Revell Hurricane IIc

[KallistiUK]

Greetings - this is my first WIP on this forum, so please bear with me if I make etiquette mistakes as I am a newbie

 

This build is the first in a long term project I've been researching for some time now - the title of the project is "The planes my Dad fixed!". Let me explain...

 

My fatehr was in the RAF during WWII. He was an electician and joine dup in 1941 and remained in the RAF until demob at the end of 1945. Sadly he died in 1979 when I was 18 so I never got to be able to talk to him as a proper adult. I did, however get him to tell me some stories of what he did during the war. Whenever the atlas or the globe came out it'd be "Dad, show me where you went?" He'd point to Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, Egypt India and Burma. When my mother died eralier this year, my brother and I went thorugh all her effects and found a load of stuff about our Dad, including an Xmas dinner menu from December 1943, with 81 Squadron inviting him for Xmas.

 

This piqued my interest so I applied to the RAF to get a copy of his war record. This is quite easy to do - you just need a death certificate (if the subject is deceased) and you need to be next of kin. Thankfully in his effcts we also foudn his demob card which had his service number on so it was very easy to provide identity details to the RAF. It also costs £30 admin fee - well worth it as it turned out! 3 months later I got a large envelope through the post which has a copy of both sides of the paper war record that details his time in the services.

 

From this I was able to see which squadrons he was attached to at various times and from that was able to deduce what aircraft he worked on. Essentially he was in training school until Feb 42 and was then stationed at South Detling, during which time 280 Sqn was present, flying Avro Ansons. From there he was attached to 122 Sqn during 42, 122 Sqn was at that time equipped with Spitfire Vb and Vc, then in October was transferred to 81 Sqn who were at that time in Gib, supporting Operation Torch, the invasion of NW Africa. So that accounted for his travels through Algeria, Tunisia and then eventually to Sicily in later 1943. 81 Sqn was at that time flying Spitfire Vc (trop) and Spitifre IX.

 

Then in November 43, we was transferred to 5 Sqn, then based in India. By sheer coincidence, 81 Sqn itslef was posted to India and ended up just down the road from where 5 Sqn was based at that time (Sampam), which explains the Christmas menu invitation! He was then with 5 Sqn for the rest of the war, initially operating Hurrican IIc and IId in a ground attack role. In early 45, they converted to Thunderbolts. In the training section of my Dad's record is also notations for Mosquito and Lancaster, but I can see no evidence in the record that he ever really worked on them.

 

So that gives me a very interesting selection to choose from. Well to start with I want to do a diorama which includes my Dad at work! In the photo album we have several of him his bush hat and shorts in Burma, so this seems a natural place to start, so here we go with the Hurricane IIc from Revell.

 

 

I was lucky enough to pick up at the Telford Kitswap as the basis:

 

 

 

Its not a terribly complex kit - its major downfall being that it has raised panel lines and it is the Revell bodge job of taking a Hurricane I kit, slappipng a couple of blisters on the upper wing, replacing the machine gun insert with cannon mounts and thats it. The panel lines on the wing are all wrong, the nose is wrong, the tailwheel is wrong... and so it goes on!

 

 

So to improve the build itself, I invested heavily in aftermarket gear at Telford, picking up several items from Grey Matter Figures such as the cockpit and wheelbay enhancements. here is all the aftermarket stuff I aim to be using:

 

 

Moving in a clockwise direction: on the black page you can see the cockpit set in the top left and the wheelbays in the bottom right. Next to that is a set of decals for the lettering in the right colours and size for 5 Sqn in India. Below that is a vacform canopy and next is a set of replacement exhausts, then replacement cannons and finally some masks for the canopy.

 

 

In this one we have replacement radiator, main wheels, tail wheel and undercarriage doors. The next photo shows the main part of this set, the resin replacement nose

 

 

Of course this is the build that I want to make diorama out of, featuring my dad doing his job as an electrician. So here are the final extras that will be used to create the diorama. In the family photo album, we've got several pictures of my dad from this period and in all of them he's wearing a bush hat, open shirt and shorts. So to get that combination I've got this little lot:

 

 

Clockwise from the left: Airfix 8th Ary Multipose figures - this will be useful for the lower body, Airfix 1-32 Australian infantry - this will be great for the bush hat and open shirt torso. Next is the 1:32 Aber hand tools set - you'll have seen the 1:48 version of this in my Mohawk build, I suspect that this set will be easier to put together - not so eye-straining! Finally, I will toss in the 1:32 resin accumulator trolly from Iconair. Now I think this will need to have a compressor motor scratch built on the top, but lets cross that bridge when we come to it!

 

So let us begin with the build. One of the first things I noticed was the elevators are cast as one complete piece. Well thats no good if I'm build a parked up machine undergoing maintenance! So I assembled them and then the razor saw came out and they were cut up. The notch that exposes the hinge was cut in and some plastic rod added. Two brackets were also added in the appropriate places to provide the attachment points for later.

