GWH 1/32 Curtiss 81A-2 Hawk - Flying Tiger

[Thunnus]

Hello LSP! I realize that I have a few unfinished builds but having pushed the Italeri Folgore past the finish line, I can't help but start a new project.  The Hasegawa Hayate and the Revell 109G will be placed on hold for now.  The new project?  This one is a nod to my childhood and revisiting a model that I remember so vividly...

Having built this venerable Revell kit as a child with just glue and no paint and hanging it with fishing line from the ceiling of my bedroom, I thought it would be cool to go full circle and build a Flying Tiger model again.  This time with some paint! And since the models have advanced with the times, the Revell kit will be replaced by this new, state-of-the-art release by Great Wall Hobby...



Released in 2022, this GWH release is definitely in the Zoukei Mura camp in terms of providing a high parts count and internal details that may or may not be seen after completion.  308 plastic parts on 14 sprues with a full Allison V-12 engine.  I There are a lot of online reviews of this kit already and the majority of which are overwhelmingly positive, but let's take a look at the kit contents anyways to help familiarize us with the work ahead.


The biggest sprue in the box holds the wing parts.  And it is a little different than most aircraft models in that the wings are captured in two parts only, instead of the typical three.



The reason for the one part upper wing is to correctly represent the cockpit floor on the top of the wings, which is a detail that most other P-40 kits have ignored.



The molding quality on this kit is very nice.  Rivets are provided as fine holes and look to be much more refined than say, a Trumpeter or Special Hobby offering.

Interestingly, the interior side of the wing parts reveal a network of longitudinal spars, I'm guessing for the sake of increased rigidity?  The wing parts do feel less "floppy" than is typical.



The fuselage follows a modular approach, which could lead to fit issues but I've read very positive things about the fitment of parts on this kit so my fingers are crossed.



Again, very nice molding but these photos highlight one of the few negative issues that have been pointed out about this kit. The clear parts for the 3/4 rear windows have no framing around their circumference and are simply butt-joined into the openings.  This is a horrible way to attach clear parts to a model as the glue joint is virtually impossible to hide.  The better (albeit more complicated) way would've been to mold a portion of the rear fuselage spine as a clear part.  Not sure what I'm going to do here but at a minimum, I'll probably cut a custom mask just a tad smaller than the window itself just get some paint over the joint and hide it a bit. We'll see...

The engine cowling has been separated from the central fuselage in order to give the modeler the option of mounting the closed cowling OR the exposed engine using magnets???  An interesting choice but one, I think, might work better than having the cowling parts fitting over the engine.



In comparing the kit parts with scale drawings, I've noticed that not all of the rivets have been represented.  This is especially true on the engine cowling.  I plan on adding some rivets here.



The wing fillet parts are supplied as separate parts, which is another interesting choice.



The fabric-covered control surfaces have rib detail subtly portrayed.  The horizontal tail parts are molded integrally instead of in pairs which should help with alignment.



A decent representation of the canvas covering is molded into the wheel well openings.



Slide molding technology is used in a couple of places including the wing guns, resulting in hollow barrel ends.

Also the engine exhausts, which are molded as individual parts. Two complete sets are provided for the (A) Closed Engine Cowling or (B) Exposed Engine options.

To Be Continued...

[LSP_Kevin]

Fantastic! Another amazing John Kim project to follow. You don't see too many of these kits built, actually. They were (and probably still are) very expensive for a single-engine fighter when they were first released, so that might explain it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it, John!

 

Kev

[Thunnus]

Continuing on with the box tour...

 

The Allison V-1710 engine is represented on three full sprues, two of which feature some of the finest injection-molded wiring lines I've yet seen. I'm sure I'm going to break/snap my fair share of these things!

 

The engine itself looks like a project in and of itself and this presents a dilemma for me.  I prefer my aircraft builds closed up and don't like the look of open panels or even open canopies, for the most part.  Since GWH has separated the closed engine cowling assembly from the engine, I could theoretically build this kit without even touching the engine parts.  But there's no fun in that right?  The engine detail looks too good to ignore so I plan on constructing the engine alongside the rest of the aircraft.

 

GWH throws us a little curveball with the wheels. The plastic parts look nicely molded indeed but only the inner halves are given to us, intended for the wheels up version.  For the wheels down version, you have to resort to the black vinyl tires, which I am no fan of.  Why vinyl when GWH already went halfway down the path with the plastic wheels?

 

The cockpit looks to be well detailed.  Along with a good amount of detail on the wing top part (cockpit floor), there are separate parts for the sidewalls, which always looks better than details molded into the fuselage sides.

 

A very nice instrument panel but the dial faces are curiously domed outward???  So close but yet so far.  Almost all of the aircraft instrument faces I've seen are covered by flat glass so I don't know where this idea of domed glass covers comes from. GWH is not alone as Tamiya did something similar for their 1/32 Corsair models.

 

While a company like Kotare strives to minimize part count by consolidating small details onto fewer parts, GWH goes the opposite way.  The teensy weensy throttle is molded separately from the sidewalls AND comes in two parts.

 

Kudos to GWH for packaging.  Not only were all of the sprues separately bagged, they packed the clear parts into a nifty carboard box that prevents breakage.

