Italeri 1/48 Sea Hurricane: Fresh Off the Bench
1/48 Italeri Sea Hurricane. This is a continuation of my build article published last week on same model.
Fresh off the work bench. I never new much about this kit and did not perform any research on it. My kids wanted to get me a model for my Birthday but only had $20.00 to spend. This kit fit the budget and I had not built it before. I was attracted by the fine art work on the box cover so they got it for me. It turned out to be a really nice kit for the price. These days what can you get for $20. It had good engineering, and nice fit. I did not need any filler on the model. It had good details with a complete Merlin engine. I left the top and side cowlings off for display and used a small BB size bit of Blu-Tak to keep the cowlings on if needed. The detail in the cockpit was very nice and it included a small PE sheet for seat belts and instrument panel. I added a few bits of plastic and some wiring to busy things up a bit. It was an overall enjoyable build and I do recommend it.
Very nice result(s), Paul...I like it a lot.
Great job. Love the Sea Hurricane.
What caught my attention most is the underside, worn but very realistic overall. Very cool bird Paul
Great lookin' Hurricane, Paul! It looks well-worn and loved.
Really like it, Paul. Love the Hurricane in all her iterations, and you do her proud!
Nice work, but I am going to have to give a small lecture here about naval aviation projects.
Aluminum corrodes like crazy in salt air if it is not protected by paint or "cocooning." This is why you see modern Navy jets in the Tactical Paint Scheme that look like lizards. They get painted over every scratch as soon as spotted. The same was true in WW2. Sorry, but an airplane on an aircraft carrier in this condition would be unflyable.
I mean no disrespect to you Paul, I normally really like and respect your work - it's killer. But this is a demonstration of the fact there is no such thing as too much research. One has to know their subject to get it right.
As I have said to many people about the things I do, "I've never learned a da-mn thing from success (other than I liked it). Everything that has improved my work came from failure." I hope you'll take this in that light.
I guess I need to tell this pilot in my reference picture to land his plane as soon as possible b/c its not suppose to be flying...LOL! BTW this is the main photo I used to model the weathering. Its actually more beat up then mine. Maybe I should of used an airplane picture of a plane that was carrier based, but not all the FAA aircraft were assigned to carriers based on my research. Also everything I ever read about the aircraft, especially the Hurricanes, during the early days of WW2 indicated that they did not have enough planes, and pilots, to keep in the air. They cycled so fast, multiple missions a day, and then the crew did only essential work to keep them flyable so down time was minimized. Repainting a plane when there are not enough serviceable aircraft would be a luxury. I think later on in the War the maintenance related to repainting nicks and scratches would of been better.
I also used an artist rendition of a Hurricane to reference the weathering, that is 2nd picture. I really loved the look of the plane in this digital image.
I appreciate the feedback and I do learn from people's comments but something you may learn about my approach, and my objective, related to my building habits is I do what I enjoy to do which is really more of a creative endeavor, using lots of artist license, and creating a piece that looks the way I wanted it to look. I know this approach does not go well with the "rivet counters" out there but unfortunately I am from another school of thought regarding my model making.
I also believe that there is always at least "1-example" in history that does not go along with the majority of examples from a certain time period. Its what I call the "Exception' rule to modeling, there is always an exception to the norm. IMHO when it comes to my work I believe almost every model I have ever made is over-weathered and beat up beyond the norm. I just have a ball doing and get carried away but with this build at least I used an exact reference.
BTW I just posted this model on auction site and it sold for top dollar in record time...I believe it was sold in less then 2 hours following its posting at the asking price. So somebody out there thought it was realistic to them..it all really comes down to that. What it means to the creator and the individual observer which is really so subjective. Thank you for your thoughtful feedback.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.