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OV-1 Mohawk redux


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I am currently building the Clear Prop Models OV-1 Mohawk in this GB.   Back in the day, I always wanted to build the old Hasegawa kit but never got round to it.  Maybe now is the time. 

 

Am I a glutton for punishment?   :lol:

 

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This will make for an interesting comparison. If teenage me could stick this one together without major issues, other than it being a tail-sitter, I'm sure you'll breeze it boss.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's about time I started to document this build.

 

The original kit is from 1968, although I believe this boxing is from 1973.

 

The parts have raised panels lines which is to be totally expected from a kit of this vintage.  Detail is sparse and simplified when present - again, to be expected.

 

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The following two sprues are only applicable to the OV-1A boxing.  The OV-1B had no fuselage airbrakes. extended witngtips and a SLAR installation.  These are provided as different sprues in the relevant kit.

 

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The kit's cockpit structure is adequate, To be honest I expected to have to put in a rear bulkhead bit it was not necessary.  I did however build up the nose gear bay to prevent a see-through look.   There is plenty of space for ballast, thankfully.  This aircraft needs lots of it!

 

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Even though I had 20g of ballast in there, I added more!  :lol:

 

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There is no subtlety with this kit.  Equally so, there is no faffing around. :) 

 

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There is no detail whatsoever in the undercarriage bays. They are open to the wing interior.  I filled the interior of the nacelles with Milliput and sanded everything flat before building up the bay walls with plastic card scraps.  It all looks very messy at the moment.

 

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As you can see, I elected to remove the flaps in order to position them in the dropped position.  I have also scribed some of the panel lines.

 

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Some more progresss.

 

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The seats are spare from a Special Hobby Mirage F1.  They are not quite right, but they should look okay under the canopy.

 

The decal sheet has a really nice decal for the instrument panel.  Unfortunately as soon as I put it into water, it disintegrated!  :wall:   Luckily only the transparent bits were affected and the instruments themselves came out as seperate miniscule decals.  It was fun putting those onto the panel, I can tell you...  As you can see, some of them are still wonky.

 

The on with the canopy and after a masking session, it was time for main assembly.

 

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A little bit of filler was required, but not nearly as much as I would have expected from a kit of this vintage. :thumbsup:    I then applied my usual grey plastic car primer from a rattle can.

 

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I genuinely wouldn't have thought you'd had to reassemble the IP decals if you hadn't said, that's one heck of a save!


James

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In my other OV-1 build in this GB, I sprayed the base camouflage first and then added the walkways and leading edges.  That led to some tricky masking.   This model will be in the later low visibility scheme. The walkways on this one are black, rather than grey, so I thought I would try spraying the walkways and leading edges black first and masking them off.  There will still be some complicated masking but I don't think it will be nearly as tricky as last time - especially as I have left the outer fins off.

 

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15 hours ago, Enzo Matrix said:

..I have left the outer fins off.

Knew something looked wrong but couldn't for the life of me work out what it was :doh:

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  • 4 weeks later...

I then masked the walkways and flying surface leading edges.

 

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Before spraying overall with Lifecolor UA-220

 

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The later colour scheme for this aircraft had a simplified walkway desgin and was much more low vis with reduced markings, more in line with the US Army helicopters of the time.

 

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The decals were taken from the Clear Prop decal sheet.  The two schemes are sufficiently different that there is no overlap between them

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

I'm always up for a Grumman build, so all the better.

 

Now I fancy an OV-1B, which is quite significantly different.  It has a greater wingspan, no airbrakes on the fuselage and a honking great SLAR pod slung under the fuselage.

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