**** DONE: 1/48 Hurricane MkIIc - Mediterranean Theatre of Operations

[Wayne Little]

bring it on1

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Here's a run through the kit parts. Just 3 simple sprues with pretty rudimentary parts.

These so called cockpit details won't last long....

The panel lines and surface details aren't up to the quality seen in our better kits but they'll do.

The kit does come with a fret of PE which has the cockpit framing, instrument panel, gun cowls, the radiator grille, and some miscellaneous bit. I'm not sure about using this for the tubular cockpit frames and may end up just making these out of plastic rod.

The clear parts are not bad, though too thick for posing the canopy open so, as mentioned before, I'll use a vac formed canopy instead.

Finally, the decals came in today and they look pretty nice.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Not a bad looking kit Andy, looking at the PE though, is it of steel as it looks rather and if so, less pliable.

 

[Crimea_River]

I think they a re all a form of stainless steel Vic.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Agreed Andy, all PE is based on some form of steel but these look to be very thick in relation to say an Eduards PE set and consequently would be a little more difficult to work with.

 

[Catch22]

Should be good as always Andy!

 

[Wayne Little]

Agreed...no real issue here...

 

[le_steph40]

8)

 

[Crimea_River]

I broke ground on this kit by carefully assembling the photoetched parts that represented the complex framing in the Hurricane's cockpit. I was hesitant at first as I was not convinced that the flat strips of the PE would adequately represent round tubes but I thought I had nothing to lose by giving it a try. After having glued all the delicate parts together, I painted the frames with a thick primer, hoping to give them some roundness and depth and then............ I dropped something on the thing and it blew apart.

Well, that decided the fate of the PE and I decided to make my own frames out of plastic rod. Using the PE trusses as templates, I made two frames as shown below.

A side panel was then cut from plastic card and glued to the upper rod. I then added all the other PE bits.

The frame was then glued into the port side, another brace was added, and the area was finished off with more bits and pieces along the wall to the point where it's ready for paint.

Next up will be the starboard side and then the fun part, somehow getting the open floor framing in place.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Wurger]

Agreed.

 

[chris brown]

Nice work! Definitely an improvement over the flat PE.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much guys, Starboard side was done today. Everything was scratch built except for the PE landing gear selector switch plate. The large map box is cut from 4 pieces of plastic card and the other two pouches are made with Tamiya tape. The diagonal piece was installed by cutting a piece of rod the exact same length as the one on the opposite side. It was then glued at the one end with Tamiya Extra Thin cement, then the fuselage halves were brought together and the angle adjusted with the the glue still soft until it was correct. When I was happy with it, I dabbed some CA on the joint and applied accelerator so it wouldn't move. Then I broke the fuselage halves apart again and continued working.

Another area that begs improvement is the wheel well, shown below. That will be started when the cockpit is done.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

They say that out of every bad there is always some good and I think you have proved the point Andy. Improvising on that frame remake certainly has paid dividends. Beautifully done mate.

 

[tigerdriver]

great stuff

 

[JKim]

Beautiful scratch work on the cockpit! The tubing looks much better than the PE.

 

[fubar57]

Nice mods on the P.E.

Geo

 

[Catch22]

Awesome work Andy.