Hawker Hurricane Mk.I; 114th diwisjon, Polish AF, September 1939

[Dizzyfugu]

A simple one, just a color variant -  but another international co-production  .
With best regards to PantherG who inspired this build (see below). 






Some background:
The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft, designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Although largely overshadowed by the Supermarine Spitfire, the aircraft became renowned during the Battle of Britain, accounting for 60% of the RAF's air victories in the battle, and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War.
The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations, resulting in a series of aircraft which acted as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"), and ground support aircraft.






Due to its lightweight, yet robust, construction and ease of maintenance, the Hurricane had a long operational life in many theatres of war. It was also built by, or exported to, several other countries. The Hurricane was unusual in that it was flown operationally by both the Allies and the Axis during the war. In some cases (e.g. Portugal) the Hurricane was pressed into service after being forced to land in a neutral country.






One of its many foreign operators was Poland, even though only for a very short period from home ground bases. Initially, Poland received a single Hurricane Mk. I (L2048) for trials and was pleased with the performance, since the Polish Air Force had many obsolete fighter aircraft in service which were due to be replaced, e. g. the PZL P.7a, as well as the P.11a and c - especially with the threatening and highly modern German Luftwaffe lurking behind the western border.








Poland immediately ordered thirty Mk.I Hurricanes, but it was too late. The first batch of ten aircraft was delivered just in time to be operational when Germany invaded the country on 1st of September 1939. The rest of 20 more Hurricanes for Poland were still on order at this date, but never delivered - these were eventually sent to Turkey instead.








The few active Polish Hurricanes, all in service with 114th Air Division for the defence of Warsaw, were destroyed within two weeks. Anyway, Polish pilots would still fly Hurricanes in Polish squadrons formed in Great Britain in 1940, and No. 302 and No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadrons took part during Battle of Britain.



General characteristics
    Crew: 1
    Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.84 m)
    Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
    Height: 13 ft 1½ in (4.0 m)
    Wing area: 257.5 ft² (23.92 m²)
    Empty weight: 5,745 lb (2,605 kg)
    Loaded weight: 7,670 lb (3,480 kg)
    Max. take-off weight: 8,710 lb (3,950 kg)

Powerplant
    1× Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk II with 1.030 hp (768 kW), driving a De Havilland variable pitch metal propeller 

Performance
    Maximum speed: 340 mph (547 km/h) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m) [N 12]
    Range: 600 mi (965 km)
    Service ceiling: 36,000 ft (10,970 m)
    Rate of climb: 2,780 ft/min (14.1 m/s)
    Wing loading: 29.8 lb/ft² (121.9 kg/m²)
    Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

Armament
    8× 7.7 mm (.303 in) Browning machine guns



The kit and its assembly:
Well, a rather simple one, inspired by a profile from fellow user PantherG here at whatifmodelers.com who came up (among others) with a wonderful Polish Hurricane Mk.I in contemporary late 30ies splinter cammo:




Since I had been wanting to build 'something whiffy' from that country for some time, I used this inspiring occasion to got me a new fabric wing Hurricane from Airfix and build it accordingly.

Airfix' new early Mk.I is the perfect basis for this whif, and consequently this one was built almost OOB. The new Airfix Hurricane is beautifully sculpted, lots of delicate details, IMHO the best one you get for that price tag - which is not steep at all!
Only mods and additions are lowered flaps (easy to realize, even though I left the small ones under the fuselage in closed position) and a retractable ladder/step, made from thin wire. Another change is the replacement of the original

Fit is very good, actually I have rarely seen such a good wing/fuselage intersection. Putty use was marginal. The clear parts are thin and highly transparent - the original canopy can actually be put in the open position without looking odd. It's IMHO a VERY good kit!


Painting and markings
Even though it's a whif, the paint scheme is authentic for the Polish Air Force of 1939, and the markings are also 'authentic', just that the Hurricane never flew actively for the Polish Air Force, except for L2048 as a test aircraft.

The splinter scheme was painted with a brush free-handedly, and I used Humbrol 75, 31 and 94 as basic tones. These were guesstimates, and not perfect: 75 turned out to be a bit too dark for what I wanted to achieve, and the 94 too light... Anyway, I stuck with it, as the overall impression was fine for me.










The basic colors were later dry-brushed with lighter shades of the basic tones in order to emphasize the nice fabric wing surface structure. Several washes with thinned black ink were also added to enhance this effect, without having the aircraft look too worn - actually, the Polish Hurricanes would have been brand new when Germany started its attack in September 1939.




