After a brief—ok, fine, two year—hiatus, the In Scale series of scale model builds returns with a 1/48 scale Arma Hobby Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk. IIc, wearing the overall-white livery of NF672/7K, the famous “Nicki” flown by Sub Lt. A.R. Burgham with Fleet Air Arm 835 Squadron off HMS Nairana. Sub Lt. Burgham’s mount is depicted circa mid-June, 1944, shortly before a non-fatal crash into the barriers on its home carrier by a different pilot.
Build Overview
Arma Hobby first released their well-regarded 1/48 Hurricane Mk. IIc in 2023 with an eye towards a future Sea Hurricane boxing thanks to the bottom fuselage behind the wing being a single, swappable piece. Their Sea Hurricane Mk. IIc boxing, released in 2024, provides a 3d-printed replacement for that part with the proper recess for an arrestor hook, also 3d-printed. The kit is notable for extensive riveting, both raised and sunken, on the wings, adding much detail and surface interest.
It’s here I must confess that I am somewhat “mark-agnostic” when it comes to aircraft variants. I respect the economics of the hobby and the fact that manufacturers cannot always create bespoke parts, like the rear fuselage drop-in, to represent the different versions of aircraft using the same basic molds, instead asking modelers to perform modifications of greater or lesser difficulty to more accurately mirror the vehicle type being built. When it’s a simple scribe or fill or deletion, I’ll happily scratch or putty or sand away, but when more extensive surgery is required, I often default to discretion over valor. Such is the case here. I refrained from removing the raised vents on either side of the fuselage below the cockpit, which a real Sea Hurricane Mk. IIc lacks, and left the landing gear bay doors intact, crews having removed a chunk of the lower spat to alleviate the doors catching the arrestor cable before the hook, which was likely a bad thing. Especially since I’d been away from the bench for a bit, I knew my attempts at the fixes would be more distressing than just leaving them be, so to the mark-purists out there, my apologies. We appreciate your knowledge, particularly when we ask desperate forum questions trying to get it right! So I know, strictly, this doesn’t represent an archetypal Mk. IIc Sea Hurricane. If it were an airframe I know well, it might bother me, but to my untrained eye, it looks close enough.
The build was quite straightforward, even with my aforementioned rustiness, as befits Arma Hobby’s growing reputation in the hobby. I found the cockpit to be exceedingly fiddly, with multiple parts coming together in a cage-like structure that then rests on the top of the wing, which, nicely, is composed of two solid spars, preventing any dihedral issues. The cramped pilot’s office on a Hurricane allows very little internal visibility once the fuselage is buttoned up, and assembling the cockpit felt like painting the back of a dresser—you know it’s there, but ain’t nobody ever going to see it.
I had a bit of fuss with the wing assembly, broadly because of my lack of practice at sprue gate removal and proper technique, but nothing that applications of elbow grease and fillers couldn’t rectify (mostly). The fit of the fuselage onto the wing approached a level of wonder, I must say—it’s the most precise alignment I’ve seen to date, with no filler needed at all. Just a beautiful bit of engineering and molding there. The bottom fuselage drop-in required cyanoacrylate to install, not being styrene, but the fit was push-tight, which allowed just a tiny bit of glue (and a bit of filler) to get the job done.
Beyond that, the build itself was a breeze. I was able to seal the fuselage seam flush with just a bit of judicious sanding and cyanoacrylate work, and the parts layout let me leave the vertical tail stabilizer (with its easily breakable antenna mast) off until the end. Fair warning—the raised rivets will catch and unravel cotton buds, particularly the cheap dollar-store type that adorn many a workbench. Use something else to clean/smooth/blend/whatever or be willing to devote significant time to plucking stray strands for the remainder of your build—and bemoaning them in pictures afterwards…
