CAC-14 Hurricane

Mossie · March 20, 2010, 08:06:10 PM

CAC-14 Hurricane 75 Sqn RAAF, Morotai 1945.

Although RAAF personnel flew many Hawker Hurricanes during WWII & some squadrons were supplied with RAF machines, only one Hurricane was officially on the books. It was enough for it to gain the designation A60. A few people have mentioned the potential for the Hurricane to equip the RAAF & Mav came up with a few profiles. In my world, the Aussies were impressed with it & it was liscence built by CAC starting with the Mk.II as an alternative to P-40's bought from the US. I've used the designation CAC-14 as this was used for a single Boomerang mark that never went into production & it fits the time frame.

I was going through a bit of a modelling slump, I've picked up several models since last July & not finished one. So I thought I'd blitz it with a 'quick' build & picked up a HobbyBoss Hurricane Mk.II from a War Gaming shop. First plans were dashed when I got it back home & found one of the tails missing, the shop was happy to replace it but I couldn't get there for several days. I was planning to take a week to build it, it took about a month!

I fancied a silver finish as there were only a handful of Hurri's in this scheme (a few Belgian post war Mk.II's & Persian trainers). I struggled to find some 1/72 decals, fancied a late war RAAF machine but didn't have them. The only ones I had were some Danish ones that would fit a post war Mk.II, but I couldn't quite build up enthusiasm for it. Then I looked over some old Airfix 1/48 decals for the Spit Mk.Vc & realised that they were quite small on that aircraft & that they'd work for the Hurri. I had to make the fin flashes from cutting up some other decals on the sheet & the codes & serials came from generic sheets.

As usual my quick build ended up being anything but. I knocked off one of the cannons & lost it, as well as the tip of the aerial mast. I kept having to re-touch the paint work as I was taking too long messing about & handling it. The canopy didn't want to fit & took much persuading, as did masking it which still isn't great. I robbed some tanks from the Revell kit, although these didn't want to fit & it took some effort to fettle them but I was bit bloody-minded in my conviction that cannon armed Hurri-birds look best with something hung under the wings! There are two shades to represent the difference between the metal & fabric areas, less subtle than it looks in the pics (which would have been better). I didn't realise till late either that the standard filter I glued on (in anticpation of the Danish decals) needed replacing with the trop filter. I've got some Quickboost replacements on order for the cannons which I'll fit later, but for intents & purposes it's finished.

Hot & cold, the Hurri with my recent refurbed winter P-48A Outlaw Mk.I

Hope you like!

Simon.

Maverick · March 20, 2010, 10:08:51 PM

G'day Simon,

Nice build indeed, altho it's worth nothing that "GA" squadron codes were allocated to No 21 Sqn during their time as a fighter Squadron operating in Malaya. I haven't found any references that note a 19 Squadron exisiting within the RAAF's orbat of WW2.

Regards,

Mav

thedarkmaster · March 21, 2010, 01:11:15 AM

Like it mate, top class work

NARSES2 · March 21, 2010, 02:58:56 AM

Really like that Mossie

kitbasher · March 21, 2010, 04:07:22 AM

Very nice Hurricane, Mossie. Fancy doing a Foliage Green one next, to keep in the Boomerang groove?
As proven with numerous other models made from them and shown on this forum, Hobbyboss kits shouldn't be dismissed as toys because some very good things can come out of them.
Is the 'P-48' Hobbyboss too?

Mossie · March 21, 2010, 06:56:03 AM

Thanks guys!

Mav, I'm not sure why I put 19 Sqn, I actually meant to put 79 Sqn. That was actually wrong as it's 75 Sqn (I've seen profiles showing them using the GA codes late war). It was late at night, I was knackered so that's my only excuse! I've changed it above.

Kitbasher, I might well do. I've got another Mk.II, the Revell kit, in the stash & might be good to show an earlier bird. I agree with HobbyBoss kits, I like them, this one has a few accuracy issues, but that doesn't bother me much as you can't tell without getting the micrometer out.

The Rat · March 21, 2010, 07:49:12 AM

Bonzer bit of work there cobber!

sotoolslinger · March 21, 2010, 01:20:15 PM

Absolutely beautiful

Never seen a NMF Hurrycane before

Mossie · March 21, 2010, 03:06:24 PM

Thanks again guys!

Ron, it's not strictly speaking NMF but silver dope. A handful of real Hurricanes got this finish, the only ones I know of are three Belgian Mk.II's & two Persian/Iranian trainers. The prototype had NMF on the metal portions & dope on the fabric. I've seen an RAF one, but I think this was immediately before receiving a camo coat. The dope took one a slightly different colour & reflectivity depending on wether it was on the fabric or metal portions. Even if there are more, there's only handfull of silver machines in the 14,000 or so Hurri's built.

You can probably make out the difference between the areas best in the Persian aircraft, although there are clearer pics in books I have.

Prototype (NMF plus dope)

Belgian Mk.II

Persian T.IIC

Maverick · March 21, 2010, 03:57:37 PM

Thanks for that info Simon. I found similar evidence about the RAAF recycling the codes too.

Regards,

Mav

Brian da Basher · March 21, 2010, 04:15:46 PM

Superbly well done, Mossie! Love the silver doped finish and the Aussie markings!

Brian da Basher

P.S. Any of the rest of you looked at those codes and thought of Bluto screaming "TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!"?

Mossie · March 21, 2010, 05:11:12 PM

Quote from: Maverick on March 21, 2010, 03:57:37 PM
Thanks for that info Simon. I found similar evidence about the RAAF recycling the codes too.

Regards,

Mav

I think it was common practice with the allies, especially the Commonwealth air forces. The RAF changed codes at the beginning of the war, some squadrons changing later as well if their identities were compromised & sometimes as a matter of course to confound & confuse. Pretty sure it was the same for the RAAF.

At least one code, QJ, was used by two RAF squadrons in the early war. 616 Sqn was supposed change to YQ, but for some reason this didn't happen until at least 1941. It causes confusion when trying to identify their aircraft over 92 Sqn (being the more famous) which legitimately carried the code, something I struggled to do for a real world build a few years ago.

Quote from: Brian da Basher on March 21, 2010, 04:15:46 PM
Superbly well done, Mossie! Love the silver doped finish and the Aussie markings!

Brian da Basher

P.S. Any of the rest of you looked at those codes and thought of Bluto screaming "TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!"?

Thanks Bri! It wasn't until I got the decals on that I realised I spelt something & it's nearly GOAT on the other side too!

With Revell about to release the old Matchbox Hawker Fury I'm very much thinking of mateing a Hurricane wing with it to produce the Fury Monoplane, with, wait for it, have a guess.....

Spats!