Sweetie Jar - Hurricane Mk.1 1/144

[djktrumpet]

I'm hoping I can gatecrash this tiny party with a project I've had in mind for a long time. I acquired a small bell jar display case in a charity shop, and I plan to populate it with a Sweet 1/144 scale Hurricane, in flight. 

[Mjwomack]

Sweet! I had to get it in before @ModelingEdmontonian, who is a big fan of this firm!

I sense a gorgeous little project ahead.

In flight with give an extra 'dimension', and make good use of the height of the bell-jar

[Marklo]

Welcome to the GB.

[djktrumpet]

Obligatory parts shot:

The kit actually includes parts for two complete models, in grey and clear plastic. I'll only need one set for this, barring disasters. The little pilot figure (bottom right) came from Ozmods, IIRC. I did slap a bit of paint on him a while back, but I think I'm well under the 25% mark!

[psdavidson]

I also have a bit of a "sweet tooth" so I'll tag along

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome aboard, with your hurricane. 

[hakkikt]

15 hours ago, djktrumpet said:

The kit actually includes parts for two complete models, in grey and clear plastic.

What might be the motivation behind offering an all-clear kit?🤔

[Mjwomack]

1 hour ago, hakkikt said:

What might be the motivation behind offering an all-clear kit?🤔

I suspect it's to make it easier to identify the two kits in one box; Sweet seem to always do this. They're big on 2for 1 multibuy 

[djktrumpet]

Test fit of main bits - looks quite nice! Needs a tiny bit of fettling where the wings meet the fuselage but nothing serious.

Also, test fit of the pilot figure shows him sitting much too high, so a bit of internal surgery is required. Not sure whether to carve out the 'seat' and lower it, or remove a section from the pilot's buttocks! Or possibly a combination of the two... 

[marvinneko]

I kept my 144 Avia in an upside down jam jar for a bit. I recommend having something lift the plane up so it's closer to halfway in the jar height. Otherwise it looks odd.

[djktrumpet]

5 minutes ago, marvinneko said:

I kept my 144 Avia in an upside down jam jar for a bit. I recommend having something lift the plane up so it's closer to halfway in the jar height. Otherwise it looks odd.

Agreed - I'm planning to mount it on a piece of clear acrylic rod, so that, as you suggest, it's about halfway up the jar.

[djktrumpet]

That's better - combination of a lowered seat and buttockectomy.

 

I'm not going to attempt any detailing in the cockpit - with the pilot figure and a closed canopy you really won't see anything in this scale. I'm actually finding it quite therapeutic building a cockpit like this - reminiscent of the old Airfix kits when I started out - I'm sure I built something like a Mig 15, where the pilot figure just sat on two prongs in the cockpit area, there wasn't even an ejection seat! 

[Mjwomack]

22 hours ago, djktrumpet said:

remove a section from the pilot's buttocks!

I had no idea liposuction was around in WW2

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 7/16/2025 at 3:28 AM, Mjwomack said:

Sweet! I had to get it in before @ModelingEdmontonian, who is a big fan of this firm!

I sense a gorgeous little project ahead.

In flight with give an extra 'dimension', and make good use of the height of the bell-jar

Oh yes, @Mjwomack is right I am a big fan of Sweet and especially their Hurricanes! This is a cool project!

[PHIL B]

On 7/17/2025 at 9:28 AM, hakkikt said:

What might be the motivation behind offering an all-clear kit?🤔

I think its to negate the need to tool a separate transparency frame. The canopies (x 2) are on the wings frame so the tooling is 2 frames instead of 3. The bonus is 2 canopies in grey plastic. Airfix would sell that as a feature - cockpit masks like their Mosquito wheel wells. 😄

 

They're cracking little kits . I just wish someone made a canopy mask set for them.

 

Phil.

[hakkikt]

Interesting - the MC.200 kits that I built were normal plastic, with separate transparent frames.  I agree 100% that Sweet makes cracking little kits, a joy to build!

[Mjwomack]

38 minutes ago, hakkikt said:

I agree 100% that Sweet makes cracking little kits, a joy to build!

Perhaps it's time I got one (pair).🤔

[djktrumpet]

I'd love one of those cute miniature pillar drills sold for modelling, but this will have to do - drilling the mounting hole for the acrylic rod.

It's a 3mm rod, so I drilled at 1.5mm to start, then opened it up gradually, ultimately to 3.1mm for a nice push fit.

Eagle eyes will observe that I'm drilling at an angle. In the spirit of Making Things Difficult For Myself, I decided I'd like my Hurricane to be banking rather than flying straight and level. This means, of course, that I have to position the control surfaces appropriately. In this scale, cutting the ailerons etc out will leave huge gaps, but fortunately, as already discussed, Sweet provide a whole duplicate set of parts, so I've cut out the gaps in one set of parts, then removed the ailerons, rudder and elevators from the other, and hopefully I can make them fit reasonably tightly. Wings now fitted to fuselage, with pilot in place.

[djktrumpet]

I've drilled out the gun ports with a 0.3mm drill, but they look a bit small. Does anyone know what the diameter of the gun ports was on a Hurricane? I'm happy to eyeball it but it would be good to know what I'm shooting for, so to speak.

[djktrumpet]

Answering my own question - I found some comments on this forum suggesting that the openings for the wing guns on Hurricanes and early Spitfires were 2.5 inches ID. That converts to about 0.44mm in 1/144 scale, so I am indeed a bit under at 0.3mm. I'll open them up a bit.

Edited July 30 by djktrumpet
Typo

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Oh wow modifying control services and drilling out gun ports at 1/144, I'm impressed 

Edited August 2 by ModelingEdmontonian

[djktrumpet]

So, getting back to it after a few days away. Control surfaces added back with some subtle deflection:

I've belatedly realised that the undercarriage doors don't remotely fit in the closed position, and the wells are far too shallow to take the wheels.

I think I'll have to try  scratchbuilding some new doors from thin plastic card and thin down the wheels to fit. Also I've noticed a gluey fingerprint on the underside of the wing! 🙄

[PHIL B]

4 hours ago, djktrumpet said:

So, getting back to it after a few days away. Control surfaces added back with some subtle deflection:

 

You didn't want to add a control column with the appropriate deflection then?

 

But seriously folks, your little Hurri is looking great. There is something about the clear tail control surfaces. 

 

Is it worth just sanding the gear doors and the wheels? There won't be much visible when its all closed up. At least the 2 in 1 kit gives you some spares on which to try things.

 

Phil

[djktrumpet]

3 hours ago, PHIL B said:

 

At least the 2 in 1 kit gives you some spares on which to try things.

Yes, it's actually really useful, if a bit wasteful, to have a whole set of spare parts to mess about with!

 

[djktrumpet]

I've sorted the gear doors, I think. The issue was partly thickness vs shallowness of the wells, but also that the shape seemed wrong. I've thinned down both the doors and the wheels, and done some trimming, and I think I've got it so they'll work, with a bit of filler! So, I've decided to start getting some paint, or at least some primer on - Mr Surfacer 1500, which is my new best friend. Looks more or less OK, there's a bit of tidying up to do underneath, which you can't see on this photo 😚. But overall I feel I'm almost ready to start getting some colour on. The canopy here is one of the spare opaque ones which, conveniently, I can use as a filler while I sort out masking of the clear one, which is going to involve a lot of micro surgery with Tamiya tape. Also I 've fitted the aerial mast which feels a bit risky, but in this scale I don't really want to be fiddling about with it later.