1:48 HURRICANE I EARLY

The Hurricane in its early form

Machines from the first batches looked different from those of the Battle of Britain. They carried a wooden two-blade propeller with a fixed pitch, fabric-covered wings, and the protective plate under the tailwheel was missing from the underside of the fuselage. The structure was based on a welded tubular frame covered with fabric, a technique a generation older than the all-metal Spitfire, but easy to repair in field conditions.

The frame shows through the cockpit

It is that tubular frame which makes the interior of the Hurricane unusual. Members of the frame converge around the pilot with the instruments hanging on them, and between them the fabric covering of the side panels is visible from inside. It is not a sheet metal tub as on the fighters of its time but an open lattice structure, into which the view through the sliding canopy reaches surprisingly deep.

This set covers the outside only

Unlike most sets of the same series, the canopy here is masked from the surface only; there is no reverse layer in the package. In practice that means you will have to paint the inner sides of the frames by hand before the transparent part is seated on the fuselage. Anyone building with the canopy closed will hardly notice the difference. Anyone who wants the canopy slid back and the frame in view should count on that hand work in advance.

Painting the reverse by hand has one advantage on this machine. There are few bars, they are straight and they run mostly lengthwise, so they can be drawn over with a short-haired brush in a single stroke. It is worse at the fixed rear section, where the frame is angled, and there a thin strip of masking tape cut to size is worth more than trying to hit the edge freehand.

What the set holds

A single film for the outer surface of the canopy, one insignia for spraying and decals. Paints and the aircraft are not enclosed.