Storm On The Offensive

Historical Background

Some time in 1933, Sydney Camm, the lead designer working for Hawker Aircraft Ltd decided to design a monoplane fighter prototype, which was based on the failed Hawker P.V.3 proposal for Air Ministry F.7/30 requirement (which in turn was based on Hawker Fury fighter). The aircraft's  wing is of cantilever design, armed with four rifle-calibre machine guns and powered by a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine.The drawings were completed in January 1934 but it failed to generate interest from the Air Ministry officials. Camm and his team went back to the drawing board and make changes which include fitting of retractable undercarriage and replacing the Goshawk engine with RR PV-12 engine, soon to be known as the legendary Merlin. In September, Camm approached the Air Ministry again with his improved design, and this time the response was more enthusiastic. In November 1934, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.5/34 which called for a eight gun-armed fighter. The design was at too advanced a stage to modify the original armament. By January 1935 a new mock-up was finished and approval has been given to build the prototype. Specification F.36/34 was written to around this design and in July of the same year the specification was amended to include an eight-gun armament. Work was completed in August 1935 and the prototype first flew on 6 November 1935. RAF trials began in February 1936 and reports from test pilots were favourable. Hawker proposed the name 'Hurricane' to the Air Ministry, which was approved in June 1936.

Despite being more advanced than the biplane RAF fighters of the time, the constructional design of the Hurricane was already outdated. It has a Warren truss box-girder primary fuselage structure with steel longerons and duralumin cross-bracing fastened mechanically. Over this basic structure, wooden formers and stringers carried the doped linen covering. The wing, while having steel spars also have doped linen covering. In April 1939, stressed-skin duraluminium wing was introduced and was used for all the later marks. The metal wing allowed a higher diving speed than the fabric-covered versions. Although many early airframes were retrofitted with the new wing, many Hurricanes still have the fabric-covered wing during the Battle of Britain. The prototype and early production aircraft was fitted with a fixed-pitch, two-bladed propeller, which was inefficient at low speeds. In April 1939, De Havilland variable-pitch propeller was used in production aircraft and was later replaced with a Rotol constant-speed propeller. The Hurricane was ordered into production in June 1936. In December 1937, it entered squadron service when four aircraft joined No.111 Squadron at RAF Norholt.

The Hurricane had its baptism of fire on 21 October 1939 when 'A' Flight of No.46 Squadron intercepted nine Heinkel He 115s which was earlier attacked by two Spitfires of No.72 Squadron. Four of the Heinkels were shot down. During the Phoney War, the French Government requested for 10 fighter squadrons to bolster the Allied strength. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was concerned that the request would deplete the home defences, so he initially send only four squadrons (Nos. 1, 73, 85 and 87). They were soon joined by Nos. 607 and 605 Squadrons. In May 1940, with the German Blizkrieg erupting in the West, three further squadrons, Nos. 3, 79 and 504 were sent. During the Battle of France and Operation Dynamo, Hurricanes claimed 499 kills and 123 probables. German records, available to the Allies postwar, showed a loss of 299 aircraft destroyed and 65 damaged. Of 452 Hurricanes fighting in France, only 66 returned to the UK; 178 of the Hurricanes were abandoned at their French airfields when the squadrons were ordered to return the Home Islands. During the Battle Of Britain, from 10 July-31 October 1940, the workhorse Hurricane formed the majority of Britain's fighter defences and despite the aura and glamour of the Spitfire, actually shot down more Luftwaffe aircraft than the latter. Generally the Spitfire goes after the fighter escorts while the Hurricane concentrated against the bombers.

In North Africa, the Hurricane reigned supreme over Italian fighters such as the CR.32, CR..42, C.200 and G.50 but suffer reverses when confronted with Bf 109s and Macchi C.202 and were replaced by Curtiss Tomahawk/Kittyhawk. Back in the ETO, the the Mark IIBs with 12 machine guns  and underwing racks were used in cross-Channel raids. The additional machine guns and the bomb load of the so-called 'Hurribombers' weighed down the aircraft and restricted its performance, nevertheless, it made for excellent attack aircraft, especially when re-armed with 20mm and 40mm cannons (the latter was used in the tank-buster role). They also played a significant role in the defence of Malta. In the Far East, 51 Hurricanes were sent to Singapore but the addition of the Vokes air filter plus additional four .303 machineguns fitted made them rather unwieldy while lack of an early warning system caused many aircraft being destroyed on the ground by Japanese bombing raids. The Hurricane was later used in a fighter-bomber role.  Also, the Hurricane was modified slightly, by adding arresting hook and catapult spool to become Sea Hurricane fighters for the Royal Navy. A total of more than 14,853 Hurricanes of all marks were built.

The Kit

Hasegawa first came up with a kit of the Hurricane (a Mark IIC, with four 20mm cannons) in 1997. Kit JT66 used here depicted the Hurricane Mk. IIB (or Mark IIA Series 2). The IIB featured a Merlin XX engine with peak power output of 1,280 and was armed with either twelve .303 Brownings (eight original guns plus two in new gun bays outboard of each of the landing lights) or four 20 mm Hispano cannons. A hardpoint for ordnance and/or fuel was added under each wing. The kit first came out in 1999. The leading edge panel for the weapon is separate, featuring the four-gun opening plus holes to be drilled in order to accommodate the extra guns and the bomb rack. The parts are well-moulded, having good surface detail and judging from previous Hasegawa kits, it should be easy to assemble. As the markings include a Hurricane from the North African theatre, a two-piece Volkes filter was also included. Neither PE nor resin parts were include. The decal sheet provide markings for two aircraft: a No. 274 Squadron and a No. 402 (Canada) Squadron.

