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

Very Nice work Andy

Thanks all. Should be back at it tomorrow.

Well, I had a good few hours that I was able to spend on the Hurricane over the weekend so I'm able to update you here. I'll start off by saying that I'm going a bit overboard on the pit details based on what will eventually be seen but, dang it, I'm having fun doing it! I've also found that my scratch building skills are getting honed by doing this so it's providing some good practice.

Let's start from where we left off above. Onto the framing went the kit supplied PE plating in front of the pedals. I decided to use the kit supplied PE foot pedals, despite them looking rather flat but these are almost well and truly buried behind the instrument panel. Nevertheless, I cut them off, bent the heel support and mounted them on a piece of rod that was then glued to the frame at a bit of an angle. The rudder will be deflected to suit.



For the instrument panel, I used the kit-supplied PE piece on which I picked out the details by hand after painting it all black. The bezels then got a dab of Future. The panel was then mounted on another piece of rod and the compass holder was cut from the kit piece and glued on to the rod. The discs to the right are the start of the scratch built compass. The grey piece is the body and is just a slice of plastic rod. The white piece was punched from card and will become the compass face.



The compass face was painted black and then the white markings were simply scratched in. I like how it turned out.



The cockpit was then painted interior green and various bits were highlighted with a slightly lighter shade and shadow areas were created with a darker green. All the other bits got their black colour and a bit of silver dry brush before the instrument panel was carefully lined up and glued into place.



Another view of the same area. Note the detail added in front of the rudder bar hinge point that ended with a rather nice star wheel that was supplied with the kit. In front of that is another scratch built addition that utilizes the kit supplied instrument gauge. I also added some wire bracing to the bottom framing.



Here are two views of the starboard side all painted up.




On to the control column. The kit supplied unit was pretty basic and the grip was too thick. Unfortunately I did not get a pic of it before I started to modify if but here's a shot of how it looked after I cut out the brake lever and thinned the grip.



Then, I added the aileron control rods (kit supplied PE), brake handle, and the brake line.



After painting the column, it was installed in the pit.



And that's it for now!

Love the innards.

Geo

Looks great Andy!

Thanks guys.

looks good

very cool

Thanks guys. Scratching my head a bit about the colour of the framing and am tempted to go back and paint the tubular frames, seat, and floor boards in bare aluminum. If seen references with both interior green framing and bare aluminum framing. Anyone know for sure before I button this up?

Don't know if these help you Andy, the tubes look a little different though it may be the lighting.



Geo

To use your own words Andy…………….."Dang it, you were having fun"……………..great pit mate.

Ooooooh! WOW very nice this cockpit Andy i líke very much you Job with this plane

GREAT pit Andy! Really cool to see you go the extra mile AND call it fun!

Thanks all and Geo, thanks for posting the cockpit reference. Here's a restored Sea Hurricane:



And an original pit from a Hurricane in Finland, both as found and discussed at Britmodeller.



The Hurricane MkXII restoration I'm involved with also is apparently bare metal with no evidence of paint:

Well, based on the above, I've decided to go with bare aluminum on the tubular frame and related parts:



The seat that was supplied with the kit looked a bit clunky so it was another candidate for a revamp. The basic seat looked like this:



Modifications started with thinning the sidewalls and drilling out the base for the depression that should have been there.



To finish the seat, I extended the support brackets on the back, glued stretched sprue on the seat edges, finished the depression with aluminum tape, drilled out the shoulder harness hole, added the height adjustment lever, painted it all dull aluminum (which turned out a bit dustier than I would like), and added the lap harnesses.




The sides did not get much attention as they won't be seen. I've now thrown the seat loosely into the pit and glued the halves together, since the seat would not fit through the opening withe the lever attached. I'll adjust the seat later and glue it from the bottom later.

Good stuff Andy. The frame colours were possibly dependent on where the aircraft was built. For example, Hawker's tended to use 'Aluminium' paint, and the lower frames, heel boards, and often the seat, would be in this colour, with side walls, rear bulkhead and head armour, and sometimes the upper frames, in the Cockpit Grey-Green.
I've seen examples of overall grey-green, a mix of the green and the 'silver', and overall 'silver', and I think the green was mainly fro Gloster-built aircraft.