Airfix 1/72 Hurricane Mk.I

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

For my entry into this GB I'm going to have a go at Airfix's Hurricane Mk.I 

 

 

 

As a newbie, I haven't had much luck with painting my builds. A couple of the early brush painted models ended up crashing or being completely stripped back to plastic.  The struggles with painting really knocked the fun out of modelling and I ended up leaving my half built projects on the shelf for several months. 

 

In the end, I thought the best option was to invest in an airbrush. It's like night and day - the finish is way better than I thought I could achieve and the paint goes on in a quarter of the time and number of coats. OK, so masking is a bit tedious and cleaning the airbrush is a bit more involved than drinking a brush in some thinners, but it's well worth it. Mojo restored.

 

So, time to move on and have a go at something a bit more complicated and have a go at camouflage and weathering. Looking forward to this one...

 

John

 

[jackroadkill]

This is a nice kit, too; I have some in the stash and they might make an appearance in this GB if I can get my bench cleared in time!

[5huggy]

I have 3 on the go at the moment (I got a batch of them from Aldi last year - I intend to create a squadron type diorama 

 

So @wanders_up_the_wrekin go for it - it is a nice kit to put together - and fit of most parts is extraordinary good. 

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

1 hour ago, 5huggy said:

So @wanders_up_the_wrekin go for it - it is a nice kit to put together - and fit of most parts is extraordinary good. 

 

Definitely looking forward to building a modern tooling, every kit I've done so far has been from either 50+ years old tools or short run modern tools from RS/KP/AZ. 

[5huggy]

24 minutes ago, wanders_up_the_wrekin said:

 

Definitely looking forward to building a modern tooling, every kit I've done so far has been from either 50+ years old tools or short run modern tools from RS/KP/AZ. 

In that case fella your in for a really good treat - I got back into modelling because of Covid "lockdown" - been doing it on and off for last 48 years - and since 2020 ive been avidly building,

because the disappointments that you alluded to are far less and the details so superb in a lot of cases

 

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

I've managed to make a start with the build, after getting sidelined with a couple of other non modelling projects for a couple of weeks.

 

As usual, some sprue shots; though I wont go to town since this is a well known and frequently built kit; last count was three in this GB alone (albeit one in a different boxing, but the same tooling I believe)

 

 

This is my first 'modern' Airfix kit; I'd pleased with the level of detail and the overall quality. There's very little flash or clean-up needed on the parts. I did find a few issues though.

 

The first is just unfortunate placement of four ejector pins within the wheel well. No real problem to sand them out, and I suppose they have to go somewhere but shame they ended up in such a visible spot. 

 

 

 

The second problem is, I think, a bit of a moulding defect. It looks like the starboard aileron on the upper wing is short shot. I missed it at first but it's there - the straight line of the trailing edge is no longer straight, or in line, outboard of the sprue attachment. I'll post a shot of it assembled in the next update. I think it'll be ok filled with milliput and sanded and scraped into shape while wet to preserve the detail on the surface. There's also a surface "tear" that looks like a mould defect, maybe shrinkage crack? Again, some milliput should cover it up. 

 

 

Most of the wheel well and cockpit parts have been removed ready for painting, just got a few bits of touching up to do then I'll get some photos and come back with another update. 

[Troy Smith]

54 minutes ago, wanders_up_the_wrekin said:

Most of the wheel well and cockpit parts have been removed ready for painting,

One tip, make sure the front spar is correctly seated, scrape any seams and use wing halves taped together to get in right place, and when in right place use a little liquid glue capillary action to fix spar to lower wing.

It's  easy to not get quite right, and then wing halves don't quite join and you get a step under nose.

Same for rest of well, make sure in right place, but the front spar is crucial to get those to fit properly.

Its a feature of a few new tool kits, very very tight tolerances that can seem to fit and then throw fit out just enough to late to easily fix...

 

You can wiggle UC legs at end as well.

HTH 

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

So I managed to assemble the wheel well. Thanks @Troy Smith for the heads up on this tricky step. I saw a youtube video of someone building this kit and they also had grief with exactly what you describe. I noticed that the plastic is so soft and thin that the centre section which should be flat actually has a slight curve where it follows the dihedral of the outer sections of the wing. Not sure if this is why it doesn't always assemble correctly.  

 

 

 

And after a rather heavy coat of aluminium, the upper wing, now minus the ejector pin marks. I saw on some pictures that the "channel" below the main surface had some sort of flap, looked almost like leather, so brush painted a bit of brown. It looks a bit stark here but after a bit of griming up I think it should look ok.

 

 

Then glued up the wing, thankfully no gaps:

 

 

 

And a dry fit with the fuselage looks good. 

 

 

With the wings now joined the short shot aileron is a bit clearer:

 

 

That's me done for the evening, got a bit more touching up to do on the wheel well and then onto the cockpit. I painted everything while I have the airbrush out for the wheel well so fingers crossed it should be a simple bit of assembly (except we know its never that easy......)

