No particular Hurri... Airfix Hurricane IIB

[null_null981707818191]

I've more or less finished the Spitfire that I was building as part of my RAF Warmwell project (I'll post some pictures perhaps tomorrow...) and I've started to have a think about the Hurricane IIB which will be built as HH-A of 175 Squadron as flown on Operation Jubilee (Dieppe). It's a rather old mould 1/72 Airfix kit (I can't find a date anywhere on it, or on the box) but I wish the Tyneside riveter that went mad on the exterior had spent some time instead on the interior! Quite a bit of sanding and scribing to do, I think. Still, it'll be an interesting challenge after the blissful ease of the Spitfire.

[SD45elect2000]

Im building a Hurribomber too, I think we are building the same aircraft with different codes? I know I'm doing a Warmwell plane..

Randall

[null_null981707818191]

I seem to recall that your version was going to be AE- , so one of 402 Squadron's aircraft that was handed over to 175 Squadron in March 1942 and of course had the new squadron's codes added! I suspect that your build might be somewhat easier than mine. Are you building the Arma kit?

[SD45elect2000]

I seem to recall that your version was going to be AE- , so one of 402 Squadron's aircraft that was handed over to 175 Squadron in March 1942 and of course had the new squadron's codes added! I suspect that your build might be somewhat easier than mine. Are you building the Arma kit?

 

 

Yes, Arma kit.

 

 

I have 30 of the Airfix MkI Hurricanes I’ve been thinking about lately. I’m not sure what to do with all of them, I have decals for many of them but I may need to do exactly what you did and put different codes on them.

 

 

Randall

[null_null981707818191]

As you all know, assembly usually starts with the cockpit - except in this case, there isn't really much of a cockpit! So I've added a bit of fairly generic sidewall detail and radios etc, and added sides to the rather basic L-shaped seat to make it more bucket-like, and a head-rest as well. Not much of this will show once it's all put together, but I like the challenge!

[null_null981707818191]

P/O Stevenson DFC of 175 Squadron already in the cockpit - just waiting for the rest of the fuselage! I've scratched a reflector gunsight (I'll add the glass bit later) and generically painted the interior and an 'instrument panel' (not that much of it will show!). The kit contains a floor for the cockpit, but as we all know, the Hurricane didn't have a solid floor, so again - as it isn't going to show at all when completed - I'm simply going to miss that bit out. I suppose I could try and scratch build the 'scaffolding' arrangement that was suspended therein, but there are limits you know!

[Dominic Thomas]

I sympathise about the floor. The way I look at it, adding a floor (correct or not) stops being able to see from the undercarriage bay up into the cockpit and vice versa.

Anyway, looking good so far.

To help my education, which colours did you use for the flying jacket and the helmet?

[null_null981707818191]

Hi Dominic

You make a very valid point about the need for some kind of floor - the era of this moulding was long before the sophistication of proper wheel-well detail! So I've cut a bit of plasticard to fit the bottom of the fuselage 'hole' - making sure it doesn't foul the wing joint, and with the wing in place, it looks OK as the inside of the wing/wheel-well (or will do when I've added a a bit of detail.

The flying jacket was Vallejo Nato brown (71.249) and the helmet was Vallejo RLM61 Dark Brown (71.042).

And look at all those rivets waiting to be sanded down (if not off!).

[null_null981707818191]

This is rapidly turning into one of my least favourite builds ever. Scribing the panel lines and getting rid of most of the rivets whilst keeping a few at the edges of the main panel is proving a bit of a challenge... Ah well, if I must persist with these old mould Airfix kits!

I'll fill some of the gaps and get an undercoat on at least, and put in some wheel-well detail, before I put in any more pictures. So bye for now...

[Dominic Thomas]

I guess it’s all down to your personal preference. For me, the kits are ‘old’ or ‘new’. The new ones are of better design in terms of construction and surface finish. I’m building a bunch of old ones at the moment and I accept the rivets and panel troughs, because they are generally tougher to get together. That’s enough work for me.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

[null_null981707818191]

It certainly is a conundrum Dominic. There's merit in both approaches I think - and whilst getting rid of all the rivets and then scribing panel lines is a challenge, I absolutely agree that sometimes just building an ancient kit OOB can be challenge enough on its own.

And I agree especially with the presumed thought behind your penultimate comment - it's not supposed to be work really is it!

[SD45elect2000]

I just got my Warmwell book and a signed copy as well !

[null_null981707818191]

A bit of progress made on my Hurricane IIB. You can see from the picture that the plain white plasticard that I used to fill the wheel-well void has now been detailed, and I've done a bit of painting and decorating as well! You might also see that lots of the rivets have been removed (though some have been kept - a bit of a compromise) and some panel lines scribed. Paints used thus far are AAF Green (71.126), BS Medium Sea Grey ((71.307) and a bit of very dilute Burnt Umber to add a bit of dirt!

