Old Man Posted July 12, 2022 Share Posted July 12, 2022 This is a marker, I can't get started on this till next weekend. Still.... The three 'yellow wings' Monogram kits are among the best vintage kits ever made. This 'Goshawk' must be a contender for some 'shortest service life' distinction, as within a few months it was modified into the BFC-2. I expect to detail this a bit, but won't be directly using the Starfighter resin. Metalwork on this should be lacquered aluminum, not grey. Recently Mr. Dana Bell discovered a letter from the Navy to Curtiss saying that since the change would go into effect soon, the company should just use the new finish on these. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planebuilder62 Posted July 13, 2022 Share Posted July 13, 2022 Hi there Old Man What were the other 2 Yellow Wing kits? regards Toby 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 Curtiss P-6E and Boeing F4B-4. Little gems the lot of them.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Hi, this is one kit I have never been able to get! But it is still high on my bucket list... I will definitely be watching this little beauty take shape. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Welcome along and please don't mind as I will be following, I have a special interest in the era. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 19, 2022 Author Share Posted July 19, 2022 Got in a bit of a start on this, gentlemen. This is a sort of 'group shot': The figure is the one from the kit, altered so he has his hand on the stick. The kit decals include an instrument panel of sorts, it's quite generic but trimmed will do, and it's a nice touch in an old kit. The panel moulded in the upper front piece is too far forward, the panel goes right at the front coaming. In Curtiss types at this time, the cockpit was enclosed in aluminum sheet, which moulded around structural members, and stepped in a bit. This lining was a sales point, and quite distinctive. The fuselage half at the top shows the floor and one sidewall. The other (it is a tub) disappears in flash on silver. The other fuselage half shows the sidewall right at the cockpit. Here is stuff press-fit, with the pilot tacked in place... There's been more progress since this, but nothing photographed yet. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ballman Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Nice start on this Classic, Thanks for sharing. JB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 1:41 PM, John Ballman said: Nice start on this Classic, Thanks for sharing. JB Thanks, John. These are nice little things.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 Got some color on things: Yellow is a home-mix from tube acrylic paints cut with Future and water, the Navy's was a different shade than the Army's. Decals are from the kit, and worked like new. I mistook a paint pot of dark blue for black in a wash on the tires.... Fuselage halves are joined, with pilot in place: Here's a look at what will be visible of the cockpit (upper nose piece simply press-fit). Plan, at least, is to tackle lower wing next. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 Looking good so far, didn't catch the blue at first until I read through your post. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 4 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Looking good so far, didn't catch the blue at first until I read through your post. I didn't catch it myself till I posted it up. It was late night, and I keep a pretty cluttered bench.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 More progress, guys. This is all assembled, but not yet sprayed. Wing is just resting in place, to give the color scheme. I opened up the wingtip handholds on the lower wing. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Hi Old Man, this is looking real good! I love the blue tires!!! The yellow is giving me nightmares: I used to use a more orange yellow, and I liked it. Plus it was supposed to be Gospel. Now the yellow is supposed to be lighter... Damn! Yellow Wings Decal suggest Tamiya Camel yellow... which I definitely cannot get on time. So I will have to improvise with some Humbrol enamel paints, hoping I do not fall in between two chairs in doing so. I am about to throw some aluminium paint in the cockpit of my F4B-4. Thereafter it should go quite fast. Great job! Are you going to rig this huge beast? JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 4, 2022 Author Share Posted August 4, 2022 43 minutes ago, jean said: Hi Old Man, this is looking real good! I love the blue tires!!! The yellow is giving me nightmares: I used to use a more orange yellow, and I liked it. Plus it was supposed to be Gospel. Now the yellow is supposed to be lighter... Damn! Yellow Wings Decal suggest Tamiya Camel yellow... which I definitely cannot get on time. So I will have to improvise with some Humbrol enamel paints, hoping I do not fall in between two chairs in doing so. I am about to throw some aluminium paint in the cockpit of my F4B-4. Thereafter it should go quite fast. Great job! Are you going to rig this huge beast? JR Thanks, Jean. I do my own mixes with tube acrylics, so this might not help, but here goes. The base is Cadmium Yellow, which is pretty close to the usual 'insignia yellows'. Mr. Bell describes the Navy shade as not quite so orange as the Army's, and with a hint of green to it. Into the base yellow I mixed a very mall amount of Burnt Umber (about the same tone as the usual 'leather' color in a model paint range, a 'brick red') and then a tiny amount of Ultramarine Blue (dark, but not so dark as the blue in US and RAF insignia). It's basically a little purple mixed into the yellow, while the Army shade needs just a little red mixed in the yellow base. I do intend to rig the thing, how well I'll manage it I can't predict, I haven't done much of that in a while. