once the cement had hardened.
With the main body of the
airframe now complete and all
the gaps filled, it was time to
inspect for defects. There were
a couple of odd bumps moulded
onto the upper nose, just aft of
the propeller, that didn’t look like
they were supposed to be there,
so I sanded them away. There was
also a small air scoop on the lower
port side of the nose that didn’t
appear in photographs of the
Mk.1, so this too was removed.
Yet more plastic was shaved
from the nose to bring it into line
with the upper engine bay panel.
This was attached next, as was the
engine bay side panel. These are in
fact a very poor fit all around, and
they needed quite a bit of work to
make them blend into the fuselage.HURRICANE FORCE:
PAINTING THE AIRFRAME
I proceeded to give the completed
airframe several coats of Alclad
Grey Primer, paying particular
attention to the joints. Further
wet-sanding was required along
the wing, tailplanes, and nose
panel joints to smooth out some
noticeable problems revealed by
the primer. The wheel bay was thengiven a coat of Alclad Aluminium,
as were the wing leading edges.
With the problem areas tidied
up, the complete airframe now
received a shadow coat of dark
brown enamel. I then washed this
off the wheel bay, using a brush
loaded with white spirit, to reveal
the Aluminium. The thinned
brown enamel gathered in the
recessed detail and clung to the
edges of the bay walls, as I had
intended it should, adding depth
and a patina of age to the area.
I began the process of
camouflaging the upper surfaces
by first airbrushing the dark earth
areas using Humbrol #110 Brown.
This was achieved without the
use of masks, roughly following
the pattern illustrated in the
instructions and leaving a hint
of the shadow coat showing
through at the panel edges.
Once the dark earth was dry,
Blu-Tak ”sausages” and masking
tape were employed to create the
camouflage pattern. The unmasked
areas were sprayed in a mix of
Humbrol #226 Green, #29 Brown,
and a touch of Satin Black, in an
approximation of RAF Dark Green.
The masking was then carefully
removed when the dark green was
still only touch dry. By doing so I
could wash away any of the green
enamel that had strayed into areas
where it wasn’t wanted, using a
brush loaded with white spirit.
In this instance however, there
was no need, and the model was put
aside and allowed to dry overnight.
The following day I began
to weather the upper-surface
colours, which I had decided to
do before applying the under-
surface camouflage, so as to
make the matt enamel slightly
more resilient to wear (freshly
airbrushed matt enamel tends to
mark very easily when handled,and by using a mix of matt and
satin enamels in the weathering
process, it’s possible to add a
slightly harder-wearing, protective
surface over the matt paint).
As a departure from my usual
practice of applying airbrushed
filters to create a weathered finish,
I decided to entirely dry-brush
the weathering on the upper
surfaces of the Hurricane, as I
felt that this technique would
give the finished model a retro
look that would complement the
old-world charms of the aircraft.
Adding different shades of
green and brown enamel onto my
palette, and using an old worn
brush, I mixed and blended various
colours directly onto the green
areas of the model. I concentrated
on building up the mix of colours
around recessed details, raised
details, panel centres, and of
course on areas of maximum
wear on the real aircraft.
Once the green had been allowed
to thoroughly dry, I used the same
process on the dark earth areas,
using various brown and sand
shades. Hopefully, if all turns
out as expected, this will prove
that you don’t need an airbrush
to effectively weather a model.
Turning to the undersides,
I tackled the black wing first.
Here I resorted once again to
the airbrush, initially spraying
black enamel along the panel
lines, allowing the dark brown
shadow coat to act this time as the
central highlight colour. A mix
of grey and brown was then used
to add random highlights across
the entire area, finally spraying
a mist of the lighter colour over
the entire wing to tone down the
black and give it an in-scale look.
Finally, the black wing was
masked off, and the underside of
the fuselage and the starboard
wing were given a coat of
Colourcoats Sky ACRN01, thisIN MEMORIUM
W
illiam Lidstone
‘Willie’ McKnight was
Canada’s second-
highest scoring ace of the war.
He quit medical school to join the
RAF, and was appointed Acting
Pilot Officer on 15th April, 1939. In
November he was posted to the
all-Canadian No.242 Squadron
shortly after its creation at
Church Fenton in October 1939.
McKnight took part in fighter
sweeps covering the evacuation
beeches at Dunkirk, and during the
Battle of Britain flew as wingman
to his enigmatic squadron leader,
Douglas Bader. He would survive the
Battle of Britain, only to disappear
whilst flying a fighter sweep to
Calais on 12th January 1941. His
body has never been recovered.
McKnight has no known
grave, but his name appears on
the Runnymede War Memorial,
Englefield Green, Egham,
Surrey. In his short RAF career
McKnight scored 17 victories.
The No.242 Squadron badge,
featuring a caricature of Adolf Hitler
receiving “a boot up the backside”
was designed by Douglas Bader,
and was carried on the noses of
the squadron aircraft. McKnight’s
personal emblem, featuring
the upper half of a skeleton,
was an allusion to his medical
school training, and appeared
on both sides of his Hurricane.WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • APRIL 2018 • 23
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