The Hawker P.V.5 Cyclone, the model.

[PR19_Kit]

 While I'm a hard-over Spitfire fan, the Hurricane has always been a favourite of mine, perhaps because one of them was the first aircraft I ever sat in, at age 4 (!) at RAF Heliopolis in Egypt. Over time I've built quite a few Hurricane kits, all of them RW models, and quite a number of them significant WWII aircraft, including Bob Stanford-Tuck's DT-A and Widge Gleed's LK-A. But I've never Whiffed one yet and the recent release of Airfix's superlative fabric winged Mk I goaded me into action.

I was also helped along  by the purchase of Leo McKinstrey's 'Hurricane' book (for the princely sum of 50p from a local charity shop  ) which goes into some detail about Sydney Camm's proposals preceding the Hurricane itself. After reading that bit a few times I figured there was a gap in the process that I could well fill.....

Accordingly I took a look at my Mk I kit and  thought about backdating it a tad, rather on the lines of the Supermarine Type 224 but not quite as ancient looking. While working on another Whiff project that was using a Matchbox Heyford as its source, of which more later, I figured I could swap the engines over. So my early Hurricane uses a Kestrel and the Heyford inherited two Merlins, for which I had to buy another Hurricane of course. The Heyford's Kestrel cowling looked far too short when I first glued it in position so I added a couple of 20 thou spacers on the firewall and then added some cheek pieces and LOTS of PSR to fair it into the fuselage. Needless to say I had to do the opposite with the Heyford!

I rather liked the 224's trousered undercarriage legs but didn't like the way they went all the way back to the trailing edge so designed some of my own with a more parallel outline. I made the 'trousers' from three layers of orange 30 thou which I then Dremel'd to produce the hefty hole needed to take the Hurricane's wheels. They themselves need thinning over their top halves to fit in the hole after I'd added the two 10 thou cheek pieces, and the whole shebang needed to be filed and sanded front and rear to produce some sort of a streamlined shape. The wing attachment doubler strips needed to be sanded off just outboard of the normal undercarriage kegs to make a smooth platform for the trousers and then they were just butt jointed to the wing.

The upper wings I left pretty much alone apart from puttying over the landing lights and filling in the side extensions of the gun bays, thus halving the number of Brownings carried by the aircraft. On the other hand the lower wings needed lots of work as I had to fill in the undercarriage bays, which I did using the supplied blanks for a wheels-up model, and then LOTS of PSR work filling in the rest. I think it took seven runs to get them smooth enough to satisfy me!

At this point I must have lost the balance of my mind (what else is new....?) as I decided the Cyclone would have an open cockpit but using the standard non-armoured Hurricane windscreen. Leaving the fuselage as it was meant it looked just like a Hurricane but with the canopy missing so I decided to saw down the rear of the fuselage. This was AFTER I'd already glued the cockpit interior and seat into the port half of course, which limited just how much I could cut off. In fact it was a blessing in disguise as I suspect a very low back wouldn't have looked balanced enough. As it was I managed to saw off two similar halves and then filled in the gap with three or four layers of 20 thou plus the inevitable round of PSR work.

The 2 bladed prop's spinner  was just too large in diameter for the Kestrel cowling so I sanded the front face of the cowling back until it matched properly and that's about as far as I've got now. The model's ready for the first primer coat later today and then I'll have to do the inevitable remedial PSR work before adding the tailplane struts, aerial mast and the prop. It's going to be silver overall with some differently shaded metal panels on the cowling and gun bays, and it''ll have 1930's style RAF roundels and a big '5' on the side, as well as the usual large under-wing serials of the time.

I'll post more progress reports as I get on with it, and the back story is here :-
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,38943.new.html#new




Original port fuselage half and lower wing after filling gun ports and undercarriage bays.




Upper wing view showing the blanked off gun bays, and one fuselage half cut down and the other as built.



Top view showing the wings attached and the Kestrel engine mounted.




Underside view showing radiator, carb intake and the blanked off wheel bays.




Side view of the assembled bits showing the cut down rear fuselage.




One undercarriage 'trouser' finished and one in build.




The assembly so far, ready for primer. It looks a bit like a larger Chilton Monoplane somehow. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet. I like the spats a lot - seldom seen on (whiffed) aircraft.  

And I see deliberate (and good) use of Presto putty! 

[zenrat]

Tres bon.

Unlike with humans, spats add a certain je ne sais quois to aircraft.

Hmmmm, spatted Yak 15...

[NARSES2]

Looking good Kit

[Old Wombat]

Definitely looks like Hawker's missing link!

[The Rat]

Not yet finished, and already a winner! 

[McColm]

Great work Kit.
Just a quick question was there ever a two seaterconversion kit, (as flown by the Russians))?

[PR19_Kit]

Great work Kit.
Just a quick question was there ever a two seaterconversion kit, (as flown by the Russians))?

Thanks, glad it meets with everyones approval so far. 

I have actually seen a resin 2 seater conversion fuselage maybe 4-5 years ago, but it was pretty rough, and possibly nowhere near as good as an accomplished Whiffer could do off our own bats.

[McColm]

Thanks Kit.

[nighthunter]

Can't wait to see what she looks like when you're done, Kit.

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! Does look good so far.

[king of men]

Great work Kit.
Just a quick question was there ever a two seaterconversion kit, (as flown by the Russians))?

Thanks, glad it meets with everyones approval so far. 

I have actually seen a resin 2 seater conversion fuselage maybe 4-5 years ago, but it was pretty rough, and possibly nowhere near as good as an accomplished Whiffer could do off our own bats.

Czech Omega did a whole series of Hurricane two-seaters and alternate engine whifs. They were kind of expensive but the molding was pretty decent, at least on the ones I had. I think Hannants still lists some of them at least.

[kitbasher]

Nice build Kit, looking forward to see it develop.

You're well ahead of my build we swapped PMs about, but at least I have a name and the beginnings of a back story!

[PR19_Kit]

And I see deliberate (and good) use of Presto putty! 

I'd have been lost without it Thomas. Thanks to you I have a lifetime's supply of the amazing stuff. 

I'm still only 1/3 of the way down the first tube too!

[PR19_Kit]

I got the landing gear installed and put on a first primer coat, followed by the inevitable PSR session and another primer coat. Then I needed just a small PSR session and laid on the third primer coat last night.

This morning it's a DISASTER! 

The primer, my usual Halford's Grey, had gone on like pebble dash, the whole model is very rough to the touch, it's a lot darker than it was before and looks terrible. I have no idea what happened but I've had to sand the entire model with 800 grit wet and dry, which was a real pain, but worse, it's tended to fill in some of the lovely fabric 'sagging' that the kit exhibits so well.

Ho Hum, if it was easy everyone would do it I guess......