Well, another week of work, and not all that much to show for my efforts. But I've made some decent progress none the less.

As I continued with the confines of the cockpit, the molded rudder pedals look pretty nice, but the foot straps must scale out to more then a foot.



So I decided that even I could do better. 1st step was to cut off the existing straps.



Once painted, I made new straps out of thin strips of masking tape then painted them with Tamiya Earth.



Good enough for being buried down in the bottom of the pitand under the IP.

The yoke is a piece unit and looks the part. I decided to add the two electrical wires from the MG trigger switches. then used masking tape once again to duplicate the straps holding them position.



They're certainly a little over scale but it's the best I can do.

There are two main wing spars that should be painted Aluminum not British Interior Green, so they were primed and then painted with Alcad 2 #101 flat Aluminum along with all the other various parts of the most complete tubular pit I've built in a long time. Airfix did a fantastic job in design and engineering, as everything fits perfectly with no need for any filler, or sanding/filing other then general parts clean up. I did vary from the instruction steps by 1st gluing in the rudder, Yoke, and heel plate floor, then I glued into position the heel plates. For me it was easier this way. Here's the cockpit tubing with only the Port side tubing and support glued to each other. the Starboard tubing is just dry fitted for support and alignment. Not installed yet is the yoke nor rudder pedals as I still need to add the decal for the top of the compass.







Finally I gave each fuselage half a coat of my mix of British Interior Green so I can start to add all the little details



Joel

Looking great!
I like the added detail. Kudos on that.

What do you have planned for the gun bays?

Nigel,
Thanks so much for checking in, it means a great deal to me.

BTW, I took a good hard look at the picture I posted of the fuselage half, and the color is just to light, not because of how I mixed it, but because I was just to lazy taking grab pics and it's over exposed. So I'll reshoot it with the proper exposure.

Glad that you asked about the gun bays. Honestly, I'm stuck on what to do. I'm not big on cutting open bays and such, as it just disrupts the overall look and lines of the aircraft. I'm 100% certain that I wouldn't do both bays, but I'm on the fence about doing one, since Airfix really has added a lot of detail besides just the MGs and Ammo.

I've been also looking at the leading edge lights, and I've found pictures that show a lot more detail, so I'm going to try and enhance both of them as well.

Joel

Airfix really are on top of their game nowadays, it's so nice getting that kind of detail out of the box from a reasonably priced and perfectly normal kit.

My opinion when it comes to the gun bays: if Airfix have done their best to give us that kind of detail we modellers are obliged to show them! You could get away with only one of the sides though...



Magnus

Magnus,
that was my 1st inclination including just one MG bay. As I researched the bays, the 1st thing I noticed as with all access bay panels, that there is a thin metal strip completely around all three sections of the bay. But in the kit as usual practice, there isn't any.





Sounds easy enough, but prior attempts have always been less then optimal, and they were and are still an eye sore to me when I do view those builds. So the question is whether I can up my game and duplicate them correctly, plus add some of the other details, and correct others. The molded on details are ok but not great.

Joel

Joel! I admit: I wouldn't open them myself (it might be a parent thing: do as I say, not as I do) ! It is always difficult when things are really thin in real life, it tends to look clumsy no matter how one does it on the model...

Sorry for being dishonest ! I suppose it'll come back and haunt me when I'm getting around to doing my Airfix 1/72 Typhoon, I'm almost sure that there is some detail in the gun bays on that one !



Magnus

Magnus,
No problem buddy, I loved your post. You've actually go way more hobbies then I do.

Joel

Just a fast update as I was able to finish the tube section of the cockpit tonight. Still have a little touch ups to do to the MG firing buttons wiring that I saw in the picture, but other then that tomorrow it gets a matt coat so a wash of Tamiya Brown can be applied.



also I took another picture of the fuselage half with the proper exposure. You can see that the British Interior Green is much darker even before any weathering and washes.



Joel

Great work on the Hurricane!

If you have to cut out the service hatches to show the gunbay, i wouldn't dare to do it. Getting the hatches out is one thing, but getting them out so that they can be used again is a completely other thing. A let down of Airfix that they didn't include separate hatches and an open wing.

Looking forward to see more of this.



Jelger

Edit: it appeared that i was wrong on separate hatches not included in the kit. That makes it a different story. Thank you Paul for clarifying.

There are separate hatches included in the kit but the wing is moulded whole for those who don't want to open it up - the best of both worlds I think.
Of course, having an opened wing with the moulded fillet of metal would solve your problem Joel.

Lovely work Joel

Looking good - keep at it Joel !

Jelger,

Like you, I hadn't even checked if there were separate MG access bay covers, and just assumed I'd have to fabricate a new one. But Airfix has included them. And thanks Paul for that info.

I'm still on the fence, and honestly I'm leaning towards just leaving both of them closed at this point.

Joel

Richard,
Thanks for the thumbs up, and your constant support. it's always much appreciated.

Joel

Another week of work in the books, and I actually made some decent progress.

I added a brown wash to the Sutton Harness, and dry brushed the fuselage side walls with flat Aluminum. Then I glued the wing spare/cockpit sub assembly to the full bottom wing.



next up was gluing on both halves of the wing top sections.







One issue that I was already aware of is the thickness of the trailing edge of both wings.



My 1st inclination was just to thin them from the inside surfaces, but then the wing root joints would no longer align as perfectly as the do now. So my POA (plan of attack) is to very gently thin out both top surfaces, then slight round the edge, hopefully giving the illusion of a sharper edge. Hopefully that will work so that I don't have to destroy any more surface detail then is absolutely necessary.

