quang
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Hello again Hurri fans, Now that the hardest part is done, let's move on to more peaceful waters: the wheel wells. The pros: it's accurate and well-detailed. The single casting is clean and devoid of flash. The cons: it's moulded in resin, meaning that there's a casting block to be removed. There's a small step indicating where the pouring block ends and the actual part begins. One needs to be extra careful while removing the excess resin: not enough and the wing won't fit into the fuselage, too much and you will go through the ceiling. Photo courtesy of doogsmodels.com Once the cleaned up done, the wells is test-fitted on the central wing part and positively located with plasticard strips. The wells in situ The wells completed and detailed. I also cleared out the two small windows. They were meant to help the pilot visually check the wheels up or down. Also note the 2 extra struts and brackets from tin foil. Primed and painted with AK White Aluminium. The wheel wells on early Hurris were silver doped. Later they often bore the underside camouflage colour. I chose to paint certain parts (bottle, pistons,…) in contrasting colours to make them stand out and also to indicate that they were replacement parts. The wells is given a coat of Tamiya Smoke and weathered with home-brewed Vallejo washes That's all folks. All comments and questions are welcome as always. Next chapter: the radiator In the mean time, keep well and easy on the Tenax Cheers, Quang
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Alan, your modelling skills are stunning but most of all I admire your perseverance. Cheers, Quang
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Amen!
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Here on eBay Q
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I got mine from a friend of a friend who happens to be a trader in Poland. I know that Chek also bought one. Hopefully he'll chime in and tell you where he got his. Cheers, Quang
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The beauty of it all is that most of the details won't be visible once the fuselage is buttoned up.
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Kevin, it's hinged on the left. HTH Q
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Hello Kevin, The gear legs could be interior green, Bell Green or aluminium dope. A good compromise would be heavily scuffed green showing the metal underneath like on this VVS P-39. HTH Quang
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Should I waited I would have bought the Sea Hurricane too. But I was in a hurri
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Hello Andy, I just discovered your thread. Excellent modelling. Your PRU Blue is spot on. I also like the subtle weathering. Bravo! Cheers, Quang
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Rather like on Trumpeter's Dauntless I would say, but it's only my impression. Cheers, Q
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Thank you Andy. I've just been to a friend's place to inspect his SH Tempest but I won't be distracted from my current project. Repeat: I won't be distracted from my current project. Repeat: I won't be distracted from my current project. At least I'm trying hard. Cheers, Quang
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I don't know how Urszula Bargiel (Mrs Yahu) makes her IPs nor which technology she used but at very close scrutiny, I can tell that each of the 4 colours used on the IP is printed on a separate film then the different films are stuck/laminated together on a metal (steel?) plate. The register is spot-on and gives a subtle 3-D effect. Also note the screw heads (each with a different angle) on the central panel. Just amazing! Looking back at my photo, I just noticed I forgot to make a switch for the ON/OFF panel on the far right! I first used Radu Brinzan's harness on my P-39 build. What I like is the material (a paper made from 100% rag) which behaves like cloth yet has more 'heft' than the microweave cloth used by HGW. More of a headache are the 18 individual brass grommets one is supposed to stick around pre-cut holes. It took me a whole evening but I guess it was worth it! The bear, well not much to comment except that it's much smaller than how it looks in the photo. It would fit inside a green pea Thank you all for your comments, Cheers, Q
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It's time to finish up the cockpit and close the fuselage. The painted framework parts were re-assembled and glued together. Last additions were made. Yet I couldn't find a way to adjust the seat in its correct position. So I decided to cut off the horizontal tubes behind the seat and replace them by 2 (red) plastic rods on the framework Finished cage: Now onto the instrument panel. Stock items are made from brass etchings and printed film. I was somewhat disappointed by the result. The instruments printed on the film were nearly invisible and the Vallejo acrylics would not stick to the brass. So I decided to make the jump and order the newly-issued YAHU instrument panel. It's not cheap but I never looked back because the YAHU is a marvel of technology. FLY (left) vs YAHU (right) It's different from your casual Eduard printed IP being made of laminated transparent films. The precision is remarkable even under extreme magnification. Here's the YAHU with added switches, compass and reserve bulbs for the gun sight. Now comes the itchy part: attaching the cage to the fuselage. The framework is cemented to the right fuselage half using the shelf and the firewall as attachment points. I used Tamiya extra thin polystyrene cement as it would allow me to make minor adjustments once the parts are in situ. View from the bottom After dry-fitting with the left fuselage in place and everything squared and centered, the assembly is strengthened by running gap-filling cyano over the joins. The IP is cemented and the seat is dressed up with RB Productions Sutton harness. I prefer the RB because it has the necessary 'heft' for simulating the heavy webbing used on real-life harnesses. After checking for last chance additions, I closed the fuselage and called it a day. Next stop: wheel wells. Keep well, Quang
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Chek, is that the Clostermann plane on your plan? Q
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Nice, clean work, Kevin! Quang
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Oops. I mistook it for the R4D (C-47 variant). I'm a sucker for airplanes on skis and arctic red.
