The Hawker Hurricane needs little introduction. It was one of the finest fighters of the Second World War. It usually took second place to the more glamorous Spitfire. The “Hurri” served Britain and the Allies faithfully throughout the war and was adapted to many different environments. The subject of this build is a Hurricane Mk I Tropical that flew in North Africa.

The kit comes packed in a sturdy box with a nice picture of a Hurri about to turn in and take a shot at an Italian Marchetti bomber over a desert landscape. The side of the box shows six different aircraft that can be modeled, as well as other useful information like paint colors. There are four individually packaged sprues, a photo etch fret, clear parts, decal sheet, and instruction booklet.

Before detailing how it went together, I’m going to first break this kit into the good and not so good points.

This small set is designed for the Zvezda Bf-109G-6 kit. It contains what I consider the essential cockpit items. Packaged in a typical small Eduard self-sealing packet with a cardstock to prevent bending, the set includes a single pre-painted fret.

The primary focus of the fret is the instrument panel. This is a thing of beauty. Interestingly, the panel has the lower right two instruments painted with red and yellow surrounds like they are supposed to be, but on the sets designed for the Eduard kits, they are not. The chains, knobs, and various items in the cockpit elevate the kit cockpit to a whole new level.

One thing I did to make my life easier was to cut the upper part of the instrument panel. The panel with the clock that has to go around the gunsight. This just allowed me to add the gunsight earlier in the construction. Then the two sides were added around it.

Robert Forsyth, born in Berkshire, England, has studied the history and operations of the Luftwaffe since his school days. Based in East Sussex with his wife, he runs an aviation and military publishing business full-time. He has written articles for the magazines Aeroplane , Aviation News, FlyPast, and The Aviation Historian, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the latter publication. He is the author of several hard bound books, including: JV 44 – The Galland Circus (1996), Battle over Bavaria – The B-26 versus the German Jets (Classic, 1998), Mistel – German Composite Aircraft and Operations 1942-1945 (Classic, 2001), Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerikabomber (Classic, 2006, with Eddie Creek); He 162 Volksjäger (Classic, 2009, with Eddie Creek); Heinkel He 111 (Crecy, 2014); Junkers Ju 52 (Specialty Press. 2015, with Eddie Creek).