1/32 FLY Hurricane: spinning wild

[quang]

Hello modeller friends,

 

FLY Models caused quite a stir when they released their 1/32 Hurricane in April 2016. By a general consensus on the modelling forums, it's the best Hurricane on the market: accurate shape, good dimensions, adequate surface detail and unbeatable bang for the buck, etc…

 

One question remains: HOW DOES IT BUILD?

 

Strangely there are but a very few WIP's (one on this very forum) on the internet for such a popular model. Furthermore they all stopped still after a few instalments. What happened? Is there a monster glitch out there waiting for the unwary modeller?

 

I decided to find out and share my experience with you.

 

Before starting up, let me tell you that I've never been interested in the Hurricane as a plane and that I've never built a Hurricane in all my modelling years. That is before a friend showed me the FLY kit he just bought . I was unexplainably drawn to the box and before long I was cutting up the sprues, dry-fitting the parts … and buying the kit back from my friend.

 

So let the build begins. First, the box with the 'meh' painting...

 

… and the all-important documentation, excellent references I got from another friend. Most of it sadly OOP:

 

 

Next episode: Dry-fitting the parts

 

Until then,

Cheers,

Quang

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by quang

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking forward to your Hurricane adventures, Quang!

 

Kev

[Chek]

Hi Quang, looking forward to how this goes together.

 

As I pointed out on Doog's blog, he did make some errors due both to ambiguous instructions and his lack of knowledge of the aircraft.

 

However you've got some good refs there that should assist greatly.

[dennismcc]

Will be reading this with interest as I have 3 in the stash.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[quang]

Thank you gents for your support. 

 

Now back to the build.

 

First thing to consider: this is a LIMITED-RUN kit. So be prepared to do more clean-up work than usual, sharpen and correcting small details, scratch-build some others, dry-fit and more dry-fit. Nothing dramatic. It's well within the abilities of the average modeller and the final result would only show off the effort you have put in it. All you need is patience and a sharp blade. 

 

The lack of locating pin is a non-issue as it can be easily remedied by the 'zipper system' well-known to vacform builders : small alternating plasticard tabs glued on each of the mating surfaces:

 

 

The resulting joint apart from being precise is also much stronger than the locating pin system found on 'regular' kits.

 

Likewise, plasticard tabs are used for a positive location of the resin wheel bay:

 

 

It is important to remove the excess resin on the top of the wheel bay EXACTLY as per the indication, otherwise the 'cockpit' – which will be resting on the wheel bay 'ceiling'– won't fit.

 

Once the excess resin is removed, some areas of the wheel bay will be wafer-thin so be slow, be precise and check regularly.

 

One first observation is that the fit of the main parts is excellent. No gap, nor step, nor mismatched panel line. My kudos to the FLY team 

 

Next episode: the 'cockpit'

 

Until then,

Cheers,

Quang

Edited June 12, 2016 by quang

[LSP_Kevin]

This is excellent work Quang, and a really solid tutorial on the modelling basics we can all take for granted at times. Model on!

 

Kev

[Spaced Marine]

This kit is high on my to get list. Surface details look great

[BloorwestSiR]

Hi Quang,

 

Great to see your build on here. I have one in the stash that I'll get to at some point. I'm currently working on their Arado Ar234 kit and much of what you said applied there too.

 

I think the biggest issue with Fly kits is their instructions are a bit vague and could be more precise.

 

Carl

[quang]

This is excellent work Quang, and a really solid tutorial on the modelling basics we can all take for granted at times. Model on!

 

Kev

 

We, modellers, have been so spoiled lately. Nothing bad in going back to the basics from time to time. 

 

This kit is high on my to get list. Surface details look great

The bad side of it is that it will be more difficult to restore the surface detail if you get heavy-handed with the putty. Therefore the importance of test-fitting.

[LSP_K2]

Great start. Looks to be an interesting kit.

[quang]

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

[gunnyax]

Hey Quang,

Nice allready. Zipper system is a nice trick. Beautifull cockpit.

[Chek]

Great progress Quang.

Your paint work and small detailing looks excellent.

I think I'll go with aluminium painted framework too, just so it stands out better against the grey-green plywood panels.

[quang]

Hey Quang,

Nice allready. Zipper system is a nice trick. Beautifull cockpit.

 

Hello gunnyax,

Glad that it helps 

 

Great progress Quang.

Your paint work and small detailing looks excellent.

I think I'll go with aluminium painted framework too, just so it stands out better against the grey-green plywood panels.

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

Edited June 15, 2016 by quang

[Big Texan]

Wonderful work!