 

John

[Franz75]

Airfix's quality can be inconsistent. Some kits are good, while others are mediocre. However, the company has improved its quality in recent years. Before starting one of their models, keep in mind that some extra work might be required to achieve the desired result.

[LorenSharp]

Beautiful start!

[stevehnz]

Nice going on this, I've built a couple & with some care, they build up really well. Seems you've found that out.

Steve.

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

It's been a while! Once again other projects have been getting in the way of modelling and stealing from time at the workbench. Actually I've been without a workbench and relegated to the dining table. It's all worth it though, I've redocorated an unused bedroom and the new workbench should have a prime spot right in front of the window with space for my compressor and a shelf or two for the small stash. 

 

Last update I was working on the cockpit. That's all complete, it went together with no trouble at all. It probably would look better with some seatbelts, probably another thing to learn for my next build, the Hurricane's seatbelts look a bit complex for a first attempt.

 

 

Compared to the cockpits on my previous builds (all short run and very old kits) this  was a dream to put together. 

 

 

So onto the exterior. I've pretty much got it built up and ready for priming bar the glazing. With this being my first modern kit from a mainstream manufacturer I think I'd been expecting less filling and sanding to do. In the end I think every joint and seam needed some kind of rectification, plus some time to remove and fill the fabric effect from behind the gun bays. Looking at these photos, I can see a few other bits that need a bit of attention before I spray the primer. 

 

 

 

The end result if worth the effort though. The surface detail looks great even if it did make for some tricky sanding to avoid obliterating it. 

 

Hopefully Mr. Hannant will be delivering some canopy masks tomorrow so I should be all set for a big push next week to actually get some paint on. 

 

 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Still It's coming along magnificently even with having to use some filler.

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

Back again, and hopefully now more often. For the past six weeks or so I've been modelling on the kitchen table while I did some sorting and redecorating but that's all finished now and the workbench is now in its new spot. It's great to have it back. 

 

To celebrate I may have picked up a model (or two.. or three......) from the show at the weekend. Already started on this Whitley, a superb kit so far. 

 

 

Anyway back to the Hurricane. I quickly got some primer on it, just Tamiya from a rattle can. It's great stuff once on but is sometimes hard to apply in a nice thin even coat. I did get a few thick runs here and there which meant sanding if off in some areas and re-applying. I think for the next build I'm going to look at an airbrushed primer. Now really that means I should probably get another airbrush! 

 

 

And finally I've started on the paint job, beginning with the underside. The white is plain Tamiya acrylic flat white, the black is a 50/50 mix of flat black and rubber black, I thought that pure black might look a bit stark so I tried to soften it a bit. I think it could probably benefit from a little more rubber black, it's maybe still a bit too solid black, so I might try and 40/60 or maybe 33/66 mix next time. There are a couple of small slithers of bare plastic showing between the two colours that I'll need to touch up but I'm very happy with the result.

 

 

One great thing about this hobby is digging into all of the history of the subjects that we model. It seems odd that an aircraft that is trying to be invisible to the enemy has such a high contrast marking on the underside. I'm sure there's a reason, so some background reading is required I think. 

 

Hopefully another update in a couple of days with some shades of muddy browns and greens....

 

 

 

 

[Troy Smith]

54 minutes ago, wanders_up_the_wrekin said:

One great thing about this hobby is digging into all of the history of the subjects that we model. It seems odd that an aircraft that is trying to be invisible to the enemy has such a high contrast marking on the underside. I'm sure there's a reason, so some background reading is required I think. 

For use in the UK,  by the Observer Corps.  Radar looked out over the coast, inland there was no coverage.

It was a standard scheme, hence use in France,  where it was observed by 1 Sq to be very visible, and there is mention of experimenting with a light blue like the French.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234951615-paul-richey-hurricane-questions/page/2/#elControls_1548242_menu

"The recommendation for 'Duck Egg Blue' undersurfaces came from S/Ldr Halahan in a report forwarded to AASF HQ by dated May 7th 1940. It came from the Squadron test flying a captured Bf 109 against Hurricanes on May 2nd at Orleans.

In paragraph 7, S/Ldr Halahan wrote:

'During these tests one point became abundantly clear, namely that the 109, due to its better under camouflage, was very much more difficult to spot from underneath than was the Hurricane. This gives the 109 a definite tactical advantage, namely when they are below us they can spot us al long distance, which we when below them find most difficult. As in all our combats initial surprise is ideal at which we aim, I strongly recommend the undersides of Hurricanes be painted a duck egg blue, the roundels remaining the same, as it is the contrast between the black and the white only which is noticeable from below'.

Two further notes are written on the report, (dated May 8th) one from F/Lt D.P Kelly, with him suggesting that bomber and reconnaissance aircraft on day operations be painted the same.

The reply from the SASO, stated:

'IB is most interesting report. I think some of it should be included in our tactical notes.

