Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, 1943

[Dizzyfugu]

1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Beauty Pic by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Beauty pic by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Some background
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's fighter force, especially the Nakajima Ki-43, had been underestimated in its capability, numbers and the strategy of its commanders. Within a few months, Japanese forces had conquered vast areas of the Pacific and South East Asia. During these campaigns, the ill-prepared Allied air forces in the Pacific suffered devastating losses.

Because of political and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and Australia, British manufacturers were the main source of RAAF aircraft. However, the British aircraft industry had long been hard-pressed to meet the needs of the RAF. Although United States companies had enormous aircraft manufacturing capacity, their output was now intended first and foremost for US air units. Even if aircraft built overseas did become available, they would be shipped long distances in wartime conditions, with consequent delays and losses. As a consequence, CAC came into its own with the development of the Boomerang fighter, which was not operational before late 1942.

Following the outbreak of war with Japan, 51 Hurricane Mk IIs were sent as a stop-gap in crates to Singapore, with 24 pilots, the nucleus of five squadrons. They arrived on 3 January 1942, by which time the Allied fighter squadrons in Singapore, flying Brewster Buffalos, had been overwhelmed in the Malayan campaign. Even though the Hurricanes were a significant progress, they suffered in performance.


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Detail by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Because of inadequate early warning systems, Japanese air raids were able to destroy 30 Hurricanes on the ground in Sumatra, most of them in one raid on 7 February. After Japanese landings in Singapore, on 10 February, only 18 serviceable Hurricanes remained out of the original 99. After Java was invaded, some of the pilots were evacuated by sea to Australia. 31 Hurricane airframes, which had been on the wayby ship, not been assembled and lacked Merlin engines, were directed to Australia in the wake of events.

From these unfinished machines, the Hurricane Mk. VI was quickly devised: the airframes were mated with P&W Twin Wasp engines, which were produced under license at the CAC plant in Lidcombe, Sydney, for the RAAF's Boomerang and Bristol Beaufort. It was clear from the start that these Twin Wasp-powered machines would rather be stop-gaps and no true fighters, rather fighter bombers and more suited for the ground attack role. Hence, like the latest fighters at the time, planning for the Mk. VI included automatic cannons. As no such weapons were manufactured locally, a British-made Hispano-Suiza 20 mm which an Australian airman had collected as a souvenir in the Middle East was reverse engineered – and four of them replaced the eight and partly twelve 0.303 machine guns of the original Mk. IIB machines. Additionally, the pilot received extra armor plating, and the wings were reinforced for external ordnance.


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Detail by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The RAAF Mk. VI Hurricanes carried A60-02 through -32 registrations. As a side note, A60-01 was a single Hurricane Mk.I serialled V-7476. This aircraft served with No.2 and 3 Communications Flights RAAF and was used on occasion for experimental work at RAAF Base Laverton on the outskirts of Melbourne. The aircraft was scrapped in 1945.
The Hurricane Mk. VIs actively took part in Pacific operations with RAAF's No. 4 Squadron and No. 5 Squadron, being joined by Boomerangs in early 1943. They were operated in New Guinea and during the Solomon Islands Campaign as well as the Borneo Campaign, mostly in the close support role and with marked success.

Flying in pairs (one to observe the ground, the other to observe the air around them), their tasks included bombing, strafing, close infantry support and artillery spotting. When attacking larger enemy formations, the Hurricanes often operated in conjunction with the smaller and much more agile Boomerang fighter. In this role, a Boomerang would get in close to confirm the identity of the target and mark it with a 20 lb (9 kg) smoke bomb with the "cooperating" Hurricane, Beaufort or Havoc delivering the major ordnance in a quick run and from a safer distance. The partnership between RAAF planes and Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsair fighter bombers during the Bougainville Campaign was said to be particularly effective.


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Detail by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Australian Hurricane Mk. VIs soldiered on until early 1945, when they were finally retired. The Twin Wasp engines were used for spares, all airframes were scrapped, no plane survived the war.


