I've just been given Revell's new/reissue of the 1/32 mark 1 Hurricane. If I hack off the cannon and sand off the cannon blisters (as per instructions) and return it to the eight Browning wing will I get a reasonable representation of a Mk 1?
I'm doing this for fun and am not bothered about intimate detail but even SWMBO could spot the cannon! If it will look okay on the shelf that's fine by me, my front room isn't a museum.
The alternative is to leave the wings as they are but then does it make a crap Mk 2?
As you can tell my knowledge of early British fighters is a bit limited!
Cheers all and TIA
Steve

Hi

I have done several Hurricanes in 1/72. You could do what you said if your not bothered about accuracy but the wing panels are totally different for a cannon armed Hurricane and a machine gun armed Hurricane. They certainly are between a MkIIB and a MkIID and seeing as the inboard guns are the same as a MkI, I can't see why the inboard panels would be different on a MkI. It's why I'm using a MkIIB to make a MKIID instead of using a MkIIC. Hope thats of use.
thanks
Mike

Thanks Mike, I'm certainly not bothered enough to start rescribing the wings!! I reckon I'll hack of the cannons etc and call it close enough.
Cheers
Steve

Thats the thing about modelling - each to his own. I don't blame you for not sanding, filling, filing and rescribing, as I wouldn't either! Is there not a decent Hurricane Mk1 in that scale? If there is you could sell your MkIIC and buy the Mk I instead. I'm trying to get my hands on a Hasegawa MkI in 1/72 as no else seems to do a decent MkI!
thanks
Mike

The kit started life as a Mark I, and Revell never modified the fuselage, so remove the cannon, rescribe the wings, and fiddle with the prop (it's still a Mark II variety,) and you're right.
Edgar

Well I've managed to find some drawings and it appears that Revell didn't modify the wing properly for a Mk2 either! They just added blisters and stuck the cannon on. This is good news for me (doing a Mk1) as even a ham fisted plastic butcher like me should be able to remove them and make the result look half decent!!
The propeller/spinner comes as one lump so I might change that - I've actually got the relevant spinner in the spares box, just need to find some blades.
Right then, where's me files?
Cheers
Steve

Steve,

The tooling for the 32 scale Revell Hurricane wing was a blotched attempt in all regards. The attached pix are 48 scale.



A Hurricane IIb With a 12 gun wing, the 4 gun hatch is identical to the Mk I.



A Hurricane IIc Cannon Blisters

The Hurricane Mk I does not have the flash sheilds for the exhaust.
Hope these help in some way, in your conversion.

Hello Steve,

The original Revell Mk I kit was a real favourite of mine when it came out somewhere around 1973 or '74. Finished with high school and out in the working world by then, I could just afford the $4.50 to buy it! Knowing what I know now, though, it's little more than a caricature...although it does have potential if you're prepared to do a LOT of work to make it accurate.


Pardon the crappy old black and white photo, but it's the only one I still have of the model that actually won me a first prize at a club annual competition just before I left for training in the RAAF in '75.

I never did buy the so-called 'MK IIc' re-issue of it because, even then, I knew that just adding some cannons and a new spinner didn't make it anything of the sort. However, regarding your problem of finding suitable propeller blades, you should be able to use those supplied in the kit with the original spinner that you have in your spare parts box. The propeller depicted in the original Mk I kit was of the Rotol type with the blunt spinner (and was, in fact, fairly accurate), while the re-issued 'Mk IIc' also supplies the Rotol, albeit with a modified spinner. This is quite correct, as while the propeller itself was exactly the same type, it was only the spinner that was more streamlined on the Mk II. Problem solved...although surely it's about time accurate Hurricane kits were available in 1/32 scale. Come on Revell, how about a new one instead of this old three-dimensional cartoon?

Mike...about the best thing you could do with the 1/72 Hasegawa Mk I kit would be to graft its separate nose parts onto an Airfix Mk I and also use the Airfix propeller and spinner assembly.
The Hasegawa kit is a reasonable attempt, but the wings are too thick, the canopy too small, the spinner(s) the wrong shape and the rear fuselage looks like it's clad with corrugated iron. If only Airfix had got the nose contours right on their kit, it would still be the best 1/72 Hurricane Mk I available at pocket money prices, despite its simplicity.

All the best,

Tim.

Thanks very much everybody for your input everyone. Rob, it certainly is botched (and that's before I start hacking at it!). It is neither fish nor foul though easier to convert back to a Mk1. I understand why manufactureres release these quick (cheap) fixes, I suppose in a back door way they help finance new kits like their 1/32 Ju88, one of which is awaiting a fate worse than death at my hands. Surely as Tim suggests, a decent,new, 1/32 Hurricane would do well.
I enjoy the hobby but filling and rescribing entire models, for me, does not come under the heading "fun"
Anyway I might start hacking away this evening.
Cheers and thanks again
Steve