Not too much to add to the already impressive history of the Hurriane. We all know that it was the mainstay of the RAF during the Battle of Britain and went on to serve with distinction in other theaters of the war such as North Africa and Burma/India where the 'opposition' wasn't as sophisticated as it was in northern Europe. The basic ruggedness and simplicity of construction of the Hurricane made it a perfect aircraft where facilities were meager and operational commitments prevented any real in-depth overhauls.

Seeing an all new Hurricane from two different sources in a relatively short period of time was a real surprise. First Hasegawa and then Revell of Germany have done a nice series of kits of this aircraft. Both seem to be very nicely done, however, the 1998 RoG version is less expensive by about a third and undoubtedly will be the more built kit.

Just looking at the kit, one realized that this has been designed to do several variants. By having the wings designed the way it is, you can see that there either is or will be an early Hurricane I with full fabric wings. The ones with this kit are the 12-gun wings. Parts are well detailed with no sink marks that I could find on initial inspection. There is some flash on a few of the parts, but nothing major at all. The rear fuselage fabric seems well done. I know that the Hasegawa kit has been lambasted for over-accentuating this area, but as I have not yet seen this kit, I'll hold off any comments. It looks nice to me. For options, you have a choice of things under wings; drop tanks or bombs, and a choice of circular or fishtailed exhaust.

There is nice detail on the inside of the fuselage that should look good when washed and drybrushed. The interior is your typical seat, stick and instrument panel. The panel is engraved should you wish to paint it, or you can use the decal that is on the sheet. Clear bits are a two part canopy and leading edge landing lights. The clear parts are thin, and only slightly distorted. 

Instructions are quite typical of Revell of Germany. They are on a newsprint grade paper with half the sheet taken up in warning and history in a large number of languages. Construction is in ten steps, each with paint references to either Revell or Humbrol paints. Markings are for two aircraft. The box art plane is from 601 Sq in August of 1941 and is in the later green and grey with yellow wing ID markings scheme. The other is from 402 Sq RCAF in November of 1941 and is in a similar camo scheme though it almost seems as if the upper grey is replaced with a Coastal Command color. The instructions would have you mix this color. Why they just can't give the name of the color and let us use what paints we have is a bit of an irritant. Anyway, the decals are made in Italy and are very well printed so should work quite well.

A nice Hurricane kit and well worth the money.

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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