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 On 04/08/2022 at 15:31, jean said: Tamiya Camel yellow. Tamiya Camel Yellow is very well suited for the USAAC Orange Yellow, which is not the same as used by the US Navy! A lighter mix will be needed for that. For the differences see here (last picture at the end of my topic) Your model is coming along very nicely, old man! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 Excellent progress here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Hi, this is all great-looking! I assume that the section leader's white fuselage band is part of the decal sheet? Like the F4B-4? Not sure I like that system, but when that's all there is... Keep up the superb work! JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 On 8/11/2022 at 12:24 PM, jean said: Hi, this is all great-looking! I assume that the section leader's white fuselage band is part of the decal sheet? Like the F4B-4? Not sure I like that system, but when that's all there is... Keep up the superb work! JR Yes, it is all one piece, as is the upper wing chevron and number. It's not flexible, but in this case well registered. Thanks for the compliment, Jean. Now that I've got the Hien done, I'm coming back to this one. Bell-cranks worked the ailerons of every Hawk type, moving an actuating rod (which is the 'extra' strut behind the interplanes), and beneath the lower wingtip was a tear-drop fairing to accommodate its workings. The national markings overlap these. The two little bits in grey on the plastic stick are the fairings, shaped from half-round scrap plastic. They are stuck on the 'stick' with a rad of CA gel for shaping, got a spray of rattle-can silver, and were then popped off with the edge of a razor knife. Once the decals are down, I applied these with white glue over the holes in the wingtip marking the rod's location. They are painted with an insignia blue match to conform to the cockade's outline. I've tinted the white of the cowling to match the tone of the decals. The upper wing itself, positioned on the cabanes, makes a jig of sorts, setting the interplane struts to the proper angle when glued only on the bottom and popped into place. I dummied up a crude representation of the centerline rack holding the external fuel tank from 1mm square rod. There should be wing-racks, too. I rigged the cabanes first, it's not accessible later. I had hopes of doing all the rigging before even attaching the upper wing, but even cut longer than usual, the stretch in the EZ-Line elastic I use put too great a strain on the interplane joints to the lower wing. I hurried through the rear flight wires and landing wires, and got the struts into their receiving holes. and glued down tight. I'll put in the forward flight wires later. Putting the upper wing on in a hurry like that meant I had to put in the sighting scopes and windscreen afterwards, but it went all right. Everything fit well, even the notch in the windscreen for the scope. The vertical tailplane did not fit well, and that surprised me. I have cleaned up that seam.... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Looking really good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Hi, this looks fantastic! You are lucky: your decal sheet is in a far better state than mine, where they have cracked and the national roundels are badly out of register. I tried to use one out of curiosity on a paint mule, and I must say that they stick like hell and are really thin and user friendly. But thank goodness I have the Yellow Wings decal sheet! Great show! JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 Bit more progress on this one, guys.... Not a lot left to do. A bit of rigging on the tail, of course the propeller, and I expect to add the underwing bomb-racks. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Great job gotta love these inter-war USN colours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 (edited) 6 hours ago, stevej60 said: Great job gotta love these inter-war USN colours. Thanks, Steve. They are kind of flashy, and apparently the various section and squadron markings were applied at the factory --- Navy air was a small place then. I think the Army has the Navy beat easy when it comes to colors, though. The blue/yellow scheme is literally eye-catching, it evolved from trails aimed at reducing mid-air collisions at busy training fields. The earlier Army scheme, a combination of high-visibility yellow and olive drab, the root color of all camouflage, has the weird appeal of the early-war RAF black/white undersurfaces, or the green the IJAAF sprayed on highly reflective aluminum. Edited August 30, 2022 by Old Man 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ballman Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 Nice finish, thanks for sharing your beauty. JB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 6, 2022 Author Share Posted September 6, 2022 This ceased to be a happy-funtime build when I was putting on the last underwing bomb-rack. I managed to drop the thing. It held together better than I expected: the upper wing came loose but only the starboard landing wires, and starboard front cabane wires popped, so the wing stayed more or less in place, and in air gone quite blue was readily re-attached, and rigging re-attached. Not until I looked at the pictures did I realize I attached the landing wires at the interplane N's rear rather than its front. So I will be redoing that bit before I put up anything in the gallery. But here's a shot that doesn't show the error, and one that does.... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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