A tale of two Hurricanes

[stona]

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.

I honestly believe that a lot of the time it's caused by not liberating the actual resin part from the casting block properly. I suppose I have the advantage of having worked with resin and having built resin kits, which does require a bit of experience.

BNA did a good job of getting their stuff to me, so tip of the hat to our Aussie friends. It was just some masks, so a very small package. I wouldn't know how getting more substantial packages all the way from Australia would work. What about customs? I got stung a few years ago ordering a Zoukei-Mura kit from Japan.

[KarlW]

I honestly believe that a lot of the time it's caused by not liberating the actual resin part from the casting block properly. I suppose I have the advantage of having worked with resin and having built resin kits, which does require a bit of experience.

BNA did a good job of getting their stuff to me, so tip of the hat to our Aussie friends. It was just some masks, so a very small package. I wouldn't know how getting more substantial packages all the way from Australia would work. What about customs? I got stung a few years ago ordering a Zoukei-Mura kit from Japan.

Definitely only AM bits, though I did get a resin conversion kit from them once, but pre brexit.

[stona]

Final update for a couple of days (at least) due once again to the requirement to earn a living.

There is an issue with the top of the fin to fix. This is just a poorly formed fuselage half, but nothing too difficult. There's also a little bit of sorting on the underside to do. This is at the rear of the wing centre section where it joins the fuselage and is pretty typical of a lot of aircraft models.

Generally the fit, for this type of kit, is pretty good. I've seen far worse!

Clearly visible are the tabs I've fitted to give something for the wing sections to index on. Also typically for this sort of kit there are absolutely no pins or any other type of locators. The instructions seem to show the wings and centre section being built first and then added to the fuselage, though occasionally things do seem to magically appear on the model, in the instructions, with no prior mention :smiling3: Building it the way I think the instructions suggest is a really bad idea! If there are going to be any issues I don't want them at the wing-fuselage join(s), I want them on the leading edge where they are much easier to address. I will attach the upper wing and then the lower wing and see what's what.



I'm endeavouring to keep the two models at least vaguely in-sync, not as easy as it sounds for two very different kits. When I get back I will get the wings on this one and then attempt to bring the Revell kit to a similar stage.

[Richard48]

Sorry for the late arrival.Am very partial to the Hurricane.If i may i shall join the watchers from the cheap seats.Watching with interest.Doing a marvellous job so far.
Rich.

[stona]

I had an unexpected afternoon off today, so, being at a bit of a loose end, I got the wings on the Fly Hurricane.

This was in fact a bit of a challenge. So far I have got the upper surface looking pretty good:



Oh, I fixed the fin too.

There's still a bit of faffing to be done on the underside, but that will be for another day. I don't use a proprietary filler, I'm happy with a mixture of superglue and talcum powder. You can make it the consistency you want, it is a glue and will stick or hold things together (unlike some fillers), it does not shrink and it dries very hard. This last point means that you need to sand it before it becomes much harder than the surrounding plastic! I typically wipe away any excess before it dries.



If you want a kit which throws itself together, then this is not for you. If, however, you enjoy a bit of a challenge and are prepared to make a bit of an effort to build what is starting to look like a very nice Hurricane, then go for it :smiling3:

[colin m]

All looking very nice Steve. Am I correct in thinking you've built a Fly kit before ? If so then I'm not sure if this emotion I'm feeling is pity or worry, as in why another one ? However, I do remember from my build, whilst the Fly is a bit of a frustrating build, the end result was very nice.

[Jim R]

Definitely coming together now Steve. Although the fit isn't perfect there doesn't appear to be any major issues.

.. one of the best features of this kit, the representation of the fabric of the fuselage stretched over the timber stringers.

Yes that is well done indeed.

[stona]

All looking very nice Steve. Am I correct in thinking you've built a Fly kit before ? If so then I'm not sure if this emotion I'm feeling is pity or worry, as in why another one ? However, I do remember from my build, whilst the Fly is a bit of a frustrating build, the end result was very nice.

Hi Colin, yes I've built at least one of these before. It was long enough ago that my memory had drawn a discrete veil over the kit's....shortcomings.

It does require a bit of work and you're right, it is shaping up to make a nice Hurricane.

The Fly kit was the only game in town for a 1/32 Hurricane (apart from a really horrible Revell kit, as far as I know) until this newer Revell kit was released. That would certainly be why I built one previously.

[stona]

I've managed to squeeze in a bit of bench time so far this weekend. I've been pushing on with the Fly kit and have suddenly realised that I need to stop that one and get on with the other one. It's hard to do because you always see that one more thing you could do, rather than leaving something in a mess!

