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Guys, This will be my first start to finish build in the WIP forum. Following immediately on the heels of the XF5U I’ve started the Halberd SC-1 Seahawk and have progressed enough to share some pics. I hope I can build it to the wonderful standard Red Baron achieved on his. The kit comes in Halberd’s traditional light green resin; the fuselage is hollow cast, the floats and each of the wings are molded as solid resin. Dry fitting revealed the Halberd’s usual near flawless fit. Halberd is easily one of my favorite manufacturers in terms of subjects, detail and quality and ease of build. I followed the kit instructions and started with the engine; the Wright R1820 engine built up very quickly. I painted all the major components prior to assembly, with all the parts first primed in Mr Surfacer Black. The kit firewall was then painted MRP Night, the crankcase and prop governor started with MRP Mig-19 Cockpit blue, which I’ve had success with in the past, but this time it turned out too light so MRP RAF Blue Grey was misted over the base coat until it looked dark enough. Washes from Mi:, Blue-Grey and Black-Blue were used to bring out details. The cylinders were painted in MRP White Aluminum at the top, and dark aluminum at the bottom, with MRP Anodized Aluminum mottled over the entire cylinder. True Earth Dark Metallic acrylic wash was used to make the cooling fins pop. The ignition harness was sprayed SMS Aluminum, a new fave, and the push rods are Tamiya SemiGloss black lacquer. The nine separate cylinders click right into place. The prop governor and ignition harness were then added, with the insignia white splitter plate filling the bottom of the engine. The push rods were cut from .035” (.9mm) rod. The predrilled holes in the crankcase and cylinders had to be opened with a twist or two of a .035” drill bit to allow them to ease into their locations. Once the push rods were cured, I added the 2 piece ignition harness in preparation for my least favorite modeling task - making radial engine ignition wires. These were added from .4mm Anyz braided wire and fit into predrilled holed in the ignition harness and spark plugs. A couple of decals were added to the crankcase to spice things up The engine intakes were dry brushed to add a little pop, and some thinned Abtieiung Sepia and Starship Filth oils were speckled and streaked onto the splitter plate, interior cowling and engine to make it all look operational The propeller was painted and built, The kit decals for the data block are printed in white, but these should be yellow, so I over-sprayed the cuffs with clear yellow to tint the text. The fit to the hub was perfect; blades are just press fit for now. This build is progressing very quickly and is really only limited to the amount of time you want to spend painting and adding additional details, although they aren’t really needed. Up next cockpit painting and assembly… Thanks for dropping by John

I built this straight from the box with the exception of the seat harness (too out of scale). I love the Extra Dark Sea Gray/Sky combination and colors presented in the Indian Navy markings. I planned to finish this with a wash but want to wait unitl I can find some Flory wash to give that a try. Otherwise, the kit went together with the usual angst regarding these kits. Kit needs a lot of nose weight. I used about 10 grams pushed in around the nose gear bay. More is better in this case. The rest of the kit was fine.

Some pics of the aircraft exhibits preserved in the Aviation museum at ta' Qali airfield at Malta.