KB's Spanish Hurricanes: the Mount Row Scandal ***Finished**

[Kevan Bailey]

Busted!

Nah, not really. Just had to look him up there, PT. Sounds interesting. Any particular recommendation?

[fredk]

Coming on nicely

[Purplethistle]

Busted!

Nah, not really. Just had to look him up there, PT. Sounds interesting. Any particular recommendation?

One of my favourite authors and I can't think of any of his books that have disappointed. 'Piece of cake' would probably be my favourite. The TV series was excellent considering the limitations of a TV budget and the availability of flyable Hurris, but the book is better.

Just don't get too attached to any of the characters in any of his books though!

[Kevan Bailey]

Just don't get too attached to any of the characters in any of his books though!

Now I see where Game of Thrones got that idea from. Thanks.

[Kevan Bailey]

Spent the morning messing about with the top camo:








I am not a wizz with the airbrush and it took several attempts to get the mottled effect I wanted. Now I know why I generally stick to quarter-scale, but for this subject I think there's only the Classic Airframe job, which is plenty big dollar.

Once the masking tape came off, it needed very little touching-up, which I'm surprised at. Next up is Kleering, decalling and some light weathering.

[Kevan Bailey]

All daubed up and ready for the serious spit-and-paper towel treatment.




You'll have noticed that this fellow is being built wheels-up. That's because he's going to get hung from the Eyrie ceiling attached to the tail of this little rascal:





I might in fact roll straight on to the Ju 87 build as I'm studiously trying to avoid that bloody Arado. I've even got all the Luftwaffe colours out..... ok, I've just talked myself into it. Dogfight Double!

[gnomemeansgnome]

Great looking work, Kevan. That Hurricane looks sweet in Republican colours.

[Kevan Bailey]

And just when you're getting to the good bit and the end's in sight...... you have to stop. The postie's just been and my decals haven't arrived. You'd have thought that I'd have had something in my collection that would do the job, but no. Anyway, it means that I can stick to the story.

When the Hurricanes came into service with la Gloriosa they were numbered in a similar fashion to all other aircraft. They were given the prefix code CH, where C stands for Caza, or fighter, and H stands for Hawker, the manufacturer. They were then given a numerical suffix, in this case 001 to 006. The RAF ground crews dealt with this by simply painting on standard 8" and 12" letters/numbers as they would have back in Britain.

Each aircraft was also given an identification letter, not normally used on Spanish planes. This was due to an interesting situation which arose not long after the flight's arrival. One of the volunteer pilots, Flt. Lt. David Wallace, had begun a liason with a Catalan girl named Beatriz and wanted to call his aircraft after her. The pilots decided amongst themselves that this was somewhat un-RAF, but a compromise was reached: Each Hurricane would be given an identification letter, a practice which the pilots were familiar with, which would stand for, respectively, Alicia, Beatriz, Carmela, Dolores, Esmeralda and Feliciana.

[general rocket]

This is going to look really good.

[fredk]

That camo is really cracker.
I hope it'll be A-Alicia ~ I have niece of that name; she's not a wee gurl anymore, she's in her 20s and a cat-walk model somewhere in France.

[Kevan Bailey]

Sorry, Fred.

The aircraft being modelled is CH-005 Esmeralda, flown by Flt. Lt. Christopher Vernon. Vernon was the only pilot to survive the Battle of the Ebro, and in August 1938 he returned to Britain, lauded as a hero by the press. He rejoined his squadron (111) and continued to advance his career. At the outbreak of war in 1945 111 Squadron served in a frontline capacity under Vernon’s command, flying initially Spitfire Mk XXVIs, then Meteor jets. Soviet aircraft did not compare well with these types, along with other Allied aircraft such as the FW190 G12 and the Me 262E-3a. The introduction of the Gloster-Messerschmitt Falcon/Falke in December 1946 would have effectively stopped the air war, but the end of the Russo-European Conflict came quickly on 3rd January 1947 when the Anglo-German atomic bomb was dropped by specially modified long-range Heinkel 377F-3s on the cities of Stalingrad and Leningrad.

[iggie]

Sorry, Fred.

The aircraft being modelled is CH-005 Esmeralda, flown by Flt. Lt. Christopher Vernon. Vernon was the only pilot to survive the Battle of the Ebro, and in August 1938 he returned to Britain, lauded as a hero by the press. He rejoined his squadron (111) and continued to advance his career. At the outbreak of war in 1945 111 Squadron served in a frontline capacity under Vernon’s command, flying initially Spitfire Mk XXVIs, then Meteor jets. Soviet aircraft did not compare well with these types, along with other Allied aircraft such as the FW190 G12 and the Me 262E-3a. The introduction of the Gloster-Messerschmitt Falcon/Falke in December 1946 would have effectively stopped the air war, but the end of the Russo-European Conflict came quickly on 3rd January 1947 when the Anglo-German atomic bomb was dropped by specially modified long-range Heinkel 377F-3s on the cities of Stalingrad and Leningrad.

Well folks, there's the script for the whole of a GB in the future!!

[gnomemeansgnome]

Indeed Iggie. Good thing some of us have a good stock of Luft '46 stuff!

[Kevan Bailey]

No progress today, apart from sticking on all those bits which have an annoying tendency to drop off when you give a model a good post-Flory wash rub-down. Decals still haven't arrived.

[Kevan Bailey]

Decals still haven't arrived, and just as I was about to start getting negative feelings about the whole project, I hear this obviously old aircraft sound, I go out into the garden (as you do) and there, heading due east at seven o'clock in the evening, is....... a Hurricane. Message or what?

No idea what he was doing out at this time, BoB flight normally have them all tucked up by six.