A tale of two Hurricanes

[stona]

I've got the Fly cockpit done as far as I can. It and the seat harness are primed and ready to paint tomorrow. The armour and instrument panel fit into the fuselage which means that I doubt that this and the Revell kit will be built exactly in parallel.

This has been, shall we say, a bit of a jostle.



The Fly instructions call for all this framing to be in Interior Green while Revell's go with aluminium. Despite Hawker's painting instructions both could be right, so I'm going with the respective instructions. It also gives a bit of variety

[Neil Merryweather]

Ooh thanks for going the extra mile with this build, very informative as always with your threads

[stona]

I mentioned Hawker's painting instructions. From the relevant Hurricane Mk I 'protective finishes' documents:

Cockpit interior - grey green; Tubular framework within cockpit - aluminium; Pilot seat - aluminium; Rudder pedal heel boards - black or plain aluminium.

Also, wheel wells - aluminium.

We know that, contrary to those instructions, the cockpit interior, including the seat, was sometimes painted in interior grey green. Whether that was done by different manufacturers or at different factories, different production batches or something else I don't know. Someone would have to tally the images of grey green cockpits with serial numbers/manufacturers. It's good for us though. If you don't have an image of the cockpit of your particular aircraft you can't be wrong (or necessarily right)

[stona]

To keep the two kits vaguely in sync I have pressed on with the Fly Hurricane's cockpit. This is now pretty much done. There are a couple of almost microscopic P-E parts missing (one got blown off to heaven knows where by the airbrush!) but I'm absolutely not bovvered.



That is the kit harness, P-E of which I'm not a fan, but it's okay and came in the box.
To be brutally honest, it's an awful lot of work for a limited return. Luckily, I hold the unpopular view that most of it's a waste of time as nobody but me will ever see most of it again :smiling3:

This will get left aside when I make a start on the Revell kit.

[stona]

And we're off with the Revell kit:



This was very easy, childishly easy compared to the other kit.

First impressions are positive. There's a little bit of flash but the molding seems good, if a bit soft in places. More importantly, the pieces seem to fit together!

[Allen Dewire]

Finally catching up here Steve! A comparison is always a good thing to follow and learn from. it's funny that the Fly plastic was so brittle in your kit. I have their Ar-234 Nightfighter kit and I found the plastic was very good to work with. The lack of alignment pins made it tricky in assembly, but not a prob. The resin parts were really well cast and had a good fit. Same with their etch. I'm in for the long run here, so keep it coming, Sir!!!

Prost
Allen

[stona]

For some reason the Fly plastic is very brittle. There's no give at all meaning some of their attempts at molding thin parts are tricky both to remove from the frame and to clean up. They need quite a bit of clean up. The larger parts, like the fuselage sides are fine and fit together well.
I agree about the resin, that's all nicely cast, I haven't had to fill any bubbles or anything. The wheel well requires a lot of filing/sanding to make it fit. Mine is currently so thin on top that it's translucent, and it still only just fits.
Likewise the P-E, it's just that some of the parts are so small, and the metal so thin, that attaching some of the parts is always going to be problematic. I've still got almost all of it into the cockpit using a 2.5x magnifier and what's left is mainly larger parts for the radiators, intakes etc. and should be no problem.

The weird thing is that for all that work on the Fly kit, there's a lot more in the Revell cockpit, albeit all in plastic. Some of the Fly parts clearly look better. Their P-E/film sandwich for the instrument panel or P-E foot boards are much better than Revell's plastic equivalents. It's why making direct comparisons is tricky, they are two very different kits.

One thing is certain, bearing in mind that I have only just started the Revell kit, the Fly kit has presented more challenges...so far.

[stona]

Today I have received some paint masks from Australia (DN Models, but the cheapest I could find them was from an outfit called BNA Model World) and a Sutton Harness from the Czech Republic (Martin Bobeck/HGW odels).

They were ordered on the same day! The world really is becoming smaller.

Does anyone else use Maketar masks? I have a feeling that they may be out of business. Their website has been showing this message for many weeks now. To my mind 'back soon' doesn't mean in months

[stona]

Back to the job in hand.

I've got the Revell cockpit almost done. There are a couple of parts which need decals (instrument panel and compass) which I will add later.

There's far more in the Revell cockpit and it is not difficult to build. It's why comparisons are so tricky. This is a kit from a major manufacturer, with all the resources that it can bring to bear. It's reflected in the amount of plastic you get and the clever engineering.



The harness is NOT in the box, that's an aftermarket addition.

[stona]

I've had limited time of late, but I now have both models at close to the same stage of construction.

You can make your own minds up about the two offices!



Next, I'll turn my attention back to the Fly kit.

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Steve!

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Steve. Left hand office looks like it has more going on to me….

[stona]

Left hand office looks like it has more going on to me….

It definitely does.
The Revell cockpit looks a lot busier and, frankly, more realistic.

[stona]

This post is probably only relevant to those who already have one of the Fly kits, or fancy taking a swing at one.

I understand, via the wonders of the internet, that some people struggle to fit this very nice looking resin wheel well into the kit.



You can probably see that this is a dry fit with everything taped together!

Trust me, the wheel well will fit.



It's tight. The bottom of the cockpit structure is bearing on the top of the wheel well in places, and I have thinned it down to be literally translucent in places (when held up to what passes for daylight here in Birmingham). You wouldn't want to take much more material off, you would risk holes in the top of the wheel well. I have established that there is enough room for me to position some plastic card 'tabs' to aid me with the position and attachment of the upper wings.

While we are at it, I've just noticed that I have inadvertently taken a picture of one of the best features of this kit, the representation of the fabric of the fuselage stretched over the timber stringers.

[KarlW]

Cracking on nicely, I see poor fit as a common complaint regarding resin wheel wells.
Also use BNA model world quite often for stuff I can't find in Europe.