Curtiss P-36A Hawk - 2/LT Phil Rasmussen - Pearl Harbor [1/32 SH]

[Alex]

Normally I try to resist starting a new project before the previous one is fully complete.  BUT, since my Training Day GB model is complete save for a prolonged multi-stage painting process, I couldn't resist starting to poke around on the next one.  

 

Of the 350-odd carrier aircraft that sortied from the Kido Butai on December 7, 1941 to attack Pearl Harbor, only 29 were lost, and only six of those losses were credited to American fighter pilots.  Second Lieutenant Phil Rasmussen was one of only six USAAF pilots able to get into the air that morning, flying an already effectively obsolete aircraft, the Curtiss P-36A.  Despite being massively outnumbered by the attacking force, Rasmussen was able to shoot down a Zero and maintain control of a badly damaged aircraft long enough to return to land at Wheeler Field.  Rasmussen is second from left in this photo of the five USAAF pilots who survived that against-all-odds attempt to oppose the IJNAF in the air that day:

 

 

Rasmussen fought in numerous engagements throughout the Pacific War until its end, and remained in the service post war, retiring from the USAF in 1965 as a Lt Colonel.

 

This model is the counterpoint to my recently completed A6M2b Zero - completing another pair of Pacific War "adversaries" in 1:32.  If you want to build a P-36A in 1:32 scale, there's only one game in town (other than scratchbuilding, I suppose, which is way above my level) - Special Hobby.  So from the sublimely-engineered Tamiya Zero, through the really-pretty-good-considering ICM Cypress, we're back to short-run Special Hobby DIY mode.  

[AlbertD]

I'm ready for this one Alex. It's a great subject.

[Alex]

The kit is packaged with the Pearl Harbor venue in mind, although it contains alternate cowl and windscreen parts to construct an export version Hawk 75, as operated principally by France in WWII, but in small numbers by a host of other air arms during and after the war.

 

 

This is the plastic you get:

 

 

With a pretty-decent clear parts sprue:

 

 

Note the three windscreen versions.

 

You also get a few resin parts for the landing gear:

 

 

And decals, which I will use as templates to make painting masks when I get to that stage...

 

 

And they provide a small PE fret:

 

 

The only aftermarket thing I have is these canopy masks, which I will scan and copy with my Silhouette to make a second set for the inside:

 

 

The molding is if anything a bit rougher than the last SH kit I built (the Ki-27 Nate).  It's going to take some significant work to get the fuselage joined up in a way I'm happy with.  Check out the XL sprue gate on this cowl part (guaranteed to avoid short shots, I guess):

 

 

Yep, it's a but rough.

 

 

(the other half was actually worse).

 

So I started in by joining the correct forward fuselage/cowl pieces to the main fuselage halves, and then began poking at the engine.  I don't want to start the cockpit yet because I need to do some research (i.e. waste hours grazing the internet for photos) to see what enhancements I can make to it, and make a plan for building those, before I start.

 

The challenge of getting the SH plastic all nice and pretty on the outside will of course be enhanced on this kit because I need a smooth enough surface to do a credible NMF (which I am barely qualified to do on the best of days).  But I want a 1:32 P-36A, so, since this is the only game in town, here we go.

[RadBaron]

This kit is high on my "want to build" list. I'll be following intently!

[D.B. Andrus]

[MikeMaben]

[dennismcc]

Great idea Alex, I do want to build some early war US subjects so will follow this one closely, I did build the French H75 version of this kit and found it a tad challenging but it turned out fine, I also have a Mohawk Mk.IV to build at some time. If I remember correctly the fit of the cowling was fun and clear parts are a bit delicate, I think I broke a couple of them.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Alex]

7 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Great idea Alex, I do want to build some early war US subjects so will follow this one closely, I did build the French H75 version of this kit and found it a tad challenging but it turned out fine, I also have a Mohawk Mk.IV to build at some time. If I remember correctly the fit of the cowling was fun and clear parts are a bit delicate, I think I broke a couple of them.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

I'm trying to get up the nerve to take a quick peek at the fuselage-to-wing fit.  Perhaps tonight.

