A-20G Havoc "STINKY" of the 3rd Bomb Group, 12th Bomb Squadron, New Guinea

[ChuckD]

Hello, everyone.  If you've been following along the build thread, you're well aware that I was nearing the finish line on Hong Kong Models' new A-20G Havoc kit after starting it the day it arrived in June.  If you haven't been following the build thread, but want a painfully verbose treatise on the inner workings of this brand new kit, feel free to dive into it and its ~350 photos.  If you'd just like to see the photos, here's the gallery.

 

Anyhoo, as I've stated in a number of other threads, I'm fascinated by the SW Pacific campaigns in the early-mid war years.  I'm also a fan of big twins in attack configurations.  Thus, when I heard that HKM was coming out with an all new A-20G Havoc in gunship configuration, I was excited to say the least.  Unfortunately for me, their boxing was strictly marked and built for the European theater.  Not to be deterred, I decided to embark on a bit of a journey.  For this build, I'd be doing several firsts.  To make a Pacific bird, I'd have to scratch build wing bomb racks and teach myself the art of printing my own decals.  I'd also push the idea of masking farther than I had ever done before, so that was fun too.

 

In the end, I'm very happy with the results and they feel pretty close to the original.  The photos turned out a little weird, unfortunately; I suspect that's due to my camera trying to compensate for the failing evening light.  So, things like the speckling on the nacelles and the dust pigments on the wings are much more pronounced than they are in real life.  I found a few close up pictures of A-20s with extensive oil spatter all along their fuselage and nacelles aft of the engine, so that was the inspiration there.

 

Anyway, here's "STINKY" of the 3rd BG, 12th BS in New Guinea.  According to Michael Claringbould in Pacific Profiles vol. 3, this aircraft survived hostilities and was scrapped in situ after the war.  The photo below is one of two taken of her supposedly while she was in Sydney, Australia.

 

 

The squadron insignia and serial number were the first decals I ever printed for myself.  The nose art was done with a mask.  I painted the dark drop shadow, then moved the mask to the 10 o'clock position and painted the yellow.  Turned out pretty sharp.    

 

For grins, I got my SW Pacific fleet out for a photo op, largely because I wanted to see exactly how the B-25 and A-20 compare in size.  




 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Congrats on such a fantastic result, Chuck!

 

Kev

[Scale32]

What a fantastic result! Well weathered and well built love it.

 

cheers Bevan 

[MikeMaben]

Exceptional work Chuck. A real beauty

[petrov27]

fantastic build here - looks fantastic and congrats to bringing to completion! The weathering effects are top notch as well

[Uncarina]

This has been a very enjoyable and educational build to follow Chuck. Thanks for taking us on the journey! And the final result is spectacular. Well done!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Christa]

Convincing from every angle. Great build.

[scvrobeson]

Awesome build!  Great to see the first Havoc finished.  Brilliant paint and weathering 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Learstang]

Absolutely brilliant job on what looks to be a fine kit! I see you have the B-25 - how was that to build?

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

[ChuckD]

1 hour ago, Learstang said:

Absolutely brilliant job on what looks to be a fine kit! I see you have the B-25 - how was that to build?

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

 

Thank you!

 

The B-25 was a pretty straight forward build if I recall... It's been a couple years.  I made things a lot more challenging as I threw pretty much every Eduard kit on the market into it.  The boarding ladders alone took a day to build, and that's coming from someone that's pretty adept at PE.  Off the cuff, I recall the wings locking on and staying, so that was challenging.  The exhausts and cowling panels are tricky and fiddly to install.  I didn't do a build log for it, but here's the RFI thread.

 

Edit to add: The aftermarket props by AMS Resin are an absolute must, but availability is very spotty.  The kit props look like canoe paddles.  

Edited September 4, 2023 by ChuckD

[Michael931080]

Stunning work!

[Shoggz]

Inspirational and entertaining build with a superb result.

 

And what a great fleet you have there!

[aircommando130]

That is one good lookin Havoc! The stressed skin from low level maneuvering

and probably some hard landings in weather is spot on. Grease, oil and general 

grime from the South Pacific is awesome! That Air Apache B-25 is a good lookin

airplane too! Your Pacific fleet is awesome! Need an SBD and a razorback P-47

to go with them! Great job and thanks for sharing that project!

 

Cheers...Ron

[monthebiff]

Fantastic finish to your Havoc Chuck, great set of RFi pictures as well. Lots and lots of fine detail to see.

 

Regards. Andy 

[dustiepal]

Great build and a fantastic finish!

 

Dave