26.02.2011, 12:08
This is one more piece for my collection from Academy. The paintscheme you see in the pics is NOT one of those depicted in the instructions, but I'm pleased with this result. Now let's talk about the kit:
![[Image: AY02129.jpg]](http://www.fmc-shop.com/images/AY02129.jpg)
IN THE BOX
The box contains three grey sprues (dated 1997 in my kit) plus one with transparent pieces, a decals sheet and glue, all wrapped in a plastic bag.
Quality appears to be very good: solid plastic, no flash, recessed panels, detailed gear bays and cockpit sides. There aren't any pylons nor external loads, just four huge 20mm cannons
. Transparent parts include a 2-pieces canopy and two landing lights.
![[Image: dd9e0305f79d5aef714fb05d2b6156830b991099...ed3c6g.jpg]](http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/dd9e0305f79d5aef714fb05d2b6156830b9910997e97b9c6a6cc81aeab18ed3c6g.jpg)
BUILDING
As usual, the construction begins with the cockpit. First you have to glue seat, stick, pedals and two side panels on the floor piece (you should also build the spinner around the propeller at this point). The gauges panel sticks to the fuselage only. The complete cockpit is pretty detailed, despite the fact that you're not going to see much of it once the model is finished, even if you leave the canopy open. Remember this before getting mad trying to add details! I only painted seatbelts on the seat and was happy with "stock" internals.
While the glue dries, you can join upper and lower wing halves. Then it's time to join the two fuselage halves, taking care to fit the gauges panel and the propeller in their own places. Once that is done, you can glue the cockpit on the wing piece, then attach the fuselage on it and add the "chin" cowling. I found the fuselage-wings fitting to be good, so I didn't use any filler. No problems with the tailplanes, too.
Both the small air intake and the radiator consist of two pieces, a front "mask" and a main body. They both fit well in their places, just note that the rear of the radiator is a wide hole, so you might want to paint the inside and the underneath belly before glueing it in position.
The undercarriage, like in many other models, is molded to be built extended. If you like so, you'll find gear details to be nice; noticeably, the instructions sheet even shows the correct angles for both main gear legs and wheels inclination.
Building the gear retracted, instead, requires some surgery. Main wheels and gear panels need to be sliced/sanded thinner to prevent them from protruding under the wings (in this case, gear bays details are an obstacle) and the rear parts of the panels have to be cut off, as they just have a different shape than the corresponding holes in the wings, which can be filled with putty. The tail wheel, of course, makes no difference.
As I said before, no external loads are provided. Apart from the pitot tube, you only need to attach the four cannon barrels. Be careful while doing that: not only are external barrels LONGER than internal ones, but also every barrel must be set in a precise way (meaning, "this side upwards") to fit correctly on the leading edge. Try dry fitting first!
The canopy and the windshield fit very well in closed position, but the canopy appears to be too narrow to fit in open position. Or maybe the fuselage behind the cockpit is too broad; anyway, the result is the same. I didn't risk breaking it up and was happy with the closed cockpit. Here's a flaw: there is no rearwiew mirror above the windshield. However, it was relatively easy to make one by slicing a piece from the transparent sprue.
I haven't mentioned exhausts and landing lights so far, just because my advice is to glue them after the painting job. A note about landing lights: they are NOT ambidextrous, and I found the instructions sheet showing them with inverted reference numbers. Besides, they have an "up" and a "down" just like the cannons. So once again, try dry fitting first!
At this point, another flaw must be reported: night Hurricanes had two horizontal panels mounted on the nose to mask exhaust flashes from the pilot's view. These panels are NOT provided in the kit, therefore if you want them you'll have to scratch build them.
![[Image: cdd515da12b1bdb40ce19aa75dca80841e318243...bda46g.jpg]](http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/cdd515da12b1bdb40ce19aa75dca80841e318243e9f70fb37136f4f672e5bda46g.jpg)
PAINTING AND DECALS
The kit comes with decals for two planes, both featuring the standard grey-green paintscheme. QO-Z is a 1941 day fighter version with standard markings, tail band, white spinner and light grey underside. LK-7 instead is a 1942 night fighter version with night markings and black underside and spinner. But... since I already had a grey-green Spit on my shelf, I took a little licence and chose to paint QO-Z with a late '40 / early '41 brown-green scheme with black-white underside. Please don't throw stones at me for that!
Decals went on quite easily, although I found them to be a bit fragile (because they are very thin). Only the tail band was disappointing: it is printed the "curved" way that would fit OK on a rounded fuselage (i.e. on a Spit) but, since the Hurri's tail section is more "squared", the bending of the decal remains somewhat visible. I thought my result to be acceptable, but you might consider painting the tail stripe instead.
(P.S. As usual, I did the paint job using hand brush only with generic water-based, acrylic modeling colors. Panel lines were highlighted with an eyeliner pencil, exhausts smoke was drawed with a charcoal pencil.)
