Heart pounding full of hope: a "Stocky" Edwards Kittyhawk I in 1/72

[Procopius]

Forgive the photos, I decided on an RFI during a burst of unjustified self-confidence. The camera sees what the eye occludes, and I'm much less happy with it than I was before I studied the photos. Additionally, my Pixel 7's camera has been incredibly disappointing, possibly due to a poor choice of case. And my lightbox needs replacing, and I need new lights for it besides. But those are all excuses. 

 

In any case, I opted to build a Kittyhawk shortly after the death of J F Edwards, Canada's greatest and last remaining ace from the Second World War. DK Decals has a sheet with a Kittyhawk I purportedly flown by Edwards in June of 1942 during his time on 260 Squadron, though not the aircraft he flew when on 17 June 1942 he shot down and killed the experte Otto Schulz with a deflection shot of remarkable difficulty.  The Special Hobby Kittyhawk Ia kit was my base, with the only cosmetic modification to make it a Kittyhawk I being to replace the later bulged 0.50 barrels with some brass rod of the appropriate size. Paints are the excellent Colourcoats for all but the cockpit interior (a Gunze mixture), the rubber of the tires (Tamiya), and the propeller blades and tips (Gunze again). Some Eduard etch was used, principally to irritate me, I think, which probably speaks volumes about how low diplomatic relations with my own psyche have sunk. 

 

Wildly discursive build thread here: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Laidlaw]

A brilliant build, PC!

[Stew Dapple]

Lovely job mate  And I don't think those pictures are actually as bad as you think they are  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks fine to me Edward, we are our own worst critics so I think that plays a role. 

[Learstang]

Don't be so hard on yourself, PC! You're starting to give me a complex. That P-40 looks good, and I would love to have one come out as nicely (I have three P-40s in the queue, all Soviet, big surprise there).

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

[Learstang]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

...we are our own worst critics so I think that plays a role. 

 

That's not entirely true, as people who see my models quickly become my worst critics.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[opus999]

I think it looks terrific!  The weathering turned out rather nice.

[ijs302]

Looks good to me, nicely weathered I would be more than happy with that one 

[jackroadkill]

Thar she blows!  I think it looks grand, Edward, and I can't wait to see what you build next.

[tonyh]

That looks great.

 

I’ve enjoyed the trip with you and can’t wait to watch your next build.

 

 

[2996 Victor]

Brilliant modelling and an outstanding result, I'd say! And as always a worthy tribute to a brave aviator.

 

Stay safe,

Mark

[perdu]

Looks rather wonderful to me Edward and I wish I could a: model like you and b: take photos as well as you.

[2996 Victor]

2 hours ago, perdu said:

Looks rather wonderful to me Edward and I wish I could a: model like you and b: take photos as well as you.

+1 on both scores, there!  

[AliGauld]

Nowt wrong with that one.

A wee beauty.

Cheers,

Alistair

[Spitfire31]

A most excellent Kittyhawk. So good, in fact, that I had to look twice at the heading to confirm that it's really 1:72nd scale.

 

The wear around the wing ammo hatches does a lot for the overall impression, too.

 

Sweet work!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Terry1954]

 

Still smarting from my embarrassing attempt at being smart in my comments in the WIP!

 

T

[Fritag]

I’ll just add my voice to the throng praising the build if I may 

 

And respectfully submit that no excuses are required and that the quality of the finish survives the camera just fine….Dammit, shouldn’t say fine anymore given the apparent range of meaning…. Ok the finish survives the camera quite unscathed.  In other words it looks great!

[Vulcanicity]

Yes I think you are being unfair on yourself, it looks much better than my own attempt at a desert P-40! The sand weathering has come out really nicely. Out of interest, what is the pale patch on the rear fuselage spine? I'm imagining abrasion from some kind or weighted tie-down to stop the aircraft flipping over in a sandstorm but I'm just guessing...

[CedB]

Wow. I aspire to that finish.

Great job Egbert, you haven't lost your touch (fnaar!)

[Mig88]

Looks great to me!

 

Miguel

[Mattlow]

I think that's a lovely build.

 

I do like the contrasting light/dark panel line work... I think that's very effective.

 

Matt

 

PS - you are too hard on yourself, but I think you know that..

[Bedders]

Lovely job. And another one added to my "to do" list.

 

Justin

[Pete in Lincs]

I do like a nice P-40. This one is right at the top of the like list. Well played Sir.

[Cookenbacher]

Fantastic - I'm especially taken with the delicate appearance of the sliding portion of the canopy, it really adds to the overall effect you've created with the realistic finish.

A wonderful tribute to the great (and probably only) under-claiming ace.

[stevehnz]

That looks brilliant Edward, could've done with a few more photos, especially an upside down one.  

Steve.