 

 

I also started opening up the fuselage to expose the electrics that my dad would have been working on:

 

 

which also shows the elevators in an earlier stage of construction. Since the plastic of the fuselage is quite thick I chamfered the edges to thin the visible skin:

 

 

I've been researching the internal layout of the fuselage so I can scratch build what will be visible behind these panels. Follow this link to the IWM collections to see the sort of thing I will be aiming to achieve, although not with the wellies! I'm still doing the research to get the internals as correct as possible - I'll start building the cockpit next as this will provide the basics from which I can build further back into the fuselage to provide the framework for the electrics I will be displaying.

[LSP_Kevin]

Welcome aboard mate!

 

 

This looks like an excellent project, and should be a worthy tribute to your dad. The personal connection always makes these types of projects more special, for both modeller and audience alike.

 

Looks like you've got most of the Revell kit's issues sorted. Is the resin nose from GMF? I look forward to following your progress!

 

Kev

[Daywalker]

to the forums!

 

I am looking forward to seeing this one come about, always like to see a Hurricane and the personal attachment to the model makes it even better. I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to your father.

[KallistiUK]

Thanks Kev

This build was started a couple of weeks ago so I'm posting the catch-up description of progress so far here...

 

Next I decided it was time to look at the undercarriage bay, since I had bought the Grey Matter upgrade. So to this end, the razor saw came out and large rectangular hole was cut into the bottom wing. This was a tricky job and I had to use dymo tape to make sure I kept the right shape. The the resin assembly began.

 

Let me warn you that although these Grey market updates are beautifully cast and fully of lovely detail, the instructions are really difficult to use. They consist of a couple of pages of A4 which have colour photos printed on with an inkjet printer. The print quality is pretty poor and its almost impossible to read some of the labels on the photos. I emails Grey Matter asking if there were electronic versions - in fact the instructions at one point even say look at their website for more detailed photos, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Its a real shame because these upgrade sets for both undercarriage and cockpit are superb otherwise. I've order the other update set which will update the nose to a proper Mk II with the proper spinner as well - waiting for that to arrive shortly I hope!

 

Anyway, sadly I forgot to take photos during assembly but here is waht is looks like after its been installed back in the hole cut in the lower wing:

 

 

 

The kit legs are used and attach to the white plastic rods you can see at either extremity. I've got a slight problem with the secondary leg bay as this is one of the areas where the instructions are not very clear. I've got some reference photos of the real thing however so I will be sorting this out. I've used thin copper wire to represent various air hoses and pipes. This will all come up lovely I reckon once its been painted - pity it will be barely visible

 

So back to the cockpit then. As you saw int he earlier updates, I've cut the panels open under the cockpit just behind the seat. This is where a lot of the electrics are housed and would be where my dad would have worked a lot of the time. First things was to build the cockpit update and then extend the tubular fuselage frame back from it to represent what would be visible in the open panels...

 

 

I've yet to add the seat and the instrument panel and upper part of the control stick. There are also a few extra levers and bits and bobs to also add. As for the framework, I need to install a horizontal shelf in the first inverted triangular segment of the frame, plus start looking at putting the extra details in such as control wires, pipes and so on...

 

So how does this look INSIDE the fuselage?

 

 

The observant amongst you will also notice I've added the shelf that some of the equpment will sit on. What this test fit showed is that I need to extend the frame another segment back to that you get the impression it is continuous down the inside. But what about the interior fittings I hear you ask? Ahh well a start has been made:

 

 

I found some useful photos on a thread about a 1:24 Hurricane build on "another forum whose name starts with B" by Ripaman who also posts on this forum, which shows the components in this space:

 

 

so the above tiny build is representing the component in the lower centre of the first picture, which sits on the left hand side of the lower framework. It will have some wires added to it to conenct to the other components.

[KallistiUK]

I then got somewhat distracted the Satrurday before Xmas when the postman delivered the final Hurricane IIC update set from Grey Matter Figures! This included the resin nose I showed in the photo before. Now to fit this nose takes some quite drastic surgery to the main fuselage, so I finally joined the two fuselage sides together and when the glue was dry got the dymo take and razor saw out...

 

Test fit:

 

Knowing where to cut was tricky - Grey Matter provide diagrams, but converting a 2D picture onto a 3D model is tricky. Never mind, any gaps are always fillable eh?

 

I seem to have cut and replaced an awful lot of plastic off this model!

 

 

So filling some of the gaps with some plastic shims, I got it fitting as well as I could:

 

 

The new nose also required chopping off a chunk of the front of the wing assembly:

 

 

and it was only when test fitting the wing that I discovered that there is a large mismatch between the wing joint in the resin nose and the shape of the wing itself. It might have partly been my fitting to the fuselage but it was generally higher up than the wing so various fixes had to be applied and you can see in the above photo the addition of another plastic strip to bridge a gap I created by cutting too much plastic away! This cut was almost impossible to judge accurately due to the complex curves in this area. In the end I've got it to fit but it did take some careful reshaping of some areas, which will almost certainly compromise the accuracy of the profile in this area. Ah well, can't have everything I guess - the profile is MORE accurate with this Mk II nose than the original kit so we are closer than before.

