Work on the tail wheel area
Picture 1) The real thing minus the tire
Picture 2) Top is the kit part as supplied. Bottom is after my modification with a motor tool and needle file.
Picture 3) Part glued on showing the wonderful fit.
Picture 4) Test fitting of tail wheel after filling and blending into the surrounding area. I'll make a boot out of PVA glue soaked tissue later on when I mount it permanently.
More kit revisions, this time to the nose
The P-36 and most of The Hawk 75s has the Pratt Whitney R-1830 double row radial engine, and the fuselage for the Hobby Craft kit was molded for this version. The Hawk 75N that is the subject of this build was a "bargain basement" version of the Hawk and had a lower power Wright R-1820 single row radial. This meant it had a shorter cowl and longer fuselage. Hobby Craft dealt with this by supplying the shorter cowl and an extension piece for the fuselage.
Picture 1 shows the real thing. Picture 2 shows a test fitting of the kits parts. You can see the fuselage extension between the red and blue arrows. The problem is that the very prominent joint/panel line at the red arrow does not exist on the real thing. Also the new forward end of the fuselage should have a rounded over edge on it instead of fitting flush to the cowling like it is molded. A third and more minor problem is that the kits cowling is molded with cowl flaps which are not present on the real thing (purple arrow).
Picture 3 shows the corrections I made. The joint at the rear of the extension filled and faired in with CA glue, filed and sanded. The rounded edge put on the forward end of the fuselage, the cowl flaps filled and all appropriate panel lines re-scribed
Some work done over the last few days: Picture 1) As Jelmer pointed out in his current Group Build, his Academy P-40C Tomahawk kit like this kit that it's based on, has no panel lines on the horizontal tail surfaces. I scribed them in, and also deepened the control surface lines which were rather shallow. Picture 2) The cockpit installed in the fuselage. Picture 3) The wings glued up, the joints filed and sanded, panel lined re-scribed, and control surface lines deepened. Picture 4) The wheel spats glued up, but the joints not yet smoothed out.