Picture
the scene. It’s the early seventies, and a small boy watches the film
“Battle of Britain” with his father. They’re both aviation enthusiasts,
and the father is ex-RAF. On the screen, an Ops Room officer replaces the
receiver and says with concern: “501 are down at Tangmere – they couldn’t
get in at Biggin.” The father’s eyebrows shoot right up and he grins broadly
at the mention of his old squadron. I always remembered that moment, as it
remains the only time they’ve ever been mentioned on screen, despite having
just about the highest scoring RAF pilot during the Battle, Ginger Lacey. I
decided recently when I acquired the Hasegawa Hurricane Mk1 that I would finish
it in the markings of 501 Squadron as a tribute to them, and I decided to do the
individual aircraft code letter as G, since that is my Dad’s initial. I’d
already made him a model of the Meteor he used to fly in, so I’m keeping this
one myself! Sorry Dad.
The
build went as you’d expect a modern Hasegawa to go, with very few areas of
concern. I had bought a P/E set to go with it, but this was left largely
untouched as the cockpit detail in the kit is fine as it is. I used the
seatbelts and some grilles and handles, but that’s about it. The instrument
panel is the kit one, carefully painted and with drops of Johnson’s to
simulate the instrument glasses. I didn’t bother with a wash in the pit as so
little is visible at the end anyway.
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I
needed the correct ‘SD’ squadron codes for 501, so I also bought an old
Airfix Hurricane off Ebay as they had the right decals. Unfortunately they were
yellowed beyond use, so I had to order a set of code letters from Xtradecal as
Plan B. Seems like a good idea now anyway – they went on beautifully.
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The
only need for skill came at the lower fuselage to wing joint, which as other
modellers have noted leaves a distinct step. Putty, sanding and a bit of
rescribing solved this problem, as it did for the multitude of separate panels
which make up the wing leading edge. A coat of primer later and it was ready for
colour, which was supplied by Tamiya’s acrylics throughout, with the exception
Alcad for the undercart. The camo pattern was given a slightly softer edge by
using the Blu-Tak trick, apart from the underside demarcation line which always
looks pretty hard in photographs. The whole airframe was coated in Johnson’s
and then weathered using a combination of pastels/soapy water, airbrushed paint
for the exhaust and gunsmoke, and a fine brush with silver paint for the
chipping. (I didn’t go too heavy on the weathering, as I learned my lesson
from the 1/32 Spitfire I made last year.)
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I
added a radio antenna from stretched sprue, which was so close to scale
thickness that it was virtually impossible to get glue to attach to it! Cyano
wouldn’t look at it, and liquid cement melted it to nothing. The eventual
solution was to insert the antenna into a micro drilled hole atop the fuselage,
and poke Micro Krystal Kleer into the hole after it. After this had dried, I
threaded the antenna through another hole drilled in the radio mast, and pulled
it taut over the smaller mast on the fin. This was then secured with a blob of
cyano on top, followed by accelerator and then paint to disguise it. A lot of
effort, but I think it looks more convincing than most of my previous models’
antennae. You can only just about see it in the pictures, which is pretty much
how it should be.
Other little improvements were the replacement of the solid moulded rudder
navigation light with one made from clear plastic (actually the end of the clear
support post from a Revell Bell X-1. NEVER throw anything away…), the
replacement of the gunsight glass with clear acetate, and the addition of a
vacformed canopy. Beware here – I had no previous experience with vacformed
canopies, and due to the lack of moulded guidelines on the part itself, I
actually cut it too shallow. It’s not deep enough to sit over the rear
fuselage and meet the canopy rails, which is a pity. I might get another one at
a later date and replace it, because things like that niggle me. The underside
navigation light and those in the wing leading edges had lenses made from blobs
of Krystal Kleer, and were quite convincing.
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One
final thing – watch out for the retractable boarding step. I must have broken
mine off a dozen times, now…
I photographed it in my back garden, and for one shot I held it up against the
blue sky. I digitally removed the supporting fingers, blurred the prop a little,
and hey presto – an in flight shot! Hope you like it.
Dean
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