1/72 Curtiss Wright Raven

[Brian da Basher]

The Great Depression of the 1930s hit U.S. aircraft manufacturers hard and many sought government contracts as a means of staying afloat during the economic downturn and the St. Louis division of the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company was no exception.

In late 1933, Curtiss-Wright's chief designer, Daryl, "Doc" Johnson came up with a radical new concept in single-engined pursuit design, the cantilver-winged, spatted CW-17. This forerunner of things to come had none of the drag-inducing bracing wires so common to aircraft of the day and was powered by the new 12 cylinder Studebaker Wizard inline engine and featured the most amazing streamlined spats ever seen on American aircraft up to that time. The U.S. Army Air Corps was initially interested in the design and funded a prototype. Even though the prototype out-performed anything then in service, budget restraints forced the Air Corps to decline ordering the aircraft into production.

Fortunately for "Doc" Johnson and the Curtiss-Wright Company, the Chinese had refused to sign the He-Umezu Agreement and this caused an escalation in the war between China and Japan. Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Chinese Nationalists was in dire need of modern weapons to defend against the foe. His chief air advisor was one recently retired U.S.A.A.C. Major, Claire Chennault who was sent on a purchasing mission to the U.S. in May, 1935.

Continued...

1st of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Chennault made the rounds of U.S. aircraft companies, but few had anything but obsolescent designs to offer or could not produce the quantity required. Then he paid a visit to "Doc" Johnson and the Curtiss-Wright plant in St. Louis. He was shown the CW-17 "Raven" and after taking one up on a test flight, immediately placed an order for fifty of the sleek pursuits. Col. Chennault realized that his Chinese Air Corps pilots would have difficulty with such a fast and modern machine and thought American pilots would be more capable of handling the Raven. He also noticed the shark-like profile of his new aircraft and painted a shark's mouth on it. Walt Disney, who was visiting the plant doing research for his never-realized Air Fantasia series, quickly drew up a cartoon tiger mascot for Chennault and the Flying Tigers were born.  In August of 1935, he returned yo China on a ship loaded with thirty of the new Ravens and 25 American volunteers. The new volunteer squadron had an immediate impact and was able to out-fight the Japanese, even preventing them from bombing Shanghai in 1937 when the Flying Tigers flamed all but one of the attacking bombers before they could reach their target. The group achieved a 20:1 kill ratio and became the stuff of legend. Old #8, "2 Pair-A-Dice", Chennault's personal mount, can be seen on display at the Sino-American Victory Museum in Hangchow.

2nd of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The base kit for this project was a 1/72 Fujimi "Oscar" Anthony sent to me last year. It's a great little kit with nice detail and goes together without any problems. Of course, there was no way I was going to build it so it even remotely resembled the picture on the box. I had the spats figured out first by using some left over drop-tanks and cutting plastic bread clips into fairings for them. Then I used part of another drop-tank for a headrest. That part was easy, but I really wanted to make this bird look different. It was then I noticed that the Merlin engine left over from a Hurricane was an almost perfect fit! I used the tip of another drop-tank for a prop spinner and found some spare prop blades floating around in my spares box. I was able to fashion a windscreen from a spare piece of clear plastic. The wing guns are actually spare antennas and the guns on the engine decking are from landing gear struts. I also used the left-over belly-radiator from the Hurricane. Here's a shot that shows off the belly scoop and the spats.

3rd of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Of course, then I was left to figure out a color scheme and markings. As I've built a number of those fine Academy P-40s, I've got a bunch of shark's mouth decals in the stash. Once I realized they'd fit on this model the idea hit me. What if the Flying Tigers had gotten their start a few years earlier? I added some dice decals from a sheet for a Gee-Bee to the tail just to change things a little and I also decided to add the Chinese blue and white rudder stripes to add interest. Here's a shot that shows off the shark's mouth.

4th of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The entire model was brush-painted by hand with acrylics. I decided to keep the color scheme simple to show off the markings. I used Model masters Euro Green for the uppers and Testor's Medium Gull Gray for the undersides. The pilot's seat was painted with Polly Scale Italian Green and the insturment panel and tires with  Liquitex Mars Black. The instrument dials, prop spinner and white rudder stripes were done with artist's gesso. Polly Scale Blue was used on the other rudder stripes and the propr blades were done in Model Masters Steel. I used Tamiya Gunmetal on the guns. For the exhausts, I first painted them with Model Masters Steel and the dry-brushed Model Masters Rust over top. