1:32 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I in Polish service part 1

Polish crews in British fighters

At the start of the war the Hurricane Mk.I was a more numerous type in the British fighter force than the far better-known Spitfire, and in the summer of 1940 it did most of the work. Polish airmen sat down in its cockpits too, having fought their way west after the fall of their homeland and formed squadrons of their own. Their results were among the best of all the units involved, and the story of these machines is still recalled on both sides of the Channel today. For a modeler it is a subject with an almost inexhaustible supply of color variants.

The first part of the theme

The brand divided the Polish Hurricanes into several items by version and by group of machines. This one covers the first group of the Mk.I version; the follow-up treatments deal with the later renditions in the smaller scales. In the enlarged scale this is so far the only item of the whole theme.

A matte finish and what follows from it

Wartime machines wore a rough matte coat that differs fundamentally from smooth jet aircraft. A mask holds worse on it and the paint tends to soak into the texture, so seal the surface with a thin layer of semi-gloss varnish before sticking the mask down. After spraying you flatten it back again. Press the circular insignia down above all along the inner edge, where the line most often breaks. Spray perpendicularly and lightly, and before you remove the mask let the paint only set rather than fully cure. If a small overrun does remain under the edge, the tip of a toothpick dipped in thinner will even it out better than a scalpel.