HOBBYCRAFT 1:48 HURRICANE MK.II

 

Reviewer: Michael Johnson  (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  16 April 2003

The Aircraft

Once the Battle of Britain was over, Fighter Command could rest it’s battle weary pilots and take delivery of new aircraft as they became available. There was at last time to introduce refinements to aircraft then in service and to look to developments for the future. 

Hawker was tasked with the job of up-rating the Hurricane MkI’s daylight performance and several alternative power plants were considered. The choice offering the least disruption to production was the Merlin XX, which with 2 stage supercharger and using 100 octane fuel was rated at 1280hp at take off. A new forward engine bay was installed to accept the bigger power plant and the new MkII flew for the first time on 11 June 1940. It was the fastest Hurricane ever flown.

Production Mk II series 1 aircraft were intended to be equipped with the new all metal twelve gun wings but the shortage of Browning machine guns meant that initial MkII’s retained the battery of eight guns. No. 111 Squadron (the first squadron in Fighter Command to receive the original MkI Hurricane)  took delivery of the first Hurricane MkIIA srs 1’s in September 1940.

Over the next year, the Hurricane MkII evolved into a versatile fighter capable of undertaking specialist roles. New standardised wings allowed the Hurricanes role to change quickly if required. Indeed, the Hurricane was the principal fighter for the RAF in the Far Eastern and Middle Eastern Theatres.

Hobbycraft boxing of the Night Intruder IIc version Hobbycraft boxing of the Russian Front

Finally, Hobbycraft boxing of the Desert Rat version, 
all using the same basic mould

Preamble

I have always liked the Hawker Hurricane, Sir Sydney Camm’s fighter was the RAF’s first “modern” monoplane fighter and was delivered to Fighter Command some months before the more elegant Spitfire. I saw this particular kit amongst a bunch of Hobbycraft kits going cheap at a local hobby shop and snapped it up. Six months later Hasegawa released their superb and expensive Hurricane MKIIC kit. One day perhaps.


© Michael Johnson 2003

The Kit

The box contains 2 sprues moulded in Hobbycraft’s ubiquitous grey plastic and the one piece cockpit canopy. The parts are well moulded, crisp with little flash. Recessed panel lines are deep but certainly not overdone, just right for holding a wash.  I was delighted to find that enough parts are provided to construct either MKIIB, MKIIC or MKIID variants.

Three decal options are provided, along with a basic instruction sheet. The decals are typical Hobbycraft, nice and clear but way too bright and these ones were slightly out of register as well. I decided to consign them to the decal box and use a much nicer Aeromaster offering. Hobbycraft kit decals are seemingly never consistent so beware.

Undercarriage detail is very simplified, the retract struts for the main oleo legs very much so. I was a little concerned about undercarriage strength as the locator holes for the legs were very shallow.


© Michael Johnson 2003

Construction

Assembly started with the cockpit. I brush painted the cockpit walls, floor and seat with Humbrol cockpit green. Washes of raw umber artist oils followed and dry brushing was used to impart some “wear and tear”

The nicely moulded instrument panel was painted with flat black then carefully dry brushed with flat white to bring out the moulded dials. I then picked out various items in accordance with reference material, with constant cross checking.

I used a Sutton Harness decal from a Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1 kit to liven up the seat. As the cockpit was closed it seemed a waste to use an etched set.

The pre painted components went together more or less perfectly and was attached to a fuselage side, making sure alignment was correct.

Construction proceeded without any major issues, any problem seam lines were treated to a small addition of filler. All obliterated recessed panel lines were carefully re-scribed once seam treatment had been completed. The kit provided Volkes tropical filter was also added as I had decided to do a desert theatre Hurricane IIC

The only really difficult and frustrating issue I have with this kit was the placement of the 4 x 20mm Hispano Cannons on the wings. These are no locating holes to provide positive lock, not even any marker points for attachment. Sheer guess work and constant checking to make sure the barrels are aligned vertically and horizontally. I reinforced the barrel/wing joint with a thin ”filler” layer of two part epoxy (Araldite – my father’s favourite glue)

Painting and Decaling

Now that construction was finished I could settle down to masking fun and painting. 

I chose a scheme from my Aeromaster decal sheet “Hurricanes at War pt2”, depicting a Hurricane IIC operating in the Western Desert Theatre of operations. RAF aircraft in this theatre were painted Dark Earth/ Mid Stone over Azure Blue.

