Procopius Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Okay! I think I can do this before the deadline. I've ordered my kit. "Two of the defining moments of World War II in the Pacific would have to be, respectively, HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse appearing out of the morning mist off Kota Bahru to shatter the Japanese invasion convoys on December 8, 1941, and the crushing defeat of the American carriers at Midway on June 5, 1942. In retrospect, one of these events seems inevitable; we now know the Japanese invasion force was pitifully small, and could likely never have defeated the British garrison, but historians will forever wonder what would have happened had the USS Hornet's aircraft not lead the American strike aircraft in the wrong direction, or if Spruance, instead of Halsey, had commanded the American ships. "However, we live in the now, and we can only proceed from knowing how events did happen. The subsequent transfer of the Indian Ocean Fleet to Australia, Somerville's surprise victory over the Japanese in the battles of Guadalcanal, these are now forever enshrined in Anglo-American memory, part of the epic of the war in the Pacific. Less discussed are the ramifications for the American carrier force. Between the defeat at Midway and the havoc wreaked by the Nazi atomic attack on Newport News, the American carrier fleet was gutted, and the Americans forced to rely on British carriers for the duration of the war. As the mammoth Malta-class ships were completed, the manpower-starved Royal Navy transferred the older armoured-deck ships to their "impverished cousins", and a generation of US Navy aviators were raised flying Seafires, Barracudas, and Firebrands off of British-built ships. After the war, the US Navy struggled to keep pace, but the nascent Air Force brutally won the wars for funding, gutting the army (suspected of communist infiltration, anyhow) and the navy, and the old British carriers soldiered on, well into the 1970s, by which time they were hopelessly out of date and badly in need of refit. "The 1950s, however, were a golden age of sorts, as British firms teamed up with American companies to market jets to the USAF and USN; the Hawker-North American F-100 Hunter, the Boeing-Vickers Valiant, and the McDonnell-Hawker Sea Hawk all served well, and well into the 1960s." Thinking I'll paint this guy gloss sea blue all over and try and scadge up some reasonably appropriate decals for an F3H Sea Hawk of USS Rodman (ex-HMS Victorious), circa 1956. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Sounds good to me in every respect and gloss sea blue Sea Hawk is going to look cracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Love the back story. Grey/white Sea Hawk done as a CAG(?) example with all the extra splashes of colour perhaps? Trevor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 (edited) I'm embarrassed to say that despite having in this country all my life, I know very little about the post-WWII USN. It does look like circa 1956, that it should be light gull grey and white(? right?) for upper/under surfaces, respectively, though I also saw some GSB ones in the Naval Reserve --- all this in a cursory google image search. Happily, this blog entry seems to answer some of my questions. Does anyone know of some 1/72 decals for an F2H (physically closer in shape to the Sea Hawk than the real F3H Demon)? I've never built a US Navy plane in my life. EDIT: it does seem, however, that F2H decals are much harder to come by. I'm thinking of snaffling the Xtradecal F3H sheet and using the VF-122 option. Edited October 7, 2012 by Procopius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Well look what just showed up at my office! Pretty exciting. Still trying to figure out a scheme and decals, though the light gull grey/white option seems like it would be more "exotic", and thus, cooler (as if anything is cooler than EDSG over Sky!) choice, though a friend suggested jimmying up some AIM-9Bs and making a trials aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Wotabout as a drone like the QF4's and soon to be QF-16? Trevor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 I'd really prefer to depict a 1950s-era Sea Hawk, rather than one of the 1970s drone conversions. I think the fall of West Iran and the realization that the USA had to end overseas commitments "East of Greenland" make that decade a bitter one to recall for all Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Blue Angels then? Trevor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Hmm, a test aircraft, that would require some hig-vis markings to make tracking easier. Gull Grey/white with dayglo orange? Gloss Sea Blue with white panels? Sure a quick search around the 'net will throw up some interesting and inspiring stuff. Didn't the US Navy have to borrow F-86s to test the sidewinder against the USAF prefered choice of AIM-4 falcon missiles? Sure there's some back-story in there for a USN Sea Hawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 (edited) Really, I should try and find some Firestreaks, not AIM-9Bs, that'd