Arma Hobby 1/48 Hurricane Mk IIC Trop
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 Trop 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 Mk.IIc Trop in battle, cannons blazing and dropping bombs. 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. This kit is identical to the previous one and differs only in the use of the Tropical filter included in both boxings.
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It 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.
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.
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:
"C", LB792, Pilot S/Ldr C.P.N. Newman, 34 Squadron RAF/SEAC, Dergaon (Assam) i Imphal, Spring 1944. This Mk.IIc Trop was painted in the South East Asia Command (SEAC) Theatre colors of Dark Earth and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey.
"AX*Z", HL885, Lt. Stewart "Bomb" Phinney, 1 Squadron RAF, Egypt, September 1942. This plane was painted in the Tropical Theatre colors Dark Earth and Middlestone over Azure Blue with a Red spinner.
"O*P", HL851, "The MacRobert Fighter Sir Iain", 94 Squadron RAF, El Gamil Airfield, Egypt, 1942-43. This Hurricane was also painted Dark Earth and Middlestone over Azure Blue with a Red spinner.
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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 are revisions to the instructions which brings to the modeler's attention the need to undertake 3 minor revisions to the upper and 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
The Hawker Hurricane, A Comprehensive Guide for The Modeller, Modeleller's Datafiile 2, Richard A. Franks, SAM Publications, 1999