Fly Models 1/32 Hurricane IIc

[stona]

A nice kit with a few, expected, fit issues but nothing to put anyone off. It's the first kit to which I've applied decals for a while (rather than spraying the markings) and I found the decals excellent.


I reckon it makes a good looking Hurricane, here it is.

















Aerial shot for Ian





This is a No.309 (Polish) Squadron machine. The squadron was sent up to Drem with its Hurricanes in April 1944 where they patrolled the Scottish coast in case any Luftwaffe aircraft made an attack in that area...none did!


I like the Hurricane, we'd have been in trouble without it in 1940, but by 1944 it was hardly a front line fighter, particularly in the ETO, and the Poles were not happy to trade in their Mustangs for the type.


There is one contest that the Hurricane never could win, and that's a beauty pageant, lined up with a Spitfire!





Cheers


Steve

[tr1ckey66]

Nicely finished Steve. A crisp and accurate build that looks excellent alongside the Tamiya MkIX.


Can you tell me how this compares with the PCM kit in terms of build difficulties?


Thanks


P

[Guest]

What a beauty! What did you use to mask the camo?

[stona]

Hi Paul, I found that this kit went together better than the PCM kit. I think it is better engineered. The PCM kit I built had some serious issues with the wing-fuselage join and I remember spending a lot of time sorting it out, this Fly kit had no such problems. You still have to deal with the usual issues, notably a lack of position indicators (pins etc) meaning that you either have to know, or look up where exactly things go. The instructions are a bit vague in places and actually incorrect in some others (like the under wing pitot head). The late war under fuselage IFF aerial is supplied but doesn't feature in the instructions at all


I'd recommend this to anyone wanting an accurate looking Hurricane II, but not to an inexperienced or new model maker. Anyone with a few kits under their belt will have no problem sorting this one out, a little experience with resin would help, but if not,we all start somewhere! The photo etch is very thin, too thin in my opinion, but that's a trade off. It makes some of the little levers etc in the cockpit almost impossible to work with, but bigger more visible parts like the harness very nice indeed.


Cheers


Steve

[Gern]

Beautiful.

[stona]

Hi John, the camouflage was masked with Blu-Tac and tape. I was going for a hard edge at this scale, the edge from the factory was pretty hard at full size!


The trick is to roll out the 'sausages' as thin as you reasonably can. This allows you to follow the curves of the camouflage more easily. I then pres it down and fill in with tape. It takes a while and is a bit of a fiddle, but it works for me.


As it happens the camouflage pattern in the Fly instructions was very accurate, but generally I ignore those in instructions and try to find better drawings. Often those in the kit are a bit approximate. In this case I used a copy of an original Hawker drawing.


Cheers


Steve

[yak face]

Fantastic work steve , a beautiful looking hurricane . Its been good to watch the build and also find out what Fly kits are like , very useful for future reference . Cheers tony

[tr1ckey66]

[COLOR=rgb(39,42,52)]I'd recommend this to anyone wanting an accurate looking Hurricane II, but not to an inexperienced or new model maker. Anyone with a few kits under their belt will have no problem sorting this one out, a little experience with resin would help, but if not,we all start somewhere! The photo etch is very thin, too thin in my opinion, but that's a trade off. It makes some of the little levers etc in the cockpit almost impossible to work with, but bigger more visible parts like the harness very nice indeed.[/COLOR]

Thanks for the heads up Steve. Sounds pretty good from the description apart from the usual kit and instruction hiccups. I've got the trop version in the stash alongside 3 PCM Mk1s I'll probably build those all together. The PCM wing root fix (fitting upper wing to fuselage before joining underwing) is probably the most notable, with the Fly kit it sounds fairly straight forward.


Cheers


P

[Gwyn]

Excellent looking job Steve, very crisp. Well done.

[Guest]

The painting is a real highlight, and I like the historical accuracy that goes into your builds. Good job mate


John

[flyjoe180]

Superb build Steve. Looks great alongside the Spitfire.

[Ian M]

Great result Steve. In the photo with the Spitfire, it looks a lot smaller than the Spit, is it just the angle? I thought that the Hurricane was larger than a Spitfire... And thanks for the overhead shot.


I could be tempted by one.


thanks for a good build thread as well.

[dave]

Great result and it has been an interesting build thread to follow.

[BarryW]

Beautiful job Steve./

[stona]

Thanks all.


Ian,I think that's just perspective.


There is also an optical illusion operating. The Hurricane has a longer wing span, but the shape of the Spitfire wing makes it seem bigger.  When Mitchell returned from Weybridge, having seen a Hurricane for the first time, his aerodynamicist, Beverly Shenstone, noted his comment.


"My God, Camm has a tiny machine and ours looks so big".


I've noticed the same illusion first hand myself. Actually the Hurricane is overall very slightly bigger.


Cheers


Steve