Airfix Hurricane I 1/72

[Tigerausfb]

Popped up to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre today to see 'Just Jane' and other various bits of aeroplane. Anyway, a definite shortage of models in their shop, a choice of either a P40 or a Hurricane, so the Hurricane followed me home. No definite plans for it yet but may do a 73 Sqdn machine as that was my ATC squadron years ago. Many, many years ago.

 

Andrew

 

[LorenSharp]

Great choice Andrew. Welcome aboard!

[Troy Smith]

On 13/09/2024 at 22:59, Tigerausfb said:

No definite plans for it yet but may do a 73 Sqdn machine as that was my ATC squadron years ago.

Your Onedrive image is not showing and says not loading "This item won't load right now."

 

Maybe worth using a dedicated photo host.

 

I presume the kit is the Airfix fabric wing?  Which boxing?

if it's this

 

it's got all the sprue trees,   but one limiting factor (if your bothered) is the early type windscreen, 

Hard to tell much about 'H'  other than the early screen

if it's this 

 

this is metal winged

 

 

a couple more here

 

TP-T,  and TP-D,  apparently L1962,  with painted out underwing serial and fuselage serial.

both 73 and 1 sq then painted out the squadron codes, 

find an 'S' and you could do this

 

Anyway....

HTH

[Dave Swindell]

55 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

his is metal winged

Never mind the wing, that's Fanny Orton & Cobber Kain 🙂

[Tigerausfb]

Thanks Troy, very helpful, That's strange you can't see the image,, I can see it while not logged in as me. Does anyone else not see it and could you let me know if so please? Yes it's the boxing as per your photo.

 

[Black Knight]

I see your photos just fine

[Troy Smith]

36 minutes ago, Tigerausfb said:

That's strange you can't see the image,

I can on my phone, not on laptop, may just be a browser  issue for me.

 

What's the 'smiley'  box the kit is on? 

 

Glad the witter was of interest.    It's a neat little kit but does benefit from a few tweaks,  I did manage to do OOB though...... 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052380-hurricane-airfix-72nd-fabric-wing-mki-oob/

 

One thing, clean up seams amd sprue nibs on the UC well parts very carefully,  and use the upper/lower wing taped together to align the front spar, and then use liquid glue on lower edge,  as if you don't get a snug fit, the lower wing does not align with the lower fuselage.

 

This https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235144742-hurricane-p3854-85-squadron-october-1940-airfix-172/

will do a few more tweaks,  and maybe of general interest as another 'lost' bit of Hurricane history. 

 

cheers

T

[Troy Smith]

7 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

that's Fanny Orton

I always like casual "revolver in jacket pocket"  look...  

 

[Tigerausfb]

Thanks Troy, I'll have a better read after work. That box is an upside down AVO Model 7 from the 1940s. Still perfectly useable. A multimeter in effect - AVO = Amps, Volts, Ohms but is the brand name.  In production in various models since the 1920s through to 2010 when the Swiss firm who provided the jewels for the meter movement stopped making them. You may see a simplified version called the Model D in some WWII aircraft servicing photos. Useful for propping doors open!

[Richard Humm]

I can see the pictures on Safari but not on Firefox, so it must be a browser thing. I've still got my dad's old Avometer, though I think the batteries would need replacement before it would be usable.

[Tigerausfb]

Fettling begins with smoothing out the area behind the wing ammo panels, not a great task as it's a really nicely moulded kit otherwise. I used filler, sanded down and then a coat or two of Mr Surfacer 1000 again sanded back and then 1200 grit paper and finally polished with Novus No.2. Undoubtedly I'll spot some flaws when the whole wing is primed. I also widened the seat by 30thou. While that lot was all curing between sanding I sprayed the silver parts and then Cockpit Green. Not too impressed with my ad hoc mix compared to the actual colour, I probably should add some grey but it's thankfully only small areas which I may repaint. Next up is thinning those overly thick trailing edges. 

4 hours ago, Richard Humm said:

I can see the pictures on Safari but not on Firefox, so it must be a browser thing. I've still got my dad's old Avometer, though I think the batteries would need replacement before it would be usable.

Still useable on V & A, only the Ohms needs batteries. I make the 15 volt battery out of CR2032 stacks. Probably best you pull the batteries if not using it - leaky acid electronics death.

 

[Tigerausfb]

Not a very exciting update...

 

Being woman-less with just my 20+yr old son at home to look after you'd think I'd have loads of time for modelling but oh no, day job and domestic chores put pay to that idea. However, I managed to get a couple of hours modelling in this week so I tried a different paint 'cockpit green' mix to try to match the Avro Lancaster flap strut (in case you were wondering what it was) paint in the pics above. Didn't quite get there but not that concerned as it can't really been seen anyway. Which brings me onto the cockpit which is very nice for this scale but again, you won't be able to see much so I chose not to detail it up too much. Plus there's a small but crucial detail of my eyes just aren't good enough for 1/72 super detailing any more.  I added a new control column from brass wire and two strands 34 gauge wire for the pneumatic lines. I also added the pump handle off to the RHS of the seat. The rest of the time was spent thinning the trailing edges with a curved scalpel, ('Cookie' bomb fuse plugs make handy wing stands) and tidying up any dodgy seams on the wings.

 

Andrew

 

 

 

 

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, Tigerausfb said:

so I tried a different paint 'cockpit green' mix

I matched the RAF museum chip with Vallejo, but it took a lot of faffing and 6 colours in the end...