![[Image: 64b0ee68b4998a5f47d42fbea35409102ed0d47d...b3906g.jpg]](http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/64b0ee68b4998a5f47d42fbea35409102ed0d47d0c2350a6c8a9172e9523b3906g.jpg)
CONCLUSIONS
My good opinion about Academy's quality/price ratio is confirmed once more. This kit was a pleasure to build, having a very good fitting among its (few) parts and a relatively high detail level. The result is a nice looking Hurricane mkIIc. OK, the absence of those "flash hider" panels is a noticeable mistake in a kit that is intended to reproduce the night fighter version; nevertheless, if you can get over this (and the mirror) you will find everything else more than satisfying.
Recommended!
IN THE BOX
The box contains three grey sprues (dated 1997 in my kit) plus one with transparent pieces, a decals sheet and glue, all wrapped in a plastic bag.
Quality appears to be very good: solid plastic, no flash, recessed panels, detailed gear bays and cockpit sides. There aren't any pylons nor external loads, just four huge 20mm cannons
. Transparent parts include a 2-pieces canopy and two landing lights.BUILDING
As usual, the construction begins with the cockpit. First you have to glue seat, stick, pedals and two side panels on the floor piece (you should also build the spinner around the propeller at this point). The gauges panel sticks to the fuselage only. The complete cockpit is pretty detailed, despite the fact that you're not going to see much of it once the model is finished, even if you leave the canopy open. Remember this before getting mad trying to add details! I only painted seatbelts on the seat and was happy with "stock" internals.
While the glue dries, you can join upper and lower wing halves. Then it's time to join the two fuselage halves, taking care to fit the gauges panel and the propeller in their own places. Once that is done, you can glue the cockpit on the wing piece, then attach the fuselage on it and add the "chin" cowling. I found the fuselage-wings fitting to be good, so I didn't use any filler. No problems with the tailplanes, too.
Both the small air intake and the radiator consist of two pieces, a front "mask" and a main body. They both fit well in their places, just note that the rear of the radiator is a wide hole, so you might want to paint the inside and the underneath belly before glueing it in position.
The undercarriage, like in many other models, is molded to be built extended. If you like so, you'll find gear details to be nice; noticeably, the instructions sheet even shows the correct angles for both main gear legs and wheels inclination.
Building the gear retracted, instead, requires some surgery. Main wheels and gear panels need to be sliced/sanded thinner to prevent them from protruding under the wings (in this case, gear bays details are an obstacle) and the rear parts of the panels have to be cut off, as they just have a different shape than the corresponding holes in the wings, which can be filled with putty. The tail wheel, of course, makes no difference.
As I said before, no external loads are provided. Apart from the pitot tube, you only need to attach the four cannon barrels. Be careful while doing that: not only are external barrels LONGER than internal ones, but also every barrel must be set in a precise way (meaning, "this side upwards") to fit correctly on the leading edge. Try dry fitting first!
The canopy and the windshield fit very well in closed position, but the canopy appears to be too narrow to fit in open position. Or maybe the fuselage behind the cockpit is too broad; anyway, the result is the same. I didn't risk breaking it up and was happy with the closed cockpit. Here's a flaw: there is no rearwiew mirror above the windshield. However, it was relatively easy to make one by slicing a piece from the transparent sprue.
I haven't mentioned exhausts and landing lights so far, just because my advice is to glue them after the painting job. A note about landing lights: they are NOT ambidextrous, and I found the instructions sheet showing them with inverted reference numbers. Besides, they have an "up" and a "down" just like the cannons. So once again, try dry fitting first!
At this point, another flaw must be reported: night Hurricanes had two horizontal panels mounted on the nose to mask exhaust flashes from the pilot's view. These panels are NOT provided in the kit, therefore if you want them you'll have to scratch build them.
PAINTING AND DECALS
The kit comes with decals for two planes, both featuring the standard grey-green paintscheme. QO-Z is a 1941 day fighter version with standard markings, tail band, white spinner and light grey underside. LK-7 instead is a 1942 night fighter version with night markings and black underside and spinner. But... since I already had a grey-green Spit on my shelf, I took a little licence and chose to paint QO-Z with a late '40 / early '41 brown-green scheme with black-white underside. Please don't throw stones at me for that!
Decals went on quite easily, although I found them to be a bit fragile (because they are very thin). Only the tail band was disappointing: it is printed the "curved" way that would fit OK on a rounded fuselage (i.e. on a Spit) but, since the Hurri's tail section is more "squared", the bending of the decal remains somewhat visible. I thought my result to be acceptable, but you might consider painting the tail stripe instead.
(P.S. As usual, I did the paint job using hand brush only with generic water-based, acrylic modeling colors. Panel lines were highlighted with an eyeliner pencil, exhausts smoke was drawed with a charcoal pencil.)
CONCLUSIONS
My good opinion about Academy's quality/price ratio is confirmed once more. This kit was a pleasure to build, having a very good fitting among its (few) parts and a relatively high detail level. The result is a nice looking Hurricane mkIIc. OK, the absence of those "flash hider" panels is a noticeable mistake in a kit that is intended to reproduce the night fighter version; nevertheless, if you can get over this (and the mirror) you will find everything else more than satisfying.
Recommended!
