Airfix Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 1:48 scale
This is my most recent build and my first post to this site. I think my skills have improved greatly thanks to my local IPMS chapter. I don't think any of my previous airplanes were good enough to show so I am proud of this build. I hope you like it.
The kit went together very easily. This is my first Airfix kit and the detail is great. I had very few issues except for where the fuselage meets the wings. The fit there wasn't perfect and was difficult to putty without losing some details in that area after sanding.
I painted the wings near the fuselage and the area just beneath the cockpit with Testors enamel silver first. This was to set the base layer for my chipping attempt. Next was a clear varnish to seal everything in before the remaining layers. Next, AK heavy chipping fluid was applied with the airbrush. After preshading with black, I painted the camoflouge pattern with stencils I made from printing and resizing the instructions. Post shading with lighter versions of the same paints finished the process. I decided to paint all the red parts since I didn't trust the decals to adhere properly in those tough areas
Everything was sealed using Winsor and Newton Galeria Acrylic Matt Varnish
I used the following colors.
Brown: Revell Dark Earth 36182
Green: Tamiya XF13
Red: Tamiya X7
Weathering done with AK pencils and Mig Ammo oils
Man, that Hurricane looks great Joel! ๐That is some really nice work! ๐
Thank you
Welcome to iModeler. You're right that this Airfix Hurricane is a good kit. The rest of "new Airfix" is also pretty good - take the revolutionary act of following their new very good instructions, and you will have a model you're really proud of.
This is nice work, but I'd like to offer a suggestion (nearly every modeler who ever built and "weathered" a model - including me - needed this advice at the outset): with weathering, "less is more" will almost always (unless you're doing a Marine Corsair in the Solomons or a Japanese airplane after 1943) get you where you want to be. Airplanes don't weather quite that badly, and during the Battle of Britain they didn't last long enough (a few weeks on average) to get to that state. Weathering is in the eye of the beholder, but getting an understanding of it is also a good excuse to do the other good thing modeling can lead to: doing historical research.
Your paintwork on this is really excellent and your attention to detail puts you well on the road to being the modeler we all hope we'll become.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you, Tom. That is great advice.
Nicely done - and welcome aboard! You'll find lots here to help your modeling skills, and great conversation with great people!
Your first entry at iModeler is a beautiful one, Joel @winterModeller
Welcome to this great forum and I do hope to see some more of your new builds.
Excellent job and a superb result, Joel!
Welcome aboard!
Very nice first entry and welcome
Looks great, Joel! Cannot go wrong with Hurricanes!
๐ ... Greetings ... ๐ :
Welcome to this forum, enjoy your time here as well as the new friends.
Good modeling Joel.
Great to have you here on the site, Joel. Everyone here is great, lots of encouragement and inspiration.
Your Hurricane is beautiful. I'm a fan of these newer Airfix kits as well, great detail for the money. You don't need to spend a lot on aftermarket to really make them shine, just attention to detail, and you've got a winner.
As far as the weathering goes, I'm a heavy handed "weatherer" myself. It's an affliction that I'm working on! Mr. Cleaver is 100% correct in his "less is more" statement, and in his research statement as well. It's a huge part of this hobby, and I love to do it. If your building a specific subject, research is key. But also remember, this is a hobby we do for ourselves, so build them how you like them. I sometimes just build homage subjects, just to honor everyone who flew a specific aircraft, or raced a certain type of car. That way I'm free to do whatever I feel looks good to my eye. Have fun, do it for you, great work, hope to see more.
Thanks Clint. You are right that everyone has been very encouraging and inviting. Thanks for your notes about the weathering. I do have a heavy hand and also there were a couple mistakes with masking tape and my technique that made things even more chipped than I intended. I have definitely learned some important lessons for the next model.
Ya gotta love mistakes! If you zoom in and look at my Hun Hunter P-40F you can see where the paint crazed and cracked. I bandaged it up as best I could and ran with it. In the end I was happy enough with it, and called it finished. You Hurricane looks great, I can't wait to see more of your work.
Impressive job on this! Great first post, welcome!
Everyone needs to build an Airfix 1/72 Hurricane, and this one looks great. Welcome to iModeler.
Quite a debut you make here, Joel!
What a nice early Hurricane, also like the scenery around it.
Love to see more of your work, happy modeling.
Mate, stunning. Really nice job and I agree with what Tom was saying about the weathering.
In all honesty a majority is accumulated grime (you cannot fly at 250kts and stay clean) and what with feet, spilled fuel (almost inevitable over wing with a wind) ammo belts and tools scraped about, oil, coolant and hyd spills and leaks, propellant residue from guns (both ends) bugs and c**p blown up or thrown up from the wheels and...messy. Anything with a radial engine, dip it in oil and let drip dry (I worked on DH Beavers briefly...messy things).
But...it takes a long time to get there because (and I know some won't believe it) we cleaned things between sorties and crews would take pride in this, as well as it being important for monitoring leaks and detecting cracks (stress cracked alloy and failing rivets usually leak a grey oily residue). Yep, even in the desert our crews would wipe over areas.
As regards damage round the cockpit, have a read of this. The ply was covered with doped fabric often using a red/pinkish dope that could show through worn paint.
https://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2023/06/16/rivets-screws-and-all-that-dzus/#comment-219080
Well done. a great first post. Keep up the good work!
Joel, first of all, welcome to iModeler. Your Hurricane is a nicely finished model. I look forward to seeing more of your work. As you navigate yourself around the site, you'll probably wind-up spending a lot of time here. The people here are friendly and accepting, the model builds are outstanding and it's time well spent just being part of this community. @wintermodeller
Hi Joel (@wintermodeller)
I love it mate. Love the detail, the diorama and the photography. It all came together very well. I'm actually almost finished building the same kit as we speak, and I'm also doing the same version as you too ๐ My daughter bought me this kit for Christmas, so guess what I did over the break ๐
Well done mate.