1/48 Revell Hawker Hurricane IIC - No. 87 (F) Sqn RAF - September 1942

 

Depicted as an aircraft operated by No. 87 (F) Sqn RAF Charmy Down, UK September 1942

The Build

This is Revell boxing of the Hasegawa kit in 1/48,I picked it up for $25 in the local toyshop on special.  I also picked up a CDK detail set at a swap meet a few years ago for cheap so I thought I’d have a go it.

 I really picked the wrong kit because the standard cockpit is excellent (minus the seat and Canopy). Well my first impressions or using resin stuff is “Won’t be doing that again” Way to many small fiddly bits for my shaking fingers!. Plus the fit was average. I think I would have made a better job of the cockpit with stuff out of the box. 

I chose the night intruder option in the box because I wanted something different. I had to add the strake in the air intake; I also dropped the flap at the rear of the air intake as most the photos showed this down when the aircraft is one the ground. I also added the exhaust flash protectors as the pictures I’d seen of night fighters/intruders had them fitted. I replaced the kit exhausts with the Ultra cast ones. They look so much better IMHO. 

Painting

It was painted with Gunze 302 for the dark green, Tamiya 54 for the dark gray and flat black underneath. I did the upper surfaces freehand as I like the effect of the feathering that freehand gives but for the black on the rear fuselage I used blue tack to “mask out” the lines as my hands weren’t steady enough, plus I want to try that technique out. It’s not to bad although it’s probably a little sharp for my taste. 
 I won’t be painting flat black on such large areas again, it was very hard to get smooth with 4 of 5 coats of One Go, In fact it was never smooth enough for big decals, thankfully none is required. Next time I’ll paint gloss first then add a flat coat. BTW a thanks to Dave Turner for the replacement decal. ( I seem to ruin one per model)

Weathering

I used oils for the wash, (dark grey underneath and a raw umber on top) and then used silver on a fine brush for the weathering. Many of Hurricanes in the photos I had were very banged up so I added a fair bit of weathering to this one. Not sure if I went overboard. It’s a line I find hard to define.  

Final Assembly

The Aerial is Ezy Line (thanks Phil H) first time I’ve used it and it was a dream, I may even consider doing a WW1 aircraft now.

I used the kit canopy for the front windscreen and went through 2 vacuum canopies for the back part. I really struggled with the painting of this part and I’m still not really happy with it. Even though the kit ones are to thick by scale they are so much easier to work with. Why Hasegawa/Revell didn’t include an open canopy to show of the cockpit is beyond me.

I want to do a Desert Hurricane IID some time in the future so hopefully I’ll remember all thing things I did wrong on this one. All in all though  I’m happy with the final product though, I’d recommend this kit to anyone.

The Photos

1/48 Tamiya De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk VI 487 Sqn RNZAF

Depicted as an aircraft from 487 Squadron RNZAF that, on the 18th February 1944, flew on " Operation Jericho". In it Mosquitoes of No's 21  , 464 (RAAF) and 487 (RNZAF) Squadrons bombed the Amiens prison to free French resistance fighters being held by the Gestapo.

The Build

This was my first Tamiya kit and WOW, what a joy to build, it went together with virtually no problems (the wingtips being the exception). The instructions are good and the detail in the cockpit and bomb bay is good. If this is representative of other Tamiya kits then I can see why the are around $40 AUD. But I think it is well worth the money. I bought an after market tail wheel and crew door, although only the crew door was really required.

Painting and Finishing

For the paints I used Gunze 309 for the green and Tamiya XF54 (Dark Sea grey) for the upper surfaces and XF 19 )for the underside. To me these colours look pretty good  representations of the the WW 2 RAF colours Dark Green, Ocean Gray and Medium Sea Grey. As I have at least 3 other RAF WW2 fighters to build I think I'll be sticking with them.

The kit was dusted in Tamiya smoke and a final coat of Gunze Flat clear and I'm very happy with the final result. I rate this my best effort yet.

The Photos

1/48 Academy Republic P-47D-25 Thunderbolt - 84th Fighter Squadron 78th Fighter Group 1944

 

Depicted as an aircraft flown by the 84th Fighter Squadron 78th Fighter Group England Autumn 1944.

I've always loved the P-47D, a big beautiful beast of a plane, Sadly and wrongly underrated when compared to the P-51D. IMHO the P-47D Bubbletop just looks cooler. The Thunderbolt destroyed more aircraft in air to air combat than the P-51D and despite it's size was very manoeuvrable.  But it's forte was ground attack, and along with the Hawker Typhoon it rates as may favourite single seater of WW2.

The Build

This kit is fairly good, although I had some trouble with the Decals (more on that later). Also the joints between the wing and fuselage on the underside were huge and required allot of filler. Still I paid $15 for this kit so I can't complain. 

I used a true details cockpit for this build.

I choose the unusual scheme of RAF dark Green and Sky. I had a picture of a 84 th Fighter squadron aircraft in a book that mention they were in this scheme.

As usual I agonized over the paints and ended up using Humbrol Enamels (149 for the green) and 64 for the underside. 

The Decals

I used the kit decals but completely screwed up the checkerboard decal on the nose, so much so that it was not salvageable . After much swearing and many attempts to paint the checks I put out a request on the Fine Scale Modelling Forums. A guy (thanks Daniel) replied saying that he would send me the decals for the kit. After e-mailing him my postal address we discover he lives 5 minutes away from me. Small world, anyway he also provided me with some valuable modelling tips when he dropped around. 

The kit was dusted in Tamiya smoke and a final coat of Gunze Flat clear and I'm pretty happy with the final result.

The Photos

Now it's been added to my Collection of WW 2 aircraft, which is slowly taking up all the spare shelf space in the house.