Airfix Hurricane Mk1

Classic Hurricane Mk 1

Materials/tools used

Kit:                            1/72 scale Airfix Hawker Hurrican Mk1 (A01010)

Paint:                         Testors and humbrol enamels, Alclad Matt Coat.
Decals:                       Kit supplied
Seatbelts:                   Eduard PE (from another kit)

A classic aircraft and new tool by Airfix Hurricane - New Tool. This was a Christmas gift and deserved to be well made. The kit has super fine panel lines and nice (although probably too fine) fabric detail on fuselage but usually gets covered up when painted. First a simple Humbrol #78 colour for the cockpit, wash and minor detailing of controls.

Nice detail on the yoke and rudder pedals although very hard to see once the fuselage is closed up. Used Testors aluminum enamel.

Some old Eduard PE RAF seatbelts were added to the pilot seat.

Not sure about the red brick armour plate but that's what the kit called for so I wanted a simple build (no extensive research!)

The wheel wells are well detailed and as usual rarely ever seen again

Somewhat disappointed in the wing leading edge joins which were no too good and required some glue filler and sanding. Normally the Airfix new tool kits are well fitting.

Painting Time

I used the paint guide and photocopied the camouflage pattern, printed on paper and cut out the shapes with an Exacto knife. To ensure that the paint edge was neither sharp nor blurred, I used a tiny roll of Tamiya tape under the paper to lift the edge off of the model by 1mm or so.

The finished model came out ok. I did use many coats of future polish (with a flat brush) before the decals and a fair amount of Micro-sol afterwards to get them to bed down nicely. Finished model was airbrushed with Alclad Matt Coat.

Hint: I make sure I spray from 1-1.5 inches away to avoid the coating from drying in mid-air. This often results in a dusty effect on the surface.

Pictures photographed with a simple iPhone 4 (outdoors in natural light).