***complete*** A couple of munchkin (1/144) Hawker Hurricanes

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I love Hawker Hurricanes and have built many of them in 1/72nd scale over the last two years (see: Hawker Hurricanes around the World), but 1/144 is NOT my comfort zone (actually I've never tried before). So, I thought, why not? I think I feel even less comfortable now that I look at the sprues, but nonetheless, here we go . . . First up will be the Zvezda Mk I kit, kindly supplied by @Mjwomack!

 

 

I have three of Sweet kits (each allowing you to build two Hurricanes, so that's six total!), too, which look to be somewhat better quality than Zvezda, so we'll start with the Zvezda and see where it goes. The Sweet kits include extra propellers, so I should be able to steal one of those to replace the one missing from the Zvezda kit. I have a few decal options for this, and have not decided which way I'll go in terms of markings yet, but fairly confident I won't be using the Zvezda decals. There were two sets in this kit, including two canopies, but they are not impressive decals. 

 

 

Here are the sprues, including the stand, which I do think I'll use. Seven parts total for the a/c itself--one fuselage, one wings, two UC, two stabilizers, and the canopy!

 

 

What have I got myself into!? 🥴

Edited May 27, 2023 by ModelingEdmontonian
correct spelling of Zvezda

[Mjwomack]

I feel that I should be thanking you for playing your part in the stash reduction project. hope you have a good time feeding the carpet monster!!!

[AdrianMF]

Welcome! Looking forward to this.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[TimJ]

I built the Zvezda kit a few years ago, it's a nice little kit. I'll be interested to see how it compares to the Sweet kits.  

Edited April 8, 2023 by TimJ

[Dazzio]

Nice!

 

I've built the Sweet kit and throughly enjoyed it.  Iirc, one of the kits is moulded in brown plastic and the other is clear?  Not sure on the idea as to why though.  The Zvezda kit was built for their table top game they where pushing, I think it was called "Act/Art of War"?  I have a few of them lying around also.  It's hard to believe that you can pick up the Sweet kits for about £3 in Japan.

 

Looking forward to watching a 1/144 kit being built.  Don't see that many of them.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

[Graham Boak]

The Zvezda is better than the Revell/Crown one but the Sweet is streets ahead.  Two per box and three different boxings, with a side choice of optional markings.

[CliffB]

Great things come in small packages (apparently) 

[marvinneko]

Looking forward to seeing how this goes! Do you have a magnifying headset? I ordered one to get myself back on track.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 4/3/2023 at 12:23 PM, Mjwomack said:

I feel that I should be thanking you for playing your part in the stash reduction project. hope you have a good time feeding the carpet monster!!!

Thanks again, @Mjwomack... but in terms of the carpet monster, I think the 1/72 kits have smaller pieces than the Zvezda does. The sweet kits do have some tiny parts, for sure though...

 

On 4/3/2023 at 6:17 PM, AdrianMF said:

Welcome! Looking forward to this.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers, @AdrianMF! Thanks for putting this together.

 

On 4/3/2023 at 6:42 PM, TimJ said:

I built the Zvezda kit a few years ago, it's a nice little kit. I'll be interested to see how it compares to the Sweet kits.  

Zvezda and Sweet have certainly taken different approaches to 1/144 Hurricanes! The Sweet kits have 25+ parts, and no stand. These are the four sprues that allow you to assemble two Hurricanes:

 

 

On 4/8/2023 at 2:11 PM, Dazzio said:

I've built the Sweet kit and throughly enjoyed it. 

Perfect, hopefully I will, too! At the moment I just feel intimidated!

 

On 4/8/2023 at 2:11 PM, Dazzio said:

Iirc, one of the kits is moulded in brown plastic and the other is clear?  Not sure on the idea as to why though. 

They do this so that they can avoid a separate clear sprue for canopies and landing lights. Each of the big sprues has two canopies and four landing lights, so you end up with four canopies and eight landing lights total, but only the ones on the clear sprue are useful.

 

On 4/8/2023 at 2:11 PM, Dazzio said:

It's hard to believe that you can pick up the Sweet kits for about £3 in Japan.