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I remember that one, an old favourite. Was it Esci or Italeri? As for the fur, it's all in the painting. Stippling effect made with an old brush. Q
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Thank you all for your kind words. The cockpit was fun to do. For once, there is a lot of documentation, mostly on the internet. The hardest part was to sort out which detail is relevant and which is not. For instance, a bomb release switch on a Mk.IIC? Or a GPS? …or else, a pilot's friend? Cheers, Quang
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Hello again, Now that we're past the turbulent waters, comes the fun part: detailing and painting the cockpit. This is what FLY gave us to start with: What we're trying to achieve is THIS: It's not as daunting as it looks. It's just a matter of adding things to the existing framework and sidewalls. We will use stock parts (mainly resin) and scratch build some others. I'm not too impressed by the featureless and uni-dimensional photo-echted parts provided and prefer making my own from plasticard or tin foil. As for the reference, many photos can be found on the internet. For the sake of authenticity, I'd rather choose the ones from original, unrestored machines over the modern 'warbirds'. Having said that, I relied quite often to 'creative gizmology' (a term coined by master modeller Sheperd Paine) to give a busy, cluttering atmosphere to the cockpit. The main goal here is not 100% accuracy but rather an 'authentic' ambience. The stock resin seat is quite good. Only missing are the height-adjusting lever (made from brass tube) and the leather patch – designed to stop the parachute ripcord chaffing on the metal – made from tin foil. Details on the tubular framework: – the plywood triangular placard (featureless brass part in the kit) was made from plasticard and detailed. – The stock brass floor boards are too narrow and discarded. New ones were made from scored tin foil. – Various instruments are attached to the framework by tin foil 'clips'. The control column is next. As it's the main point of attraction of the cockpit (together with the IP), I decided to discard the stock part and build my own from brass tube and solder. The green stuff is Duro, a 2-part epoxy putty. First try (on the photo) slavishly based on the stock item was too short. I had to scrape it and build a new one The emergency escape hatch was glued to the RH fuselage half and various items added to the sidewalls. Map case from plasticard, pouch from Duro, charts from scored tin foil. Left side: dark grey items are stock resin parts. The rest is built from scratch. Note cockpit lights from telephone wire. Backplate armour made from plasticard with sprue rivets. Featureless tock brass part on the left. Cockpit walls primed in black and given a coat of grey-green: Framework primed in black and painted with AK Flat Aluminium Camera fast forward. Shading and hightlighting completed. Test fit. Pfftt! THAT was a long post. In the next step, we'll finish the cockpit and button up the fuselage Until then, keep well. Cheers, Quang
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Nick, don't let the lack of locator pins put you off. It's easily remedied by the zipper system used by the vacform builders: small plasticard tabs glued on either side of the mating surfaces. Your joint will be as precise as with the regular kits, only sturdier. HTH Quang
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The young'uns! Is that a reference to Sir Cliff? It's slightly better but not by much, believe me Q
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Basil Rathbone heh? Man, that shows your age !
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Hello gunnyax, Glad that it helps Hello Chek, Building and adjusting that framework was a real headache. The guys at FLY would have spared us modellers quite a bit of head scratching by including in their instructions a profile view of the fuselage half with all the elements in situ. I also like the aluminium framework against the grey-green background. Apart from being pleasant to the eye, it helps differenciate the metal parts from the plywood. Rock on Q
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Thank you gents for your support. Let's get to the cockpit. This is where the boat starts to rock. First, a little reminder for the modellers new to the Hurricane. As a transition between the WWI biplane of strings and canvas and the all-metal monoplane of WWII, the Hurricane presented some rather unique features. The fuselage consisted in a metal tubular armature covered with canvas and plywood (tail and cockpit) and sheet metal in the engine section. In the cockpit, the pilot's seat and the various instruments were grafted onto this framework. There were also instruments attached on the plywood sidewalls and on two narrow shelves at the pilot's elbow. There was no cockpit floor. The pilot's feet rested on two sheet metal boards. FLY gives us the bare sidewall with the moulded shelf (here on the left fuselage half). A word of caution: the small circles are NOT ejection pin marks. They're meant to represent the plywood disks on which the instruments are mounted. image courtesy mmscalemodels.com We also get the naked framework in 4 parts (left-right-centre and a triangle). It's meant to look like this when assembled: ] The main issue of this kind of scaffolding is to keep it square and true. Well, FLY didn't help us in that matter. The parts are flimsy and prone to breaking (I broke two and had to replace them with brass tubes) with no positive location apart from some vague indentations. The ambiguous instructions didn't help neither. So all one can do is to resort to guess work. It's also helpful to check out the other Hurricane builds on the internet. Next question: where does it go and how does it attach to the fuselage? In order to find this out, I had to temporarily glue the parts together. When I did find out (after a few days of soul-searching), I had to disassemble them to add the instruments and re-assemble them again after the painting is completed To make it short (and despite having to give you a little spoiler), this is how the cockpit should look like after assembly. Note how the uppermost tube align on the edge of the shelf. The 'cage' butts against the firewall at the front. These are the two areas where the cage is attached/glued to the fuselage. If I have to do it again, I'd glue the firewall on first and work from there using the firewall and the edge of the shelf as reference points to build up my framework. Next episode will be easier on the brain: detailing the cockpit Until then, good night and good luck! Quang
