Here’s another arcane question that I’ll bet one of you knows the answer to. Those who follow the site know how I tend to blither on and on about Wadren products, and how I have a 1/48 and 1/32 version of their cockpit placard set (that’s what they cal it). But the centerpice is that incredibly tiny, unbelievably intricate throttle/mixture/flap lever quadrant. What I was wondering is, will the qaudrant from an early Spitfire be similar enough to the one in a Hurricane to mount it in said Hurricane IIC. Because, you see, the perennially improverished Shark has a Hasegawa Hurricane, that i’ve been sitting on til I could afford a new cockpit for it. But if I can use some of this Waldren stuff in it, and scratchbuild the framing (which I’d planned to do all along with some Evergreen round stock). On that subject, I can’t for the life of me figure out why Hasegawa does not give anything but a one-piece canopy, when the tubular structure int he cockpit, along with the floorless cockpit and foot slides, made the interior the most interesting part of the a/c. So I bought, in additoin to True Details wheels and masks, a pair of Squadron canopies so I can show it opened. That Hasegawa canopy, even if you used it, is so small, and so thick, you can’t see a single thing through it. So, for those about to build this model, beware. Otherwise, it’s ot a bad ilttle kit, though it is beginning to show its age and I wish AcMin would take on the Hurricanes.
Anywho, if someone has photos to compare Spitfire and Hurricane throttles, loet me know how they match up. Or don’t match, This is, after all, a long shot.
Thanks again,
Tom
The Hasegawa 1/48 Hurricane was released in 1998 if my memory is correct, no earlier than 1997. When you say the kit is showing it’s age, what are you refering too? It’s right up there with most recent releases far as I can tell. Squadron makes a Vac Form replacement canopy if you want to display the canopy open. You still can’t see much of the very nice interior, but that’s the nature of the bird, not a fault of the kit. In any case, Hell will likely be solid ice before AM does a Hurricane. I’ve been waiting 2 years now for the Vindicator AM announced & will probably wait a lot longer. Oh Well.
Regards, Rick
Rick:
No, I’m sorry if I sounded like I was griping about the kit. I really didn’t know, however, that it was so new. I was basing my inaccurate statement on very little evidence: the fact that the canopy was in one piece and is quite thick. The kit, as far as outline, general molding, and the engraved detail, is a beauty. And it was not expensive. It is simple, with few parts, but it just begs to be dressed up, and is a perfect starting point for doing just that. It’s nice to really put the detail to a kit when you don’t have to spend all your time sanding and filling poorly fitting joints, and filling and scribing inaccurate details, etc. You can just build the kit and start adding the AM. As I said in my earlier post, I got the two canopies from Squadron, wheels and their masks from True Details, and I’m going to cut the canopies (I’ve not doubt I’ll screw the pooch on the first one) so I can show off whatever I do inside. I have some really good Hurricane factory-type drawings in both 1/48 and 1/32 to help me rebuild the framework inside, and I really wish I knew how to solder, because then I could do that cockpit framework with brass tubing or some other metal instead of plastic rod. I wish I knew what diameter rod to use, because I suspect that in the kit is a little bit thick. But the main reason for making a new framwork is a) to take away all that seam on both sides of every piece of tube and b) to have perfectly round tubular structural members. Thanks for the heads up, Rick. BTW, I’m using the kit decals. They are perfect because they go with the subject I want to do: a plane based on Malta early in the war with that nice azure color on the belly, with middlestone and brown camo. I have a nice, big color photo of it to work from, along with a really good cockpit shot from the book “Cockpits” I’m always referring to on this site.
Tom
P.S. If anyone has access to issues form the first two or three years of FSM, they ran a build article that started with the old Monogram T-6, to this day a kit that has nothing to apologize for. Anyway, the guy who built it, made jigs and soldered an entirely new interior with metal tubing, then proceeded to scratchbuild the devil out of virtually every assembly on the model. It remains today one of THE finest models I have ever seen in my life anywhere, and I’d give anything for a copy of that article, because it was a lesson in how to be the best modeler in the world. I can still remember looking at the absolutely, unequivacably perfect canopy framing and thinking: “If I live to be 100, I will never approach this level of skill. Modelers like that are born, not made.”