British Fighter Plane

Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIB

 

Hawker Hurricane was constructed by Sidney Cramm at the beginning of 1935. At that time there existed no fighter plane capable of exceeding the flight speed of 500 km/h. Soon the British Air Ministry recognized the machine of the Hawker company as the main fighter plane for RAF (i.e. Royal Air Force). The first production Hawker Hurricane aircraft was test-flown in the middle of 1937. The plane was employed in numerous fighter squadrons and soon gained the title of a fine fighter plane. Together with Spitfire, Hawker Hurricine fought in the English air defying German Luftwaffe. Several different variants of Hurricane, differing in more and more powerful engines, armament and enlarged fuel tanks, were introduced.

            Under the terms of the Lend Lease agreement about 3000 Hawker Hurricane machines were handed over to the Soviet Union. First aircrafts had been delivered in the middle of 1941. These were mainly the Mk.IIB versions. It was not a rare occurance for the Russians to install their own armament (a.12,7mm calibre machine gun and 20mm calibre SzWAK cannons).

             The model featured in this issue presents Hurricane Mk.IIB flown by pilot officer Ivan Babanin from 609 IAP (Fighter Squadron), shot down on 6th April 1942 by the Finnish anti-aircraft defence in the area of the Tiiksjarvi airport.

             The model is drew up on a scale of 1:33.

 

Technical Data:

·          Wingspan ...........................................................12,19m;

·          Lenght...................................................................9,80m;

·          Height.........................................................................4m;

·          Carrying Surface Area........................................23,92m;

·          Weigh ..................: Empty 2495kg, Max Takeoff 3320kg;

·          Maximum Speed at an altitude of 6700km........ 545 km/h;

·          Ceiling .............................................................. 12 200m;

·          Standard Range ...................................................770km;

·          Maximum Range ................................................1580 km:

·          Armament.................two 20mm calibre SWAK cannons;

                                   two 12,7mm calibre UBS machine guns.

 

General Remarks:

            Before commencing the model assebly process, you ought to familiarize yourself carefully with the general plan of the model and assembly diagrams. Each of the assembly diagrams corresponds with the complete numbering of the parts needed for building it. Back the parts marked with an asterisk with 0,5mm cardboard. Treat the parts marked with P as the ones marked with L. “pt.”is used for “part(s)” and “el.” for “element(s)” in short.

           Having “a dry run” of the parts in preparation for the actual glueing is recommended. When building the fuselage, pay great attention to its symmetry. Refer to the enclosed templates when choosing the thickness and the lenght of the wires, as well as when shaping them. Paint the unprinted spots, the cutting edges, scratches etc. with water – soluble paints (watercolours or poster colours in the matching colour).

 

 

 

 

Assembly Instructions:

 

Assembly Diagram 1:

Construct the internal carcass structure of the fuselage out of the pt. 1 –10 backed with cardboard. Next, sand the carcass down with a sandpaper fixed onto a small board. Build  two trasses from pt.2 – 2c winded tightly round the wires I – IV and the middle trass of the pt.3 – 3b and the wires III, V, VI, according to the assembly diagram 1a. In the course of putting the prepared elements into a whole, trim their edges off according to the templates. According to the assembly diagram 1b, mount and glue the side trasses into the holes of the formers of the construction. Stick the middle trass to the side trasses fixed before, according to the assembly diagram 2. According to the assembly diagram 1c, fix the connecting strips 4 – 4d around the formers of the construction. Stick the pt. 5 and 5a to the connecting strips 4a, 4b and 4c from the inside. Fix the plating 6 and 7 round the construction. Afterwards, cut away the fragment of the pt.1 protruding at the bottom. Make two vertical slits and one horizontal cut in the plating 7 in order to form the door of the pilot’s cabin.

 

Assembly Diagram 2:

Mount and glue in the cockpit equipment constructed of the details and elements build of pt. A1 – A28 and wires IX and pt. B1 – B8, C1 – C12 and D1 – D13.

 

Assembly Diagram 3:

Build the carcass construction from the parts 8 – 8e backed with cardboard. Glue the segments made of pt. 9, 10 and 11 together using the connecting strips 10a and 11a. Glue the carcass construction into the prepared segment. Glue the exhaust pipes 12a, 12b and 12c into the formed concavenesses. Stick pt. 12d onto the plating.

 

Assembly Diagram 4:

Build a segment of pt.13, fix the connecting strip 13a and next glue the former 13b in.

 

Assembly Diagram 5:

Glue the carcass construction build out of pt.14 – 14c into the afore-prepared segments 15 and 16 joined with the connecting strip 15a. Join the prepared segments with connecting strips 4, 4d and 13a, thus forming the fuselage of the model. Stick the tail fin constructed out of pt.17 – 17e to the fuselage.

