**** DONE: 1/48 Hurricane Mk1 V6555 S/L RR Stanford Tuck BoB GB

[Peebs]

great job mate!

 

[N4521U]

Gonna watch this build with great intrest mate. Two future builds for myself, both Davidson piloted. One, Bob, was a wing leader in a Typhoon, the other, Henry, in 249 Sqdn a Mk.1 Hurricane, if I can ever find a plane he flew!!!!!!! He also flew the first launch of a Hurricat off a CAM ship.

Nice job, one we can learn from to be sure.

 

[javlin]

Some nice work as usual Pete Cheers

 

[ozhawk40]

Thanks for the encouragement lads.

I've been looking all over the place for a photos of 257 aircraft during the BoB without too much success I'm afraid, particularly in the absence of a photo of V6555.

However, I did find one of I'm thinking is V6604 which crashed 17/10/40 at 'Colliers End'. Same day that V6555 got a bad dose of 'lead poisoning' actually. Well I'm not 100% sure, but V6604 was on strength with 257 and it seems to fit the picture. Here it is. I don't have a source for the photo.

Interesting to me in that is shows the regular fin flash. Appears to have the word 'Burma' on the pilots 'door' but not the Burmese flag, but that could be my eyesight and the poor quality photo. Should at least give a couple of pointers on how to paint and weather V6555.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Wayne Little]

Still a pretty reasonable reference pic, even if the quality is not the best....

 

[Airframes]

I agree, a good pic, and one I haven't seen before. Normally just see post- November pics, and then only those taken in December / January, with snow on the ground.

 

[lesofprimus]

But any little bit of ref material helps dont it?? She's comin along quite nicely Pete...

 

[Airframes]

Just found that info I've been looking for all this time mate ! It's been sitting on my desk for the past two months! I hadn't realised that what I needed were the notes on a scale drawing !
It confirms the profile based on Bruce Robertson's photo, so the scheme is correct. Also, the aircraft had a de Havilland prop, and was the only one to carry the Churchill cartoon. The Burmese flag was carried on all aircraft in the Squadron at that time and, close study of the last pic you posted only just reveals the tones of this. Hope this helps.

 

[ozhawk40]

Thanks Terry. There has been some 'conjecture' that the Burma flags were a later addition, and I was looking for a pic that confirms this on BoB period aircraft. That and the type of fin flash. The profile by Aeromaster seems to be the most correct profile. Since they are supplying the decals, that's double well done!

Cheers

Peter

 

[ozhawk40]

Some progress this week but it's mainly the sanding and filling part. Hasegawa do some strange things in terms of where they put joins. Along the wings they have inserts for the different armament combinations, which are not a good fit. Filling required. The lower wing panel joins the rear lower fuselage at a very awkward point, with a large gap. To make a good join, requires filling, but you unfortunately lose a fair bit of detail of the fabric 'ribs' by sanding.

Cheers for now.

Peter

 

[Wayne Little]

Seems you have the seam issue well covered....

 

[lesofprimus]

Ha ha Wayne....

Seams look good Peter, looks like u still maintained the fabric appreance...

 

[rochie]

looks good Peter

 

[Airframes]

Good work on that joint Peter, and I see what you mean about strange places to put a joint. A few mm further forward would make life a lot easier !

 

[T Bolt]

That is a strange position to put that seam, but it looks like you did a great job of dealing with it.

 

[ozhawk40]

Thanks Wayne, Dan, Karl, T and Glenn

Here's some more progress: -

Pic 1
This is a reference pic for the wing tip lights. The Hurricane wing tip lights were set up behind a perspex cover, so they looked clear, but had a coloured bulb inside.

Pic 2
To get this effect, I drilled a small hole in the back of the plastic transparency and filled the hole with the appropriate colour. Green for starboard and red for port.

Pic 3
This is a reference photo for the landing lights in both leading edge positions. There were I think a couple of different types/ styles of lights. An interesting factoid was that the lights could be dipped to avoid blinding on-coming traffic/Messerschmidt's.

Pic 4
The interior of the light bays were painted silver, with a chrome light reflector. The cover was attached and I made some masks with Tamiya tape. I have re-scribed all the wing panel lines that I lost through filling/ sanding.

Pic 5
I've added a brace bar with sprue to the front of the radiator opening. A feature on the original not included by Mr Hasegawa. It's probably slightly too 'thick' when compared to the original detail, however it needs to be a little bit robust, and will look thinner once I've given it a 'dirty' wash

Pic 6
Overall progress with first guide coat of primer to look for issues.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work mate. The nav lamps were actually a coloured cover over the clear bulb, like car trafficator/indicator lamps, with, in turn, the Perspex fairing over this. The earlier landing lamp is a right sod to make, as it had three curved 'spoke' like diffuser bars over the lens, can't remember the name, but I think they were made by Aldis.
Just in case Hasegawa have taken the 'multi-use part' option, if the kit radiator has a circular oil cooler in the centre, it'll need removing, as this only came into use from the MkII. It should be plain, with two vertical rods as reinforcing framework.
Looking really neat mate, and looking forward to the next up-date.

 

[magnu]

Looking good

 

[ozhawk40]

Just in case Hasegawa have taken the 'multi-use part' option, if the kit radiator has a circular oil cooler in the centre, it'll need removing, as this only came into use from the MkII. It should be plain, with two vertical rods as reinforcing framework.

That's it T, the Hasegawa comes with both radiator styles. I have installed the type without the circular oil cooler.

Cheers

Peter

 

[rochie]

looks great Peter, my Airix kit didnt have any wingtip lights and just plain covers for the landing lights, might have to try and build something to jazz 'em up a bit