LE*D. Another ace.

[stona]

Thanks Paul,I might take a look at the figure,not my forte by any means but it would add a little something.

I take it you are doing the same kit. I can't remember if your face off was in 1/32 or 1/48.

Anyway,not enough Hurricanes get built in any scale!

Cheers

Steve

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Steve

Yep, exactly the same kit and scale! It'll be a long, long while before I get round to the build though! I'll be following your build for any pointers! Anyway, as with all your builds, I'm looking forward to a quality model.

All the best

Paul

[stona]

Well I've made a start. It is certainly a multi media kit. All I've done is the instrument panel which is styrene and photoetch,along with the compass which is resin!

I have also had a good look at the rest of the kit which all looks pretty good. Slight delay as I can't find my razor saw to liberate the small resin bits from their casting blocks...scale-model shop to the rescue.

Cheers

Steve

[tr1ckey66]

Great start - smart looking panel. Very neat and detailed.

Paul

[stona]

I've been doing a bit of work on the fuselage but mainly I've been sorting out the resin parts. It occurred to me that some people may not have used resin and might appreciate a quick guide to show them how easy it is. There's nothing to be scared of. All you old hands can skip this bit :cheesygrin:

The parts invariably come attached to a casting block. This is how the exhausts for this Hurricane come.

Obviously we need to seperate the exhausts from the block. This is a fairly big lump so I clamped them in a vice.

Small parts may be seperated wiyh a sharp blade but for parts like this a razor saw is an indispensible tool. Wear a mask cutting resin,I'll spare you a picture of yours truly in a mask as this is a family friendly forum!

Once you've got the part seperated it may look a bit rough along the cut.

A bit of sanding will clean the part up,here's the basic clean up done.

A little more TLC and this bit will be ready for priming. It really is that easy!

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

How do you rate that Tamiya micro saw? My old exacto(?) ones are getting a bit toothy and will be needing a new one soon.

Ian M

[stona]

It's brand new and works very well. I bought it because I mislaid my old one which,as it happens was an Exacto. I don't think there is much in it with a decent blade.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Few bits done. I've used most of the resin (the entire undercarriage bay for example). SWMBO's birthday today so I've got all day to ponder the pros and cons of PCM's suggested order of construction before I can do anything else.

Cheers

Steve

Edit,the camera/lights do something very odd to my interior green,it looks a lot less nauseating to the naked eye!

[stona]

I've been having some proper fun with this today. I've decided on my own assembly plan which was just as well. Some of the parts,particularly the armour/bulkhead behind the pilot needed a bit of adjustment. Anyway,I've partially glued the fuselage together with the instrument panel,resin side walls and armour in place. The cockpit assembly will fit in from underneath (I've already tested that!). You can see from this piccy that there will be a bit of tidying up to do once this is all together.

I've also had a play with the fit of the wings,this could be interesting too!

Cheers

Steve

[tr1ckey66]

Nice work Steve. I'll be very interested in the next steps! I've fingers crossed for ya but I'm positive you'll do a great job.

Cheers

Paul

[stona]

I'm positive you'll do a great job.Cheers

Paul

Thanks for the vote of confidence Paul,I hope you are correct!

I've had a play with the fit of the wings and they appear to be a less than perfect fit. Infact they seem to belong to a different fuselage. I'm toying with various options,top of the list is to make the upper wing fit the fuselage and then add the lower wing and sort out any problems then. I've already thinned the top of the resin wheel well insert as that was never going to fit.

I don't want to sound too negative,this is not a mass produced kit and I expected to have to put a bit of work in. It is a much better kit than the only other 1/32 option which is the old (70s vintage) Revell offering. I beat one of those into shape a few years ago so hopefully I will make a decent Hurricane out of this PCM one!

I'll keep posting.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Very slow progress,trying to get the fuselage into shape. There's only so much fun you can have with filler,nail varnish remover and various grades of sand paper!

Still looking a bit of a mess at the moment.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Looks to me like you have gotten the upper hand on it Steve.

Remind me again, what paint did you use for the cock pit. Looks just right.

Ian M

[stona]

Remind me again, what paint did you use for the cock pit. Looks just right.

Ian M

It's all Xtracrylix. It's Sky with some Dark Green added,I wasn't quite happy with that so I chucked in a little RLM76 as well. All totally unscientific and done by eye!

I've stuck the cockpit sub-assembly in and done a bit of detail painting on the wheel well,that's waiting for an oily wash.I've also fitted the bottom of the fuselage,lower portion of the two part rudder (why?) and the under fuselage strake. All needed a bit of filling.

There may be more fixing to do but that will be revealed much later when I spray the primer.

Tomorrow the wings!

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

An early start as I want to get the wings on this weekend.

After much dry fitting,head scratching and colourful language I've established some facts.

First if you follow the instructiona and build up the wing before attaching the whole sub-assembly to the fuselage you will end up with all sorts of horrible steps and gaps to fix. Don't do it!

Secondly the curve of the upper wing surface doesn't match the curve of it's attachment to the fuselage.

Thirdly some rather poor molding means that you must dress the various mating surfaces to get any kind of strength in the join.

I've decided to go with my original hunch and attach the upper wings to the fuselage first. This should give a nice join without steps and gaps,the fixing of which would inevitably involve a loss of detail.

I attached the front,thicker part of the wing first.

Nice join at the front but you can see how the back part of the wing fails to line up with the fuselage. It's probably clearer from underneath.

The rear part of the wing is fairly thin and the plastic quite soft so I should be able to manipulate this into position without to much blue language. I'll let you know!

Cheers

Steve