[SD45elect2000]

I like what you are doing!

Randall

[null_null981707818191]

Thanks Randall, and glad you've at last got your copy of "Reflections of RAF Warmwell". Whilst it's not perhaps a literary masterpiece, it contains lots of fascinating information - and it's certainly useful for the scale modeller. It's also a worthy and well-researched memorial to a lot of brave men (and women). I drive past the former RAF Warmwell site quite often; there's nothing very much to see from the road any more - large areas of gravel pits and quarries where the runways used to be, though one of the hangars is still there. What used to be the base library etc is now a village hall, and there are various Commonwealth War Graves of personnel from Warmwell in the local churchyard. It's a shame that perhaps that more was not done to preserve parts of it (as is the case at Tangmere and Hawkinge, for example).

Enjoy the read! I purchased mine direct from Mr Cooke, the author. Really nice chap.

[null_null981707818191]

A bit of progress made on the Hurricane IIB. It's ready for the application of decals to turn it into the aircraft planned. Pigments were - as is my usual method - brush-applied Vallejo Model Air colours: Ocean Grey (71.273), Dark Green (71.324) and Sky Type-S (71.302). The underneath surfaces were Medium Sea Grey (71.307). I'm quite pleased with the finish so far - all the scraping and sanding and scribing seems to have paid off! The gun-port patches are actually decal strip - and the yellow wing leading edge will be similarly applied.

[Sailorman]

looking good!

[Hurricane Boy]

Nice build Null…

that paint application looks really great!

Tim

[SD45elect2000]

It is looking like both of our Warmwell planes will finish at nearly the same time.

Randall

[null_null981707818191]

The Airfix Hurricane IIB is now finished, as the aircraft flown by P/O Derek Stevenson DFC on 19^th August 1942, part of 175 Squadron’s contribution to Operation Jubilee at Dieppe. HH-A BE687 was based at RAF Warmwell at the time.

If you’ve read the previous posts, you’ll know that there were various trials and tribulations involved with the build – not really surprising considering its age – so I’m pleased with the way it turned out in the end. The wheels wells involved a bit of scratch-building, and I added the cannon (as well as drilling out the gun ports prior to covering them with red patches). The red patches and the yellow wing edge stripes were decals rather than painted. The canopy came from the spares box, because the canopy supplied with the kit seemed out of scale, and anyway was far too thick.

As previously mentioned, paints used were from the Vallejo Model Air range, all brush applied, with a finishing coat of Vallejo Matt varnish, which dries to an appropriate slight sheen. Decals were from various sheets purchased from Hannants.

Not sure what’s going to be next on the bench: possibly a P-38 Lightning as flown from RAF Warmwell by USAF 474^th Fighter Group (and another rather old mould!). Thanks for following this build!

[SD45elect2000]

Wow, stunning model! Our models were completed within days of each other too.

I was thinking about a Westland Whirlwind next. I have lots of P-38s although I am not sure if any are RAF Warmwell machines.

All of my P38s are posted here.

Randall

[null_null981707818191]

Thanks for the kind words, Randall. I built a Whirlwind some time ago using the venerable Airfix 1/72 kit, producing it as one flown from RAF Warmwell by 263 Squadron in 1943.

Here's a picture of it:

I'll have a browse through your P-38s - I've got a picture of the one that I'm intending to produce; although it's a not-very-clear B/W photograph, it does show the markings reasonably clearly.

[SD45elect2000]

I need to add my P-38s, for some reason a bunch of them didn’t get posted.

Randall

[Hurricane Boy]

NN98

Very nice results from this vintage Hurricane kit. Thanks for sharing your build with us.

The Whirlwind is a great build as well!

Cheers,

Tim

[inkpen]

I bought this kit on release way back when. The external rivet approach to external detail was then on the way out but as an 11 year old I can't say it bothered me. I recall that the upper wing surface to fuselage join was anything but and almost provided my first use of filler. But wiping away all those rivets at that spot would have left too much of a smooth spot!

The wheel well, being left 'open' resulted in a yawning great hole, but as this was underneath wouldn't be noted by me or onlookers. I remember even then that the canopy seemed too small, but what an improvement over the older Airfix Hurricane!

I later moved on to the 1/24 kit on release which was really good then and having done one that I picked up at a jumble sale for £5 recently I was still impressed by ease of assembly of the chunky parts, but some areas were a challenging fit!

Anyway, a pleasure to see the nicely finished 1/72 kit again! These older Airfix clearly are of their time and not really comparable to modern kits, but their assembly almost always provides me with a pleasurable build and often resurfaced memories of those times as well.