I’ve always enjoyed coming back to Hurricanes in 1/48 scale. Two years ago I built a night-fighter Mk IIc, and now it was time for the Mk I from Arma Hobby – a kit which, just like the previous one, I designed myself. I genuinely enjoyed the build, and even the usual end-of-year rush and holiday distractions couldn’t compete with time spent at the workbench.
Cockpit and landing gear
I started working on the cockpit interior and landing gear already at the test-shot stage in the tool shop. All parts came from the common sprue used across our Hurricane series. The cockpit builds in a familiar, straightforward way and, with a bit of care and focus, causes no real trouble.
The instrument panel is definitely worth some extra attention. Instead of black, I used dark grey as the base colour, then picked out the raised details with a lighter shade using drybrushing. The instrument faces were painted gloss black. I cut the panel decals into smaller sections, which made them much easier to place. Thanks to the earlier painting steps, the contrast was good enough to make decal positioning straightforward.
Airframe assembly
Once the cockpit was done, I moved on to the airframe. I split the work into two main modules: the wing, and the fuselage with tail unit. Each was prepared and painted separately.
One thing to watch out for is a locating pin on the wing that doesn’t have a matching socket in the right fuselage half – the simplest solution is just to remove it. I dealt with the wing and fuselage joints using a minimal amount of CA glue. From experience, this is the only reliable way to avoid a fine seam line reappearing later on.
Hurricane Mk I 1/48 – pierwszy montaż próbnych wtrysków. Relacja projektanta
Camouflage painting
The upper surfaces were painted with Mr. Paint colours. I didn’t mask the entire camouflage pattern; instead, I lightly sketched the colour boundaries with a watercolour pencil and then sprayed the demarcation lines freehand with the airbrush. In a few places I adjusted the pattern slightly so that the decals would sit properly later.
The underside was a bit of a painting experiment. Rather than using the usual black primer, I went with a white surfacer. Over that, following the Luftraum72 method, I applied black Liquitex ink, then a heavily thinned dark brown from the AK Interactive Quickgen range. Only after that did I spray the Sky colour from Hataka.
Decals and varnishes
The decals went straight onto the camouflage colours, without a gloss clear coat underneath. Both Mr. Paint and Hataka leave a very smooth, almost semi-gloss finish, so I wasn’t worried about silvering.
I used Sol setting solution on the decals, then carefully cut along the panel lines and applied Sol again. After that, the model was sealed with a gloss clear coat to even everything out, followed by a matt coat – both from Hataka.
Weathering and final details
Only after all of the above was done did I join the wing and fuselage modules. The finished airframe then went through weathering. I started with paint chipping, using a silver Prismacolor pencil. Exhaust staining was done in two stages: first with an off-black shade, then with an off-white.
The underside was weathered with two shades of brown oil paint, and I treated the wing roots near the cockpit in a similar way. Everything was then sealed with a thin layer of matt clear coat to lock the effects in place. After adding the remaining small details and the aerial wire, the model was finished.
Summary
Working on the new Hurricane from our range was genuinely enjoyable – from the design stage, through toolmaking, right up to the final build. Although I personally tend to favour 1/72 scale, it’s easy to see why 1/48 is so popular. The workload is slightly higher, but the finished model really stands out.
I’ll definitely be coming back to this kit again, and I can honestly recommend giving the new AH Hurricane a go.
Akcesoria 3D do Hurricane Mk I 1/48 – więcej detalu, w prosty sposób
Modeller happy enough to work in his hobby. Seems to be a quiet Aspie but you were warned. Enjoys talking about modelling, conspiracy theories, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and internet marketing. Co-founder of Arma Hobby. Builds and paints figurines, aeroplane and armour kits, mostly Polish subject and naval aviation.
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