 

Assembly Diagram 6:

Build the frame construction of the vertical stabilizer from pt.17 – 17d and of the horizontal rudder from the pt.18 – 18d and the wire X. When the glue is dry, trim the superfluous fragments of the material of the pt.18d away. Stick plating 19 onto the frame construction of the vertical stabilizer, and plating 20 onto the frame construction of the horizontal rudder, using connecting strip 20a and pt.20b.

 

Assembly Diagram 7:

Build the frame construction of the horizontal stabilizer from pt. 21 – 21e, and of the vertical rudder from pt.22 – 22c and the wires XI and XII. Cover the horizontal stabilizer with plating 23 (using connecting strip 23a) and the vertical rudder with plating 24 (employing connecting strip 24a). When finished the horizontal stabilizer, fix it to the tail part of the fuselage. Afterwards, fix the vertical stabilizer. Join the vertical rudder with the stabilizer placing the wires XI into the openings of the horizontal stabilizer, and the horizontal rudder, placing the wires X into the openings of the vertical stabilizer.

 

Assembly Diagram 8:

Build the load-bearing construction of the middle part of the wing from pt.25 – 25j, backing them with cardboard first. Next, stick the cylindrical container formed from pt.33 – 33d and the cable from pt.33e and wire XIV. Taking the difficulty of making it into consideration, the cable 33a may be build from soft wire or some other material of carefully selected thickness of about 2,5 – 3mm. Build the construction of both (left and right) parts of the wing from pt.27 – 27s and the ailerons from pt.28 – 28d. After the glue has dried, trim the superfluous fragments of the material of the frame ribs 25a, the middle part of the wing and pt.28d off. Join and glue the constructions of the middle part of the wing with the left and the right parts of it together, thus forming one whole. In order to obtain uniform surfaces, sand the build constructions down with a piece of sandpaper fixed onto a small board. Stick connecting strips 26f around the build frame ribs 25f and 27g – the point of joining the middle part of the wing with side parts of it; stick connecting strips 29c around form ribs 27h – the form ribs of the side part of the wing.

 

Assembly Diagram 9:

Cover the construction of the middle part of the wing with plating made from pt. 26 – 26e. Afterwards, carefully cut out the fragments of the plating, which together with pt.26c form the external side of the under-wing lids. Stick the prepared lids to the girder 25d of the construction of the middle part of the wing using the connecting strip of the pt.26e. Before covering the side parts of the wings, stick the armament unit build from pt.34 – 34h, according to the assembly diagram 9a, to pt. 27d of the construction. Cover the construction of the side parts of the wings with plating 29 finished up with glazing S2 glued to it, and the ends of the side parts of the wings with plating 29a and 29b. Stick the covers complemented with pt. 29d, 29e, 29g and 29h , and the under-wing lids complemented with pt. 29f to the girders of the conctruction using connecting strips. Cover the ailerons with plating 30. Having finished up the ailerons, join them with the wings placing the wires XIII into the openings in the side parts of the wings. Stick the prepared wings to the fuselage of the model.

 

Assembly Diagram 10:

Build the frame construction of the radiator from pt. 31 – 31d. Stick the air intake made of pt.32h and 32i to the afore-prepared frame and next, using connecting strips 32e, 32f and 32g, cover it with pt. 32 – 32d.  Stick the moveable element of the radiator, constructed from pt. 32k ans 32j to the 31d former of the frame construction using the connecting strip of pt. 32k. Stick the finished radiator onto the marked spot on the middle part of the wing. Cover the wing – fuselage joining areas with shields 39, 39a and 39b, the stabilizers – fuselage joinings with shields 38 and 38a. Stick the air – scoop build of pt.40 – 40g to the wing shield 39d, according to the assembly diagram 10d.

 

Assembly Diagram 11:

Build the main undercarriage from pt.35 – 35i and wires V and XV – XIV and mount it into the undercarriage hatches. Build the undercarriage – retracting  mechanism from the prepared elements with their endings carefully trimmed out and flattened according to the diagram “szablony”. Glue the appropriately constructed and bent barriers build from pt. 36e and 36f into the undercarriage hatch. Stick the shields build of pt.36 – 36d to the undercarriage shins. Mount the tail wing made from pt.37 – 37e and wires XX and XXI to the fuselage according to the assembly diagram 11a.

 

 

Assembly Diagram 12:

 Build a hubcup with propeller blades from pt.41 – 41i. According to the assembly diagram 12a, build the windbreak nettings 42, 42a and 42b. Glue in the glazing S3, S4, S5 and internal nettings 42c, 42d and 42e from within. Fix a raerview mirror made from pt.42f and 42g (and improved with silver foil glued onto it ) onto the windbreak. Finishing the model assembly, fix the aerial build of pt. 43 and 43a and wire XVI together with pt.44 and wire VII.

 

Enjoy!

 

Instuctions translated by Monika Ko³ek