1:32 Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop

[JeroenPeters]

1:32 Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop

Fly

Catalogue # 32013

Available from Fly for €37,70

 

 

Introduction

I never quite understood why companies like Tamiya, Hasegawa or another quality kitmaker hasn’t touch the Hurricane in 32^nd scale. Ofcourse Revell have done their version of the Mk.I back in the seventies. To be honest this kit still is pretty decent to this day and can be made into something decent. Especially when you add some aftermarket, like the MDC resin cockpit or Grey Matter figures resin upgrades.  And then there are the limited run kits done by Pacific Coast Models. To me these felt like a way to keep the major players from touching the subject, since the ‘void’ had been filled. This limited run kit covered the Mk.I early (rag wing)and Mk.I late (metal wing). I have built the latter back in 2012. For a limited run kit, this (to me) was pretty good! A very complete kit, with resin, photo etch and injection plastic. Quite like the kit I’m reviewing now. The fit was Ok-ish and it only suffered from a few small shape issues. Like the area behind the canopy being too sloped. If you can live with this, and you want to build a Mk.I, don’t hesitate to get it.

 

It feels like Fly picked up where PCM stopped. In a way this kit has a lot of likeness with the PCM kit: limited run, same parts breakdown and mixed multi media. But also resembles the surface treatment of the Revell kit! Raised rivets… More on this later.

 

Here's a look at my PCM Mk.I Hurricane I built a few years ago:

 

 

 

In this in-box review I’ll give you my first impression of this kit. I won’t build it for the review, but I’ll do my best to give you a good consideration for your money. There’s been a lot of critique lately on people like me writing reviews on kits that are indeed provided by the manufacturer. You’ll just have to trust me to be honest about anything I see: positive and negative. On thing I’m not a big fan of is bore you with the history of the subject. Especially such a well known subject as the Hurricane.

 

 

The Kit

Fly Models is a relatively new kid on the block that surprised all with the Ar234. And just when we all thought: hey! These guys are covering late Luftwaffe subjects! They hit us with the Wessex. Totally un-expected. So who could guess the Hurricane would be next?

 

The kit I’m reviewing is the ‘Trop’ version of the Mk.IIc kit. James Hatch earlier reviewed the standard Mk.IIc kit here.

 

The first thing that I notice is that the box is a little bit oversized for the contents. This is common practice with limited run kits. The same goes for the small amount of sprues: four beige sprues and one transparent. The other parts are made out of resin and photo etch.

 

 

Sprue A

Here we have the two fuselage halves. The first thing I look at is the area behind the canopy, and I am pleased to see the right angle here, unlike the PCM kit. The surface detail is crisp and features the typical round fasteners, raised rivets and fabric sloping. No locating pins are present as is normal with a limited run kit. The gear legs show a little bit of flash and need to be carefully cleaned up and smoothened out. From what I heard from James Hatch (who is test fitted this kit) the wingroots mate quite nicely with the wings. This is always a tricky part with limited run kits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprue B

This contains the wings. Very nice representation of raised rivets, panel lines, verlapping panels and fasteners. I do think that these raised rivets are far more accurate than dimples, but they do require a whole new technique to weather. Washes will turn out like darker rings around them, so you might want to use a lighter coloured wash for this, instead of… black. The ailerons are moulded in one piece with the wing, so if you want to alter these, you’ll need to grab the saw. The same goes for the flaps. So lots of room for detailing here. Again: no locating pins throughout the entire kit, so fit, fit and glue.

