Cry (HKM A-20G) Havoc and let the fly the decals of (miniature) war(planes)!

[Learstang]

Again, excellent work! This kit may have a few small niggles, but overall, it does seem to be a very nice kit indeed. I would have bought it anyway (after all, I bought the HB 'A-26' despite knowing of its many flaws), as a 1/32nd scale A-20 was one of my dream kits, but it's nice to know I won't have to take out a second mortgage for AM parts (as I've done with my HB Invader).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Dpgsbody55]

 

Enjoying your progress so far.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[LSP_Kevin]

Terrific work, Chuck! Very handy for those of us who will be following in your wake.

 

Kev

[ChuckD]

She's got leeeeegs!

 

The right side was a 100% mirror of the left and led to no surprises.

 

.... and she's trying to fly.  

 

 

I suspect once the engines and such are in place, it'll probably fall back on its nosewheel, but I was surprised to see the nose lift when I put the tail surfaces in place.  I still might throw a sinker or two somewhere in the nose just to be safe.

 

Anyway, on to the power eggs.

[monthebiff]

Looking very good indeed. Looking forward to receiving my copy of this kit and really enjoying seeing your build come together!

 

Regards. Andy 

[scvrobeson]

What a great and informative build of this one. Nice to see somebody blaze the trail on the Havoc, it really looks like a good kit.  I'm guessing that the engines and props will put it back on all 3 wheels, they probably engineered the weights to just barely balance it once everything is together.

 

 

Matt 

[Grunticus]

Chuck, magnificent work! I especially love the weathering on the inside, very well done.

[levier]

Wow… what a kit!  And we are indeed fortunate to have you doing it.  Fabulous photo work to match the modeling.

[ChuckD]

Thank you, all.  I am flattered and humbled by your compliments.  You are all very kind and I'm glad to give a little back to this fine community.  <3

 

I moved on to the engines this evening and they were pretty straight forward.  The rocker covers are molded separately and there are three separate varieties.  The instructions are really pretty clear, so if you go slowly and take your time, it's easy to do.  

 

You can see that they are keyed slightly differently, so it's hard to screw them up too badly.

 

What they look like assembled.  At this point the covers are only attached to the pushrod tubes.  I'm hoping that being able to separate the tube & rocker cover assembly from the cylinders themselves will help ease painting.  It's an experiment, so we'll see how it goes.  Trip report to follow.

 

In general, the engines went together really smoothly.  All the pieces - cylinder banks, nose cone, pushrod tubes, intake tubes - are keyed at the center shaft and, though the odds of screwing it up are low, they're never zero.  I managed to cock one of the pushrod tube pieces up a bit, but no irreparable harm was done.  Pay attention to the different size keys and ensure you have the different assemblies lined up correctly.

 

The fiddliest part of the engines is the intake tube for the forward cylinder bank.  Each tube connects at the two highlighted points.  Given the angle of the tube, the itty bitty connection points, and the confined spaces, getting them to fit right and not fall out is a challenge.  I don't necessarily put this on HKM; it's really about the best that can be done in such a situation.  Radials are just big, complex, and geometrically weird devices that defy common sense, logic, and at times physics.  So, HKM did the best they could and, once together, it looks great.

 

Best trick I found was to put a bit of liquid glue at the base of the ring, tack on the intake tube, let it set for a second or two...

 

Then use the tip of tweezers to push the other end into the small hole on the baffle piece.  It helps to try to anchor the base with your thumb as you try to maneuver the baffle end.  

 

And, again in the end, they look pretty great.  I'm glad HKM didn't dink with carbs, mags, accessory cases and other things like that on the back of the motor.  That would've just upped the parts count and complexity to no real tangible benefit.

 

After the engine, the cowl flaps are glued to a ring, the engine is inserted into the cowl, and the cowl flap ring is added to the rear.  As you can see, the engine is quite on display, so I'll be adding ignition wires before everything gets all buttoned up.  I'm not going to bother with the exhaust stacks until after I get them painted as they need to be added after you attach the cowl flap ring to the cowl itself.

 

Both engines ready to go.  The engines are not handed, but the cowl and flap rings are, so keep them separate and tracked.  

I did do a quick test fit of the dry cowl, ring, and engine to the nacelle and the fit looks very promising.  I couldn't take a pic because I needed three hands just to hold everything together while I was trying to test fit.  I would've needed a fourth to take the picture.  

