sports mascot captain hurricane
'and his hurriplane'
Izzat Design remodelled the Captain Hurricane mascot in 2006, for the Hurricanes Super 14 team. The look of Captain Hurricane had already been established, but modifications to the headpiece and costume were necessary. We sculpted the face and helmet from a block of polystyrene, then laid up layers of fibreglass matt and finishing tissue, to produce a lightweight, yet robust product. The costume was entirely remade, with an internal liner for easy cleaning.
Captain Hurricane has become a repeat client of ours.
In January 2007, Captain Hurricane returned to our workshop, looking for someone to design and make him a new Hurriplane. The Hurriplane is based on the WW2 fighter, the Hawker Hurricane, a workhorse for the RAF in the Battle of Britain.
Izzat rose to the Captain’s challenge. We were briefed on the requirements of the mobile mascot, which had to be able to fit between corporate signage on the stadiums pitch.
Izzat invented a mechanism to enable the driver of the Hurriplane to raise and lower the wings when necessary. During the pre match entertainment, Captain Hurricane can shoot mini rugby balls into the crowd, via an air canon, mounted to the Hurriplane fuselage.
We designed and fabricated the framework of the Hurriplane to fit onto a standard two-seat electric golf cart, which is prefect for driving on the pitch without damaging the grass surface.
The body of the plane was formed from polystyrene, and hard coated with hardwearing epoxy fibreglass and finished off with a paint job in Hurricanes yellow.
A new feature was added last year, with the addition of a ‘spectator’ seat, where a lucky Hurricanes fan can enjoy the game from the comfort of the Hurriplane.
Captain Hurricane and the Hurriplane can been seen at all Hurricanes Super 14 home games, he also appears in the Super 14 TVC’s, corporate events and ventures out when the annual Christmas parade comes to town.