I had to spend far too much 😪

 

On 4/8/2023 at 2:23 PM, Graham Boak said:

The Zvezda is better than the Revell/Crown one but the Sweet is streets ahead.  Two per box and three different boxings, with a side choice of optional markings.

For sure on the markings Sweet is leagues ahead. Look at these decals for the fabric wing version! Romanian, Belgian, Finnish, and several RAF options... the only issue is the Romanian markings shouldn't be included for the fabric version. I might use them on the metal wing, though.

 

 

 

20 hours ago, CliffB said:

Great things come in small packages (apparently) 

So they say, but I wouldn't know...

 

1 hour ago, marvinneko said:

Looking forward to seeing how this goes! Do you have a magnifying headset? I ordered one to get myself back on track.

Thanks... I don't, but that could be useful! Even for 1/72...

 

Here are the Sweet decals from the metal wings kit:

 

 

And I have these decals from Shelf Oddity too; they can allow me to do metal wing kits as RAF night fighters or two versions of the single RAAF Hurricane:

 

 

I did the RAAF in 1/72 two years ago as I began my Hawker Hurricanes around the World project; wouldn't mind doing it again in 1/144 or the same plane but with the camo scheme it wore before the all-silver scheme. We'll see, lots of options...

 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Wow, that's definitely the fastest I ever built a Hawker Hurricane! 🤣 No legs or canopy or prop on, yet, but the basic a/c was together in about 75 seconds, I'd say! I still cannot get over how tiny 1/144 is...

 

 

I've decided I will build her as one of the RAF night fighters, and I won't use the stand after all. This means I have a hole to fill in the radiator, and there are also sink marks in the wings that needed filling.

 

 

I decided I will build a little base to put these on, so I ordered these resin oil barrels to see what they might do to bring it all "to life."

 

 

I sawed them off and gave them a rinse last night.

 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I have the UC and prop installed now. The prop is from the Sweet fabric wing kit and it fits perfectly. 

 

[AdrianMF]

Tiny! I thought for a moment that the peg was a moulded in pilot's head.

 

It's funny how something goes from "absolutely familiar" to "ridiculously small" when you halve the scale. It has happened to me when I've built a Tempest and a He111. It seems a very abrupt change.
 

Somehow modern airliners are immune from this effect because it's easy to forget how much bigger they are than the stuff we build in 1/72.

Regards,

Adrian

 

[marvinneko]

Wow not much detail on the Zvezda. I was looking for flaps on the bottom then noticed the Sweet seems to have lots more details everywhere and looks quite nice.

 

This thread triggered me into combing the net for these kits. My conclusion is the next time I visit Japan I should fill my suitcase with kits. Shipping costs from anywhere other than China to Canada make me weep. 

[Tim R-T-C]

Great to see some 144th action and to see the superb 144th aftermarket suppliers Shelf Oddity and Heroes Models getting some love too.

 

Just a caution with Shelf Oddity decals - they are ultra thin, so handle with care.

 

I have often used PlazaJapan and Amazon.jp for Sweet imports. Postage isn't cheap but when you balance it out, the kits work out about £15 per boxing so no different to what you would pay for similar quality pieces here in the UK.

 

Mike from Starling Models did recently import a few Sweet kits which are available on his site, the Hurricanes are sold out though.

 

https://starling-models.co.uk/search?q=Sweet

 

Otherwise if you are in the market for some similar types, the new Beacon Models Spitfire/109E boxing is very high quality, available direct from https://www.beacon-models.com or coming on Hannants shortly too.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

18 hours ago, marvinneko said:

Wow not much detail on the Zvezda. I was looking for flaps on the bottom then noticed the Sweet seems to have lots more details everywhere and looks quite nice.

Yup, good assessment! But, not sure how much value detail is in 1/144 to be honest. Unless you have a magnifying glass...

 

18 hours ago, marvinneko said:

Shipping costs from anywhere other than China to Canada make me weep. 

yes, it hurts...

 

14 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Just a caution with Shelf Oddity decals - they are ultra thin, so handle with care.

ok, thanks for the warning.

