I finally decided that for my first kit I’d like to do a 1/48 Hurricane, and being a traditionalist, I prefer the Mk.I. I wouldn’t mind doing a 1/32, but display space is hard to come by in my house. (The upcoming Trumpeter 1/24 is definitely out of the question!)
I’ve been checking out the various review sites listed in some recent posts here, and I’m not sure if there are currently any actual Battle of Britain-vintage Hurricane kits available in 1/48 scale. I haven’t seen that many, (but if I wanted to build a Mk.II I’d be in luck, I guess):
Classic Airframes made two nice ones, but they were both limited editions and don’t seem to be available anywhere.
Hasegawa offers 3 different ones, but two of them have the tropical air filter under the nose, and I don’t want that.
Airfix has one, but I don’t see it offered at any retail sites.
This leaves me with the Hasegawa kit #9065 - I checked out the review at Modeling Madness, and from the pics the decals look to be way too big for the kit. That might not be a problem, though, since there are presumably a few decal sets available for the Mk.I.
I do see one or two Airfix kits on eBay right now, but I’m not sure if I would be better off spending more for the Hasegawa kit. Does anyone have any experience with either (better yet, with both) the Hasegawa or Airfix kit? If the Airfix quality is good enough I’ll go for that one, since this will be my first build in over a decade. I don’t want to waste more money than necessary on a kit I could quite possibly botch, but I would like to see what I can do with a decent kit without the chance that the kit’s quality is what made the finished product look bad. So if the Airfix kit is a decent one, I’ll go with that. If it is poor quality I’ll opt for the Hasegawa.
The Airfix kit is very old tooling. Good for it’s day, but very lacking in detail & features raised panel lines. The Hasegawa kit is much newer, modern tooling & has great detail OOTB. If you just want a practice build, the Airfix will look like a Hurricane when built & is a lot less expensive. If you want to experience the joy of building a modern, detailed kit, go with the Hasegawa. The Classic Airframes kit is OOP, but it’s intended for the more experienced/advanced modeler in any case & is a much more demanding build than either the Airfix or Hasegawa.
Don I agree with Rick, if you are looking for a best mass market 1/48 Hurricane Mk.I then the Hasegawa kit is the one to go for. The two currently available boxings that I know off from Hasegawa are 9470 & 9065. These are essentially the same kit just with different decals which is a favourite marketing trick from Hasegawa.
However given that this is a first build the Airfix kit goes together with a lot less effort than the Hasegawa and of course is cheaper as well, the choice is yours.
Thanks, guys - the Airfix kit sounds like it will give me a decent build without too much sidetracking, and that’s what I need - some work with filling and so on, but not too much for a first build.
I had been contemplating the Monogram 1/48 Hurricane, but couldn’t find any listed on eBay that were listed as sealed or where the seller was sure that all the parts were there. Who needs to buy a kit with missing parts?
I targeted the Hurricane because I’ve always liked it (I always felt the Spitfire stole its thunder in the Battle of Britain), it has nice basic lines without a lot of surface detail to make more work such as masking, and I have fond memories of building the Revell 1/32 Hurricane as a teenager. I had my eye out for that kit early on, but opted for the 1/48 to conserve display space (provided the end result is worth displaying) - and the fact that the original (the one without extra parts for the Mk.II) is so hard to find.
Yes, the Hasegawa kit is a nice kit as previously mentioned. If you are looking for aftermarket BOB Hurricane mkgs, Aeromaster makes a set. Not sure if it is still available, but the number is 48-079 “Battle of Britain Hurricanes”. It contains mkgs for 229, 504, 605, 56, 303, and 306 sqdns.