WWII restoration

[Cybergrinder]

So after a visit with my parents and discovered my old Airfix 1:48 Hawker Hurricane Mk1. I genuinley can't recall when I built it, but a safe guess is at least 20 to 25 years ago. Here she is in her current state.

When you consider it she hasn't aged too badly...

 

[ennder]

I love models with lots of detail.

 

[mijob]

I hope you can fix it.

 

[Cybergrinder]

So, after a wash, with a wet paint brush (the amount of dust was scary) here's the hurri






Damage report: Starboard elevator detached. Tail wheel broken off. Both main landing gear broken. Port gun mounts loose. Glue runs where my Dad tried to fix it

Luckily I have all the pieces!

 

[mijob]

Looks like the plane was in a heavy dog fight.

 

[OldMiner]

She looks better after her bath!

 

[Revell-Fan]

Enemy fire, water landing, and yet no scratches in the paint. She's a tough one!

 

[zathros]

Looks like a "Barn Find".

 

[Cybergrinder]

Enemy fire, water landing, and yet no scratches in the paint. She's a tough one!

Of course! It's a Hurricane! Workhorse of the RAF!

 

[Cybergrinder]

And she's getting there...


I had to gently remove (read break off) the tailplane to re-attach the elevator, since there's a pin that sits is held by the tailplane to facilitate movement.

Moving onto the port gun bay

 

[zathros]

That's a really well made, and designed model. Certainly worth reconditioning back to it's prior state.

 

[Cybergrinder]

THanks Zathros, one of the last planes I built (if memory serves) and always loved the Hurricane, it "got stuck in and got the job done", none of the "glory hunting" spitfire nonsense

Some I may not be able to fix, the glue runs from my dad would need painting over, but I think that would ruin the paint job., two different shades of the same coloour never looks good. That said, I'm going to do my utmost to restore her to her former glory!

 

[Cybergrinder]

So the front "wall" of the gun emplacement was breaking off, so rather than breaking the wing open it was fixed with the "wedge principle" I ran a bit of glue down the joints and did this



Screwdriver worked quite well I then employed the same tactic to re-attach the gun housing to the underside of the wing, using the guns as an anchor point with the screwdriver lifting the whole structure against the inner edge of the wing (I forgot to photo that part...)

 

[Cybergrinder]

Next up, under carriage

Re-attaching the strut and cover for the main gear was pretty straight forward;



the ail wheel was a different story, the bracket that holds the wheel had been broken into two parts (not counting the wheel) But after employing a similar technique I was able to get one half in place. Then standing, holding the second half with the wheel in place took a bit of patience... but here we go!

 

[zathros]

I always liked the "Hurricane" sldo. That was not a plane you wanted on your 6. It actually shot down far more aircraft than the Spitfire.

 

[Cybergrinder]

True, and a fair number of fighters as well. The old pre-conception was the Spit engaged the fighter escort and the hurri took on the bombers has since been disproved

 

[Cybergrinder]

So I had to revisit the tail wheel, between being broken a few times and the conventional cement was just not strong enough I took a suggestion from my dad, of using an epoxy glue designed for steel. And it worked! No painting required as well! I then used this to repair the main gear.



And standing on it's own 3 wheels!

 

[Strick67]

Lovely old model, nice to see it getting some TLC
Always preferred Hurricanes slightly over spitfires, not sure why

 

[Cybergrinder]

I'd like to get everyone's thought on this; I'm going to glue one of the engine side panels in place, leaving the other and the top loose. Should I close up one of the wing gun bay openings? (leaving the other open, of course)

 

[micahrogers]

Doing as you describe is a good display option but was almost never done in real life (IRL) when the engine was being serviced, both panels were open. same with the gun ports. I would have one side open, and the other closed, so you could see both options. If I were building a diorama depicting the aircraft being serviced, then all panels would be open.

One side closed up, ie, engine and guns on right, open, and left closed, or vice versa, looks good from both sides. like the submarine kits open on one side to show the interior, and hulled on the other side.