I masked the one piece canopy, painted the interior green inside framing colour and securely cemented it onto place. Airbrushing began with the entire fuselage being sprayed with Aeromaster Azure Blue. Aeromaster paints (long since discontinued, re-badged Polly Scale) are fantastic paints to airbrush and hand paint. I thin these paints with Tamiya acrylic thinner which gives the paint a wonderful flat and even finish, revealing all surface detail.

I wanted to do some pre-shading, so once the Azure Blue was dry, I sprayed thin lines of black paint down each panel line. The pre-shading would be more evident on the underside of the wings and fuselage and the Mid Stone areas of the upper fuselage and wings. Once the black was dry, I  carefully over sprayed the blue again, misting on paint until the black could just be seen. Once this was completed, I lightened the blue with a couple of drops of white and sprayed the middle of each panel carefully. This gives an impression of wear and sun bleaching, especially common on desert based aircraft. 

The upper disruptive pattern of Mid Stone and Dark Earth was next, with these colours also treated to panel fading. Finally I set my airbrush to a very tight spray and sprayed very thin Mid Stone over selected panel lines within the Dark Earth areas, imparting a little more wear and tear. Once this was done and the Azure Blue masking removed, I set aside the completed fuselage aside for 24 hours to dry completely.


© Michael Johnson 2003

The Oleo legs were treated with AS12 Natural Metal straight from the spray can, followed by a wash with thinned Tamiya Smoke and clear coated with a flat clear coat, giving an excellent weathered metal look. The legs were also detailed with small amounts of Testors chrome silver. I repeated this process on the tail wheel and the wheel hubs. Tires were brush painted using Aeromaster Tire Black.

The propeller was painted black with yellow tips and the spinner with Humbrol Signal Red.

I then turned my attention to the exhausts. Painting exhausts is straight forward, spray a base of flat black and dry brush Model Master metallic paints to give the exhausts a weathered, heat stressed appearance. The Model Master metallics are very thin and dry brush really nicely. However in this instance I used Burnt Iron only. All the completed sub assemblies were then put aside until final assembly.


© Michael Johnson 2003

I then applied Johnson’s “Future” over the fuselage with a flat wide brush kept specifically for the purpose. This fantastic product, in reality an acrylic floor wax for tiles, is available in Australia under the name of  “Super Stride/Super Shine”, another product called “Long Life” by Rekkits is also just as effective. Two carefully applied coats was all that was needed to impart a fantastic gloss coat, ready for decaling.

I purchased an Aeromaster decal set “Hurricanes at War pt2” (which actually cost more than the kit!!). This sheet has quite a few scheme options, including two Western Desert schemes. Aeromaster decals are wonderfully thin, always in register and are not prone to “see through” once placed in position. All the decals snuggled down to the surface details well with some applications of decal solvent. I was most impressed at how easy they were to apply and to position. You have to love that lightning bolt through the fuselage roundel!!

My favourite part of building a model kit would have to be weathering! After the decals had dried I sealed the whole plane with another coat of future (wash the decal solution and decal glue away first) and used a raw umber/burnt sienna oil wash to enhance the recessed panel lines. This looks absolutely atrocious until the excess is wiped away with a cotton bud moistened in white spirits. The "Future" protects the paintwork and decals from any damage by the washing procedure. Once again the model was put aside to cure and finally sprayed with Aeromaster flat, to give a matt appearance.


© Michael Johnson 2003

Final Touches

I then added the undercarriage. This was reinforced with CA glue as I was concerned that the whole assembly and fuselage join was weak. The final touch was to add careful applications of powdered pastel around the engine exhaust and gun barrels, paint chipping with Humbrol Polished Steel and finally some careful use of a silver artists pencil to impart “scuffing”.

My Hurricane IIC was now finished, looking great in desert camouflage.

Overall

This kit embodies all the things that make modelling such a fun and rewarding hobby. For a third of the price and detail of the Hasegawa kit, this Hobbycraft offering is great value. Yes, there are some issues with accuracy, but not much and the finished product looks like a Hurricane. I am not a rivet counter so that is certainly good enough for me!

The desert camouflage finish was a great challenge enabling me to attempt a wide range of techniques that I had read about and wanted to try.

Great fun and very satisfying!


© Michael Johnson 2003

References

 


© Michael Johnson 2003

 

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