[Alex]

I decided to start this one with the engine.  The detail on the P&W R-1830 Twin Wasp is pretty soft, and there are mold seams running down the sides of the cylinders which are very hard to remove without wrecking the cooling fins.  Fortunately, since this engine will only be visible from the front through the cowling, I can focus on just tying to make that one angle look decent (like the false-front buildings on a Western stage set).  The main parts, sort of cleaned up:

 

 

 

Rather than trying to do any drilling, I went with the quick/dirty solution of gluing plug wires (0.3 mm lead) to the backs of the ignition distribution ring stubs.

 

 

Started with some semigloss black

 

 

Then Mr Color Super Iron II for the steel cylinder sleeves

 

 

Then Alclad II White Aluminum for the cylinder heads

 

 

Some contemporary photos showed noticeable rust on the cylinder sleeves, so after a black acrylic wash I added some rusty pastel (I'm now using Vallejo acrylic washes over metallic lacquers because the Tamiya enamel washes tend to re-wet the lacquer, which interestingly does not happen with non-metallic lacquers).

 

 

Then painted the crankcase light gray-blue

 

 

I decided at that point that the rust was too pronounced and hit it with another dose of black wash to tone it down

 

 

The pushrod tubes don't line up at all perfectly, so it's going to be a bit of a chore getting them all solidly in place.  But overall for a pretty lackluster kit engine (at least by 1/32 standards) it is coming together OK.  From here I need to get plug wires in place, find a stencil decal for the reduction gear housing, add some oil paint grime, flat coat it, and that should be OK.

[spyrosjzmichos]

Great start Alex!

The engine's looking nice already!

[Martinnfb]

Great choice of subject, I will follow with interest.

Cheers

Martin

[Alex]

There.  That'll do for that.

 

 

I started playing around with the wing moldings and their fit to each other and the fuselage.  This is going to be a long journey.  I think I need to start looking at this as more of an "approximate P-36A shape" that I'm going to need to refine and then wholesale re-do the surface detail on.  Anyone have good suggestions for motor tool buffing bits?  Eventually I see needing to do a lot of surface polishing on this one...

 

I shouldn't complain too much though.  We should appreciate Special Hobby because they make the effort to create 1/32 kits of aircraft that are too "obscure" for the major firms to bother with.

[AlbertD]

The engine looks pretty darn nice Alex. I'm sure your up to the challange of getting the major parts together and looking like a P-36.

[dennismcc]

7 hours ago, Alex said:

I shouldn't complain too much though.  We should appreciate Special Hobby because they make the effort to create 1/32 kits of aircraft that are too "obscure" for the major firms to bother with.

I'm with you 100% on that one, my display cabinets would be a lot less busy without Special Hobby kits, and you have done a fine job on that engine.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Alex]

The fuselage halves are just out of square enough that I had to tape them all the way along the joins to more or less get them lined up.  Good news is that it will be possible to glue them like this with patience.

 

 

Some of the panel line detail will require work...

 

 

When I taped up the wing assembly and (with some preliminary filing and sanding) mated it up with the fuselage, the anticipated wing root misalignment appeared (albeit no where near what the Nate had):

 

 

Port side was worse

 

 

Fortunately the simple expedient of assembling the sides of the landing gear bays into the wings completely took care of that

 

 

There's still a bit of a gap horizontally on both sides, but at least the section of the wing agrees nicely with the section of the wing root as molded into the fuselage.

 

I'm now starting to mess with the various bulkheads (engine "mount", firewall, bulkhead behind seat).  All are oversized and have to be filed/sanded down before the fuselage will close around them.  I guess if it had to be one way or the other, this is easier to work with than if they were too small...