Model aircraft kits - the Hawker Hurricane in 1/48 scale built from the Airfix kit

The Hurricane is a much modelled aviation subject. Many manufacturers over the years have turned their attention to this famous Merlin powered aircraft. Although over-shadowed by the more glamourous Supermarine Spitfire the Hurricane has a unique appeal of it's own, and many aviation enthusiasts prefer this solid looking machine.
Designed at Hawker by the immensely talented Sidney Camm and and his team, the Hurricane came at just the right time in history to serve alongside the Spitfire in defense of Britain from the massed squadrons of Luftwaffe aircraft. In this defense the Hurricane Mk1 performed admirably taking the lions share of the tally.

Enough of the real aircraft, now back to this Airfix model.
This Hawker Hurricane MK1 kit is made from a bluish/grey polystyrene injection moulded plastic common to most Airfix model aircaft kits. In this example the strength of the plastic appears a little higher than the norm however. Moulding quality of the two main sprues of parts is generally of a high standard with little flash to remove. There are some sink marks however, notably around the rear fuselage on this example of the kit, nothing too severe though.
Fit of the kit's parts is fairly good, the fuselage sides fit pretty well, lining up if a little gentle pressure is applied while the liquidpoly does it's work. Only a slight amount of plastic filler then becomes necessary. The wing is made from a one piece lower moulding with two upper sections these fit well except for the inboard trailing edge on one half which needs to be gripped together while setting as detailed later in this article.
Panel lines are fine and raised while the control surfaces have recessed edges.

This picture of the aircraft shows the joined fuselage halves and the wing assembly with cockpit floor and pilot's seat mounted onto it. You can also see the components which make up the aircraft's 3 blade propellor assembly and a couple of the split tailplane halfs.

Construction work on this model can be spread over a number of assemblies. The cockpit as ever is one of these sub-assemblies, this consisting of a floor (which also doubles as the wheel bay area), backrest, seat, joystick and pilot. This little lot assembles into a reasonable cockpit but super detail modellers will be reaching for the credit card to get some aftermarket upgrades (the cockpit is just fine for me though!).
One point you should watch with the cockpit assembly is the angle you set the seat and backrest at due to no firm guide to get this right. Sideways accuracy is also not foolproof so it's a good idea to test fit this thing in the fuselage before the glue sets rock solid.
The fuselage halves can be cleaned up a bit and joined immediately which is always nice, the only place which needed much attention on my example of the kit was at the tail end of the fuselage where there was a bump. This was easily sorted by removing some plastic from the inside of the fuslage half, then clamping the area together while the glue dried. Some cockpit detail is moulded into the sides of these fuz halfs but nothing to get much excited about. A choice of props is catered for as the earlier French based Hurribus didn't use the Rotol prop. This model is being built into the slightly later British based Hurricane so the Rotol prop assembly was made up, this consisting of three separately moulded blades, a hub and a spinner.

The cockpit area of the fuselage is painted in interior green as is the cockpit assembly itself, other details being picked out in black and aluminium paint. The instrument panel is quite good with raised instrument detail, you also get a nifty decal to stick on making it look excellent. This can be inserted after joining the fuselage halves as I did. Don't forget to fit the propellor before gluing the wing on. The prop hole on my example of the model needed opening out a little for the prop pin to go through. I also flatened the nose of the joined fuselage off with a sanding block. A drop of cement was placed in the assembled propeller, this then being pushed in place. The result is a remarkably smooth rotating three bladed propellor.
Hurricane mk1 kit part 1

Hurricane mk1 kit part 2