Airfix 1/48 Hurricane Mk I

The wing roots are all filled, sanded and polished and just need some primer spraying on the model to highlight any poor joins;

I was hoping to avoid destroying the raised detail around the carburettor intake but to get a good joint it was unavoidable. To replace it I drilled holes then inserted short pieces of 0.75mm styrene rod that had the ends drilled out with a 0.4mm bit;

The panel lines were also restored by scribing new ones using electrical tape as a guide, liquid glue was then run into the lines to remove the swarf;

The radiator got some TLC next and although Airfix have you glue this to the underside I found it far easier to glue it together first as the joint needs cleaning up when set, also the panel lines were rescribed as per the method mentioned above. The radiator flap was fixed into place but I realised that the ends of the radiator fairing should match the end of the flap;

The ends were squared off, strips of styrene were glued into place and when set sanded to shape;

Actuator rods were added to the inside of the flap and the braces replaced with styrene rod, I also found that if you scraped some plastic away from the top of the radiator housing the fit was much better to the underside;

The radiator will be left separate for painting as it will be tricky to mask the radiator faces front and back plus now I’ve got it to fit nicely there shouldn’t be a gap all around it (I hope!).
It is coming together slowly as the undercarriage is next to sort out and once that is done I can get some primer on it;

Before priming I will fix the windscreen in place and landing light covers as no doubt these will give me problems and will require filling and polishing. I *may* glue a chunk of clear plastic into the wingtips for the navigation lights and polish them to shape as kit items rarely fit without putting up a fight.