 

And with that, outside of a few ancillary bits and bobs like propellers (I splurged on a UMM propmaster jig that should be here in a couple days), radio antennae, and such, the build is essentially done.  I'll probably have a couple more build-ish updates as I do the sanding, scribing, and riveting dance and get more bits stuck to the wings and fuselage.  However, all that is more or less finish work in prep for painting, and less the straight up, new build.  To be clear though, I'll carry this thread through to the final finished product.   

 

I hope this won't come back to bite me in the butt, but I'm very impressed with the build.  The engineering is excellent, the parts count to detail ratio is spot on, the molding is crisp and clean, and in general it's just fun to build.  I'm not associated with HKM at all, so I have nothing to gain, but if you're on the fence about this one, it's a wonderful and enjoyable kit.  Go out, get it, and enjoy having a big twin on your display shelf.

 

Anyhoo, more to come.  My Pacific Profiles book was apparently delivered to the local post office today, so I'm hoping it arrives tomorrow so I can start to settle on a paint scheme.  More to follow!

[Gazzas]

Excellent progress.  Thank you for paving the way.

[Shoggz]

This is an informative AND entertaining thread - bravo!

[ChuckD]

Well hmm.  After ~3 weeks of waiting, my Pacific Profiles book showed up at last.  First world problems, I know.  It's a wealth of information and has a ton of really interesting profiles, but I was hoping for a period photo that would really spark my interest and I didn't really find one.  

 

Right now, these are the front running contenders for kit.  All are from the 417th BG.

 

43-21951

 

43-21426 nicknamed "Gladstone Flash" 

 

43-22251 Sally [somethingsomething] - I'm having a tough time locating the name, so if anyone has information, I'm all ears.

 

Same a/c in flight.

 

The kicker for any of these is the tires, unfortunately.  As I understand it, HKM used a current museum or flying example as their primary reference, so the treads on the mains and nose are not correct for any WWII variant.  As you can see, the treads feature prominently in any (gear down) wartime photo.  So, I'm in a bit of a quandary.  Eduard has announced the release of a replacement wheel set with cross hatches, but there's no ETA on when those will be available.  

 

So... what to do... what to do.  I could:

1. Build everything as is and accept the tire issue.
   1. Pro: I get to complete the build and project without delay.
   2. Con: The incorrect tires will haunt my dreams.
2. Build everything as is, leave the wheels dry fit until the Eduard set becomes available, then swap out at that point.
   1. Pro: Correct treads of course.
   2. Con: My gnat-like attention span may cause me to never actually follow through with the swap.  Also, no idea when the Eduard set will be out.
3. Get as far as I can, stop the build/project until the Eduard set becomes available.
   1. Pro: Correct treads of course.
   2. Con: waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiting   

 

[Dennis7423]

2 hours ago, ChuckD said:

Eduard has announced the release of a replacement wheel set with cross hatches, but there's no ETA on when those will be available.

 

The Eduard wheels are an "August release", so they will be available at all your major retailers by the end of July. You won't have to wait long!

 

I second the Pacific Profiles book! I received mine yesterday, and there are several lovely schemes to choose from. It's a great grab for anyone who loves the Havoc. I'm toggling between several, to include "Bub's Brother", "Dunk's Junk", "Baby Ann" and "Tommy's Dixie Gal". So many choices!

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[ChuckD]

Wait a minute, gents.  Stop the presses.  

 

The cowlings are going to be an issue.  The cowlings on all the a/c above all have the exhaust ports in the cowl itself and all cowl flaps are flat.  The kit has the exhaust stacks channeled out the lower rear with the cowl flaps shaped to accommodate; the sides of the cowls are flat with no exhaust ports.  Near as I can tell, every A-20G (which my subject aircraft all are) ran the same Wright R-2600-23 1600hp engine.  So, what would account for the change in cowl configuration?

 

The cowl in the subject photos. This is an A-20G-45-DO.  None of the historical photos in Pacific Profiles that feature a cowl show this arrangement.  

 

Cowls and flaps represented by the kit.  This is from the airworthy A-20 out of Texas.  Wikipedia states its USAAF s/n is 43-21709 and Pacific wrecks claims that it is an A-20J-15-DO

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by ChuckD

[Learstang]

What about the European A-20Gs? And the Soviet (which I will do mine as)? Curioser and curioser...

 

Regards,

 

Jason