RVHP 1/72 Beechcraft T-44A Pegasus Advanced Trainer

[hsr]

This is my RVHP 1/72 Beechcraft T-44A Pegasus advanced trainer. The T-44A is used to train future multi-engine pilots for the US Navy, Marines, USAF and Coast Guard. 

 

This is my second RVHP full kit and while it was better then the previous TC-12B Huron I would still rank them as middle of the road in quality for resin manufacturers. Pin holes were mostly confined to the lower side of both fuselage halves. The wing was a single casting that fit into a slot on the underside of the fuselage and was perfectly flat. This was unfortunate since wing should have a good amount of dihedral. I fixed that by running just the center section under hot tap water until is softened enough to give it some dihedral without distorting the rest of the wing. There is no indication at all of where the horizontal tail surfaces should go on the model and even the drawings were only marginally helpful. I think I got them close but your guess is as good as mine. This kit came with a fairly detailed interior for both the cockpit and cabin. The cockpit transparency is a nice clear vac canopy, but it is much too large for the opening. However with careful trimming it fit well. The cabin windows were translucent resin castings. For some reason I was missing 3 of them, I think the carpet monster got one. Usually I would fix this with Micro Kristal Klear, but the openings were kind of large for that and because the fuselage side was thick it would have shrunk down to leave a deep depression. However there was a layer of flash filling in the window opening on the fuselage inside, so I left that intact and painted it the interior color. Then I filled the opening with Kristal Klear and given the translucency of the other resin window I think it came out close to them. Hopefully that made sense and I should have taken pictures. They are the 3 rear ones on the right side.

 

The decals were printed on a continuous very thin film so they required careful trimming. Because the film was so thin they were difficult to move around and position without them folding up on themselves, but once place worked very well. The 4 stars and bars had a white outline so did not require careful masking of the orange, but the white as not very dense so some orange bleeds through. 

 

So here it is:

 

 

Next up is the Hasegawa EF-111A.

 

Enjoy

 

[Mr T]

That's a very nice build of a less often seen kit. Long since started backing roundels as bleed through is a pain. I use some white discs made for the purpose by Fantasy Printshop. They do similar backing decals for US markings as well. I suspect postage from the UK might be an issue unless they have a distributor in the US. 

[hsr]

2 hours ago, Mr T said:

use some white discs made for the purpose by Fantasy Printshop. They do similar backing decals for US markings as well. I suspect postage from the UK might be an issue unless they have a distributor in the US. 

I have bought from them many times. I'll have to look into getting some.

 

Thanks

[SAT69]

Very nice work. I'm especially impressed with your paint work as gloss white and glossy orange can be difficult to get a good finish with. Congratulations!

[hsr]

50 minutes ago, SAT69 said:

I'm especially impressed with your paint work as gloss white and glossy orange can be difficult to get a good finish with.

The gloss orange is Humbrol 18 and is a pain and requires several light then heavy coats. The white is Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer in the jar (87096) when thinned and airbrushed it gives a smooth semi gloss finish. I then give it a coat of Humbrol Gloss Cote for the decals and then finish it all with Alclad Klear Kote Light Sheen to make everything uniform. 

 

Thanks

[dnl42]

Nice work on slaying this! 

 

RVHP is the only source of a 1/48 Grumman FF-1. As your experience is consistent with what I've read, I've been ambivalent about getting the kit, which is quite expensive.

[hsr]

31 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

RVHP is the only source of a 1/48 Grumman FF-1. As your experience is consistent with what I've read, I've been ambivalent about getting the kit, which is quite expensive.

They are pricey and I would be very dubious that the struts would be useable.

Thanks

[Wulfman]

Lovely work, a very attractive finish !

 

Wulfman

[Robertone139]

Got my Naval Aviator Wings in June '85 at VT-28 flying the T-44A.

Nice job finishing the RHVP kit, I am still haven't got the guts to fork that amount of money for such a tiny kit.

Just nitpicking here as you may not now, but I believe that the BuNo should be 161077, as I have 161078, 161074, 161066 in my logbook and the lower BuNos 160983 etcetera had a 0 in front of the last three digits tail codes repeating the last three of the BuNo.

Check out this Photo

Edited June 28, 2021 by Robertone139
Added and corrected text

[hsr]

49 minutes ago, Robertone139 said:

I believe that the BuNo should be 161077, as I have 161078, 161074, 161066 and the lower BuNos 160983 etcetera had three digits tail codes repeating the last three of the BuNo.

You are probably right. I just slavishly used the decals provided. I always wonder how they come up with markings for aircraft I can't find pictures of..

 

Thanks

 

[hsr]

54 minutes ago, Robertone139 said:

Got my Naval Aviator Wings in June '85 at VT-28 flying the T-44A.

What did you fly?

[Robertone139]

UH-1N.

Actually the AB-212ASW.

This one.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Robertone139

[hsr]

12 hours ago, Robertone139 said:

UH-1N.

Sorry to keep bothering you with question, but what did you do your helicopter training in, the TH-57A? The completist in me doesn't want to miss a trainer  

[Robertone139]

33 minutes ago, hsr said:

Sorry to keep bothering you with question, but what did you do your helicopter training in, the TH-57A? The completist in me doesn't want to miss a trainer  

I flew the last training sortie of the TH-57A, after that all the training sorties on the B or C (for instrument work).

[hsr]

@Robertone139 thank for your help 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Beautifully rendered T-44!  The color combination has got to be one of the hardest imaginable, and you did well with your combination of Tamiya and Humbrol paints.  I admire your determination to put these trainers on the line!

[hsr]

6 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

The color combination has got to be one of the hardest imaginable, and you did well with your combination of Tamiya and Humbrol paints.

I just wish I had thought of getting the Fantasy Printshop white backers for the emblems like @Mr T suggested. I've order a few of them so won't make that mistake again.

 

Thanks