**** DONE: 1/48 Curtiss Hawk 75A-2 - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII

[Vic Balshaw]

Username: Vic Balshaw
First name: Vic
Category: Judge – Non competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Must Have – MH148001

The OOB includes resin and etched details.

Extras: AMLA48 003 Control surface etched detail. AMLA48 004 Wheels and undercarriage detail. Mushroom camouflage and decal book.

I've not seen these 'Must Have' kits before, this is the first one they've ever produced so it will be interesting to see how they shape up.

After a nice break from the last GB and a long exhausting globetrotting holiday I'm coming back into this GB with an aircraft flown by French ace Sous-lieutanant (S/Lt) Marcel Rouquette who was born on 27 August 1916 and started his war career when assigned as a fighter pilot to lère Escadrille GC I/5 on 8 March 1940. The squadron was equipped with the Curtiss P-36, designated as the Hawk H-75-A by the French. Allocated aircraft No 125, Rouquette achieved 9 credited kill up to June 1940, 1 in his own right, a Ju 87 and 8 shared with his wingman. Rouquette wrote this aircraft off during a belly-landing on 8 June 1940 having run out of fuel.

Rouquette scored two other kills during the war and continued to serve his country, becoming a Brigadier General appointed as Deputy Chief of Staff of the French Air Force in 1964 and eventually retiring in January 1968. Marcel Rouquette died on 26 July 1999 in Aix-en-Province, France.

 

[ozhawk40]

Looks like lots of details to add there Vic. This will be very interesting to watch.

Cheers

Peter

 

[woody]

Nice one Vic looking forward to how this one builds.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent choice Vic!

 

[Wildcat]

Cool Vic!

 

[fubar57]

Looks like it might be a Hobbycraft remake Vic, sure looks familiar....

If so, this is a link to my build. http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/16-ww1-ww2/done-1-48-curtis-p-36c-hawk-ww1-ww2-gb-34623-3.html You probably won't have the same problems, but here's something Glenn(T-Bolt) warned me about, just in the nick of time...

Bring it on , my friend.

Geo

 

[Vic Balshaw]

It looks like you could be spot on their Geo though I think they have modified the cockpit a bit and added some resin and PE parts, the seat and backing for example are made from PE. Anyway, I'll certainly refer to your build for some hints and cross checks. So many thanks mate.

 

[s1chris]

Nice choice Vic.

 

[Wurger]

With all here.

 

[T Bolt]

George is right, Definitely the old hobbycraft molds. Not to say that's bad, I've built 3 of them and have a fourth in the stash and it's a nice kit. The cockpit detail is pretty basic but it it looks like the resin and etched parts will take care of that.

 

[meatloaf109]

Should be a good one!

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice choice Vic. Not a lot of French subjects on this forum so is a welcome addition.

 

[Lucky13]

Nice one kid....

 

[Wayne Little]

Something different! Good stuff Vic...

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Well folks I've made a start, sort of. Looking at the instruction sheet and then at the bits on the sprue and the resin and PE bits that came with the kit, it soon became evident that the instructions are wholly geared to the use of the resin and PE and neglect to tell one where all the little extra bits are supposed to go. Much of the models external detail will have to be worked out from photo references of which there seems to be very little off that show such detail.

Anyway I've started cleaning up some of the resin bits that for the engine and cockpit.

As I'd already been warned, fitment of the rear cockpit wall behind the seat was a bit crude, but this can be overcome by one of the resin parts that not only form the back wall but also the cockpit bottom.

The side walls though showing some detail are a bit sparse but lucky me, I've a couple of extra resin bits to chose from. I'm thinking of using the yellow resin which is well detailed, though the pic is not showing it. The darker resin walls are well detailed but seem to be out of preparation.

I'm actually going to start with the engine in the resin detail. In theory if using the resin, the engine cowls should be left off as the kit states this is to an accurate scale but will not fit within the cowls unless the cowl walls are thinned and parts of the engine cylinder heads are shaved. Regardless of this, I'm going to use the resin engine and make it fit as the parts you will se are in much better detail than the sprue parts. By the way, on the sprue I have three rotary engines in which to choose from and all look the same.

 

[imalko]

Nice choice and good start mate.

 

[Wayne Little]

gonna scrub up Nice...

 

[Wurger]

With all.

 

[N4521U]

This should be another stunner matey.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks guys, am hoping to push on a bit more this arvo.