1:24 HURRICANE IIC

The Hurricane with cannons instead of machine guns

The Mk.IIc version received four 20 mm Hispano cannons in place of eight machine guns, two in each wing half. Under the cowling worked a Rolls-Royce Merlin XX with a two-speed supercharger. From 1941 this machine stopped being a pure interceptor and became an all-rounder: a night intruder over occupied France, an attack aircraft with bomb racks over Burma and a fighter for the defense of Malta, where the machines flew with bulky dust filters under the nose. The structure stayed mixed, a tube frame covered with fabric, which paradoxically helped the Hurricane survive hits.

Set contents

The cockpit mask comes in two pieces, one part for the outer and the other for the inner side of the glazing, and five sets of national insignia belong with it. The version with metal adds turned barrels to that.

Where metal shows the most

Right here. The cannon barrels of the Hurricane project a long way forward from the leading edge and are very slender at the same time. That kind of shape is among the worst an injection mold can produce: a long thin polystyrene part bends while it is being taken off the sprue, twists after it is painted and four barrels never come out parallel. Turned metal keeps a straight line by itself and takes being knocked during the build.

Working with the films

The masks are applied to a clean degreased surface, and running a wooden toothpick round is enough pressure. Apply the paint in several thin coats and lift the film off while the paint is still fresh; from a fully cured layer a mask likes to tear the edge of the finish away with it.