 

14 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

PlazaJapan

This is who I ordered from. I ordered three kits at once, and I think it was about $60 Canadian all in, so not awful, but definitely still pricey (and a good chunk of it was shipping costs). 

 

14 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Otherwise if you are in the market for some similar types, the new Beacon Models Spitfire/109E boxing is very high quality, available direct from https://www.beacon-models.com or coming on Hannants shortly too.

Thanks for this, but so far I have to say 1/144 is still certainly outside of my comfort zone and I don't know how many more I'll want to do! Looks like you're a fan of munchkin scale though?

 

Meanwhile, the little oil barrels got some dark green paint from a rattle can...

 

 

I also sprayed rattle can black onto the Zvezda a/c.

 

[marvinneko]

5 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

not sure how much value detail is in 1/144 to be honest. Unless you have a magnifying glass...

 

What, so you're not gonna scribe the wings, turn the rudder and drop the elevators? 🤪 Those lovely closeup photos distort reality don't they? Just ignore my ramblings. You're cranking out lovely builds and I'm anticipating your paint and decal work coming up. I'm still snowed under finishing a major project before I can touch my first kit again 🤨 so this is all just compensation.

[Mjwomack]

4 hours ago, marvinneko said:

You're cranking out lovely builds and I'm anticipating your paint and decal work coming up.

yep, those of us in the audience have very confidence in your rattle can and dry-brushing. As for munchkin scale? I suspect you'll actually get into it, especially when you realise how long paint, cement etc. lasts and the vast amount of space you save!!!

[ModelingEdmontonian]

8 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

the vast amount of space you save!!!

This is definitely a selling point!

 

By the way, this is the a/c I'm modeling:

 

 

Here are the Shelf Oddity decals I'll be using.

 

 

The little diorama I'm building assumed a UK base, and I realize green grass won't be the perfect setting for Z4204! I might try to find some sand... Anyway here is what I built, it'll be useful for future munchkin Hurris (if I actually build more than one 🤣)

 

 

And the oil barrels received a good "oily" wash. These are looking pretty cool, I think!

 

[AdrianMF]

3 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

The little diorama I'm building assumed a UK base, and I realize green grass won't be the perfect setting for Z4204!

So at sunset can you see a "Kraft" logo in the grass?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[marvinneko]

3 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

So at sunset can you see a "Kraft" logo in the grass?

 

Regards,

Adrian

Hey you with the comments from the peanut gallery!

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Ignoring the jokes and getting on with the real work (😆) : decals on. Lovely decals. The upper wing roundel should not extend onto the flaps, so you can see how badly Zvezda's done with those... (pretty sure it's Zvezda's fault and not Shelf Oddity's).

 

[marvinneko]

1 hour ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

upper wing roundel should not extend onto the flaps

 

Hm... comparing the model proportion of the aileron to wing vs the referrence photo, there does seem to be quite a difference. 

 

Roughly.... the photo seems to be 1/6 and the model seems to be 1/3. Wow!

 

When I started using a scale calculator on the web while working on my Hurricane to check stuff and add details, I experienced some major shock.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

22 hours ago, marvinneko said:

 

Hm... comparing the model proportion of the aileron to wing vs the referrence photo, there does seem to be quite a difference. 

 

Roughly.... the photo seems to be 1/6 and the model seems to be 1/3. Wow!

 

When I started using a scale calculator on the web while working on my Hurricane to check stuff and add details, I experienced some major shock.

Wow is right! Zvezda won't be winning any accuracy awards then. Still, I'd have to say it is an overall better kit than I expected. I got some "detail" painting done... cockpit, yellow tips on prop, exhaust stacks, and wheel rims. The all-black camo has made this one relatively easy despite the eye-squinting scale. 

 

[AlxBNE]

I mean this as a compliment and I am VERY impressed. But had to drag the thread back away from the real work into the terrible dad joke zone again......

 

Yours is SOOOO tiny ! Much smaller than mine, and I thought mine was small.

 

Back to the more serious compliments what a stunning piece of work on this eye-squinting model.

[AdrianMF]

Looks great!

 

FWIW I'd be tempted to make the cockpit shelf a good deal darker, otherwise it will look odd under the canopy.

 

Regards,

Adrian