Silver Wings P-6E Hawk

[Zero77]

Thank you guys !

 

Yes, Iain, the kit is very straightforward. The fit is excellent, almost every details are in the box (i just added the throttle rods, and may have replaced the throttle handles, i dont remember. I still have to build the antennas and they are not included in the kit but many real P-6E were not equipped) and there is no trap. The instructions are very good, except a few times, when it's not obvious to find which part is on the drawing.

 

The only real difficulty for me was with the outer wing struts. The first time, i placed them at the wrong place, and the holes i've drilled were too large. The difficulty is that there is a steel rod in the strut, and they are very angled, so you cant just put the upper wing on them, the rods wont match the holes because of the angle, you have to flex the lower wing a bit to make them fit in the holes.

But after a little filling with CA and cleaning, i tried again with a better position and angle and it was ok. For the next one, i think it would be easier now.

 

So, it's not so easy as a WNW kit, but for a resin + biplane kit, it's very VERY good.

 

I already know that i will definitely buy aother one later, to build a blue one.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Zero77

[ollieholmes]

Lovely build and i look forward to seeing more progress.

[scvrobeson]

Looks great!  Love these little Silver Wings kits, such good subjects and great kits.  And I like the idea of painting on the black portions, that's probably a lot easier to do than getting the decals to lay down onto the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Zero77]

The paint is done. I'm not fully satisfied though. I think i should have done the black feathers with the same "tear drop" shape than the white ones, and not with this more irregular and drooping aspect. In fact i just dont know... All the period pictures that i've seen are too dark or too bad quality to see how it was painted in real. On the replicas or restored aircraft, they have the tear drop shaped. On the Wing nut wings profile and on the Squadron "in Action" about the Curtiss hawks in the Army, they are messed up like i did. I may just let it.

 

 

But my real issue now is the roundels on the underwing.... The decals are very good quality, so i was confident, perhaps too much, and apply them directly over a quite protruding bulge. I thought that with a lot of microsol they would conform to the surface. But it was too much for them. It's still not dry on the pictures, but this morning i had a look and it was awful. I'll see what i can do this evening, but i will have a lot of touch ups to come, or i may even make masks and paint them on instead of the decals.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Zero77

[Guest Peterpools]

Nicolas

Wonderful progress on the P6E Hawk. I'm taking notes as you go, as I have the kit in the to be built stack and you surely make it look easier then it actually is. The decals fitting over the bulges are a pain regardless of the kit and for me, I default to lots of Solvaset or even Gunze Mr Softner, which are a lot stronger then my customary Micro Sol. If all should go south, I just cut the offending portion of the decal away and head for some paint. Super work on the masks for the feathers

I very curious as to your plan for rigging the Hawk, as flying wires were airfoiled shaped stainless steel by that period and for the most part the attachment points were inside fairings.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Zero77]

Thanks Peter,

for the rigging, i think i'll use the Prym elastic wire and simple micro-tube for the turnbuckles when they are visible. It is flat, so with a bit of silver pen, it should look ok. If not, i may try Radu's PE flat rigging wires.

[Out2gtcha]

Wow, that looks LOVELY!

 

 

Thanks Peter,

for the rigging, i think i'll use the Prym elastic wire and simple micro-tube for the turnbuckles when they are visible. It is flat, so with a bit of silver pen, it should look ok. If not, i may try Radu's PE flat rigging wires.

 

 

I found the silver marker pens dont work especially well on the Prym stuff Nicolas.   If I might, Id suggest getting some "dye pens" if you have a local fabric or hobby/craft type stores around you, as I found the white Prym knittin in thread takes REALLY well to the dye pens.  

I found "cool gray" to be a good likeness for worn silver or silver'gray rigging:

 

 

HTH 

Edited December 10, 2015 by Out2gtcha

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Thanks for the tip and adding it to my notes

Peter

[Zero77]

Same for me, thanks Brian ! That looks great !

[ClumsyDude]

Nic, I really like it. Up to you whether you prefer the "clean" teardrop of the restored bird or your "messed up" one, either way, I have to say I really like the effect you've achieved. I think the irregularity of the "messed up" version adds a level of awesome that you wouldn't get if it were perfectly regular, and hey, you've got ambiguous references, so you're free to chose on the basis of awesomeness ... but that's just my $0.02 ...

 

Cheers

Jim

[scvrobeson]

Great work. Like the paint work so far. The USAAC paint schemes were certainly colorful, I look forward to seeing the rest of this one done. I need to get back to my Silver Wings kits, got bogged down for some reason or another on them.

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[DeanKB]

Looks great - worth getting just for that brilliant camo finish.

 

After PC10 & PC12, a colourful biplane looks stunning.

 

Silver Wings are doing a great job.

[DeanKB]

Wow, that looks LOVELY!

 

 

 

 

I found the silver marker pens dont work especially well on the Prym stuff Nicolas.   If I might, Id suggest getting some "dye pens" if you have a local fabric or hobby/craft type stores around you, as I found the white Prym knittin in thread takes REALLY well to the dye pens.  

 

I found "cool gray" to be a good likeness for worn silver or silver'gray rigging:

 

 

 

HTH 

 

That's a rather lovely DH.2 build.

 

The rigging looks a bit intimidating - are those Gaspatch turnbuckles?

[Out2gtcha]

That's a rather lovely DH.2 build.

 

The rigging looks a bit intimidating - are those Gaspatch turnbuckles?

 

 

Thanks Dean, Yep, Gaspatch TBs and Bobs Buckles cut tubes and eyelets.   The RFI is in my sig if your interested in it, and the WIP is in the RFI.

 

Sorry to hijack Nickolas!  

Edited December 11, 2015 by Out2gtcha

[Zero77]

No problem Brian !

 

I solved the "decals on bulge" issue, repainting them with custom masks made with the decals dimensions. I first tried on the left one, as it was the one with the more folds. I tried to unstick it, but it was impossible, only the color went out, but not the carrier film. So i just repainted over the carrier film, it is very thin anyway, thinner than a coat of paint.

 

 

 

Here on the right the repainted marking, on the left the damaged decal :

That's not so bad, except than i wasn't able to catch exactly the same red color, so the repainted one is a bit darker.

 

 

Here both are repainted, on the left one, i only repainted the blue and white color, the red is still the decal, which has been masked during the painting. I think i will let it like that, even if there is a slight difference on the red on each side.