1:33 Hawker Hurricane Mk IID, Orlik

[romanmodels]

looking good erik

[MrConk]

Out of curiosity, what led to to construct the Orlik over the KK? No complaints, just curious. Nice clean start.

[Erik Zwaan]

Thank you Don, Garry, John, Tonino, Kevin, David and MrConk. Good to have you all on board, I'm honored.

@ Don: The Hurricane has a bit of a cuddly, clumsy look - irresistible!

@ Garry: Orlik doesn't disappoint the builder in this respect, all cockpit parts fit very well. You can argue about the level of detail, certainly Halinski would have done a more detailed job but by studying numerous cockpit pictures one can add certain details from scratch, which I did.

@ John: Interesting info - I wasn't aware that the Dutch East Indies air force used Hurricanes, thought they only flew with Brewster Buffalos (which also assisted the British to defend Singapore in '41/'42).

@ Tonino: I think this is illusion as it's a flat transparent sheet in between the instruments and panel.

@ Kevin: Usually I spray the model sheets lightly with matt varnish before starting. During the build I make regular varnish touch-ups at locations which can not be reached anymore later on during the build. Ultimately a final coat, preferably applied with a flat brush. Using a brush results in a slight shine to the surface, which looks more realistic I find.

@ MrConk: I bought both the Orlik and KK model at the same time and intend (well, at least: hope) to start building the KK model at the end of this year. It's a very attractive kit!

Continued with the cockpit internals during the Christmas break, which resulted in many happy, undisturbed and concentrated hours of quality time and quite a bit of progress.

Everything's pretty straight forward and I used actual cockpit pictures and some details here and there of the KK Mk Ia cockpit to fill up the Orlik cockpit, to put it like that. The control column steering cables are made of thin steel wire.

I found it easier to glue the side consoles in place after placing the cockpit's internal skins. The tricky part here is where to exactly place the inside skins as there's a slight mismatch between the white indicators at their back end and the cockpit floor.
After trial fitting with cockpit outside skins I finally concluded that the design intent is to place the inside skins exactly over the edges of the reinforced floor and rear cockpit former. The instruction drawings do not show this kind of important detail, unfortunately. Reference is made to the last picture.

As mentioned before, I saved the former with the pilot's seat as last item to close the cockpit enclosure.

Finally the cockpit access door. The print is very detailed and by model default, the door is shown in the closed position. Have a look at the position of the inside latch and printed wording! As I am going to build the open door in position, I cut out the latch, highlighted it by reinforcing with scrap paper, added a "door knob" and turned it into the correct, open position.
Apart from final touch-ups and corrections, this is what it will look like. Interesting detail is the map container. Perhaps I will add a folded map later on .

The cockpit really has been the fun part of this model. Only things missing are the head-up display and anti-glare panel. The HUD is too fragile to install at this point of the build and will be done at a later stage. The other part will be installed after assembly of the fuselage.

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

Great choice, Erik 400 parts is more than on the very old Halinski kit and this one does look better. Fine cockpit!

[alzictorini]

Looking good buddy - I’m keen to see more

[Vinalssergio155]

Impeccable cabin Erik. Magnificent details and construction

[birder]

Eric great start with a nice cockpit

[smithdr]

Really nice, Erik! I love them both (Hurri and Spit!) so either one is a joy to behold. Yours is really looking nice. Great interior so far!


I do secretly look forward to your return of the '88 someday!


Well done,
Dan

[Kevin WS]

Erik - very nice. I like the cockpit.

I have often thought of just making cockpits - I wish you could get separate kits of just these areas!

Thanks also for the feedback on the varnish.

[Erik Zwaan]

Hello PM's, thanks again for your responses. Up so far the model is a joy to build. Dan, the 88 project will certainly continue one day, I kept it neatly for the day to come .

A short story this time. Now that the cockpit is finished the front and rear fuselage segments can be prepared. Standard Operating Procedure, however, just a few remarks.

I prefer to glue the various segments together before placing the formers, this makes it easier to accurately “fuse” the individual parts. To help accurate placing the formers I indicated their correct position with a pencil on the joining tabs. The formers fit perfectly, no sanding required and the camouflage pattern on the fuselage segments coincide well.

At the aft section the antenna mast will be placed. I placed a rolled paper tube in this section to be able to insert a metal pin for reinforcement of the antenna mast at a later moment and to secure its correct position - refer to pictures 8 and 9. Thanks to Ricardo (Ricleite), who pointed this trick out in one of his threads.

Cheers,
Erik