General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.84 m)
Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
Height: 13 ft 1½ in (4.0 m)
Wing area: 257.5 ft² (23.92 m²)
Empty weight: 5,745 lb (2,605 kg)
Loaded weight: 7,670 lb (3,480 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,710 lb (3,950 kg)

Maximum speed: 331 mph (531 km/h)
Range: 650 mi (1.045 km)
Service ceiling: 36,000 ft (10,970 m)
Rate of climb: 2,303 ft/min (11.7 m/s)
Wing loading: 29.8 lb/ft² (121.9 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

Engine: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW)

Armament: 4× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano or CAC cannons; 2x 45-gallon (205 l) drop tanks or 2× 250 or 500 lb (110 or 230 kg) bombs



1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The kit and its assembly
The Hurricane Mk. VI is a whif, even though with little effort but a good story behind it. The original idea to mate a Hurricane with a radial engine came when I found a drawing of a Russian Hurricane, mated with a Schwezow ASch-82 engine. It looked... interesting. Not certain if this had been done for sure, but a great inspiration.
While browsing through the scrap heap I later found a Twin Wasp engine – that fueled the idea of a respective conversion. The Russian option was dead, but when I checked contemporary planes I came across the small Boomerang, and the historical facts were perfect for an obscure Australian Hurricane variant.

The rest was quickly done: the basic kit is a Hurricane Mk. IIC (Trop) from Hobby Boss, the Twin Wasp comes from a wrecked Matchbox PB4Y Privateer. The original Merlin was simply cut away and replaced by the "new" and relatively small radial engine. A surprisingly easy task, even though I had to widen the area in front of the cockpit by about 1mm to each side. With some putty and a new exhaust pipe with flame dampers, the surgical part was quickly done. A pilot was added, too, in order to distract from the rather bleak cockpit.

To make the plane look more interesting and suitable for a display on the ground, the flaps were lowered (scratch-built) and vertical and horizontal stabilizer were moved away from OOB neutral position. Additionally, the cooler under the fuselage was omitted, what creates together with the radial engine a very different side view. This "Aussie'cane" looks stout but disturbingly realistic, like a Boomerang's big brother!

Only other changes/additions are a pilot figure and two wing hardpoints, holding bombs. The rest is OOB.

Painting
I have always been a fan of all-green RAAF WWII planes, so I chose such a simple livery. Inspiration came from real-life 4. Squadron Boomerangs, so I adopted the "QE" code and tried to mimic the overall look.
Interior surfaces were kept in Humbrol 78 ('Cockpit Green', dry-painted with light grey). The plane was painted with "Foilage Green" on all outer surfaces - a tone which seems to be heavily debated. Most sources claim FS 34092 (Humbrol 149) as a nowaday's replacement, but to me, this color is just too green and blue-ish. IMHO, "Foilage Green" has a rather yellow-ish hue - Humbrol 75 ("Bronze Green") would be better, if it wasn't too dark.

After some trials I settled for Humbrol 105 ("Army Green"). I think it is a sound compromise. It resembles FS 34096, but is (much) less grey-ish and offers that yellow hue I was looking for. Heavy weathering was done, esp. at the panel lines with dry-painted FS 34096 (Testors) and some panels "bleached" with Humbrol 86 ("Light live Green"). After deacls had been applied, some dry brushing with olive drab and light grey added to the worn and faded look, as well as flaked paint around the engine and the wings' leading egdes and soot stains at exhausts and guns. I wanted to emphasize the harsh climate conditions and duties of this fictional machine.


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Only other colors are typical white quick recognition markings on tail and wings, painted with a mix of Humbrol 130 and 196 for a very light grey, with some white dry painting on th eleading edges.For a final clear coat, I used a matte varnish which still has a light gloss to it - "Foilage Green" and RAAF finishes were AFAIK supposed to be semi-matte and of higher quality that USAF paintjobs.

Markings come mostly from the scrap box. The RAAF insignia were taken from a Vultee Vengeance aftermarket sheet by Kanga Decals, which also provided the mid sea grey codes. The Australian registration numbers were improvised with single white letters from TL Modellbau decal sheets.


1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk. VI; RAAF "A60-25/QE-V", 4th Sq.; Tsili-Tsili airfield, New Guinea, early 1943 - (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) - Detail by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

All in all I am happy with the result - a simple measure, a good story and even a very simple livery that allows room for imagination and painting effects.



About me:
New to this site, even though I have been coming acrosss works from here while doing research for whif ideas - and one or two inspirations were taken up and even put to the hardware stage (e .g. a Norwegian G.-91). Some from here even posted/linked a model of mine here: A Macross VF-1 in Swedish "Field & Meadows" (Viggen splinter) livery.

