OV-1 Mohawk. The devil in disguise.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Do you remember Observer's books?   They were a series of pocket-sized books pblished in the UK by Frederick Warne & Co.  They were an introduction to various subjects such as birds, wild flowers, trees, railway locomotives and aircraft.   The aircraft book was updated every year to document aircraft that were currently in production.  However, this meant there were numerous aircraft that could be observed that were not documented on the annual editions.  Warne & Co therefore produced an omnibus edition for the subject of aircraft, showing all the aircraft in military and civilian service likely to be observed at the time. 

 

As a child, I had one of these.  In fact, I still have it. It was perused time and time again. So much so that the spine fell off.  It is now bruised and battered but is still one of my most treasured possessions.

 

One of the aicraft that always caught my eye in that volume was the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk.   I vowed that one day, I would build a model of that weird looking aircraft.  With the release of the Clear Prop Models kit, now is the time.

 

[trickyrich]

very nice and different!!!  

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The kit comes as a wonderful package.  It is in a nice sturdy box which is far larger than the sprues.

 

 

The decal sheet is very comprehensive.  The instruction booklet is a work of art.

 

The parts are crisply moulded with lots of very fine detail.

 

 

 

 

And there is a comprehensive PE sheet.

 

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

To paraphrase Elvis...  

 

It looks like an angel.  Walks like an angel.  Talks like an angel.  But I got wise.

 

It's the devil in disguise!   Oh yes it is!

 

I think that Clear Prop have gone all out for detail, without considering the buildability of the kit.  This is probably one of the trickiest kits I have ever built.  I have been working on it for a couple of weeks now and haven't documented it because there were a number of times when I seriously considered binning it.  This is not a fun build. 

 

I'm only documenting it now to try and force myself into persevering with it.

 

The major problem with the kit is that there are no real locating pins.  There are tiny pinpricks and nubs on the fuselage halves, but that is it.  The rest of the kit is over engineered with a very complex assembly and more parts than are totally necessary.  Get the alignment of the parts slightly wrong and it throws everything else out.

 

Give us some robust locating pins, Clear Prop!  

 

Let's put this into context.  Each ejection seat has five plastic parts.  Fair enough.  But then we need to add seventeen PE parts and four decals!

 

To be honest, Clear Prop do warn the builder. The word "advanced" is emblazoned across the box.    I like to consider myself an experienced modeller, but this kit may be beyond my skills.... we'll see. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Here is a case in point.   The rear fuselage has some panels which need to be added.  I think that Clear Prop intend to issue a SLAR-equipped OV-1D at some point in the future.  Sadly, given current events in Ukraine, thouse plans may be on hold.     The problem with these panels is that they don't actually fit!   They need to be carefully fettled to fit.  Once they do fit, there is nothing on the fuselage sides to hold them into place.   I added some plastic card tabs to stop them falling into the fuselage but still didn't get them to fit quite flush with the external surface.  How difficult would it have been to add a lip around the edge of the gap?

 

 

You can also see what passes for location pins and their holes on this kit.   

 

[stevehnz]

There was I thinking for a moment, Ooooh, I want one of them. & just as quickly, yeah nah. Gone right of the idea. These have long been the sort of quirky looking subject that has held some fascination for me. A straight forward Academy style build, I'd be over it like a rash. Nonetheless, I'll be keen to see this coming along. 

Steve 

[Col.]

An interesting and worthy subject Enzo so I'm disappointed to learn of the issues this kit presents  While clearly better detailed than the old Hasegawa kit it seems that all comes at the cost of user-friendliness. Good luck with this project and I can only hope Clear Prop not only survive the current situation in their homeland but improve their products.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Right, let's crack on with this.   A word of warning.  Although this may seem to move quickly, that's just because I haven't updated the thread.  This build is like wading through treacle.  It is fighting me every single step of the way! 

 

The cockpit assembly consists of seven plastic components, plus eleven PE components.  That's not including the ejection seats.

 

I haven't used all the PE in the cockpit.  The most notable omissions are for the instrument panel shrouds.  These need to be bent into shape but the PE is just too thick for that.  Maybe it would have worked had I annealed the PE parts beforehand.

 

 

The nose gear bay is built up from five plastic parts and attached to the underside of the cockpit floor.   Everything seems fine here, but we shall return to this area later on.   On the positive side, there is plenty of room for ballast behind the cockpit.  More can be added later if necessary before the upper fuselage panel is fitted.

 

 

 

One thing to note is that I was so frustrated with the build that in my haste to get the fuselage halves together I neglected to fit the spar component.  On the other hand, it is not actually necessary!   

