Trumpeter 1/24 Hurricane Mk.IIC/Trop Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

For a description of the Hurricane Mk.I, look here.

The Hurricane Mk.II was powered by the Merlin Mk.XX and entered service in the fall of 1940. The aircraft continued to be 'improved' as the Mk.IIB was up-gunned to twelve Browning .303 machine guns, the Mk.IIC swapped the machine guns for four 20mm Hispano cannons and two underwing pylons, while the Mk.IID became the tank plinker armed with two 40mm cannons in underwing pods and one Browning .303 in each wing armed with tracer ammunition to aim the big guns.

Many of these aircraft found their way into North Africa to try and blunt Rommel's Afrika Korps. These were modified with engine dust filters to keep the sand out of the engine. While the Mark II was effective against the early Bf 109s, the aircraft was soon out-classed by improved Messerscmitts and the new Focke Wulf Fw 190. As with most fighters that can no longer hold their own air-to-air, the Hurricane continued to serve in-theater as a fighter bomber. The cannons of the Mk.IIC/Trop were effective against the softer armor plating on the top of the German tanks.

Following on the heels of the Hurricane Mk.I, this latest installment in the series is also molded in light gray styrene and presented on ten parts trees, two trees molded in clear, one fret of photo-etched parts, and a set of rubber tires for the main gear and tailwheel.

This kit shares many of the parts trees from the Mk.I release, but inside is an all-new wing, a new tree with the gun bay frames and tropical air filter intake, and another tree with a new spinner and details unique to the Mk.II.

Like the first release, this kit offers clear side cowling panels should you care to display the engine from one or both sides. For that matter, you could leave one or both of the clear panels off, your call.

The cockpit is nicely appointed down to the acetate instrument faces that show through the clear instrument panel (that you paint up short of the instrument glass faces). The Sutton harness is provided in photo-etch.

The ailerons, flaps, elevators, and rudder are all separately molded and can positioned to taste. As I mentioned earlier, there are no hinges, so the control surfaces will stay put after assembly.

If you do want something to fiddle with on the aircraft, the propeller can be left movable and the sliding canopy is also designed to be movable.

Markings are included for two aircraft:

• Hurricane Mk.IIC/Trop, HL735, 294 Sqn, "The Mac Robert Fighter/Sir Roderic"
• Hurricane Mk.IIC/Trop, BP592, 213 Sqn, AK-G

While the 294 Sqn aircraft wears a standard desert camo scheme, the 213 Sqn example is a bit unusual. It too wears the standard desert colors, but the nose from the windscreen forward and the wing leading edges are wearing a desert yellow with green splotch scheme usually found on desert Italian or German aircraft. I've got to look into the history behind this interesting scheme...

As with many of Trumpeter's instruction sets, the color call-outs are suspect and should be cross-checked with other references.

Building upon the Hurricane series, Trumpeter has turned out yet another beauty and with some distinctive colors and markings. With the desert scheme worn by this aircraft, you'll have a nice opportunity to show off your sun fading and combat weathering skills.

My sincere thanks to Stevens International for this review sample!