Construction

Construction, as usual, started at the cockpit. The cockpit floor, certain interior parts and the instrument panel was painted flat black while the rest of the parts were painted British Interior Green using Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green (IJN) as it is fairly similar to the British Interior Green, plus it saved me the hassle of mixing the Tamiya mixture I used on my previous British WW2 aircraft. The cockpit parts are fairly detailed with the proper tubular frame between the seat and the instrument panel. No seat belts are provided however. The assembled cockpit was set aside and I started building the fuselage. The fuselage was typically split vertically but Hasegawa moulded the nose section separately, so that they would only make nose moulds for the different Marks. The nose and fuselage section were mated first on the respective sides first. Holes were drilled in the nose (to fit the exhaust glare shields) as I had already chosen the No.402 Squadron option beforehand (the holes can be puttied over, should I change my mind). The cockpit was then glued to one of the fuselage sides and the fuselage was then closed. Fit wasn't terribly good though, some puttying was needed, especially on the nose.

The wing assembly was next. Before gluing the parts together, more holes were drilled in the lower wing panels for the bomb pylons and the cartridge ejector holes for the additional outer pair of machine guns. The landing gear bay and part of the forward fuselage/wing junction were then glued to the lower wing panel. And speaking of the landing gear bay, it was riddled with ejector pin marks - I left it as it is as they won't be visible to the casual observer. Holes should also be drilled into the bay as they are, on the real aircraft, windows used by the pilot to confirm retraction of the gear. The raised details on the starboard upper wing root was removed using a hobby knife as per the instructions. Although instructed to be added later in the build, I added the panels for all the wing guns. Fit wasn't good, especially for the main gun panels. The bomb pylons were also added at this time. Holes were drilled into the additional machine gun panels before cementing them to the wing's leading edge.

The upper wing panels were then cemented to the lower half. Next, the wing assembly was then cemented to the fuselage. Fit was really not good with a rather large gap at the rear of the wing-fuselage joint, perpendicular to the raised rib effect. Not only the seam line broke the rib lines, any puttying and sanding works would remove further details from the area. Good thing it's fairly out of sight! The interior of the radiator was painted and cemented and this was followed by the radiator fairing. Decision as to which markings to choose has to be finally made when finishing the front lower fuselage as the No.274 Squadron, being based in the MTO, was fitted with the Vokes filter. I chose the No.402 option and used the regular chin fairing. This also meant the the exhaust glare shields have to fitted.

Painting and Decalling

RAF tactical aircraft in Europe after 1941 were painted Medium Sea Grey (bottom) and a camouflage pattern of Ocean Grey and Dark Green. The paints I used for the colours are Tamiya XF-83 (Medium Sea Grey) and XF-81 (Dark Green). I do not have XF-82 in stock, yet I am not in a mood to mix XF-24 Dark Grey, XF-21 Sky and XF-18 Medium Blue. IPMS Stockholm suggested that XF-54 is a good match for Ocean Grey and that's what I use, although I modify it a bit by adding XF-18 Medium Blue. The ID band on the leading edge and propeller blade tips were painted XF-3 Flat Yellow. The prop spinner was painted XF-21 Sky while the blades were painted Flat Black. The wheel bay and landing gear were painted Tamiya XF-11 (I had run out of Gunze 8). The decals were then applied the usual way. There was a bit of silvering for the squadron code letters (because of the raised ribs on the rear fuselage), even though decal softener has been applied. I waited until the decals are safe to touch, get a sharp blade, make cuts at the affected areas and reapply Mr. Mark Softer. I also punched holes in the decals over the machine gun openings.  

Finishing

What's left is to finally fix the still-loose parts. The landing gear was assembled, the paint retouched and cemented to their places, allowing the kit to stand on its own. The exhaust was painted Burnt Iron and then cemented. This was followed by the rest of the more vulnerable parts, although I left the boarding stirrup off (the stirrup is not visible in many photos of the Hurricane, so I assume it was retractable and hence, it was not attached here). I almost forgot about the outboard guns and I placed the pieces-of-plastic-pretending-to-be-gun muzzles to their places. I then applied sludge wash on the model. The bombs were then finally fixed in place. The model then received a spray of flat clear and once the paint has cured, the masks were removed, finishing the build.

Conclusion

The Hasegawa Hurricane is typical of their offering with the good points of clear instructions and generally good detail and fit. The bad points are not-so-detailed interior, no seatbelts (even in decal form) and some fit issues; and particularly for Hasegawa's Hurricanes, the joint across the fabric effect at the bottom of the wing-fuselage junction. Oh, and thick decals too. But otherwise it was actually an easy build, you just need to have that little bit of patience. It was for years the best 1/48 Hurricane(s) in town until Italeri and Airfix came up with their offering a few years back.