 

During this I did attach the upper wings to the lower section. I painted the inside where it might be seen through the cannon shell ejection slots NATO black. My next task is just settling the seams down as the fit isn't very good. Same with the fuselage.

 

As for the rescribing - at first I wasn't sure whether I'd do it, but the problems with the Hurricane I wing panels and the replacement nose has made the decision for me - so much sanding has been required already that the original surface detail is rapidly disappearing or has vanished already. The Grey Matter Figures set does come with a good panel line illustration on the wings which I will use along with other sources as a rescribing guide. The fuselage doesn't change all that much and the resin nose has good inscribed detail already.

 

I have to give my thanks to Mark at Grey Matter Figures for getting this set out to me so quickly, especially since they are having issues with their online shopping cart so this all had to be handled manually!

 

Oh and finally a piece of good news - I finally took a closer look at the propeller that comes with the kit and it turns out to be a Rotol prop! About time I got a break on this build

 

On Christmas Eve, I went into my office and was one of only 3 people there. Come lunchtime they left as well so I put in one more hour and came home! That afternoon then saw some building with teeny tiny pieces of plastic card, rod and spare bits of PE fret to continue with the internal components:

 

 

 

 

Still a couple more boxes to build that go on the right side of the shelf.

 

In the meantime, the wings and fuselage has had a load of filler liberally applied and sanded down, then I put some primer on and repeated the process. Wing is now drying from the latest round of primer and the filler should have dried on the second round of the fuselage. All in all the joints are remarkably smooth! The primer on the wings showed up some residual panel lines, particularly the machine gun panels, so they got sanded down a bit further.

 

Then I went through my reference books again, bookmarking all the useful photos. I've got the following in my "Hurricane" library: Squadron/Signla Publications Hurricane Walkaround, Hawker Hurricane Inside and Out by Melvyn Hiscock, Haynes Hawker Hurricane Owners Workshop Manual, Hawker Hurricane by Peter Jacobs (Crowood Aviation Series) and finally The Hurricane II Manual from the RAF Museum series. This last one is a collection of the actual technical manuals that would have been used by the ground crew and it really feels like I've got a connection to my Dad back in 1944 as I am sure he would have been looking at the same circuit diagrams and schematics as I am looking at in this book!

 

That was where I'd got to before Xmas so now that all the family stuff is out of the way, and my quick tribute build of a Captain Scarlet vehicle to comemorate Gerry Anderson's passing is also out of the ay, I should be able to continue to progress the Hurricane in the New Year!

 

Happy 2013 everyone!

[Guest]

Welcome ! A lovely story and very facinating. Good for you. And the build...I will follow right along, than you...........Harv

[Guest Peterpools]

Welcome aboard.

The story behind the build is going to be a wonderful tribute to your Dad.

Thanks for taking the time to explain how you progressed by in words and photos.

Looking forward to following this wonderful thread.

Keep 'em coning

Happy New Year

Peter

[shark64]

I like it.

Up to a good start I see.

Oliver

[geedubelyer]

Hello KallistiUK, welcome to LSP and a very Happy New Year to you.

This project makes for fascinating reading and a fitting tribute to your late father.

You are doing some fabulous modelling already so keep it up. The scratch-built internals look great and the resin conversion is blending in well. I take my hat off to you for tackling a somewhat daunting task with aplomb.

[A.Wolf Grant]

Welcome aboard KallistiUK!a

I absolutely love builds which have a personal story behind them and I've no doubt your father would thoroughly approve of what you're doing. You've certainly made a cracking start on this already.

 

Grant

[chacer]

Hi mate,

Great start. I have the IID conversion that GMF do. 1 thing that I have found is that the inside of the nose section needs grinding out to allow the cockpit section to fit properly.

[KallistiUK]

Hi chacer - yes that is a major problem - I got around it by adapting the cockpit to fit - really you just need to chop off the upper part of the front bulkhead as the rear face of the resin nose insert conforms to the instrument panel.

 

Thanks to everyone for the interest and kind words. I've started back on this project after the "Captain Scarlet" hiatus and just assembled the volkes filter that comes with this boxing. Its not a great fit and I'm chopping the flat face that is visible inside the opening to replace it with a brass mesh to represent the original. I'll do a proper update later...

[xmh53wrench]

Love the work on the fuselage frame and the electronics....one of these days I will grow up to do that kind of work!!!

Very nice, I have Airfix's 1/24 in my stash.

....and THANKS for some possible unintended help, I never know about those sq. code sheets from Colorado Decals.

 

Welcome, this place is great!!!

[Shawn M]

excellent work!

Welcome to the group.

[mz826]

Cool project, I will follow along closely. Everything looks great so far!