Originally, I come from small scale military model kits in small scales (mostly 1:72 scale planes, and some tanks), but found love for mecfha kits and Japanese animation. The "Japanese derangement" and the consequential passion for the weird(?) started with mecha kits in the early 80ies, when I even did not know that these giant robot kits were actually Japanese animation merchandising! The designs caught my heart , esp. some "real robot" designs, and this fascination is still burning and keeps me inspired.

In the late 90ies I also tried my skills with large scale anime character figures. This was a big step for me: a (fictional) person, the bright colors and the relatively huge scale were quite an experience and a new challenge. Very different from what I have done before! It is very demanding to catch character, vivid spark and expression of a certain figure, and transfer a 2D character into a convincing 3D figure.

When you take a look at the kits you will still see my small scale military roots, since I keep applying "proven" techniques and materials and do not use an airbrush at all - what might explain a certain painting an finishing style, even concerning the character figures.

Personal "career hightlight" was the invitation Germany's biggest anime convention, the "AniMagic", where I took part as an exhibitor and model kit workshop instructor/demonstrator from 2001-2005. Another recent highlight was an article about my Dorvack Powered Armor Suits in the Brazilian 'ZUPI Art Magazine' (Issue #29, June 2012).

But I am not confined to anime/mecha - there's too much creativity for only one subject! Only recently I came back to "classic" model kit building, but with a twist: E .g. doing individual conversions of stock military plane models (building planes that existed but are not available as a kit or even aftermarket material), building whifs from scratch or kitbashings, and I even try myself at true SF, with a Venator class Star Destroyer for a group build.

Almost all pictures were taken with a (simple) digital Kodak CX 7330 pocket camera, with improvised lighting, self-made dioramas or settings, background posters and growing experience with photo editing software.

So, expect more in the future...

Thomas a.k.a. Dizzyfugu

[PR19_Kit]

Absolutely BRILLIANT! 

That's the idea, the model and the backstory too. Welcome to the madhouse. 

[andrewj]

As Kit say's Brilliant, in concept and story, It just looks right , doesn't it.

[NARSES2]

Fantastic entry to the site. Brilliant build  and there was a Hawker plan for a Hercules engined Hurricane (among others)  incase Merlin supply ran short

[rickshaw]

Excellent! Great story,  great model! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you very much for the positive feedback - there's some more of that kind in store, the "Aussiecane" just was/is a perfect contribution to this GB. I found that a good story is just as important as the kit/model itself, so my descriptions might tend to be lengthy... 

Cheers!

[comrade harps]

Welcome to the Aussierama!

I did see this when working on my Aussie Hurribomber and it was an inspiration  It showed that I was on the right track with a few things. I even included the Twin Wasp version in my DAP Hurricane backstory.   

[2996 Victor]

Hi Thomas @Dizzyfugu ,

sorry to dig up a twelve-year-old thread but I just wanted add my congrats on a cracking what-if. I'm quite keen to do a couple of the Hurricane could-have-beens - the Hercules- and Dagger-engined paper projects in particular - and your Aussie build in Foliage Green and white ID markings looks like a great example to follow!

Thanks and best regards,
Mark

[Dizzyfugu]

Hi Thomas @Dizzyfugu ,

sorry to dig up a twelve-year-old thread but I just wanted add my congrats on a cracking what-if. I'm quite keen to do a couple of the Hurricane could-have-beens - the Hercules- and Dagger-engined paper projects in particular - and your Aussie build in Foliage Green and white ID markings looks like a great example to follow!

Thanks and best regards,
Mark

Thank you, glad you like it. It's actually the first whif I posted here in the forum! 

[2996 Victor]

Hi Thomas @Dizzyfugu ,

sorry to dig up a twelve-year-old thread but I just wanted add my congrats on a cracking what-if. I'm quite keen to do a couple of the Hurricane could-have-beens - the Hercules- and Dagger-engined paper projects in particular - and your Aussie build in Foliage Green and white ID markings looks like a great example to follow!

Thanks and best regards,
Mark

Thank you, glad you like it. It's actually the first whif I posted here in the forum! 

I think it's great - great back story as always and great modelling!