 

 

 

 

 

Sprue C

The belly, prop blades (for this kit! The ones’ for the MK.IIc are on the next sprue), pointy spinner (that’s the one you need for the Trop version!), and cockpit framing. The framing is the part to look at. Some limited run kits offer framing that need so much cleaning up, you might as well scratch the whole thing yourself. Not so much here. Looks good. The detail on the control surfaces could have been a little more fabric like. I think I’ll spray some Mr Surfacer and smoothen out the ribs a little. The detail on the belly is far superior to the PCM kit. Lovely surface detail…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprue D

Here we see the guns (which are also included in far nicer resin by the way!), gear doors, spinner back plate, prop blades (these are the ones’ you need for this kit), tail planes and oil cooler intake. I seriously have no idea why anyone would ise the plastic guns on this sprue! Unless you can’t afford superglue to use the resin ones’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clear sprue

Very clear and sharply moulded  plastic. But…. A bit on the thick side. I guess Fly models realized this and so they also offer the canopy as a separate after market set in Vac form. This will be a hard choice for me. I hate Vac form, but I also hate the thick canopy on a Hurricane. With the sliding canopy in open position the thickness really stands out. On the other hand: Plastic canopies are easier to mask, since they offer sharper and higher edges of the framing. Enter: the mask set! Fly also offers a complete masking set, including the canopy masking, serials, codes…

More on these later…

 

 

 

 

Resin parts

The likeliness with the PCM kit becomes even more apparent when you look at these parts. The part breakdown and the parts featured in resin are almost the same. The biggest resin part is are the wheel wells. Sharp detail and minimal cleanup. I dryfitted this part to the belly part and it appears to line up nicely. All resin parts are casted by Artillery. A not so well known company that is mostly known for their Armour subjects. You just can’t complain much about these resin parts. The smaller parts (like the landing light framings and gunsight) are crisp and clean and well detailed. One thing I would have loved to see (especially on the Trop version of the Hurricane that operated on rudimentary runways) was a little bit of weight on the wheels. The guns are far more detailed than the plastic ones’ supplied. This is most apparent on the springs around the barrels, which are far more delicate. They can be offered even nicer, if you go for the after market set. More on those later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standard resin guns:

 

 

 

 

Landing light frames and tail wheel:

 

 

Photo etch

Two sheets of photo etch are included. On with radiator mesh covers and one with a lot of cockpit parts (instrument panel, seat belts, armour plate, etc…). These all appear to be made by Fly themselves, and not Eduard or another typical photo eth company, like you often encounter in limited run kits. The only thing, and I mean the ONLY thing, I will definitely change on my kit are the seatbelts. HGW fabric seatbelts will improve these immensely. Especially in such an open and visible area. Also included in this bag is a sheet of clear film that contains the instruments for the panel and gunsight glass. I know I just said I would only change the seatbelts for HGW, but as soon as Yahu releases one of their excellent instrument panels for this kit (like they did for the Fly Ar234!!) I’m getting that too. That’s it. Promise.

 

Photo shamelessly stolen from James Hatch:

 

Decals and schemes

The large sheet with decals has a separated part containing the stencilling (IF decals is what you fancy... Again: more on that later). The decals are (or appear to be) printed by Fly Models themselves. The colours look accurate and they register nice. I mainly look at the decals for the stencils, since these are the ones that are often a let down in detail, and even when you choose to mask your codes, you’ll always need to use the stencil decals. Look at the pic and judge for yourself. I just had a tip suggesting they might have been done by Eduard.

 

 

 

 

The 4 schemes that are included are pretty exotic:

 

·       Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop - No.1 Sqdn RIAR (Royal Indian Air Force) part of No.167 Wing RAF

·       Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop - No.213 Sqdn RAF - North Africa 1942

·       Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop - No.1 Sqdn SAAF - pilot Cpt. J.H. Gaynor, North Africa 1942

·       Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop - Flying School Armée de l´Air, Marocco 1945-46

 

 

 

Instruction booklet

Basic black and white clear hand drawn illustrations, you really can’t go wrong with. After all: this isn’t a highly complicated kit! What I like are the final pages showing the painting instructions on a few specific parts (like the cockpit and wheel wells). The four schemes are presented on a different sheet with side, top en bottom profiles.

 

After market goodies!

Fly Models beat the After Market companies to the punch by releasing their own sets. To be fair: There are not a lot of AM companies that tend to touch limited run kits. So here we go!

 

Mask set # artm 32002

This set (like the others) are sold under the Artillery models brand. These masks are cut in a pretty unconventional plastic. I tried a little piece on some plastic and can say I like it better than the Montex masks, but would still have preferred kabuki paper. The curves on the Hurricane however are pretty simple, so these should suffice. All codes and roundels are included on this a4 size sheet.

