1:24 Hawker Hurricane IIc

The Hurricane with cannon armament

The Mk.IIc version lost the battery of machine guns in the wing and was given four 20 mm cannons. The change made it a machine suited to attacks on ground targets and to night intruder work, that is to the tasks for which it was already too late to fight more modern opponents in pure fighter combat.

Egypt and Libya

Two of the variants offered serve in North Africa in 1942: one with No. 213 Squadron in Egypt, the other with No. 33 Squadron in Libya, where it was flown by the squadron commander S. C. Norris. The desert called for sand camouflage and intake filters, which are recognized on a model at once.

An aircraft that still flies today

The third variant is remarkable: a machine with the serial LF363 of the Polish No. 309 Squadron at Peterhead in Scotland in 1944. That same aircraft later became one of the best known surviving Hurricanes of all, and after a crash and a demanding rebuild it is among the flying memorials.

Workmanship and use

The sheet is meant for 1:24. At that size every letter of a squadron code is clearly legible, so it pays to apply the decal onto a smoothly painted surface and polish the joints so that the edge of the carrier film is not visible.

What to keep in mind during the build

The North African machines differ from the British ones in more than the finish. They usually carry a massive intake filter under the nose, the wear on the leading edges is more pronounced and sand settles in the panel lines. A model for the desert variant therefore needs different preparation than an aircraft from a Scottish base, where a wet gloss and dulled exhaust stains dominate instead.