Wulfman]

Beautiful looking Hurricane, great work 

Wulfman 

[Spitfire31]

Very neat and interesting modelling project! I, for one, really appreciate a bit of history to go with the miniatures.

 

Excellent modelling!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[MACALAIN]

On 12/10/2022 at 20:14, Fin said:

 

 

I know the plane in the foreground is a Messerchmitt, but I was - sort of - recreating this photo:

http://www.cartula.ro/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=142957

 

It shows the Romanian BF 109 E-3 no.1 next to Hurricane Mk.I no.1 in pre-Eastern Front markings. The Bf was destroyed in an accident on December 4 1940 so this picture was probably taken earlier that year. The first Emil was flown to Romania in December 1939 and the Hurricanes were delivered in crates at about the same time. In the summer of 1940 when the Soviet Union presented Romania with a 24 hours ultimatum to give up its eastern and northern provinces under the threat of invasion, these few Hurricanes and Messerschmitts were the most modern fighters Romanian had. I think it`s something of a poetry to see an 109 and a Hurricane next to each other under the same country colours. Indeed, the 12 Hurricanes that Romanian bought from Britain formed the 53rd Squadron, which initially was paired in the 7th Fighter Group with the 57th Squadron equipped with the first batch of 11 Bf 109 E-3. These acquisitions made after the war had already started in Europe created the situation where the British pilots and technicians sent to help press the Hurricanes (and Blenheims) into service found themselves neighbours at Pipera with the German personnel who was doing the same for the He-112s.

 

 

 

The no.1 Hurricane was flown by Emil Georgescu, the 53rd Squadron`s commander. For anyone interested in the subject, the book under my model is a good starting place and I`ve reviewed it HERE, on BM, several years ago.

 

My build is not the most fortunate and better modellers will notice quite a few things that could have been done better. The lighting conditions were not ideal either these days, being mostly cloudy, but somehow able to make both my models and the Coastal Kits base more shiny than in reality. Still, three photoshoots - and several sessions of fixing small issues and removing particles of dust virtually invisible to the naked eye, but popping up in pictures - later I`ll call it done for now.

 

 

I`ve used the Arma Hobby 70021 Hurricane Mk I Trop kit (simply because that`s the one I found locally and the plastic is the same as in the other Mk.I boxes). The five spoke wheels characteristic of the L series Hurricanes that Romania had came with a decal set by Kora (Dec7269) dedicated to the Yugoslav Hurricanes. The De Havilland Spitfire Propeller is a Quickboost (72166) product. The cockpit ring gunsight is from an Eduard PE sheet (72403) and the bead on the cowling is from a Master set dedicated to British P-40 B/Cs (AM-72-123). I`ve replaced the kit`s antenna mast with a 0.9mm brass tube as the L series had the early, pole type. I`ve also removed the extra access panel on the right side of the fuselage that was not present on this series. The roundels and numbers are from a dedicated RB Productions decal sheet (RB-D72022); the stencils are from the Arma kit. I`ve also used the dedicated masks from Pmask (PK72154) which are great and Eduard`s Superfabric early RAF seatbelts (73025) - wish Eduard would still be making these.

I`ve used Lifecolor`s UA 092 for Dark Earth as recommended by the RB decal`s instructions. The UA 091 that was recommended for Dark Green proved to be a rather bright and saturated green so I had to overpaint it with the only other Dark Green I had available, Italeri`s 4726AP. The Black (36108), White (36105), Aluminium (36199) and Blue (36156 - on the rudder) are from Revell`s Aqua range. The Yellow is also Revell (36115), but I`ve addded a bit of Carmine Red (36136) to try and match the RB Productions decal yellow and for once I think I`ve done it. The red on the rudder is Vallejo`s 70.817 and the interior grey green is Hataka`s B025. The model is brush painted so having to add a couple more layers of dark green was not fortunate. The white and yellow also do not brush easily and need several layers and this made it harder for the wash to settle in the panel lines. The wash is a combination of 4 parts Light Grey, 1 part White and 1 part European Dust from Vallejo. With half the underside being white and the other black I`ve tried to choose something light enough to show on black, but still dark enough for the white and the two colours on the upperside. I think it ended up too dark for the white wing. The plane would have been fairly new and well maintained at this point. The small bump between the antenna pole and the canopy was actually a light on the real thing and would have been better represented by a transparent piece, but I`ve realized this late so I`ve just painted it gloss white.

Very well done.

 

Alain

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Of course I love this! The photo with the Emil is cool. Thanks for the history and rundown, your comments are helpful as I plan my own Romanian Hurricane!

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 10/12/2022 at 12:14 PM, Fin said:

The De Havilland Spitfire Propeller is a Quickboost (72166) product

Also, glad to know about this product. I think the Finnish Hurricanes uses these too so I will need one for when I build Finland. For Romania I think I will do one of the captured Yugoslav Hurricanes, so different prop and fabric wing.

[Fin]

4 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Also, glad to know about this product. I think the Finnish Hurricanes uses these too so I will need one for when I build Finland. For Romania I think I will do one of the captured Yugoslav Hurricanes, so different prop and fabric wing.

For the Romanian aircraft you don`t really need to worry about the propeller cone. There is a common belief that the 12 aircraft bought from Britain had the larger Spitfire De Havilland propeller cones, but in the book I mentioned above, no.3 appears in photographs with both the larger and smaller cones and no.9 and no.10 only sport the smaller one. Maybe the smaller Hurricane De Havilland ones came later, from Yugoslav stocks, but if so, they were not restricted to the three ex-Yugoslav machines. This is probably an element that would be changed repeatedly during the service of a particular aircraft. Worth a look to see if the Finns had both types in service, in which case you could save the money for the aftermarket.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread!

Edited October 14, 2022 by Fin