Next up I glued the fuselage halves together, then glued in the front bulkhead and then IP. And speaking of the IP, this is one area that Airfix really needs to address. the IP has just raised bezels and the instruments are a very, and I mean very basically drawn as a decal. I tried it, and thought it wasn't nearly up to standards, so taking Torsten's suggestion of using Yahu IP panels, I went to their site, fell in love with those IPs, and then checked out their World Wide retailers. Hobbyworld islocated in Salem, New Hampshire which is fairly close to Long Island. So I ordered 4 IPs from them on Saturday, and Matt got my order out USPS on Monday morning, which arrived at my house Thursday morning. Thanks Matt for the great service.

the Yahu IP consists of the finished IP and a 6 bezel center panel that is supposed to raised. It fit perfectly. The IP PE panel is a little to thin to properly fit the slots in each fuselage half, so I just used the kit IP and filed it down some. Couldn't ask for a better fit.



Next up I glued the wing sub assembly to the fuselage. Great fit. Needed a tad of persuasion to align both, but once done didn't require continued pressure. I glued them up with Tamiya Extra Thin.





And here's just how good the wing root fit is. Remember I mentioned that I didn't want to disturb it with thinning the trailing edges from the inside.



Thanks for stopping by and checking out my build to date. It's always much appreciated.

Joel

Hi Joel, the cockpit looks great! Very nice job all around.

Ernest

Ernest.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and liking my progress to date. It's more then welcome.

Joel

At little more progress after another week into the build.

I assembled the horizontal stabilizers,and then glued them to the fuselage. The fit was almost perfect, but as usual a little filler was needed to blend in the joint. The Rudder was glued off center to the vertical Stab for a visual effect. The elevators are a one piece unit, but since I had elected to previously fit and glue the small fuselage section that holds the connecting rod in place, I just cut the rod in half, and glued up both stabilizers in a down position. Airfix should really be commended for having all the trailing edges recessed so that you can position the flying surfaces so that they automatically seat correctly without having to file and sand a grove.



Next up was the Ailerons. The fit is just perfect. Airfix denotes that the up Aileron should be at a max of 22 degrees, and 21 degrees down. I have no idea if that's correct or not, but I got it as close as eye balling will work for me.

Then using the Eduard masks I readied the windscreen for painting, and glued it in place. The fit was perfect. One swipe of Vajello White Acrylic putty finished off the seam.













If you looked carefully at the above pictures, you can see that the wing tip lenses and leading edge lenses were already installed. While they fit just about perfectly, there were a few gaps and one of the leading edge lenses was ever so slightly to tall. I 1st drilled a hole for each wing tip light bulb color: Red & Green. Then painted it silver, then added drops of Tamiya Clear in the proper color, when dry, the lens was glued into place with Extra Thin. For the leading edge lights they're included, and once painted look realistic. I then glued them and they lenses into position.

I gave the Extra Thin a full day to dry and cure, then I coating of CCA Gel, and let that dry for a few hours. Next I sanded it, polished it, and buffed it the best I could. While not exactly crystal clear, you can easily see right through all of them.







In the above picture, you can see the I started to re-scribe the panel lines that were sanded away. While not perfect by a long shot, it's the best to date I've been able to accomplish.

The radiator intake is missing a stiffening rod, so I drilled a centered hole, and using stretched sprue made one. Sounds easy enough, but I always struggle getting these type of details correct. You can see two previous attempts that were close but no cigar. The holes have been filled and finished since these pictures were taken.





and here's the rear of the radiator housing. Door and actuating rods are kit parts. That's why I can't figure out why the rod for the intake wasn't modeled.



there are several vents and holes that are molded in the engine cowling and fuselage that are nicely done, but just needed to be to be drilled out.



You'll also notice that I used a fair amount of Bondo to blend in the front wing roots on both sides. Not sure if the issue was me or not, but a little sanding to shape, and then Bondo to blend everything, took care of the issues. It looks a lot worse then it really was.

And once again now you're up to date on my Hurricane Mk1 build.

Thanks to all that stop by and look, and a special thanks to those that leave comments. It's greatly appreciated.

Joel

Nice! I always wanted to try a Hurricane. That's quite the cockpit! Watching with interest, maybe a 1/72 one someday.---John

Joel,

That’s a mighty fine Hurricane. I ain’t no expert on RAF, but it looks very authentic and with good details, OOB and those you added. Looking forward to see the complete build.

Cheers
Pedro

John,
Give the thumbs up to Airfix, as the cockpit goes together perfectly. The only additions on my part was the Yahu IP, the Sutton Harness that I made, and the gun button wiring and straps.

Joel

Pedro,
Thanks for stopping by and liking my efforts to date. Airfix did an outstanding job of duplicating the real aircraft, and their engineering has made it a dream build to date.

Joel

Mighty fine work on a might fine Aircraft, Joel

Russell,
thanks so much for checking out my build to date, and the thumbs up for my efforts. It's much appreciated.

Joel

Hey Joel,
She sure is looking great, these new Airfix kits are certainly good.
As a suggestion for your next build try the Airfix Mustang,mines on the bench to be decaled,

it's a joy to build with many options.

2 styles of exhausts
2 style of tails-fits along panel lines
2 style of wheels
3 style of canopies
Bombs,rockets and drop tanks
flaps per the Hurricane
and a nicely detailed cockpit I was going to use some resin but the IP and seat were fine.

Sorry for the slightly off topic diversion but its a great kit.

looking forward to the next update


Chris