 

Unfortunately, it looks like the same issue that GWH made with the side 3/4 windows extends to the front edge of the windscreen as well.

 

There is extensive photoetch provided with this kit but it is some of the thinnest metal I've encountered.  Will have to be very careful with this stuff.

 

The decals look good with markings provided for six AVG aircraft.  The various differences between the shark mouths and eyes seem to be accounted for, which is a nice touch.

 

Lastly... a look at some of the aftermarket stuff I've picked up along the way.  These include resin wheels from Eduard to replace the vinyl ones, Master brass gun barrels, the Eduard interior details PE set (including seats), HGW seat harnesses, Quinta 3D decals for the interior and Eduard masks (forgot that the kit includes pre-cut masks).

 

[Thunnus]

56 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Fantastic! Another amazing John Kim project to follow. You don't see too many of these kits built, actually. They were (and probably still are) very expensive for a single-engine fighter when they were first released, so that might explain it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it, John!

 

Kev

Thanks Kevin!  Excited to start something new. I was able to get my copy from EBay for a $120 shipped.

 

Jumping right into the build, I did an inventory of my existing paints and found some possible candidates for the three camo colors.  

Arbitrarily choosing three colors, I laid them out on a paint mule  just to see what they look like compared to a color photo of AVG aircraft. I'll talk a little more about the paints I'll be using a little later on in the build but this is just an initial assessment of what I have on hand.

Jumping over to the landing gear, I wanted to check to see if the Eduard resin wheels fit onto the kit landing gear legs.  The resin wheel set includes the tail wheel.

The pegs on the landing gear legs have a flat side, meaning they are keyed so that the flat spots on the tires (to simulate weight) will end up in the correct location.

The pegs are a little bit too long and have to be trimmed to fit snugly into the Eduard wheels.

When it comes to resin wheels, I don't like separate hub caps because of possible fit issues.  And sure enough the caps are undersized. The gaps will have to be filled in with some White Milliput.

I also took a peek at the rear cockpit bulkhead and pilot's headrest.  I've read a couple of build reports saying that the kit head rest needed some correction.

I scanned the wheels and bulkhead and imported then into AutoCAD.  There, I could easily trace masks using simple shapes (circle, lines and arcs).

A mask file is then exported into the DXF format, which can be read by my Silhouette Portrait cutter software.

A custom mask is cut using Oracal 810.

The headrest mask is stuck on a sheet of styrene and used as a template to cut a smaller version of the headrest.

 

 

 

The wheel masks will be stored away until its time for them to be painted.

[jep1210]

Oooh, dis going to prove good!!!!! 

[Jim Barry]

I too have fond memories of this as a young modeler. I think I learned to mask canopy with it and recall being very impressed with the kit (though did not finish it). Lately I have been surfing for it on Ebay but "I have too many models" holds me back. That GWH kit is something else!  

Edited September 3 by Jim Barry

[denders]

Nice, John!

 

You been peaking in my hobby room window? I've been collecting some AM and was feeling like I would work on this after the ICM Hs123 which is next. 

 

I'll be watching.

 

[scvrobeson]

Wonderful to see another new project from you John. I know that it will be an incredible one to follow along on. 

Did GWH include a full stand for the engine in the kit? That could certainly make the display options easier.

 

 

Matt 

[Uncarina]

Here are some notes I put together, mainly from the now defunct ratio modeling website: 

 

Camo colors:

FS 34079  MRP 101

FS 30219  MRP 305 (add a little white) or 103

FS 36622 MRP 104

 

Interior color:
“Curtiss was using the Air Corps-approved, green-tinted zinc chromate. Due to the inclusion of aluminum paste (or powder) in the formula, it was a bit brighter and yellower than the color we know as Interior Green.”

 

The caps located beneath the side window should be RED (fuel) in front and YELLOW or SILVER (oil) behind.

 

Also check this out: 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Edited September 4 by Uncarina

[Sam_D]

Id heard this kit was pretty amazing - looking forward to watching along with your build!

 

Sam

[Biggles87]

This looks a little more detailed than the old Revell kit, which I also have fond memories of. 

Looking forward to the build.

 

John

[Troy Molitor]

Oh yes.  Another must follow along build.  

[dennismcc]

Great to see one of these built, I look fondly at it in the stash but others have snuck in line ahead of it in the build queue.

I would use Micro Kristl Klear on the clear parts, it dries clear. I used it on the clear external armour fitted to a windscreen, it scared me at first as it looked white but it did turn clear in the end.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Mark P]

Hmmmm.......

 

Another build to intently monitor! 

 

Mark Proulx

[Furie]

18 hours ago, Thunnus said:

 

A custom mask is cut using Oracal 810.

The headrest mask is stuck on a sheet of styrene and used as a template to cut a smaller version of the headrest.

 

 

First off, really glad to see you back with us John, and that your health issues are sorted.  

 

I’ve got a question: scanning the different parts of the model is a great idea, but why not just cut the headrest straight with the Silhouette?

Is the styrene sheet too thick for it?

I’ve never actually tried cutting styrene with mine, but I thought it was doable.

By the way, if anyone’s got some settings to share for styrene, I’m all ears.