1/48 Hasegawa Hawker Hurricane Mk.I

'Billy Fiske' 

by Timothy Smith

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Here is my 1/48 Hasegawa Hurricane Mk. I in the markings of William Meade Lindsley ('Billy') Fiske III of 601 Royal Auxiliary Air Force in August 1940.

Billy was an accomplished American winter sportsman (two gold medals for bobsleigh in the Winter Olympics and one of the greatest Cresta Run riders of all time) who violated his country's strict neutrality laws to fly and fight with the RAF during the Battle of Britain.

Billy flew this aircraft a great deal during his time with 601, although he was mortally wounded in P3358 (UF-H) on the 16th August.  A plaque placed in St. Paul's Cathedral aptly says, 'An American citizen who died that England may live.'

The Hasegawa 1/48 Hurricane Mk. I is a great kit with very good and crisp cockpit detail (just don't use part number K15 - the bomb fusing switches - as Mark Is did not carry these).  Generally the build was problem free apart from the underside wing to fuselage join where Hasegawa for some ridiculous reason have decided to place the join smack bang in the middle of the fabric detail!  That aside, it's a straightforward and enjoyable build.  I found a small amount of filler was needed for the wing seams and obviously that confounded underside join.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

Colour-wise I used Humbrol 163, 23 and 90 for Dark Green, Dark Earth and Sky respectively, and a medium panel wash of both dark gray and black for the panel lines and oil stains.  Decals were a combination of kit and Tally Ho!  which went down nicely although a couple of the Tally Ho! ones needed some slight persuading.  Pastels were used for exhaust and gun stains and generally dirtiness in some areas, and an artist's silver pencil for the paint chipping.  Last touch was some invisible thread for the antennae.

All in all the Hasegawa Hurricane is a superb kit which appears to be absolutely spot on in terms of accuracy.  It is a fun build and builds into a beautiful model.  There are a few die-cast companies who offer a Fiske Hurricane but they always seem to choose UF-K which he only flew on half a dozen occasions, so I was pleased to model an aircraft in which Billy flew so much in his all too brief RAF career.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Tim

Photos and text © by Timothy Smith