Armée de l'air Curtiss Hawk 1/48

[Doccur]

Hi everyone,

 

Next up on the workbench is the 1/48 Hobbycraft Hawk 75, which I’ll be doing in the guise of a Battle of France aircraft, very similar to the flying example that can be seen here at IWM Duxford. 
 

 

As you can see I have purchased a smattering of aftermarket as the detail is a little soft in areas and it wasn’t excessively expensive. In fact the most expensive part of this project was the decal sheet from Berna Decals: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/BER48144

 

I haven’t decided on the exact aircraft I’ll be modelling as of yet. But I like the two with Native American insignia on the fuselage. 
 

This project will also be a first as I have bought some lifecolor paints for the French camouflage, anyone have any experience with those for when I come to spray them?

 

Unfortunately this build may drag on as I’m supposed to be moving house very soon, but I won’t hold my breath, solicitors are taking an age!

 

Cheers

 

Ash

[Doccur]

First update time!

 

Over the past few days I’ve been tinkering away with the cockpit, the etch and resin seat really make a difference to what is quite basic OOB. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by the resin seat, in my opinion, it looks so much better than PE and is much easier to use! 
 

Anyway, I primed the cockpit with Vallejo primer and sprayed MM acrylic Zinc Chromate green for the interior colour. This sprayed wonderfully, which was frustrating as more often than not I find this brand clogs my airbrush up quite easily. 
 

I picked out small details with Vallejo acrylics, namely aluminium, leather, black and a mix of white and brown for the harnesses. After this I put a satin coat over the top and used a dark brown wash to pick out some details. 
 

 

 

Here is a close up of the seat and IP:

 

As I stated previously, I was very happy with the seat, the wash really brings it to life too. With the IP I tried the method of adding Micro Kristal Klear to simulate the dial glass (it is still drying in this photo). 
 

Cheers!

 

Ash

[Todders]

Very nice.  I will be watching this quite a bit as I have had this kit for years and need to build it or move it along to someone ready to

give it the “love” that it deserves.   
 

                                                                                      Todders

[Doccur]

Thanks @Todders

 

i think it might be time to dust it off and give it a crack! It’s a beautiful aircraft and rumour has it Eduard is going to release a new tool In the mid-term potentially! I’ve been stung by this as I have a Hobbycraft P-35 In the stash that has now been made obsolete by the nee Dora Wings offering…

 

Ash

[Doccur]

Time for another update I think. I have assembled the majority of the aircraft now, I found the fit to be lacking, but nothing that a bit of sanding and filling can’t overcome! The worst fit was the wing to fuselage join at the wing roots and at the underside of the wing root leading edge. The fuselage wasn’t great either but nothing out of the ordinary! 
 

 

 

 

 

^ here you can see the poor fit at the front and also some of the extra detail the Eduard photo etch has added to the undercarriage bays. 
 

And here we have the Quickboost engine with the pushrods I added myself with copper wire. I’ll get a picture of the finished article next update.

 

 

 

And here we have the finished airframe (well, nearly), starting to look like a P-36!

 

 

Cheers

 

Ash

 

 

[Troy Smith]

On 26/09/2021 at 00:24, Doccur said:

and rumour has it Eduard is going to release a new tool In the mid-term potentially!

Clear Prop are doing the entire P-36 family, the M/N variant is the out out so IIRC. 

see 

 

[Doccur]

Hi all, next update is mostly me fixing a balls up of mine. If you look on my last post you can see the protrusion of the engine crank case from the cowling (or lack thereof). Apparently it is a known fault of these kits that the engine sits too far back, so when the prop is installed, it would foul the cowling guns. In my naivety I thought the quick post engine would rectify this, but alas no. 
 

So following this annoying discovery (as the cowling actually fitted quite nicely) I had to cut off the cowling, remove the engine put some washers behind the engine to ensure it was protruding enough. 
 

 

After replacing the engine and cowling the fit was somewhat worse due to some material being removed from the cowling during the removal process, shown here on the port side where I have had to liberally apply mr dissolved putty: 

 

 
The end result being a crankcase which suitable protrudes from the cowling (you can see I also tackled the interior headrest seam):

 

Here is where she presently is, up on her legs with canopy applied:

 

 

Cheers

 

Ash 

 

P.S I also made another boo boo when I test fitted the wing machine guns and one decided the disappear within the wing… I can hear it rattling but can’t get it out! A replacement will have to be sourced. 

 

 

 

 

[Doccur]

Now the PITA with the cowling is sorted I have finally managed to get some primer onto this, everything looking quite nice. The Vallejo primer goes down nice and smooth when sprayed right, would definitely recommend. Only issue is it doesn’t feather particularly well when it’s sanded down. 
 

On another note my spraying box is looking a little worse for wear. Might be time to replace it! 
 

 

Next up was spraying the wheel wells and the wheels themselves. I then masked the wells and resprayed primer to cover the green up. 
 

Next job was the National colours on the rudder, I had no inclination to try and use the decals for this so mixed some colours to match the roundels and here we are: 

 

Only a little bleed out from the red and I’m quite happy with the result! A bit of pre-shading on the underside is to follow! 
 

Ash

 

[Doccur]

Hi all, 

 

I neglected to take many photos during the process, doh! But I’ve sprayed all the main colours of the aircraft now. Pre-shaded the underside, no shading on the top side yet, I intend to do some post shading once I’ve completed the plethora of touch ups that are required. On another note, lifecolor sprays very nicely! 
 

 

 

 

Cheers 

 

Ash

[Doccur]

Touch ups (mostly) done, next the wing walkways and then a bit of varnish!

 

 

I am currently in two minds of how to weather this, I have seen a couple of images that show some severe chipping on the wing roots and leading edges, so I may give that a go with aluminium paint and a fine brush. 
 

Examples as shown here (not my photos):

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

Ash

[Doccur]

Hi all, the Hawk is now all finished!

 

Had a bit of a mare with the finishing touches, the rear transparencies look a bit naff as the clear adhesive is quite visible and the decals were a huge pain. They were from Berna decals and they were extraordinarily thick and despite gloss coating before, using hot water and liberal amounts of setting solution (micro-sol and Mig), they just wouldn’t bed down! (You can really tell if you look at the underside roundels). I would not  recommend these decals, which is a shame as they do a nice range. I might chance another set if anyone has some differing experiences though 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

I sealed the decals in and did a bit of weathering, including an attempt at painting chipping (not the most convincing effort), exhaust and gun staining and mud staining which I particularly like the look of on the underside. Finished the kit off with an Uschi thread antenna and here we have it: 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along, my house move is going through shortly so this will be my last kit for a little while!

 

Ash