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'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Hawkers

The great Hawker Weather Build has a lot to answer for. The old Hurricane madness has returned, fuelled today by the arrival of what looks like a very nice kit indeed:


I wasn't aware that Airfix produced a Sea Hurricane MkIIc until it appeared on another Hawker Weather Build blog, but I was very pleased when I received this kit. Altogether, it is a fine offering, with a high quality box, sharp, crisp mouldings, and three options illustrated on a separate, all-colour instruction sheet:


This is a RAF version for the Battle of the Imphal, one of those crucial, history changing events that are little known today. Fittingly, and unusually, I noticed that this kit is made in India, as opposed to China. Whichever manufacturer in India made it, they did a good job. However, I won't be using any of the three suggested finishes just yet, as I intend to make an Operation Torch Sea Hurricane in faux USAF markings.

Even if I managed kit perfection with the Hurricane, I wouldn't ever come remotely close to the perfection of this Dutch Iris that I photographed in my garden around 8 pm this evening, on the first warm, sunny day for a very long time:


What an amazing, intricate, complex flower, and in a blue that would need more than a Monet, or a Picasso to catch.

6 comments:

  1. Crikey Stephen, two Hawkers in one month!

    Respect.

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    1. Yes, I'm beginning to wonder if I have obsessive compulsive disorder. Mind you, most wargamers do!

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  2. A beautiful iris old chap - she's a credit to you.

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    1. She gets a lot of attention from me - but not quite up to talking.

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  3. Airfix do some nice stuff these days which is very good and of nice quality. Good to see it in marking for Imphal a bloody battle in all meanings. What amazes me is I work and live with a lot of Asians, mostly from Indian too, and none of them seem to know anything of the Indian Army in WW2 and the battles that were fought on Indian soil. Lovely flower though

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    1. Yes, it seems to be a first rate little kit, and although it doesn't have photo-etched etc, I don't think that's a problem, and it keeps the price down. As far as I understand it,the fact that the Seconf World War Indian Army was the biggest volunteer force in modern history doesn't seem to be remembered, but, oddly, Chandra Bose's Japanese sponsored Army of the Leaping Tiger is. Such are the confusions of history and memory.

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