French Hawk 75

[Lowbrow]

Well, I managed to screw this one up. I was experimenting with weathering more heavily and got too carried away overcoating with tinted floor wax to tone down the bright colors. I finished it anyway to keep as an object lesson to be more careful in the future.

 

So what we have is a quite old 1/72 Heller Hawk 75 in French livery. The kit decals where useless so I used a set from a Peddinghaus sheet. Otherwise it's box stock.

 

There where some problems with the Peddinghaus decals. Namely they did not give any upper wing roundels, the placement instructions are severely lacking and the orange is pretty lackluster. I assume the latter is due to their being printed on a CMYK dyesub style machine rather than the traditional spot color screen printing method. Otherwise they're thin, pretty opaque and responded well to setting solutions.

 

I used Hataka acrylics for the camouflage. I'll not be using them again. While the colors seemed adequate and they covered well enough it seemed each bottle really needed straining as, even after shaking quite a while, I kept getting clogs from "chunks" of something or other...pigment I assume. Pain in the butt.

 

All in all I'm happy, mainly because I love French Hawk 75s and it was still a fun build. I'll make sure the next one comes out better. And probably use the old Monogram kit instead...

 

 

 

 

[Witman61]

Nice vintage kit. Nicely made and good pictures. I remember to make this model when I was a kid. Got it somewhere in the stash, I'll have to dig it out.

[DennisTheBear]

Nice to see a French Hawk. Doesn't look too bad at all.

[stevej60]

Look's a cracker to me let's not forget the age of this kit great job!

[FalkeEins]

..another French Hawk fan here. I like it, it's certainly a kit I'd not attempt. Some might say possibly a little 'over-weathered' for the CO's aircraft but you have a very nice representation of Jean-Mary Accart's GC I/5 mount. I hope I'm not right here but it does seem to me that your stork emblems are on the wrong way round though..

[Mitch K]

I know the Heller Hawk is a fairly ropey kit, but you have done absolute wonders with it. I see what you mean about the weathering, and it could be argued there's too much of it, but I would say that HOW you have done the weathering is superb.

 

Regarding airbrushing, I haven't ever had a problem using Tamiya acrylics, but you do have to mix everything yourself...

 

Smashing job and thanks for sharing. Is there a WIP thread for this?

[Darby]

Always good to see older kits get a dusting off and built. I much prefer these versions over their later P40 descendants for some reason.

[GrzeM]

It's very cool airplane! And you did very well with this ancient kit!

 

Speaking about Hataka, I was using their acrylics yesterday (Polish 1939 set) and my experience is very good, with one condition - the paint shoud be very diluted (i've used pure vodka) - more than usual. The result is very thin, semi transparent and uniform layer, very useful if you are applying pre-shading techniques.Such thin layer saves all the surface details of the model. For more opaque, solid surfaces two or three layers are needed (let each layer dry for some 10-15 minutes).

 

Hataka laquers (orange series) are other history - these are very good alternative for Gunze or Tamiya laquers and... less stinky!

[PLC1966]

I see nothing wrong with that weathering, just a dusty old well used plane. Could easily imagine this parked up on some French Colonial North African Airfield.

[MikeR]

Nicely done!

 

Mike.

[Colin1967]

Lovely build - Nothing wrong with it, well done.

Look out for AZ Models 1/72 Curtiss Hawks 75 kits coming, I can't resist them either have pre-ordered mine, plus Print Scale decals do a Curtiss Hawk 75 sheet too.

Tip - For old decals or a decal range you are unsure off, I try to remember to brush on a coat of Microscale liquid decal film on the old decals or a new decal sheet, try brushing/spraying on a coat of liquid decal film on an wanted image from that sheet to check that the liquid decal film doesn't re-act badly with the image, then if okay, brush/spray a coat on over the rest of the sheet.  The liquid decal film protects the images from damage and (in my experience) gives the decals strength when removing the image from the backing sheet - Hope this tip is useful.

[Lowbrow]

Thanks all. I have yet to do a build thread...mostly because I'd have to remember to take photos as I go and I seem incapable of doing that. Anyway, working on a couple other oldies. Will post when I have a result.

[stevehnz]

I'm very impressed with what you've done with this kit, I've long looked at these & having seen this may well grab a couple. To my eye, it probably needs the rivets knocking back a bit but you've coped admirably with them anyway & it does look the goods.

Steve.

[FalkeEins]

12 hours ago, Colin1967 said:

 

Look out for AZ Models 1/72 Curtiss Hawks 75 kits coming, I can't resist them either have pre-ordered mine, plus Print Scale decals do a Curtiss Hawk 75 sheet too.

 

hope this is true, but I can't see any mention on their web site.  I guess your 'source' is Jan's comment back in September 2016 ? Got a link or more info?

[Colin1967]

2 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

 

hope this is true, but I can't see any mention on their web site.  I guess your 'source' is Jan's comment back in September 2016 ? Got a link or more info?

Hope so too, have mine on advanced order with Hannants.

[Killingholme]

I have a real love for the Hawk 75, and yours is very nicely done indeed. (Best served with hot Dijon mustard on the side?)

 

Will

[Lowbrow]

34 minutes ago, Killingholme said:

Best served with hot Dijon mustard on the side?

 

But of course, what isn't?

[stevehnz]

Salad.

[TonyTiger66]

I really like your paint finish on this. I think I may have the same kit in my 'in progress' (i.e. 'I got stuck at a difficult bit'!) box.

 

Mine is a 'Smer' kit. I know Smer have often reboxed Heller. It's one of the lightest kits I've ever made (weight)! Extremely fine, thin plastic.

 

Just a cracking job you've done there, looks like they do in period photographs. 

 

As for the Hataka acrylics, it has varied from colour to colour for me: I realised why they include the ballbearing in the bottles. It's really important to shake and shake and shake them to mix it well.

 

Then I looked on YouTube at this video on using their thinner:

 

 

I am always sceptical of using 'manufacturer specific' thinner, but I ordered some and it works well. I thin the paint a lot, using thin layers. Not only for finish, but it doesn't adhere well to my primer (Stynyrez) if I put it on too thickly.

 

I really like their Soviet set, got good results. I prefer Agama, but that's another story . I hope this helps a bit.

 

Looking forward to your next model 

 

TonyT