Douglas Bader Hurricane, 1/32
This is Bader's second Hurricane I when he commanded 242 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. PCM 1/32 kit. OOB, but modified since (as usual) the Caruana drawings left a bit to be desired in the accuracy department.
Had the opportunity of meeting him here in Los Angeles in 1982, along with R.R. Stanford-Tuck. Sadly, all those stories about Bader are true; he was the kind of Brit an American meets and is immediately reminded of what a good idea it was to give that type "the boot" 200-odd years ago. Stanford-Tuck, on the other hand, was the kind of Brit an American can easily "go Anglophile" with. Bader's story is still outstanding, and he's certainly not the first ace I met with "difficult personality syndrome" (Chuck Yeager springs immediately to mind).
You can read a more complete review here:
http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/cleaver/gb/tmcbobh1.htm
That's a beautiful Hurricane, Tom. Out of curiosity, I wonder what is your building rate?
The only way I do the reviews I do is to do multiples.
But given I am doing three books next year (and I love writing more than modeling), it's going to have to slow.
Lovely Hurricane
A bit confused - was it the Caruana drawing or the kit that left a bit to be desired
Caruana's drawings. He had the camouflage patterns reversed for the serials (should be A scheme for even and B scheme for odd), and after I had painted the model per the profiles I realized the mistake had been made - for the decal, it should have been a B scheme - so had to do some research and find that Bader's second Hurricane was an A scheme airplane. You can read the whole detail in the Modeling Madness review. It's arcane and as I say there, 99.9% of people wouldn't care, but I did.
I disagree with you- I don't think 99.9% of people (modellers) won't care- I think a lot of us do, but we fear to rub some people the wrong way because we take our plastic planes too seriously! I appreciate historical accuracy because it honors the servicemen who flew those aircraft. I prefer to try and build historically significant aircraft because knowing the story associated with the pilot and machine adds an interest to the build that brings me a great deal of satisfaction! I think if you are representing something that existed- do you best to get it right! especially if there is a photo that easily shows what is right! Maybe that is the art teacher in me that becomes increasigly frustrated with students who draw incorrect observational drawings when they ignore a real live reference right in front of them! Thanks for pointing out the problems with the markings instructions of that kit!
All excellent points, to which I as The Choir will respond to you as The Preacher with an "amen!" π
It would appear that most if not all of the published artwork done of Bader's third Hurricane have got the scheme all wrong...Including Robert Taylor, and the other notables of his profession. Is there any known photograph of V7467 ?
Any work is as good as the research. Taylor did a specially-commissioned painting and print for the Eagle Squadrons back in 1983, "Eagle Squadron Scramble", which has Spitfire Vb's in Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky camouflage. Very nice, except for the fact that the Eagles didn't get their Spit Vb until October 1941, when all RAF fighters were in Ocean Grey/Dark Green/Sea Grey Medium, a set of facts that one need not be a "rocket scientist" to know about.
As regards the DB Hurricane, I don't know of any photos.
Photographic evidence does exist though that clearly show that the A & B camouflage schemes were not strictly adhered to. For example;The A. V. Clowes Hurricane Mk I P3395 JX B is painted in the A scheme as is Bob Tuck's DT A V6555 Hurricane .Both should be according to their odd numbered sn be painted in the B pattern.
For anyone coming across this page, it turns out that the "A" and "B" schemes start with the first airplane of the production batch, which might not be what we've been told. Which would explain V6555 being an A scheme, depending on the serial number of the first airplane in the production batch.
it's all so confusing! π