Film Star! Battle of Britain movie Hurricane
To round out a Battle of Britain movie build, I just had to have a Hurricane. So, I modified an old 1/48 Hobbycraft Hurricane Mk IIc into a Canadian produced Mk IIb, with a lot of scratch building, detail parts from a scrapped Ark Hurricane Mk 1, and various parts from the spare parts bin.
It is * F, H3418 flown by Squadron Leader Harvey (Christopher Plummer) in the opening airfield staffing scene.
The Bob Diemert restored aircraft (CCF c/n 42012, registered as CF-SMI, C-GWPH, and G-AWLW) was in fact a CCF Hurricane Mk IIb. It had the 3 stack round exhaust (not fishtail), it did not have the Mk II style 'kinked' tail wheel, but the earlier Mk I style tail wheel, blanked off generator cooling pipes, no oil collection channel on the upper cowl behind the spinner, A Hamilton Standard prop, and the unique 'Canadian' spinner.
Also, I've discovered that this Hurricane made it's way eventually to Hamilton, Ontario, only to be destroyed in the same hangar fire that destroyed Spitfire Mk IXc MK297 (another BofB movie vet, marked as AI*A in the 'taka taka taka' scene), an Avenger, an Auster, and a Turb-Commander, Feb 15, 1993.
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- 1. The subject Hurricane, note the
'Canadian' spinner, and the blanked off generator cooling scoop.
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- 1. The Squadron code was tape, and changed frequently in different scenes.
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- 1. One of the fibreglass mockups
that burned in the movie
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- 1. Rear half of the bulbous Mk i spinner, front half of the Mk II 'bullet' spinner
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- 1. Spinner filed and sanded to shape
- 2. Blanked off Gen. cooling scoop,
and wing root scoop moved to correct location
Nice work
Nice work, Colin! I just finished a Hobbycraft IID. Glad to see someone else build one of these!
You’re right to have a Hurricane, they played a more important role than the Spitfire.
Excellent job, Colin!
Very nice work on this and a really good result.
This is really great work, Colin @tail-dragon
Very nice result on the spinner.
Sharp details from a very comprehensive knowledge of that specific film star Hurricane. Bravo Colin, the model is stunning
Nice job, Colin. Paint work looks great.
Well done, Colin (@tail-dragon). The old Monogram still builds into a really nice kit.
As an interesting side note ... after the hangar fire, the Hamilton aviation museum was able to replace (?) the lost Hurricane with this fibreglass mockup, similar to the ones destroyed in the 1969 movie.
Surprisingly realistic, a true 1 to 1 scale kit!
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Beautiful job Colin !
@tail-dragon,Very well done Colin! 👍 My only Hurricane build so far was also a Hobbycraft kit.
Colin, one of the hardest paint jobs to do in my book is getting the tan and green camouflage to look right and be the same values and intensities on any BoB Hurricane or Spitfire. If you can pull it off the build doesn't look like a kit painted with paints from the bottle or a toy plastic model. You've managed to pull it off and in looking at your build had you not said it started out as a Hobbycraft it could have been a Hasegawa or Airfix kit. Some strong work in making the viewer see a "Movie Star".
Two thumbs up.
Very nice build. Seen the 1:1 mockup up close and personal... didn't know that the markings were from the BoB movie.
Most of the aircraft at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum are in flyable condition (except the jets) including the now lost Hurricane.
The fibreglass Hurricane in Hamilton is truly remarkable, quite realistic. The markings on it aren't from the BofB movie, however. It was finished in the same markings as the destroyed (real) Hurricane, a 401 Squadron (RCAF) Mk XIIb.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
That's a great-looking Hurricane! Well done.
Nicely done!
Wow, this build is so beautiful. Really amazing and inspiring. Gotta work my Airfix Hurri!