Arma 1/48 Hurricane Mk.IIc
By Jacob Russell
The Hawker Hurricane is one of my favorite World Two planes and the various Hurricane Marks are well served in the major scales. Arma Hobby has just introduced a 1/48th scale Hurricane Mk.IIc kit, the subject of this review.
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The kit comes in a sturdy open ending box with a separate inner tray containing the parts, with an evocative painting of a Night Intruder Mk.IIc in battle on a moonless night. It consists of 130 injection molded parts molded in gray and clear on 4 sprues. The parts are free of flash and sprue attachment points are well located so it will be easy to remove the parts from the sprues without damage.
The kit also includes a set of rice paper masks for wheels, canopy and windscreen. The kit also includes a print of the box art suitable for framing, a nice and thoughtful touch.
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The surface detail is excellent and it consists of raised and recessed rivets on the wings and Dzus fasteners and recessed panel lines on the fuselage where appropriate. The upper and lower wings in particular come in for high praise: they look superb. The fabric rear and lower fuselage is subtly different from the metal areas which is as it should be. The wheel wells are convincingly busy and faithfully depicted.
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The cockpit is a multi piece assembly and it will look great with an oil wash and dry brushing of the raised detail. I'm especially impressed that you assemble the cockpit parts on the upper wing, much like the real plane. The radiator is equally well detailed. You also get 2 different tail wheels and spinners to choose from. The control surfaces are separately molded and the fabric rudder looks great.. Underwing stores include drop tanks, bombs and racks.
The kit includes 3 different decal options:
"JX*E", BE581, F/L Karel Kuttelwascher, No. 1 Squadron RAF, Tangmere, May 1942. This "Night Intruder" Mk.IIc was painted overall Night (Black) with a red tipped Night spinner, and was equipped with drop tanks.
"FM*A", Z3152, S/Ldr Robert Stanford Tuck, No. 257 Squadron RAF, Coltishall, April 1942. This plane was painted in early War colors of Dark Green and Dark Earth over Sky with a Sky Blue spinner and fuselage band.
"WC*D", LF644, No. 304 Squadron PAF, Drem, May-July 1944. This plane was painted in the classic mid War Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey camouflage with a Sky spinner and fuselage band. The fuselage spine and an area of the forward fuselage, both on the starboard side, had large areas over painted with light grey paint.
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The decals (printed by Techmod) are very well printed, in register, and have accurate colors. They are crisp and bright with minimal carrier film. The instrument panel, seat belts and stencils come on the same sheet. The instructions are well illustrated with a logical, clear build sequence and include a parts map. There are also color callouts for Hataka, AK Interactive Real Colors, AMMO (MIG), Hataka, Humbrol, Lifecolor, Tamiya and Vallejo paints. There's a small "Errata" sheet bringing to the modeler's attention the need to undertake 3 minor revisions to the inner wings and upper fuselage beneath the canopy rails.
Conclusions
This is a superb Hurricane Mk.IIc kit. It's accurate, well detailed and the 3 marking options are interesting. You can build a contest winner right out of the box or add aftermarket wheels, exhausts and seat harness for best results. I recommend Arma Hobby's kit and I would like to thank them for the review sample.
References
Hawker Hurricane, by Marek Rys, MMP Books (Stratus), 2015
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