The Last Hurricane - Finished

[Dpgsbody55]

My next project will be a Hurricane Mk.IIc, namely the last Hurricane ever built PZ 865 as it was at Dunsfold in 1950.  At this time, it was painted in Hawkers in house colours of dark blue with gold lettering and stripes which is how I will be building this kit.  Later that year, the plane was flown to second place in the Kings Cup air race by Group Captain Peter Townsend, a well known Hurricane ace.  PZ 865 is still in the air, and operated by the RAF's BBMF.

 

I was very excited when Revell issued their Sea Hurricane as the option to build the kit into this plane is included in the kit.  This is a model I have wanted to build since adolescence which is when I first saw a picture of it in this scheme.  In the interim, I was never able to find the decals to suit nor had the talent to paint it myself.  The other issue was that good 1/32 Hurricane kits have been scarce.  Now I'm in my second adolescence, I finally get to build this Hurricane as I've long wanted to  Here's the kit.

 

 

And the addon aftermarket.  I think this kit doesn't need much in the way of addons.

 

 

As is normal with me, and more so on this occasion after clearing away the detritus from my last less than satisfactory build, I started gluing stuff together straight away.  This comprised the pilots seat which is four parts, the "floor" which is two parts, and the pilot's back armour which is three pieces.  The pilot's seat is a bit of a pfaff, requiring the juggling of four small parts and glue .  So far, I've found parts fit to be a little loose, but still quite good.

 

 

Next step was to paint as much as possible in Tamiya AS12 aluminium which is most of the insides of this model.  Not as much of the cockpit was painted in RAF interior green/gray as the Mk.I, but of the parts above, the back armour will be green/grey.  Then I started work on the left side of the cockpit which is shown here complete.  Eduard Space 3D decals have been applied to the side frame which is pre painted.  Though as usual with pre painted 3D stuff, Eduard's idea of RAF green/grey is somewhat different from mine .

 

 

Eduard provide a 3d decal for the horizontal console attached to the outside of the frame, but I decided to go with a mix of stock kit for the console and only used the Eduard bits for the gauge and it's mount at the back of the console.

 

 

The right side is very simple and only required paint.  There are a couple of other parts to go on, but that's for later.

 

 

My next job was the frame that laterally braces the cockpit structure.  This has 3D decals for the compass, undercarriage/flap selector gate and a knob of some sort on the left.  I've painted a part of this structure in green/grey as per the instructions, but I suspect the instructions are wrong here as this is part of the wings rear spar.  Passing through this is a pipe which is painted flat black.

 

 

That's it for now, but I hope to have these parts and a couple more together tomorrow.  By then, it will start to look like a Hurricane cockpit.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[geedubelyer]

A great start to an interesting project. 

Nice one Michael 

 

[scvrobeson]

Very nice. Should look great like that.  Did the last Hurricane have the cannons, or do they need to be removed?

 

 

Matt 

[Kawaman1960]

 I'm looking forward to seeing the end resalt. Just remember no gunsight was fitted.

 It makes a change to see non service fighters modelled. Most model shows have a royal blue Hurricane but not much else. I would like to see more decal options for restored privately owner aircraft offered as flown - they're the ones most people can relate to.

 I'm doing the BBMF's LF363 and PM631 in 1/48 at the moment cobbling the markings up from various sources and will progress to something in 1/32 when finished.

 

 Alan

[Dpgsbody55]

11 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

Very nice. Should look great like that.  Did the last Hurricane have the cannons, or do they need to be removed?

 

 

Matt 

 

This plane was built as a Hurricane Mk.IIc, so it had four cannons originally.  Hawkers retained the plane and the cannon were removed, but I'm not sure exactly when.  I imagine that it was soon after the war over Europe ended.  I do know that it was used as a chase plane by Hawkers, so lightening it would help in that cause.  It definitely had no guns by the time it flew in the Kings Cup in 1950, and my model won't have any.  They need hacking off.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

5 hours ago, Kawaman1960 said:

 I'm looking forward to seeing the end resalt. Just remember no gunsight was fitted.

 It makes a change to see non service fighters modelled. Most model shows have a royal blue Hurricane but not much else. I would like to see more decal options for restored privately owner aircraft offered as flown - they're the ones most people can relate to.

 I'm doing the BBMF's LF363 and PM631 in 1/48 at the moment cobbling the markings up from various sources and will progress to something in 1/32 when finished.

 

 Alan

 

I've found a few pictures of this plane in it's blue livery, and no gunsight is visible.  It was unarmed at this time, so not much use for a gunsight, I guess.

 

I agree that it would be nice to see more privately owned former warbirds modelled here.  The lack of decals is an issue, as you point out.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

Managed to get a bit more done on the cockpit of this model, starting with putting the parts shown yesterday together.  Here they are assembled, with the addition of a cross brace at the back and the firewall at the front.  Putting these bits together all at once is a must to avoid a twisted mess, so after yesterday's update, that's what I did and let it dry overnight sandwiched between the fuselage halves for extra measure.

 

 

One thing I didn't mention last night was that I added the compass before gluing the cockpit parts together contra to the instructions.  I think it's easier to do when I did  as there's less stuff in the way.

 

 

 

This morning I added the foot boards and rudder pedals, having added straps to the rudder pedals.  Again, I went contra to the instructions which would have you adding the rudder pedals later.  Since they don't fowl any other parts as the cockpit is built up, I added them now as it's easier.  You push them up into the cockpit structure past the cross brace frame in the middle of the structure and they're glued to the spar at the rear and the firewall at the front.

 

 

Here they are in place.  The control column and elevator actuator have also been added as has a couple of lengths of 0.4mm black wire to simulate the aileron cables.