Do you think it worth while backing up the suggestion in Para 7 by writing to the Air Ministry. The idea of painting our fighters with one wing white & one black was to keep identification especially at night, and thus prevent them being fired on them by our own guns'.

 

The B/W underside was replaced from 10 June 1940 with 'sky' or similar.  

 

The scanned monograph here gives a timeline.

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Hawker-Hurricane

 

Your photos are not showing on laptop but they show on phone,  I'll have a look later.

 

HTH

 

[stevehnz]

Photos showing fine on my PC on Chrome. I am interested in the discussion re the black & white undersides & that it was a disadvantage to the RAF pilots as far as making them stick out like sore thumbs, who'd have thought.  

I've voiced similar in my build of the AZ early Hurricane in this GB. Your underside is looking good, daft colours or not.    

Steve.

[Zephyr91]

Model coming along nicely. 

 

I like your re-furbished modelling room.  Mine's a part of a small bedroom, so not totally "mine", so I'm a bit envious.

 

Photos ok for me on a laptop using Firefox.

 

cheers

 

Rob

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

I'm always amazed at the depth of knowledge of the community here !  Thanks @Troy Smith for sharing the explanation and to @AndyL for some of the original detail.

 

It humbling to realise that after missions going up against the Luftwaffe, possibly dogfighting 109s and in the case of the aircraft based in France, operating over enemy territory, the pilots of these aircraft then had to worry about getting shot down by friendly fire. But totally understandable too that the crews of the air defence batteries would value anything that could help them distinguish friend from foe. It's easy to forget that the technology we take for granted just didn't exist back then. Imagine if they could look forward and see us swiping on a mobile phone to open up Flightradar and check what that approaching aircraft is. 

 

3 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Your underside is looking good, daft colours or not.    

Steve.

 

Thanks @stevehnz, it did turn out better than I'd expected. 

 

2 hours ago, Zephyr91 said:

I like your re-furbished modelling room.  Mine's a part of a small bedroom, so not totally "mine", so I'm a bit envious.

 

cheers

 

Rob

 

Thanks Rob @Zephyr91. Mine is somewhat similar. It was a bedroom that gradually got used less and less as my kids get older.  For some reason they seem to prefer staying over with their partners or going out with their mates than visiting their old dad (and rightly so!) So I got rid of the bed and normal bedroom furniture, put in the desks, and should soon have a pull-out sofa bed at the other end for when they do visit. 

 

John

[PattheCat]

It's coming along nicely.

Very good painting of the multicoloured undersides.

[Geo1966]

On 11/13/2024 at 8:36 PM, wanders_up_the_wrekin said:

I think it could probably benefit from a little more rubber black, it's maybe still a bit too solid black, so I might try and 40/60 or maybe 33/66 mix next time.

Have you considered Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black?

 

The Hurricance is coming on lovely btw.

 

George

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

Thanks @PattheCat @Geo1966.

 

I haven't tried NATO black yet, I've got a few more builds with black undersides so I'll pick some up and give it a go.

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

Long overdue for an update.....last time I'd got the underside painted, next up was to be my first attempt at doing a camo scheme.

 

Dark Earth went on nicely. This is a 1:1 mix of Tamiya XF-49 Khaki and XF-52 Flat Earth. I tried a 1:4 mix to begin with based on some suggestions around the web, but it looked way to green to my admittedly unknowing eye.  

 

 

Then after what seemed like an eternity rolling tacky sausages and cutting tiny bits of tape into awkward shapes I ended up with this:

 

 

And a quick spray with XF-81 Dark Green: 

 

 

 

I was pretty chuffed with that for a first attempt.There were a couple of areas where I managed to get some under spray so I quickly redid those bits. It means the camo pattern deviates a bit from what it should be but I'm. Ok with that. 

 

A coat of gloss went on (X-22 thinned 50/50 with Tamiya lacquer thinners), then the decals which were nice and easy apart from the big rudder stripes which wouldn't fit too well over the rudder control horn.

 

 

 

These decals are quite thick so I tried to carefully sand down the edges, but unfortunately I managed to damage the G code letter and roundel on the starboard fuselage with my ham.fisted sanding, then stupidly did the same to the port wing underside roundel. I managed to cut a section of a spare roundel from another kit to fix that one; it's left a slight step where the decals overlap but I'm not going to make the same mistake a third time, I'll live with it!

 

I was originally just going to finish it in a nice clean condition but since the camo worked so well I'm going to go the whole hog and have a go at some weathering as well. Hopefully I can get it over the finish line at the weekend.

 

Thanks for looking!

John

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2024 by wanders_up_the_wrekin
Correcting typos!

[stevehnz]

Coming along a treat. Fwiw, I don't think the black is too black, & a matt coat will make it less stark too. IMHO of course.  

Steve.

[PattheCat]

You're approaching the finish line in a nice way.

[81-er]

That's looking very smart, and a great result for your first time of painting camo

 

James