Note the seat should also be aluminium dope though

 

more wreck pics here

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/61201-gloster-hurricane-cockpit-colour/#elControls_1957172_menu

 

 

seat from unrestored Finnish Hurricane

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/52968-hurricane-mk1-cockpit-colour/#elControls_742480_menu

 

note cockpit interior framework is alu dope as well

 

HTH

[Tigerausfb]

Thanks Troy. Yep I sometimes think as modellers we quest for too much colour accuracy, damn good fun trying to match 'original' colours though! Seat is now the colour the instructions called out....and I deftly ignored. 

[LorenSharp]

Nice work so far.

[Tigerausfb]

This weeks modelling has been mainly fettling this kit. I won't say it's been an unenjoyable struggle at all but for a beautifully detailed and moulded modern kit (almost) I've been slightly disappointed here and there with the fit. I've seen some people have issues with difference in chord of upper and lower wings. Mine were actually fine out of the box albeit I drastically thinned the trailing edge. Where I did have an issue was the mating of the lower section to that ever awkward point on a Hurricane around the lower nose. Lot's of curves here and I had one side mated perfectly in line but the port side was out around a mm or so. I resorted to gap filling with CA and a blob of Milliput to blend the sections together. You have to be really careful sanding as there's some fine detail on the nose and before you've finished singing along to Napalm Deaths 'You Suffer' you've sanded a cowling panel line back to oblivion. Nothing a careful rescribe and a touch with a fine drill for the Fairey fasteners won't restore but you'd rather not rescribe such a delicate curve in that position in the first place. After joining the mainplanes to fuselage and cutting out the navigation lights ready for some clear sprue it's been a few hours of careful filling, sanding and going back over gaps and blemishes with Mr.Surfacer 500 before polishing out any scratches with fine grits. After that a check coat of Mr.Surfacer 1500 over the reworked areas and a final check for blemishes. Foundations laid, next up will be deciding which particular aircraft I might make so I can decide on prop, windshield, under-fuselage fairing etc etc.  

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew

Edited October 5 by Tigerausfb

[stevehnz]

Coming along nicely Andrew. Part of me wishes I'd done one of these for my build but where's the fun in that. My under nose on the AZ kit went together nicely in the end, courtesy of a saw cut in front of the wing root each side. 😮 

Talking interior Grey Green, I've just bought some Humbrol acrylic in their dropper bottle, I'll be interested to see how it goes against the enamel I've used for years, I'm getting to find acrylics so convenient for interior detail & was going to try the Vallejo Model Air shade but went the Humbrol way at the last minute. It should show up in the next couple of days.

Steve.

[81-er]

She's looking good, Andrew. I also like the mention of the shortest song in the world

 

James

[wanders_up_the_wrekin]

Nice progress Andrew. I'm doing the same kit and found the same problem on my build, a slight step on the side of the fuselage where the wing root blends in, although I seem to have a slightly shallower step on both sides!  I'm hoping I can rectify it with milliput and shape it whilst wet to avoid having to dry sand and damage the very nice surface details. 

[Tigerausfb]

On 10/6/2024 at 11:03 AM, 81-er said:

She's looking good, Andrew. I also like the mention of the shortest song in the world

 

James

Glad someone spotted the reference!!

[Tigerausfb]

On 10/6/2024 at 4:59 AM, stevehnz said:

Coming along nicely Andrew. Part of me wishes I'd done one of these for my build but where's the fun in that. My under nose on the AZ kit went together nicely in the end, courtesy of a saw cut in front of the wing root each side. 😮 

Talking interior Grey Green, I've just bought some Humbrol acrylic in their dropper bottle, I'll be interested to see how it goes against the enamel I've used for years, I'm getting to find acrylics so convenient for interior detail & was going to try the Vallejo Model Air shade but went the Humbrol way at the last minute. It should show up in the next couple of days.

Steve.

Hi Steve, I like Tamiya acrylics the best for airbrush work, followed by Humbrol/Xtracolour enamels. I have a stack of Vallejo standard paint but only rarely use it, the exception being for figures and aircraft detail bits. I bought some flow retarder a couple of weeks ago which should make painting figures more enjoyable.  The old Humbrol acrylics in the pots; I recently had to chuck nearly all my stock out as it had mostly dried up. Even unopened still shrink wrapped pots. Around 50 pots binned...yikes!

[Tigerausfb]

On 10/6/2024 at 11:51 AM, wanders_up_the_wrekin said:

Nice progress Andrew. I'm doing the same kit and found the same problem on my build, a slight step on the side of the fuselage where the wing root blends in, although I seem to have a slightly shallower step on both sides!  I'm hoping I can rectify it with milliput and shape it whilst wet to avoid having to dry sand and damage the very nice surface details. 

Thank you! Nothing difficult in this kit just some niggles. It's the way the Hurricanes wings join the fuselage that is hard to recreate in this scale particularly, where you have fillets laying on and screwed to the wing and that area itself has a curve upward on the wing and outward on the fuselage.

[stevehnz]

11 minutes ago, Tigerausfb said:

It's the way the Hurricanes wings join the fuselage that is hard to recreate in this scale

As an about 10 year old I can still remember looking at this in the original Revell Hurricane Mk I & thinking that it didn't look quite right there. Nothing a bit of filler wouldn't have sorted but what was that back then.

Steve.

[LorenSharp]

Coming along nicely Andrew. Almost ready for a good coat of Camo. Keep up the great work!

[Tigerausfb]

This weekend I've been working on some new wheels for the Hurricane as incorrect ones are supplied with the kit. The base for the new 5 spoke wheels comes from the Airfix Spitfire kit. These were glued into some styrene tube which was then filled around the periphery with epoxy putty. I made a couple of 'bearings' for the wheels on the lathe to hold the wheels central, then the wheels were faced and turned between centres down to 9mm. 

 

 

 

'New' wheel with the original 4 spoke oversized and over inflated Airfix wheel on then left

 

 

Andrew