Building Hasegawa's 1/72nd Scale
Hurricane Mk.II
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Background
 The
"Hurricane" hardly needs an introduction to most who know anything
about aircraft. Viewed by some as "…one of the most outstanding
fighter aircraft to enter RAF service" (Ron Mackay), this machine
played a fundamental role in defending the British Isles during the Battle
of Britain in 1940. Less glamorous than the Supermarine Spitfire, it presence
was more ubiquitous during that critical period. The kit is actually a
latter version - a Mark II (two variants are in the box), which operated
in 1941 and 1942.
In the Box
 I
bought this kit at a modeling convention. Although it was outside my usual
areas of interest (RAF, World War Two), at $4 I reasoned that I could
give it to my nephew if I decided not to make it (turns out he chose the
Hasegawa "George" instead). Anyhow, inside the box is the typical
Hasegawa product: namely, several sprues of nicely molded smooth grey
plastic with very little flash. There are few details inside the cockpit:
a seat on a floor with a control stick, and an instrument panel for which
there is a instrument panel decal. This particular boxing contains a set
of Aeromaster decals that provide two painting schemes; (1) A Mk.IIb Sea
Hurricane operated by the Royal Navy but with U.S markings for Operation
Torch in 1942; (2) A Mk.IIa from RAF Number 71 Eagle Squadron: I decided
upon building the latter.
The Build
 As
usual, I started with the cockpit. After gluing the various components
together, I added a few strips of painted decal paper for seatbelts. The
cockpit sidewalls are essentially bare so if you have designs on an open
canopy, you may want to consider aftermarket or scratch building some
interior components. I could not find an aftermarket product made especially
for a Mk.IIa but if you were to add pieces from a Mk.IIc or b set, I think
that would probably look fine. Reproducing a canopy might require squash
molding your own, using the kit's canopy as a master. Falcon produces
a vacuform canopy for the Airfix and Heller versions but that may not
fit this kit. None of this was any concern to me as I used the kit's canopy
as is.
 Once
I had completed the cockpit, I sprayed the interior with RAF Interior
Green and set about the fuselage with its slightly overdone ribs. The
main goal here should be to close the fuselage and fill the seam without
destroying too much of the rib detail. Carefully applying Pro weld with
the trusty Touch 'n' Flow, I glued the fuselage halves and pressed gently
so that a small amount of melted plastic oozed from the seam. I left that
to harden then sanded it down. Unfortunately, the cowl too came in left
and right halves although there is no problem with erasing rib detail
at this part of the fuselage. At this point, I lopped off the radio mast
saving it for later, and I removed the tail wheel attached to the fuselage
as per the instructions.
I attached the wing parts without any
difficulty, making sure to drill out the holes for the Mk.IIa's eight
wing guns. If you build the Sea Hurricane, you will need to drill out
a couple of extra holes. Everything fit well, and I added the various
pieces such as the oil cooler and horizontal tail parts, without difficulty.
Once this was dry, I primed the entire model with Mr. Surfacer 1000: this
allowed me to see any remaining flaws and seam, which I cleaned up and
then re-sprayed with primer.
 Now
it was time for painting. The underside of the RAF scheme has half the
wing surface painted black. First I sprayed the wheel wells using Alclad
II's Aluminum. This dries in a few minutes and I masked it off with Parafilm.
Next I sprayed the RAF "Sky" underside colour using Model Master's
product. I also sprayed the rear fuselage ready for the Sky-coloured fuselage
band. This paint takes somewhat longer to dry so I left it to cure for
a day then I masked off the underside and the fuselage band, and sprayed
the underside port wing black. Actually, I prefer not to use black so
I mixed a little white in to produce a "Scale Black." Again,
letting that dry for a day, I masked it off and sprayed the topside with
Model Master's Dark Earth. So far, all the paints had been enamel except
for the Alclad Aluminum, which was lacquer-based. For the Dark Green I
used Model Master's acrylic, which was also used on the cockpit canopy
frame. Speaking of the latter, masking the canopy was a little difficult:
there are some really tiny panes in the forward top section. Once this
had all dried and cured, I added the landing gear, painted it and prepared
the model for decaling by giving it a clear coat of Testors Gloss Acryl
followed by a brushed coat of Future.
 The
decals went on without difficulty. The large fuselage lettering comes
in a single decal. Rather than attempting to make the clear decal disappear,
I trimmed all around each letter carefully and added each one separately.
Using a combination of Microsol and patience, the decals settled down
nicely, even on the overdone fuselage ribbing. Following this, I glued
on the propeller, which had been somewhat tedious to assemble because
the blades are molded separately.
I re-attached the radio mast and added
the radio wires using 0.005-inch straight wire from Smallparts Inc., and
I painted them with diluted Testor's Clear Flat to dull them down a bit.
I added a little weathering for the exhaust material on either side of
the fuselage and some painted red decal paper to cover the gun ports on
the leading edge of the wing. I was extremely grateful when the clear
parts for the wing lights fit perfectly: these were glued with Elmer's
white glue as was the canopy.
Conclusion
 A
first rate kit. It has a scant cockpit interior and the ribs are slightly
overdone but the fit is outstanding and the AeroMaster decals are better
than the usual Hasegawa ones -
not that the Hasegawa decals are bad but they tend to be a little on the
thick side. This is the type of kit that can be built by a modeler of
any standard. It has a relatively small number of pieces and can be built
easily into a really nice model: highly recommended.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Dave Fleming for his
help and advice.
References
Mackay, Ron. "Walk Around
Hawker Hurricane." Walk Around Number 14, Squadron/Signal Publications.,
Inc., 1115 Crowley Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75011, USA.
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