NA Harvard IIa 20 SFTS Cranborne S Rhodesia (finished)

[mozart]

Earlier this year Hubert very kindly sent me a KH Texan T-6 kit which he thought unlikely to build, a very generous gesture nonetheless.  Knowing my penchant for Harvards the box was soon winging its way to darkest Dorset, where it's been sitting waiting for the Muse to strike.  She's struck!  

 

So I've started my second KH "Harvard"; I have the AlleyCat canopy for it but I'm getting round the other issues of undercarriage/wheels and prop length by modelling her flying, so undercart retracted and prop blurs.  Unlike my first silver one, this one will be yellow:

 

 

like some flying in this "Balbo".  I need to do a bit more research with Dad's logbook, dates and serial numbers to try to establish exactly which one, but safe to say it'll be yellow!

 

Made a start yesterday on the engine:

 

 

and today with the pilot and lower cockpit floor area.  The pilot is adapted from Mike Good's wonderful model of "Sailor" Malan of BoB fame, but oxygen masks and especially Mae Wests were rarely (if ever in the MW case) needed in S Rhodesia, so a bit of butchery was needed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More soon.

Max

[Guest]

Good one Max !!....Harv

[mozart]

Thanks Harv and Ernie.  The props are too long, Harold makes replacements available from Sprue Bros over on your side of the pond: AMS32100 1:32 AMS Resin T-6 Texan 9' Prop Blades (KTH kit) and very good they are too.

 

 

On the left the kit blade, on the right AMS Resin's (from my first build).

Max

Edited August 9, 2017 by mozart

[mozart]

Work progressing on painting Sgt Pilot (under training) Toby Williams (Dad):

 

 

and making sure that he fits into the cockpit and can reach the rudder pedals:

 

He must of course have his seat belt on:

 

Fiddly!

[Guest]

Looks great !!.........Harv

[mozart]

Thanks Harv, this is going to be a simpler build than the first Harvard but still lots of popcorn to eat!!

Max

[Hubert Boillot]

Good to see you making use of this kit, Max. Looking forward to see your progress with it

 

Hubert

[Guest Clunkmeister]

Your Dad looks all the business.

[mozart]

Good to see you making use of this kit, Max. Looking forward to see your progress with it

Hubert

Thanks Hubert, your generosity is intrinsic to this build, I'm enjoying it immensely!

 

Your Dad looks all the business.

The real man certainly was the business Ernie, miss him terribly since he passed away in 2006. As for the plastic figure, it's curious just how much the camera makes the lower half seem so much darker in tone than the upper. I obviously try to consider shading and the differing effects of light on the figure so the pilot's upper torso will be lighter, but I may modify it a bit when I have a more objective look at it later.

[MikeC]

Excellent, another Max special.  Pulling up a pew to watch, and putting a few of your namesake's Piano Concerti on the stereo.

[mozart]

Excellent, another Max special.  Pulling up a pew to watch, and putting a few of your namesake's Piano Concerti on the stereo.

I'll try not to keep you sitting for too long Mike, those pews can be damned hard after a while. I've been putting bits and pieces together for a while now for a Bf110G4 so I'm hoping to take the plunge with that before too long!

[Mr b]

Very nice max

 

The personal connection is always a good one....you have now given me an idea to do the same of a Harvard in RNZAF colours which my dad did two tours in Wigram.......one on basic training n later as qfi

 

I track your project with great interest and.....if start searching for deals.....the pilot figure used really looks well detailed as well as the belts.....

 

Rgds n have fun

 

Brian

[mozart]

Cheers Brian.  All my modelling is driven by a personal connection to one degree or another either directly through my father or through his best friend and my namesake Max Venton who was shot down and killed in a Lancaster in March 45.  I find it difficult to build "random" models, there has to be a reason!  Sadly there's a lack of training aircraft in our scale, they're not "sexy" enough.

Max

[MikeC]

And considering that without trainers there would be no aircrew to fly anything else ...

Edited August 15, 2017 by MikeC

[monthebiff]

Nice project Max and ever really like the personal thread within your build.

 

Regards. Amdy