 

 

 

The next part to go in is the pilot's back armour.  This is a bit fiddly to wiggle into place, so dry fit first.  The seat mounts to this, but also attaches to other parts, so this time I followed the instructions and added it after the back armour had dried in place.

 

 

While this dried, I got to work on the seat.  I'd painted it previously, but the lower seat belts needed to be added.  This was done using the Eduard Space etch parts, bent to conform to shape and CA glued into place and allowed to dry.  Then the seat was wiggled into place.  It is glued at four points to the back armour and at two more points to the cockpit frames.

 

 

 

That's it for now.  I have to add the top seat belts, more pipework, a lever and the instrument panel (sans gunsight) before I can consider this assembly complete.  

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Kawaman1960]

The cockpits coming on well. Hurri and Spit cockpits have very typical Britishness about them with odds and sods all over the place. As the years went by they got worse!

 I spent 3 years restoring LF363 after its 1991 crash at HFL. The internal cannon mountings were removed from the wings at that time and its now configured ( painted ) with 8 303's although it retains its cannon access panel set up.

 I think in recent years warbird owners have made more of an effort to get their aircraft authentic. They are viewed as investments now. In the 60/70's anything went.

 

 Alan

    

[Dpgsbody55]

On 3/6/2026 at 12:45 AM, Kawaman1960 said:

The cockpits coming on well. Hurri and Spit cockpits have very typical Britishness about them with odds and sods all over the place. As the years went by they got worse!

 I spent 3 years restoring LF363 after its 1991 crash at HFL. The internal cannon mountings were removed from the wings at that time and its now configured ( painted ) with 8 303's although it retains its cannon access panel set up.

 I think in recent years warbird owners have made more of an effort to get their aircraft authentic. They are viewed as investments now. In the 60/70's anything went.

 

 Alan

    

 

Thanks Alan.  Yes, the idea of an ergononic layout was not considered in the 1930's, with one exception.  All new British aircraft used the standard RAF blind flying panel which used the T scan (ASI, horizon, rate of climb/descent, above altimeter, directional gyro and turn and bank or slip meter) still used today which gives a standard scan of the flying instruments relative to one another.  I think the first truly ergonomic cockpit layout was the Focke Wulf Fw-190.

 

I remember seeing pictures of LF363 just after the crash.  Very shocking, but I'm glad no one was badly hurt in that prang.  It's quite amazing that the aircraft was rebuilt too and my congratulations to all involved in it's rebuild.
 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

PS:  Cockpit work continues well so I should have an update soon.

[Dpgsbody55]

Another update, with the cockpit now finished and the fuselage "closed" which is a major milestone reached.

 

In the next picture, I've added a large coolant pipe and a lever which I think is for the radiator flap.

 

 

Next, I've added the Eduard etch seat belts.  These are always a pfaff, but turned out OK.  As one part of the belts have to be turned back on themselves, I painted the rear of the belts to match the front.  

 

 

Last part to go in was the instrument panel.  I used the Eduard 3D decals for this as I thought the detail on the kit panel was a bit sparse.  Sanding back the kit IP didn't take long .  If the kit part had contained more detail, I would have gone with that and the kit decals as I think I can get better results these days.  When I use these 3D decals, I attach them with a 50/50 mix of water and PVA white glue.  All results so far have been good.

 

 

Here it is on the cockpit.  I painted the edges in matt black to be sure no bare plastic was in view.

 

 

 

While building up the cockpit and waiting for parts to set or dry, I've also put together the "engine" as well as do the cockpit sides.  This is what passes for an engine and is only there to mount the prop and exhausts.  I suspect that no part of this will be seen once the model is finished.

 

 

Cockpit sides.  Not a lot to do here.

 

 

Here's the cockpit set into the left side of the fuselage.

 

 

Ditto the right side.

 

 

So at this point, the fuselage can be closed up.  I test fitted the fuselage halves before gluing and very glad I did.  The edges were not flat and had very small raised sections as if the molds are wearing already.  The gaps are small, but light could be seen through them so they received a sanding stick treatment.

 

 

I'm hoping that my tape efforts are enough to give a good joint.  Normally I'd wrap tape all around the fuselage for good clamping force, but the fuselage at this stage has no bottom.  Wings are to be built up first, then the underside of the fuselage can go on.

 

 

That's it for now.  Wings are next.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[geedubelyer]

Swift and tidy progress Michael.

[malc]

Fantastic start, really looking forward to see how this turns out.

G-AMAU is on my to do list.

Would be really cool to see it along side the silver prototype.

Malc.

[Uncarina]

I love how this is coming together Michael! Having this kit as well, I’m taking notes.

 

Cheers,  Tom

Edited March 8 by Uncarina

[Dpgsbody55]

20 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

Swift and tidy progress Michael.

 

So far, so good, but let's see what sort of a mess I can make of the rest of it.  The cockpit has gone together very well and was a lot of fun to do.  However, the canopy looks like a masking problem as it has no raised framing.  And the parts fit in the wheel well is not Kotare or Z-M levels, though still way better than a certain unmentionable Chinese make....

 

14 hours ago, malc said:

Fantastic start, really looking forward to see how this turns out.

G-AMAU is on my to do list.

Would be really cool to see it along side the silver prototype.

Malc.

 

Thanks.  I'm looking forward to see how it turns out too .   This Hurricane has been on my to do list since I was fifteen.  I turn seventy one next week 🤞.

I think that civilian registered former warbirds would make a great subject for a future group build.

 

14 hours ago, Uncarina said:

I love how this is coming together Michael! Having this kit as well, I’m taking notes.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Please do, Tom.  Doing a Hurricane cockpit is great training for doing biplanes .  

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[AngryJazz_Models]

Very nice work on that cockpit! 😊