This is how the Fly Hurricane currently stands. The sharp eyed will notice a tropical air intake, so I've committed to that version, it will be a 'Malta Hurricane'.



The Revell Hurricane has, I think it safe to say, fallen a bit behind.

[stona]

I wasn't going to do an update until I'd made some progress with the Revell kit, but I have come to a point that illustrates the difference between the two and why direct comparisons, though inevitable, are always going to be unfair.

Remember this?



The fuselage of the Fly Hurricane, ready for its wings. There are no locating/indexing pins or tabs of any nature, apart from those I have added myself. It's up to you to figure it out and to make the wings fit. It requires some work.

Then there is this:



This is the way the lower wing is engineered to attach to the wheel well/bottom of the fuselage in the Revell kit. It is almost impossible to get this wrong. Everything will line up nicely, as evidenced by the join on the other, eventually visible, side.


Now, whilst kudos is due Revell for making such a well engineered kit with parts that fit this well, it would be completely unreasonable to expect a company like Fly to do the same and stay in business.

I think that's an important point to make.

[stona]

Time for some formation flying!





The two do have slightly different shapes. I'm afraid if you want someone measuring a millimetre here or there I'm not that guy. I would say that the Revell model (lighter coloured plastic) has a slightly bulkier or heavier look to it. The most noticeable other difference is in the shape of the fins, visible, I think, in the photos.

I have no idea which is 'right' or 'wrong', neither do I care. They both look like Hurricanes and if they were not sitting side by side I would be none the wiser :smiling3:

[stona]

The tale of two Hurricanes does continue, albeit slowly as I've been busier than I would like.

I have managed to get both aircraft primed and ready for some 'proper' paint, after a couple of minor fixes. Unfortunately, I am going to struggle to get that done in the next couple of weeks as I now find myself tied up with a bunch more famous for their make up than their music (and rightly so).



I would make a couple of observations. The surface detail on the Fly kit (on the right as we look) is much better than the Revell kit, though much is raised which may seem a bit old fashioned to some. Then there's the shapes. I haven't measured anything, nor do I have accurate plans of the Hurricane to reference, but to my eye the Fly kit just looks better, sort of, well, more Hurricane like. I could, of course, be completely wrong.

[stona]

A tale of two undersides!

The Fly kit is being built as Z2827 of the Malta Night Fighting Unit, coded as 'M', based at Ta'Quali in mid 1941. The kit instructions call for a Night (black) underside, which just seems wrong. There were some Hurricanes finished in overall Night, but images I have found of aircraft in this unit at this time (Q, E and M itself) don't seem to show any Night at all. Another good image of a related aircraft (K) absolutely definitely shows a light underside. Since there is agreement that the upper colours were Dark Earth and Mid Stone, the standard tropical colours, I have gone with Azure Blue, also standard. I wouldn't argue with Sky or even Sky Blue, neither can be ruled out. I didn't want two models with Sky undersides and I don't have any Sky Blue, which may have influenced my choice

The Revell kit will end up as Z3745 of No. 79 Squadron, coded NV-B at roughly the same time. This one is easy as it was in the standard Dark Earth and Dark Green over Sky of the Temperate Land Scheme.

[adt70hk]

A tale of two undersides!

The Fly kit is being built as Z2827 of the Malta Night Fighting Unit, coded as 'M', based at Ta'Quali in mid 1941. The kit instructions call for a Night (black) underside, which just seems wrong. There were some Hurricanes finished in overall Night, but images I have found of aircraft in this unit at this time (Q, E and M itself) don't seem to show any Night at all. Another good image of a related aircraft (K) absolutely definitely shows a light underside. Since there is agreement that the upper colours were Dark Earth and Mid Stone, the standard tropical colours, I have gone with Azure Blue, also standard. I wouldn't argue with Sky or even Sky Blue, neither can be ruled out. I didn't want two models with Sky undersides and I don't have any Sky Blue, which may have influenced my choice

The Revell kit will end up as Z3745 of No. 79 Squadron, coded NV-B at roughly the same time. This one is easy as it was in the standard Dark Earth and Dark Green over Sky of the Temperate Land Scheme.

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Coming on nicely Steve.

ATB

Andrew

[stona]

Some more formation flying!

I've managed to squeeze a few hours in, though this might be it for a while.



Colour perception eh! That Dark Earth is the same; same paint from the same bottle, sprayed over the same black primer with a similar white pre-shade.