Arma Hobby 1/48 Hurricane Mk. IIB
By Jacob Russell
The Hawker Hurricane is one of my favorite World Two planes and Arma Hobby has just introduced a 1/48th scale Hurricane Mk.IIb 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, and an evocative painting of a Mk.IIb flying through a cloudy sky. It consists of 133 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.
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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.
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The wheel wells are busy and faithfully depicted. 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.
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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 also includes a set of rice paper masks for wheels, canopy and windscreen.
The kit includes 3 different decal options:
"AE*Q", BE489, "Butch the Falcon", 402 Squadron RCAF, Warmwell, February 1942. This Mk.IIb was painted 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.
"SW*P", Z3171, "Hyderabad City", F/SGT. J.C. Tate, No. 253 Squadron RAF, Hibaldstow, Winter 1941/1942. This plane was painted overall Night (Black) with a Night spinner.
"WX*B", Z3675, No. 302 Squadron PAF, Church Stanton, August 1941. This plane was painted in Dark Green and Dark Earth over Sky with a Sky spinner and fuselage band.
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 color callouts for Hataka, AK Interactive Real Colors, AMMO (MIG), Mission Models, Humbrol, Vallejo and Tamiya paints.
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Conclusions
This is a superb Hurricane Mk.IIb 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 if so inclined 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