Sweetie Jar - Hurricane Mk.1 1/144

[djktrumpet]

I agonised for a while about masking the canopy, wondering how I was going to cut all those tiny lozenges in masking tape. Finally I realised that you don't have to do it all in one go, so I masked the front bits and between the vertical frames first, and sprayed those  first with interior green followed by dark green, then removed the vertical masking and remasked between the horizontal frames, and sprayed the two colours on those bits. Without labouring the point, here's a few pics:

Not too bad for this scale. I've also been getting some colour on the airframe - pics to follow soon!

[djktrumpet]

Having sprayed up the underside in Sky and the topside in Dark Earth, I gave some thought to how best to mask the camouflage before applying the Dark Green. In larger scales I've done blu-tack sausages, paper masks, and carefully shaped masking tape. It all gets a bit fiddly in 1/144 though. Feathered edges don't seem right in this scale, I was daunted by trying to cut masking tape to the right shapes, and so I hit on the bright idea of painting on masking fluid - Mr Masking Sol Neo, to be exact. I am here to tell you, I am NEVER doing that again! Getting the masking fluid off afterwards has been a massive PITA; I've had to use a combination of rubbing with a pencil eraser, rubbing with blu-tack, scrubbing with the silicone handle of a needle file, and gently teasing with a cocktail stick. Fortunately, the paint I've used - Mr Colour lacquer - seems remarkably robust, and I think I've got pretty much all of the masking material off. There'll be a bit of touching up to do, and remarkably, the only bit that came adrift was the starboard aileron!

[Mjwomack]

10 hours ago, djktrumpet said:

I am here to tell you, I am NEVER doing that again!

But you lived to tell the tale! hopefully Dobbin did as well, because he looks all set to bolt in the background there!

Seriously, I'm loving the creativity and skill in this build🏆

[djktrumpet]

Thanks so much for the encouragement! As if things weren't exciting enough, I'm trying something new for the propeller, given this is an in-flight model. I got these sent over by the excellent David Barnes in California, who makes 'prop blurs' in various scales. These 1/144 scale ones are really quite tiny and very delicate, so will be a challenge to handle. I've chopped the blades off the spinner and drilled 0.4mm holes ready to take the etched brass 'blurs'. A nice touch is that he supplies a spare to practice painting or, in this case, to check the hole size in the spinner.

[djktrumpet]

Clear coat and decals applied. Starting to look like a Hurricane!

[Tim R-T-C]

Looking very smart and interested to see how the prop blur effect looks.

[djktrumpet]

Have had fun painting the prop blurs. Primer, then sprayed with Humbrol 67 Tank Grey, as I felt true black would just be too dark. I didn't want a hard demarcation for the yellow tips, so made a little jig with an 11mm thin plasticard circle backed with a 10mm circle in slightly thicker cardboard, to hold the larger circle slightly away from the blurs, which were taped in place. 

Then another pair of circles was fixed on the other side, and the tips sprayed in Humbrol 124 Insignia Yellow. The final result is shown below - I'll twist and bend the blades into final alignment when it's finally in place to avoid too much handling. I'm quite liking the effect though!

 

Edited September 4 by djktrumpet
Typo

[djktrumpet]

I've been away for couple of weeks so a pause in modelling, but have now had time to matt coat the airframe and add the exhausts and wing lights. I'm a bit cheesed off to see some silvering on the decals - I swear that didn't show before I applied the matt varnish! But overall I feel it's not looking too bad in this tiny scale. I've noticed a bit of touching up needs doing on the leading edges, and I'll try to get it finished off and installed in its jar this weekend.

[ajmm]

Looking brilliant. A great kit but you’re really making it shine!

[djktrumpet]

Well, I'm calling this finished. I've glued a circle of paper-backed model railway grass onto the base, and the plane is mounted on a section of 3mm clear acrylic rod.

As ever, there are things I could have done better, but I'm pleased with the prop blurs and the overall effect is nice, I think. I'm not sure I'll do much more in this tiny scale, but it's been a lot of fun. I think small scale modelling tests you in a different way from big scale stuff, and it's been good to get outside my comfort zone! Thanks for all the encouragement, and it's been great to see everyone's amazing builds.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well done on this one.