Click here to buy directly for around 5 euro’s(!).

 

 

 

Canopy Mask set # NWAM0027

Another mask set can be purchased designed for the canopy and wheels. Only the outside of the canopy masks are included. I would have preferred inside and outside. These ARE however presented in kabuki paper and produced by a different company I have never heard of: New Ware.

Click here to buy directly, also for around 5 euro’s.

 

 

Guns # arta 001

These resin guns are slightly nices than the resin guns offered in the kit. What I don’t understand is this: Artillery models produced, moulded and casted both versions of the same guns in resin. I have to admit that the After Market set is slightly nicer than the ones’ offered in the kit. OK… here I go again: If or when Master Barrels produces these guns in brass with separate springs.. I’ll be all over them!

Click here to buy this set for around 2 euro’s (had to check this twice!)

 

 

After market guns:

 

 

Comparison (after market on the left):

 

Vac form Canopy # arta 002

Like I said before: The canopy in the kit is a bit thick and this part will be very visible when the canopy is posed in the open position. The benefit of the plastic canopy is that it’s easier to work with and that the canopy framing is easier to mask. The benefit of the Vac Form is a more convincing result, it’s way more clear / transparent and thinner.

Click here to buy the canopy directly for around 2,60 euro’s (or buy two when you’re not too good with Vac Form J )

 

 

Verdict

This kit is insanely cheap for a limited run kit packed with resin and photo etch. About 38 euro’s! Yes it’s limited run, but it can be built into a winner by a moderate modeller. The plastic is easy to work with, you don’t need to invest a lot in after market goodies (unless you’re like me…) and the schemes included are pretty cool right of the bat. And last but not least: the kit appears to be accurate in shape. These are the pro’s. The cons are ribs on the control surfaces and the fact that the ailerons and flaps are moulded shut. But these parts can all be an easy fix if you know how to handle a blade.

 

I would rate this kit a 9 out of a 10.

Based on the price and what you get.

 

I can Highly recommend it

 

My sincere thanks to Fly Models for this review sample.

 

Jeroen Peters

[Wingco57]

Seems like THE Hurricane kit to have.

Cees

[James H]

Builds beautifully too. 

 

Nice review, and I forgive you for using my PE image  

[RalphSarc]

I swear with the exception of a few parts that mold/kit looks identical to the vintage Revell/Smithsonian Hurricane Mk.IIC I'm building now!!!

The rivet and fabric detail on the wings and fuselage is identical!!

How many total parts does it have?

[Matt_]

Hi Jeroen

 

Excellent review!

 

Just a note about the barrels. The 'aftermarket set' are a different form of barrel. The difference (which looks like better casting) is that the kit ones have flat springs and the separately purchased ones have rounded springs. So they are not meant to be a replacement, rather an alternative.

 

I've started one of mine over on LSP (I assumed you guys would have been al over this kit by now so hadn't thought of posting here). It is going together nicely. As you hint at, the cockpit tubular framework is usable (though I've broken a couple of parts and replaced with metal tube). So far the bit I least like is the depiction of the front radiator matrix, which should be the same shape as the rear one. To that end I am 'doctoring' the whole radiator assembly to create myself a master for the subsequent Fly Hurricane releases.

 

It's a fun kit. Not Tamiya - you have to keep on your toes and test fit and take care prepping the parts - but it's somewhat more rewarding in that sense as well.

 

Matt

[mgbgtv8steve]

Spot on review Jeroen! Looks like Fly have a winner on their hands!!

[Spitfire]

Nice review, It's nice to see that it is well thought of as I have one sitting on the shelf behind me !

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[rkranias]

great review JP.  On my want list.  Love the RIAF scheme.

[Wingco57]

Just to be sure, the Hurricane's wings really were that heavily rivetted. Don't forget it was a pre-war design and

flush rivetting was expensive and at the time the "formidable" speeds attained by it were thought to be never bettered.

I love it.

Cees