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On to the wings.  Each gear bay is built up from four plastic walls which have tenon joints and fit nicely.  There are also four PE parts which do not.     I replaced them with plastic card strips.   In my opinion, these should have been moulded into the uppersurface part.  Clear Prop are certainly capable of moulding these fine parts.  There is simply no need for the added complexity of PE.

 

 

 

Earlier in this thread, I expressed my opinion that Clear Prop intend to release later versions of this aircraft.  The later versions had a greater wingspan than the OV-1A.  The wings therefore have moulded lines on their interior surfaces where the modeller cuts them down.  The wingtips are clear to provide the wingtip lights.

 

 

The windscreen assembly doesn't fit well but at least it is robust when connected to the overhead console.   I masked the clear portions as soon as possible to protect them from the inevitable filling and sanding.

 

 

 

So...   let's return to the discussion of the cockpit assembly.   The cockpit and nosegear bay have a certain height.  Unfortunatley this means that the rear bulkhead does not fit within the fuselage halves.  It projects slightly above, which means that the upper canopy part will not fit flush.  I used quite a heavy duty file to reduce the height of the protruding blukhead and the thickness of the overhead console.    You will see how well I succeeded later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The engine nacelles have eight plastic parts - none of which have substantial locating pins.

 

 

The exhaust assembly is fine.  But try assembling the nacelle around it.  While you are trying to hold the nacelle halves in place, the exhaust slips out of alignment.  Put the exhaust back into alignment and the nacelle halves collapse.     Shoot me!  Shoot me now!  

 

I finally got things settled down as you can see above only to find that the exhaust was located too far forward.  No clear locating points, yassee...   I only found that out once the nacelle was fitted to the wing.     It never went back into place properly... 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

So this is where we are at.

 

 

 

The upper transparency did not fit, either at the front or the back!  I am going to fit the side transparencies in the open position because life is too short to try and make them fit. 

 

I wonder if anyone at Clear Prop actually attempted to build the kit...   It's sheer purgatory!    

[arfa1983]

Wow what a little disaster of a kit! A lesser man would have given up well before it got to the point above. 

 

Well done on seeing it through. It finally is beginning to take shape! 

[Col.]

As Arfa says well done for pushing all the loose fitting parts to the point where they come together and form the subject in question Enzo. Was tempted to get one of these kits but might avoid it now having seen the issues involved.

[helios16v]

Wow, this is making my Roden seem like a straightforward build.  You got this though.  You’ve got mad skills.  

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Dunno about that.  I think I'm just too bloody minded. 

[81-er]

That's one hell of a pig of a kit! Much respect indeed for managing to make it look like the aircraft it's supposed to be

 

James

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's a two day wall model. Destined to hit the wall two days after it got onto my bench. (Not that it ever would!)

[Enzo the Magnificent]

8 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

It's a two day wall model. Destined to hit the wall two days after it got onto my bench. (Not that it ever would!)

 

 

It has very nearly been a wall model on three separate occasions.

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 minutes ago, Enzo Matrix said:

 

 

It has very nearly been a wall model on three separate occasions.

 

Glazing, fuselage panels and nacelles, is my guess?

[Enzo the Magnificent]

2 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Glazing, fuselage panels and nacelles, is my guess?

 

Yep! 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

This is still fighting me!     The control surfaces on the tail are all separate, which is usually a good thing.   In this case, not so much as - once again - they don't quite fit!   It only takes a few strokes with a sanding stick to solve the problem, but still...   

 

But I finally got it primed with my usual grey plastic car primer from a rattle can.

 

 

The airbrake and flap interiors were then sprayed with red car primer.

 

 

 

I masked off the airbrake areas and sprayed it overal Olive Drab.   Thiis s Lifecolor UA-220.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Carry on, that chap. I'll ring the palace and arrange for you to be awarded the OV1 and bar.

I've been torn between likes and sad faces as I read though the tale of woe.

I too thought it an interesting Aircraft, I was once tempted by the Roden? kit. But fell to the dark side of scratchbuilding.

Good luck, Pete

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Did a bit of detail painting today.

 

 

I know that I've been quite critical of this kit so far, but now I'm past the main assembly madness, I'm starting to warm to it.

 

Of course, I've probably totally jinxed it now...    

[Col.]

At least there isn't many parts left to attach now boss; undercarriage and props mainly?

[Enzo the Magnificent]

11 minutes ago, Col. said:

At least there isn't many parts left to attach now boss; undercarriage and props mainly?

 

True enough.  But we all know how much trouble they can cause!     Each prop blade is separate so I might build the props as feathered.