The lower sides were painted with FS 35414 from Modelmaster, a nice, bright blue that is similar to RLM 65 and offers a nice contrast to the murky upper surfaces.

Landing gear wells and struts were kept in Aluminum, the cockpit interior partly painted in Humbrol 78 (Cockpit Green).

Markings are based on PantherG's original profile and come from a Polish Techmod decal sheet for pre-WWII PZL P.11c fighters, most stencils come from the original Airfix sheet for the kit.

One very outstanding (and authentic) detail is the asymmetrical placement of the national markings on top of the wings – this was done on any Polish aircraft of the late 1930ies and intended to make aiming in air combat more difficult. Not certain if that worked, but it's unique and welcome on this model.








All in all, a simple project and one of those Whifs with a true background. I actually shifted history only by a few weeks – Poland actually had placed the order for brand new Hurricanes, and L2048 was actually tested, but no Hurricane ever fought for Polish forces from home turf.

[McColm]

Brilliant.

[NARSES2]

Fantastic 

The flying picture (2nd photo) looks so realistic that in 100 years or so people will think the Polish AF actually flew Hurricanes

[nighthunter]

Narses is right, I almost believed the photo to be real. With enough work, it could be made believable, and could fool any historian.  The model is fantastic!

[Hotte]

Super 


Hotte

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you very much, everyone! Concerning the pics, it's a bit of luck or gamble each time, how things eventually turn out. As always, this is no composing, just the shot "as it is" with some editing to get the holder away. Even the propeller truly spins this time, thanks to the metal axis implant. 

Glad you like it, and much credit goes to Wenzel/PantherG for his inspirational CG(s), too! 

This is just the hardware version of a great idea and interpretation.

[PR19_Kit]

That is SUPERB! 

That's both the model and PantherG's original idea. I love the asymmetric Polish Squares, it suits the Hurricane very well with that big wing.

I can't help but wonder quite how the course of WWII might have been changed had the Polish Air Force had susbtantial numbers of Hurricanes in their time of need.

[kitbasher]

Lovely.  Interesting to see how a new and well-received kit - that's at a sensible price - can quickly inspire great (yet simple) whifs. 

[dumaniac]

nice build - darned nice images

thanks

[TallEng]

Nice Hurricane
Although I must admit I would associate an early fabric winged
Hurricane with a two bladed prop. But that's just me.

Regards
Keith

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot. The Hurricane came OOB with a three-bladed propeller - and for the Polish one I had fitted one, anyway, because it perfectly fits into the model's time frame. But I expected the fabric wing version Mk. I to come with a fixed wooden prop, too! Maybe it comes with another Airfix kit?

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks a lot. The Hurricane came OOB with a three-bladed propeller - and for the Polish one I had fitted one, anyway, because it perfectly fits into the model's time frame. But I expected the fabric wing version Mk. I to come with a fixed wooden prop, too! Maybe it comes with another Airfix kit?

Eh? Mine came with both 2 and 3 bladed props. 

[Gondor]

Thanks a lot. The Hurricane came OOB with a three-bladed propeller - and for the Polish one I had fitted one, anyway, because it perfectly fits into the model's time frame. But I expected the fabric wing version Mk. I to come with a fixed wooden prop, too! Maybe it comes with another Airfix kit?

Eh? Mine came with both 2 and 3 bladed props. 

Mine does too, box number A02067 it is.

Gondor

[comrade harps]

Sometimes simple does it!

Congrats to you and PantherG on a superb collaboration. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot. The Hurricane came OOB with a three-bladed propeller - and for the Polish one I had fitted one, anyway, because it perfectly fits into the model's time frame. But I expected the fabric wing version Mk. I to come with a fixed wooden prop, too! Maybe it comes with another Airfix kit?

Eh? Mine came with both 2 and 3 bladed props. 

Gondor

Mine does too, box number A02067 it is.

That's funny. Mine only had a three-bladed prop, and no mention of options - I already got rid of the box, but the instructions have "A01010" as kit number? This box only allows two aircraft from the same squadron to be built (typical DG/DE/Wihte/Black), just with different individual codes ("C" and "G"). Maybe an export offering or special early edition?

As a side note - the paint scheme is not far from (potential) reality:

"Shortly before the beginning of WW2 was ordered new camouflage scheme in Poland instead of brown-green standard. It contained of dark green, light green and sandy yellow blurs. National insignia on the upper wings and fuselage unit emblems were also deleted. Right side view on P.11c number 7 shows not symmetrically placed oil cooler." Time frame was/is August-September 1939...