Hawker Hurricane Mk.I

The model depicts a Finnish Air Force Hurricane at the very beginning of the "Continuation War". The aircraft has the RAF "type B" color scheme with "skinny" Finnish swastikas on wings and "Eastern Front" markings (without the nose band, directive about that was issued later in the fall). Finnish Hurricanes typically received the standard oliver green and black camouflage only when they had their first full overhaul.

Construction Notes

I started two models at the same time; eventually they will represent Finnish Air Force aircraft HC452 (in RAF color scheme) and HC-452 (in standard Finnish color scheme, actually the same plane), both from the 1/72nd scale Hasegawa kit (as of December 2024 the other one is still unfinished).

Overall, the kit is accurate according to the many published plans of the Hurricane (see bibliography). Parts also fit very well, except for the wing fairings: To get a good fit between the (upper surface) wings and the fuselage, it is a good idea to push something inside the wing to make sure that the wing root cross section is thick enough. Also, the nose is a bit "over-engineered" to accommodate different versions, and requires some filling and sanding. Cockpit detailing is very sparse, but because of the small canopy the Hurricane has, there is hardly any need to add detail (with the exception of seatbelts, which I made from masking tape). The kit comes with choices for propeller and exhausts, with the Finnish variant covered.

Some changes are necessary to produce an accurate Finnish Air Force model: The kit's fuselage comes with a later-style tailwheel already attached; this must be cut off and replaced with the earlier-style variant (the part is provided). Also, the Finnish Hurricanes had the early variant of the antenna mast; one can be built from plastic rod, with a small hole drilled where the kit's antenna is cut off. Outer gun shell ejector holes must be filled. Finally, it should noted that while the kit's main wheels are 4-spoked, the Finnish Hurricanes had 5-spoked wheels; I used resin wheels from CMK that I ordered from Hannant’s.

Other corrections I made included filling in slight indentations in the wing leading edges just outside the lights; a problem with the mold, apparently, since both my kits seem to have the same problem. Also, the kit's smaller spinner has to be "sharpened" a bit to look right; I did this by mounting the spinner on my Dremel tool (with the tool mounted on a fixed vise) and then "turning" by using an X-Acto knife as the cutting tool.

Colors and Markings

Early on the Finnish Hurricanes had the RAF "type B" -color scheme and pattern: Dark Earth and Dark Green upper sides, with undersides black/white/aluminum (left wing black, right wing white). HC452, in July 1941, had the yellow Eastern Front markings sans the yellow nose (the directive for which was issued later in the Fall). I used Model Master acrylics and enamels, with Testors Dullcote lacquer for finish.

Note that the kit also comes with decals for another aircraft, "HC-451", but this plane had the older, fabric-covered wing while the kit only comes with the aluminum-skinned wing. I used kit decals for the tail numbers, InScale 72 decals (sheet AC018) for the "skinny" swastikas, the tactical tail number and stenciling, and GALDecal decals (sheet #3) for the fuselage swastikas. Some decals were tricky because of the surface texture of the airframe; particularly the InScale decals are very thick and resist setting solutions. Weathering (chipping, washes, etc.) was done with diluted acrylics and enamels, with exhaust stains applied using artists' charcoal on a Q-tip.

References Used

There is a lot of material available about the Hurricane in general. The references I like, and ones that can be used for building any Hurricane, not just Finnish Air Force aircraft, are [1-6]. To build a Finnish Air Force Hurricane, [7-11] are my favorites.

1. Hawker Hurricane (Juszczak & Karnas); Modelmania 4; AJ-Press 1999
2. Hawker Hurricane described (Mason); Kookaburra Technical Manual 1/1; Kookaburra Technical Publications 1970
3. Hawker Hurricane (Robertson & Scarborough); Classic Aircraft, Their history and how to model them 4; Patrick Stephens Limited 1974
4. Hurricane Aces 1939-40 (Holmes); Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 18; Osprey 1998
5. Hurricane in action (Scutts); Aircraft in Action 72; Squadron/Signal Publications 1986
6. Model Aircraft Monthly Volume 4 Issue 5
7. Hurricane & Gladiator (Keskinen & Stenman); Suomen Ilmavoimien historia 25; Kari Stenman 2005
8. IPMS-Mallari 6
9. IPMS-Mallari 7
10. Lentäjän näkökulma II (Raunio); 1993
11. Suomen Ilmavoimien maalaukset ja merkinnät (Keskinen et al); Apali 1996