AlasdairGF's 1/72 Hurricane Mk I

[AlasdairGF]

Well perhaps time I lost my group build duck with a nice & easy one? Thanks to john's tip about Aldi selling cheap Airfix starter kits, I managed to pick myself up the Hurricane Mk I for a fiver. Shame there wasn't an appropriate partner kit in store, I could have got two kits and stayed under budget!

So I understand there are some formalities to get past... here's the box art:

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And here are some sprue shots and one of the decals & instructions:

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I'm struggling to recover lost mojo, so don't have anything fancy planned for this. I'll do it entirely OOB, and hoping for an easy, quick build that'll get a smile on my physiog and a neat wee Hurri on the shelf. Will also have done my first ever GB, which may spur me on to greater things in the future.

 

[Polux]

Yep!

Welcome to the GB then

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice choice Alasdair, the Airfix Hurricane will get your mojo back, an easy build which will result in a pleasing finish. Look forward to it!

 

[monica]

look forward to seeing what you do with this one Alasdair :D

 

[AlasdairGF]

Well some progress, but as term starts it's all been put away for a couple of weeks as I get back into the madness...

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Oops forgot the obligatory "office" shot...! not much visible through cockpit... can't make out all the silver 'wear' on edges or anything, what a waste of time! Will probably pose open, though, so maybe someone will peer in and go 'ooo pretty'...

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Things have gone together pretty well for the most part - some of the fits are micrometer perfect... wing root has required a bit of attention though. Really need to get some Mr Surfacer I think, I'm pretty much at the limit of what I can do with putty.

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Wheel well - damn wish I'd noticed those ejector pin marks, they would have been easy to get rid of before gluing things together. Silly me. Also, to anyone else putting this together, there's a final piece that goes into the wheel well and the instructions say insert it after you've glued the wheel well to the lower wing. It's a bald-faced lie! That was an impossible task, ended up slicing a chunk of it off. What is this bit, anyway? Haven't a clue, but found a photo of it:

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One thing I thought I'd do is try to open up the shell casing chutes or whatever they are, as they're not great. Perhaps I don't have the right tools for this, though, didn't go terribly well. Have only done one side, as a lesson to myself to experiment on scrap pieces of plastic before taking a drill and files to one of the largest pieces of my model...!

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Just for fun, I spent the rest of my tenner on an RAF Tomahawk (also from Aldi), which I'm doing up at the same time... it's falling together! Beautifully fitting plane. Actually have already done one of these as the 'Dogfight Double', but the desert RAF camo seemed like a fun variant. Bit worried about the shark's mouth decal, though, suspect that might be a bitch. Anyway, that's not the main attraction, but I'll post a few pics just for interest's sake.

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(Quite pleased with the red on the spinner, added white and a tiny bit of yellow to fade it (but not pink it). Have I made the prop tips too big though? Not sure.)

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[flyjoe180]

Alasdair, nice progress. Wing roots are always a difficult section to work with. My Revell Hurricane is receiving surgery too in the same place.

I think that shrouded piping is part of the oil system but I could be wrong. There are two pipes inside that shroud. The large radiator behind the small carburettor intake is the oil cooler. Oil is sent to the engine from the port leading edge oil tank. After it passes through the engine it is sent to the cooler inside the coolant radiator (the large significant scoop underneath). It must then be sent back to the tank so I am guessing (as it turns towards the port wing root) that one is a return pipe. It would also explain why the pipes are heat shrouded.

Opening the gun cartridge ports is always tricky. In the past I have scored them and then used a very small drill or knife tip to take out the majority of plastic, and then cleaned the edges up with scalpel blade. I also have a tiny point-ended file which is useful for this sort of thing.

Nice job on the Tomahawk so far too. The yellow tips were 4 inches from tip to centre, so that's about 1.4mm in 1/72 scale.

 

[dubster72]

I'm watching this one closely Alasdair as I've got the same one in progress! Good heads up on the pipe thingy

 

[dave]

Nice work to date, I'll bear the info on the instructions in mind. I want to build the MkI Hurricane to go with my MkI Spitfire.

 

[AlasdairGF]

Just a quick note of apology for lack of progress... but SWMBO has reclaimed the dining room and in modelling terms I'm currently homeless. Boo.

 

[flyjoe180]

Just a quick note of apology for lack of progress... but SWMBO has reclaimed the dining room and in modelling terms I'm currently homeless. Boo.

No worries Alasdair, I've been compound skimming walls and about to go to work for a week away from home. Fun ain't it?