Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hurricane MK I

Started by Yann Bertholet · 93 · 3 years ago
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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Hi Yann, funny, that was my first "new' Airfix kit was the Hurricane Mk1. It was a fun build. Everything fits, just make sure to clean the sprue nubs off the parts, as most of those points is where each part meets when assembled. Miss one and it throws off the alignment. The cockpit takes several steps to compete. The wheel well interior is not grey but Aluminum. The plastic is soft, yet durable. It gives quite a bit especially building the cockpit framework, the steps Airfix uses to complete that part of the cockpit is spot on and precise in the order to assemble it. Though not quite Tamiya in fit, but a bit fiddly yet not so much that it becomes too challenging. Take your time and it goes together well. You will enjoy the journey. A bit tight but the cockpit installs very well with all that framework. When mating the halves, the fit is just right, as long as the interior is aligned and a quick test before buttoning it up will assure a perfect fit.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Hi folks, some update on the Hurricane:

    Regarding the gear bay, difficult to say if it's grey, aluminum or interior green. I found 3 walk around on the net with those 3 colors.

    Afterward I assemble the fuselage, so far so good...

    And then I tried to position the lower wings to fuselage, but... Not going at all.

    1st I notice that pilot seat back plate not properly aligned, around 0,5 mm gap. Ok I removed the whole seat and tried again without this element. Still not going

    2nd I glued the upper and lower wings together: Not matching for the portside one. I cut off the aft stiffener (nobody will see it anyway once fully build), and... still not fitting

    3rd I start cutting off the top part of the fwd frame. I finally succeed to make them matching.

    4th I came back with fuselage. I fix the seat directly

    5th I tried to assembled the wings to fuselage one more time. And not fitting.

    Finally, I forced it slowly but surely by hand and... YOUHOU it works or at least it's better

    5 additional images. Click to enlarge.

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    CONCLUSION:

    • First of all I want to thank you all for your comment and kind words @fiveten, @gblair, @johnb, @uscusn, @j-healy, @airbum

    • Soft plastic is good and not good. I think that my problems with the wings come from the wrong fitting of the frames in the grooves of the wings. It's completely my mistake

    • I wrongly fixed the cockpit for sure, but I still cannot make out what went wrong

    • Putty will be required to fix the gap between the upper wing and fuselage

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    I think we both had the same problems, @yann. Everything seemed to go together well, right up to the point that something didn't. And the problem seemed to trace back to something I had glued before. I suspect it is something that I glued slightly out of alignment in previous steps. Everything seems to fix with putty or gentle persuasion and glue. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Was expecting this from the latest Airfix molds, Yann @yann
    Luckily you almost got it corrected, just a bit of putty and you're good to continue.
    Will definitely make a remark of this when I start a Airfix Hurricane as well.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Looking great, my friend @yann!
    I still have not built a "modern" Airfix, maybe they are of the "close tolerance" type, maybe they might exhibit some variations regarding quality...

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Hello guys. Yesterday I glued the 2 parts together, and the result was not too bad regarding the gap between the fuselage and the upper side of the wings

    Afterwards I fixed the bottom side of the fuselage and the under side of the engine. And that was not so smooth than the previous operation.

    Large gaps were found on both side of the lower wing forward and aft.

    Forward

    Then came the time to start filling all those gaps. (Spiros @fiveten, your F-16 was the Queen of the Putty, but my Hurricane is then the Princess... 🙂 )

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    That is some serious putty work, Yann @yann
    You cannot simply call that a gap, it is more like a canyon.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Those are some significant gaps, my friend @yann, you did a great job filling them, though!
    Lookinf forward to your progress!

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Wing joins look great, Yann (@yann). I had filler in exactly the same places on my Airfix P-40B. It's painful, but it will all work out. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    I fully agree with you John @johnb, but challenge accepted... Let's see the result, crossing the fingers!

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    HO yes Spiros @fiveten you are right, like John said; 'it is more like a canyon.' Filling them is a problem, leveling the surface without too much damaging the panel lining is another!

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    George @gblair it was really a painful job, and I cannot say it's a good job, not before the first coat.

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    Yann Bertholet said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Hello guys, yesterday I complete the filling work and started sanding.

    And today, I tried to reengrave the disappeared panel lines, especially under the engine. It was on this location that I had major gap (AKA Canyon).

    Afterward I fixed the ailerons and stabilizers. The ailerons were not fitting at all and while trying to do this operation I broke 2 fixations on the portside wing. I therefore took the decision to keep them in a lower position (both of them down, I don't know if it was possible on the hurricane, let's say that the control wires parted off during a battle...).

    For once I can say that's not my mistake, thso ailerons were not fitting to the wings!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Nice filling and sanding, my friend @yann!
    Regarding the ailerons positioning, well, you can say that the Hurricane was undergoing maintenance, so both ailerons had their mechanical linkages disconnected, so they both drooped!