discussion Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hurricane

[Dave W]

I've just started this after an eight month break from model making.I must say its good to be back at the work bench as I've really missed it.Got some great kits in my stash.But I've recently read four books by former Hurricane and Spitfire pilots and fancied a go at one of these.Ive made one before,in the eighties I think.But the cockpit isn't as well detailed as I remember.Not much of it can be seen anyway,so I will just add some Eduard pre-painted seat belts.Im going to build the 32 sqdn aircraft which requires a Rotol Propeller.The kit one looks a bit big,but I've got another from a more recent Airfix Spitfire kit.Not sure which one i will use yet.Ive just joined the IPMS and have asked for advice on there forum as well as on here.If I don't get an answer I will probably make both props up and go with the one which looks best.So far I've only put the cockpit together and painted it interior green (Humbrol 78).Im going to rescribe the raised detail on the wings and forward fuselage as I was pleased with the results when I did this to the Airfix Stuka.

 

[yak face]

Nice to see you back in the saddle dave! We all love a hurricane , a very characterful aircraft . looking forward to seeing this one , cheers tony

 

[Dave W]

Made a bit of progress.Fitted the Eduard seat belts.

Ive also glued the wing and fuselage halves together.Then I made a start on the rescribing.Still got to sand off the raised detail.

 

[colin m]

Looking nice Dave. I built the Italeri one recently, but have a bit of a soft spot for Airfix and so look forward to see this one develop.

 

[mossiepilot]

Welcome back to the fold Dave. A nice start on the Hurricane mate.

Tony.

 

[papa 695]

Nice start Dave the rescribe looks good

 

[Guest]

Nice start, looking good!!

Polux

 

[Dave W]

Progress is slow with this one as I'm still doing work on my house.I didn't take enough care when fitting the wings to the fuselage.So a bit of filler is needed.The fit isn't as bad as it looks.I will sand it down this evening and do a bit more rescribing.Then I will tackle the tail plane joints.

 

[flyjoe180]

Interesting to see this forming Dave. It seems to share a lot in common with the 72 kits. I'm glad the fit isn't as bad as it seems, it looks like there is a lot of putty on the joins.

 

[Dave W]

Thanks for the interest Joe.Theres a lot of putty on the joins because I put too much on!.Ive now sanded it down and put the second round of filler on.

The tail plane joins are not too good.So I've given them filler overkill.Ive also filled the top of the engine cowling where I slipped with the scribing tool!.

 

[Dave W]

Done some more sanding,scribing and polishing tonight.Finished off with round three of filler.Will rub it down tomorrow and finish the scribing.Then it needs a coat of primer to check if it needs anymore filler.

 

[Guest]

Nice fill job Dave,love the green putty!

 

[Dave W]

Not much progress due to most of my spare time being spent working on the house.I did manage to clumsily break the canopy though.

So I had to send off to Hannants for a vacform replacement which came as a pack of two.

I've cut one out and placed it on the model.Needs a bit more trimming but seems like it will be a good fit.

The kit doesn't have any landing lights for the leading edges of the wing.So I made some indentations in a piece of plasticine with the end of a paint brush.Then I filled them with two part epoxy.I've made several as its tricky getting two the same size. the two at the top of the picture should be about the right size.Just got to take them out of the mould and paint the back of them silver.I did this before when I built a Lysander and was satisfied with the result.

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

oh very nice tip with the landing lights, will store that one away. I tried using Krystal Clear a while back and mixing in clear orange for indicator lights, not very suscessful

Adrian

 

[Ian M]

The best way to do it with Krystal Klear is much the same as Dave did with the epoxy. Just put a few drops down on to a bit of wax paper or foil. They dry into a good lens shape, just flat on the back.

The Hurri is looking quite sharp Dave.

Ian M

 

[Dave W]

Thanks Ian.I never thought of using Krystal Kleer.Will try that out on another kit.

 

[Guest]

Nice tip for the landing lights! Canopy replacement will be better than the kit one from the looks of it.

 

[yak face]

Nice work dave ,its looking great. The vac-form canopy looks tons better than the original , cheers tony

 

[Dave W]

There are no wing tip lights on this model.Just Raised detail where they should be.So I cut the shape out of the wing tip.Then I glued a piece of clear sprue to the wing which I then sanded to shape and polished up.

I've also done the last of the scribing.I used some metal tape as a scribing guide to reinstate the wing root detail.

I'm not sure how I'm going to paint the vacform canopy.The makers suggest using strips of painted decal film for the framing.Ive tried this in the past with clear decal painted with enamel paint.When I dipped it in water the paint flaked off.So I will probably mask a few frames at a time and brush paint them at the end of the build.

 

[Dave W]

Got some paint on the model at last.Primer coat last night and tonight a coat of BS210 RAF Sky.The Sky is Xtracolour enamel which dries gloss.perfect for applying decals on.No gloss clear coat needed.I shall put another coat on tomorrow night and some more yellow on the prop.