1/48 Curtis Hawk 75 A-2 - Winter War / Eastern War WWII

[fredleander]

I've been wanting to do a Hawk 75 for awhile now so this GB is as good as any.

Hi, there - does this kit have the same "problem" as the Special Hobby one's - that the engine cowling has to be sawn of a solid resin block? That's where it stopped for me.

Fred​

 

[chris brown]

Thanks for the info and the pics Wojtek. I had some of these pics but quite a few are new to me. Also thanks Geo for the pic of 574. I had seen that one before, but that is actually a clearer pic than the one I have. 574 didn't actually crash, it was just in its revetment when the plane in the background had a engine failure on take off and crashed there. Neither plane was damaged to bad and both were repaired to flying condition. The hobbycraft kit is all plastic with no resin. The cowling is a traditional 2 piece affair that is split down the middle.

 

[rochie]

Nice pick of subject

 

[N4521U]

Sounds like you'll spend as much time on research as building.

Just a thought. Were any of the cockpit accessories changed in foreign service, radios, buttons, panels? maybe legends only.
Would they bother repainting interiors in the heat of battle?

 

[chris brown]

Both the French and Germans made changes to the cockpits. The French reversed the throttles and changed the dials, seat-belts and radios. When the Germans had them they changed the radios, seat-belts, oxygen system and gun sights. The plane I'm going to model came from the last shipment from Germany and these allegedly didn't get over-hauled by the Germans but were instead overhauled by the Finnish state airplane industry. I would think the Finns would do the bare minimum to get them operational and into the fight. Ultimately its a toss up between light IG and a light gray. The research has been fun but I'm not going to stress it too much. I've been on vacation for the last week but should be able to get cracking on it now. If anybody knows what kind of equipment the Finns normally used in there aircraft that might be good to know. It seems like they operated at least one of every type of aircraft that saw service in the ETO from every country involved. Pretty amazing they could keep so many different types of planes flying. The logistics must have been a nightmare!

 

[Lucky13]

 

[parsifal]

great information guys. watching with interest

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Interesting subject Chris, and what else can I say but, 'good choice' as built this machine a couple or so GBs back #20 (different kit manufacturer) in the French version.

 

[chris brown]

Well I've made some slow but steady progress. I started working on the cockpit. The detail that comes in the kit is fairly accurate but looks kind of flat and two dimensional so I've scrapped everything off the sides and have been trying my hand at a little scratch building.

This is the left side of the pit as it comes in the kit. Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of the right side before removing the detail. But using some of the excellent pics that were posted here I was able to rebuild it with a little more detail.

The cockpit floor is devoid of any detail but I'm using a resin pit from a P-40 and backdating it. I had to remove two fuel gauges and a control linkage from the stick. One of the fuel gauges will be reattached in a new location using pics as reference.

Here is a pic of the Quickboost engine I will be using. It has a lot more detail than the kit version but I will have to add push rods and plug wires. With just a little sanding on the inside of the cowling it will slide right in without too much trouble.

I grabbed an unused Eduard Hellcat seat from the spares box and sanded down the sides to give it a better scale appearance. It has a better shape than the kit one. I still need to add a PE strengthening plate and seat belts.

The kit seat.

Well I'm now working on the left side of the pit and the IP. I hope to have more pics soon. Thanks for looking in.

 

[parsifal]

oh boy.....nice work

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

That's coming along nicely Chris. The scratch work is top notch.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Can only agree with Andy, and crisp looking as well.

 

[rochie]

looks great

 

[Wayne Little]

not bad at all..!!

 

[Rogi]

Nice

 

[meatloaf109]

You seem to have done some serious research, so it would look to me that anything you decide (color-wise) will be right.
A very good start and I will be looking in for more.
Great job, so far!

 

[chris brown]

Just a quick update. I'm just about done with the left side of the pit. I'll add some colored PE parts after I get some paint slathered on.

I hope to get some paint on the pit this weekend and after that I expect this build to move rather quickly.

 

[fubar57]

Big improvement on the cockpit.

Geo

 

[Wurger]