Hawker Hurricane Mk.I

Eduard, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The Hawker Hurricane needs no introduction and just about every kit company on the planet has one on their lists, whatever the scale from tiddly 1/144 through to giant 1/24. Arguably the best rendition in the ‘one true scale’ is the recent Arma series and Eduard has joined up with them to issue their plastic parts with all of the embellishments we have come to expect from the Profipack releases.

Arriving in a sturdy top-opening box and with a delightful illustration of V7419/NW downing an Italian SM79, the contents are made up of  a clear sleeve containing the Arma parts, two photo-etched frets, one of them pre-painted for the interior, a substantial instruction sheet, a smaller sleeve for the transparencies, mask set, clear instrument film and a large decal sheet for six separate aircraft along with a small sheet of stencils. There is more than enough here to produce a cracker of a model.

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The kit parts are beautifully moulded as we have come to expect from Arma, with subtle surface detail, nice surface finish, and well-defined interior parts. Some of the moulding gates do impinge onto the outside edges of parts so be careful removing the wings and fuselage parts from the sprues, especially those on the leading edges of the wings. Comparing this kit with the Mark II version in my stash, I noted the correct slightly shorter fuselage of the this mark (about 1.2mm in this scale) and the different wings to accommodate the eight-gun weapons, mounted slightly above the leading edge.

Wheel wells are nicely done and the interior is made up of both relief moulding inside the fuselage and a separate framework. Two different propellors as well as three spinners are provided, along with a tropical intake for a couple of the decal choices. There are two rear canopy transparencies, one slightly wider to fit over the fuselage if you wish to display the cockpit open - a great idea I reckon.

The instructions are in a stapled sixteen-page A4 booklet in colour starting with a lengthy description of the history and usage of the early Hurricane, followed by a parts map then twelve construction stage illustrated with clear drawings and colour call outs throughout. Paints are given in Gunze, Mr Color and Mission Models by number and name. 

A number of items in PE can be used to replace some of the plastic parts. One of the frets is in pre-painted.

The second fret is brass photo-etch.

A drawing then shows the placement of the masks. There then follows seven pages of four-view colour drawings of each decal scheme, ending wth a stencil placement diagram. Finally there is a page of further accessories available from Eduard and an advert for the Wildcat kit.

The decal choices are:

• P3878, YB-W, of F/O Harold Bird , 17Sqn RAF Debden, July 1940 in standard Dark Earth/Dark Green over sky with a wavy  leading edge demarcation, 

• P3143 , NN-D of 310 (Czechoslovakia) Sqn , RAF Duxford, September 1940 in the same scheme but straight leading edges,

• P3675 , UF-S, of F/L Michael Robinson, 601Sqn, RAF Tangmere, September 1940, in same scheme but with a red and white lightening flash along the fuselage and a red, white and blue spinner,

• V7419, NW as shown on the box lid, of S/Ldr Marmaduke Thomas St,John Pattle of 33Sqn, in Greece , March 1941 in the same scheme and tropical filter,

• V7743, UZ-D of 306Sqn RAF Ternhill, March 1941 in the same scheme, and

• V7101, no codes, of F/Lt George Burges, 69Sqn , Luqa , Malta, mid 1941 in overall deep Mediterranean blue with desert colours on the fin and rudder, and a tropical filter.

An interesting array and the decals themselves are beautifully printed in-house, in high gloss colours with great density and minimal carrier film.

I might be inclined to trim the film around the lightning flash of the third example should I decide to do that one.

All-in-all this really is the complete package for the modeller of the early mark of the Hurricane and I heartily recommend it if this is your area of interest.

Thanks to Eduard for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2022 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2022 by Brett Green
Page Created 24 March, 2022
Last updated 24 March, 2022

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