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1/72 - North American AT-6/SNB & Harvard IIB-IV by Special Hobby (Academy plastic) - released - new boxing AT-6C/D & SNJ-3/3C


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Ooo! Pretty box full of plastic and resin temptation. Come to daddy!

 

Edit: £13:14 if pre-ordered from Hannants. Not a bad price either. Can't help feeling Airfix dropped the ball on this one, therefore Special Hobby have had five sales from me.

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4 hours ago, Pete F said:

Forgive my ignorance - I find the T-6 variants a little confusing - but what is the difference between the wartime (say 1943) British and US T-6 trainers?

 

I don't known much about all the variants myself,  but this is a little bit of a guide - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_T-6_Texan_variants

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I have to get one. The RNZAF scheme of green/brown with yellow sides has always been my favourite.

 

I may have missed it but what are the resin bits? Longer exhausts?

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20 hours ago, Pete F said:

Forgive my ignorance - I find the T-6 variants a little confusing - but what is the difference between the wartime (say 1943) British and US T-6 trainers?

It's a can of worms but basically North American produced the AT-6 variants. If these were exported to Commonwealth service they became known as a Harvard with the following variants:

 

Harvard MkII, Harvard MkIIa and Harvard MkIII. There is not really much difference between these and AT-6 A, C and D. They are 'Texans' and so have short exhaust, the shorter rear canopy with one less frame than the Canadian built aircraft and are usually fitted with undercarriage doors. The III has a 24V electrical system and the IIa had wooden fuselage panelling. Later in life these were upgraded to aluminium as per the II and III.

 

The Noorduym built Harvard is the MkIIb. It has a long exhaust with heater pipe that taps into the cockpit, no gear doors, longer canopy with extra frame. If used by the US it went by the designation AT-16. The IIb is what the RAF mostly used. 

 

Internal colours differ. With US built a/c in the US Interior green and Canadian built in the Green/Grey of most RAF aircraft of the period. Other differences will involve instrument panels and control columns.

 

There's more differences like armament but that covers most.

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Pete F said:

That's great. Thanks for making the worm can a lot less wormy.

😂😂 It's all good fun! Part of the modelling experience!

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2 hours ago, Pete F said:

That's great. Thanks for making the worm can a lot less wormy.

 To make the can less wormy, take a look at the T-6G in this picture.  It has the so-called short canopy, the short portion being the very rearmost, fixed portion of the canopy.  Note how the bottom line of it is a straight line at approximately 45°.  This fixed portion doesn't extend as far to the rear.  This is the length of canopy fitted to Harvard IIA and III as well as the Texan T-6A/C/D (and I think E and F but others would know more).  Additionally the sliding portion of the canopy of the T-6G has one less frame in each portion of the canopy.  Note too the short exhaust.

 

This view is a Harvard IIB, this has the so-called long canopy, if you look at the rearmost fixed portion, it extends further aft, notice how the lower edge is curved and has an extra panel in it.  The remaining sections of the canopy have an additional frame, this is typical of all versions of the family prior to the T-6G although a lot of earlier aircraft had the T-6G type of canopy fitted post war.  Finally the exhaust is the long type fitted to most Harvards, this provided cockpit heating.

 

People are getting quite excited about the long-canopied versions because until now, there hasn't been a modern kit of this version.  I'm looking forward to it muchly!

 

SH are also doing the version with the moveable rear canopy fairing which accommodated a gunner like this

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31 minutes ago, Wez said:

To make the can less wormy,

Thanks Wez.

 

This leads me to a question. I would like to model the aircraft from 6 BFTS, coded B250, (prob in 1943) close to the bottom of this page: http://www.fuselagecodes.com/id63.html

 

I appreciate that the picture isn't great but I'm assuming it is the same version as the other Texans on the page. I don't know what versions they are.

 

In your opinion what is my best option in 1/72. I have an Academy T-6G. Will a vac formed replacement canopy be sufficient? Or should I wait for this one from Special Hobby?

 

Pete

 

PS. Sorry if this has diverted this thread a little.

