1/72 Academy Hurricane IIc

Gallery Article by Orlando Sucre Rosales on Apr 6 2014

 

 

Hello, fellow modelers. This time I’d like to share with you my Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIc in 1-72nd scale from Academy. 

The Academy rendition of the Hurricane has received mixed reviews, highlighting its good level of detail and its good fit on one hand, and its shape inaccuracies (mostly on the nose part) on the other. I will only add that Academy missed the rear-view mirror on top of the windshield (a prominent feature of the Hurricane, in my humble opinion,) the underwing drop tanks and their pylons (at least for the nightfighter version) and the “The Nightingale” banner decal (also for the nightfighter version.)

I’d like to point out also that the sky color of the code letters and the fuselage band decals for the day-fighter version is wrong, and that the decals (in general) were slightly out of register (at least in my sample kit).  This fact regrettably could only be seen after removing the decals from their white backing paper (I had to retouch the edges of the roundels and the fin flashes with paint to hide an annoying white border.)

 

Click on images below to see larger images

My build was mostly OOB. I chose to build the nightfighter version ‘LK - ?’ because I haven’t built a nightfighter for more than 35 years (the first one was an Airfix Boulton Paul Defiant.) I only added scratchbuilt exhaust deflection plates just ahead of the windshield, commonly seen in Hurricane nightfighters (although no profile of ‘LK - ?’ seem to show them,) masking tape seat belts and a scratchbuilt aim device (a piece of thin wire inserted on top of the fuselage ahead of the windshield.) I used “Mk. II eyeball” to judge the size and location of these scratchbuilt pieces, as “Mk. I eyeball” belongs to another modeler… J.

I painted my model with Humbrol enamels, except for the oleo portion of the landing gear legs, which was painted with MM Chrome Silver. I also used Polly Scale acrylic Clear Gloss Finish (sadly now out of production) and Xtracrylix Flat Varnish. Weathering was done with brushed-on powdered pastels, an enamel wash for the panel lines and Humbrol 56 Flat aluminum for the chipped paint effect. Kit’s decals were thick and didn’t respond to MicroSol decal softener, fortunately I solved the problem by using Walthers’ Solvaset and by gently scoring each decal along crossing panel lines with a sharp hobby knife while the Solvaset was still wet. 

I’m very satisfied with my finished model, although I would have liked to add some fading effects on the upper surfaces, but it was impossible because I couldn’t use fresh paint and the resulting spray pattern was too wide. In fact many of my paints have more than 15 years, because it’s very hard and very expensive to find hobby paints in my country, and we are limited now by our government to spend just $ 300 a year for internet shopping.

I dedicate this model to my son David, who’s in his 25th birthday today. He has a special affection for the Hurricane!

Greetings from Caracas, Venezuela, a country where the government has found a new role for Sukhoi Su-30 Mk. 2 last generation Flanker aircraft: to scare people from the Andean region who where in a demonstration hitting kitchenware with tablespoons. What an absurd and abominable waste!

Orlando Sucre Rosales

Click on images below to see larger images

 

      

Photos and text © by Orlando Sucre Rosales