be more appropriate. EDIT: Are these any good? Of course there are no photos. Of course. https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/c/OKB+172+Scale+Accessories/771/1/ Edited October 11, 2012 by Procopius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 Ordered the old Xtradecal F3H sheet, and perhaps soon my new workroom will be cleared for action -- for now, it houses several million boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Sounds as if you have plenty to do before you can start work on this one! Good luck with getting everything sorted out. Like the thought of a Sea Hawk tooled up with Firestreaks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 Okay! FINALLY got my workroom more or less unpacked. (Not shown: the entirety of my stash in a gargantuan pile behind me.] Parts out...ready to give them a little bath. First night's work. Tub and seat started, intakes added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 You're off and running now! Glad to see your workbench is ready for action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Worked a little on putting together the tail and painting the intakes, plus some work on the cockpit tub. Here's some closeups of the tub, painted with more enthusiasm than skill. I know the little handle at the top of the seat is red in real life, but I wanted to try adding the yellow bits for a dash of color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerPaulo Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 ohhhh I'm keeping a close eye on this little Hawk!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaiidanTomcat Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Great work so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) A minor disaster! While rubberbanding the forward fuselage halves together, my rubber band caught on the top of the radar gunsight assembly and tore it and the sight clean off. I last saw them whistling into the ether at approximately the speed of light. Normally I'd give into despair, but...in front of all these people? I could never. So I attempted to fashion a crude sight out of styrene card and part of an interdental brush container. Here's the start of my attempt. And here...is the finished result. I have a long way to go before I'm a master modeller. Chalk it up to a crude American license-built copy of her original British sight. I wrapped up by adding the tail, tailplanes, and closing up the cockpit. You can see a little gull grey on the fuselage where the canopy overlaps it. For some reason, there's a slight gap betwixt canopy and fuse at the spine, which I noticed during a prior FGA.6 build. It bugs me, but I am but a man. Tomorrow, I hope to mask the cockpit, wheel wells, and exhausts, then prime her. Then the fun begins! Edited October 25, 2012 by Procopius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Going together well and in 72nd scale that gunsight looks fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Poor little fella's had a big day! I masked the canopy and put blu-tac's American cousin in the wheel wells and jet exhaust pipes, sprayed the canopy framing interior color, then basecoated the whole thing with Vallejo acrylic primer. It's now drying in my purpose-built curing tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Underbelly painted Tamiya white tonight. No photos, sorry, I'm lazy. I'll let it cure, then mask off and spray the Model Master Gull Grey; the two brands interact rather poorly if applied over each other without at least a 24-hour grace period, in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share Posted October 28, 2012 Okay! Gull grey uppersides done.Debating whether or not to add an anti-glare strip to the nose, and whether or not to paint the radar bulb aft black or radome tan (seeing as I own radome tan and never use it and all). Next up: landing gear, final paint touch-ups, and then glosscoat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I'd say go with radome tan to keep the colours light and miss out the glare strip for the same reason. To me the Sea Hawk nose slopes away sharply enough to avoid the pilot being troubled by reflections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 Gear affixed, radome painted, forgot any nose weight at ALL, so the plane rears back on its haunches like a ferret without any provocation whatsoever. Perfect. Am contemplating P-80 style wingtip tanks filled with lead sinkers for'ard to try and counteract this, or possibly overwing tanks, using the kit tanks in ways never intended. No photos, I'm tired and lazy today. Halloween, doncha know. 200+ trick or treaters! They stole some of our pumpkins after we ran out of candy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 You not able to drill a descrete hole in the underside or u/c bay somewhere and fill the nose with fine lead shot to counteract the aft C of G? Seen that tip elsewhere here years ago but never needed to try it so far. Either that or leave the hook down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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