 

 

 

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39 minutes ago, Pete F said:

I have an Academy T-6G. Will a vac formed replacement canopy be sufficient? Or should I wait for this one from Special Hobby?

Knowing SH, there will be several canopy options in the SH boxing. So you might be able to rob some spares / alternative parts for your Academy.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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2 hours ago, Hook said:

Knowing SH, there will be several canopy options in the SH boxing. So you might be able to rob some spares / alternative parts for your Academy.

 

Good point! I've got about five Academy T-6s in the stash. I had earmarked them for Harvard IIb conversions but I was going to move them on in light of the new SH kit. I may have to keep them now. It's a lovely little kit anyway.

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4 hours ago, Pete F said:

Thanks Wez.

 

This leads me to a question. I would like to model the aircraft from 6 BFTS, coded B250, (prob in 1943) close to the bottom of this page: http://www.fuselagecodes.com/id63.html

 

I appreciate that the picture isn't great but I'm assuming it is the same version as the other Texans on the page. I don't know what versions they are.

 

In your opinion what is my best option in 1/72. I have an Academy T-6G. Will a vac formed replacement canopy be sufficient? Or should I wait for this one from Special Hobby?

 

Pete

 

PS. Sorry if this has diverted this thread a little.

 

 

 

 

Hmm!  Difficult to tell, I can't get the picture any bigger, I can blow it up on my phone but the picture starts to lose fidelity.  It would appear to be a short canopied aircraft so you could use the Academy kit and paint the extra frames onto it, but...

 

4 hours ago, Hook said:

Knowing SH, there will be several canopy options in the SH boxing. So you might be able to rob some spares / alternative parts for your Academy.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

...what he said!  See below:

 

 

 

 

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It's American so it has the short canopy.  QED.  After the pilot training versions of the BT-9 I don't think any of the US members of the family had the long canopy - apart from the T-16s.  (Canadian-built Harvard Mk.IIs for the US.)  There were quite a lot of T-16s (although nothing like the number of T-6s) but photos aren't all that common.  To be fair, photos of any American trainers are pretty rare.  A fairly universal comment.  They just lacked the interest of the combat types.  There must be a qualification for the Canadian Harvards, as they do seem to have had rather more attention from the cameras.

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It’s not just the canopies it’s the baggage door. The T6 had a 45 degree cutout in the door as the rear gunners seat could swivel and the final end section of canopy could be swing over and forward to give the gunner a clear field of fire. The baggage compartment was reduced so he could swing his legs back. The long turtle deck Harvard’s didn’t have that provision as the end canopies were fixed. My T6G has the swivel seat mount but has a Harvard rear monocoque as they are effectively interchangeable 

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BTw the canopies the front which moves on top of the fixed central and rear which slides under the fixed central are the same size on the different variants but  may have different panels/frames depending on variant. The front is the biggest the rear the smallest the fixed middle the mid size! If that makes sense. 
 

note the front canopy has internal  castors/bearings for the external canopy rails visible on the outside. Of the fuselage. The rear canopy has external bearings/castors as the canopy rails are inside the fuselage. Again I’m not explaining this well am I


The only ‘length difference’ is the glazed fixed turtle deck at the rear   Only found on the Harvard or the rear swivel ‘short’ canopy (which may or may not swivel!) found on the Harvard T6 and SNJ - gotta love the series! 

 

TT

Edited by TEXANTOMCAT
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😃

It will now be feasible: Israeli, Syrian, Egyptian. Let's hope for some new decals.

Something should also be done in 1/48.

 

Samo/P.k

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37 minutes ago, politicni komisar said:

😃

It will now be feasible: Israeli, Syrian, Egyptian. Let's hope for some new decals.

Something should also be done in 1/48.

 

Samo/P.k

 

ARMYCAST makes some of these, had them in my stash for quite some time waiting for the SH babies to come.

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6 hours ago, politicni komisar said:

😃

It will now be feasible: Israeli, Syrian, Egyptian. Let's hope for some new decals.

Something should also be done in 1/48.

 

Samo/P.k

Lebanese.....👍🏻

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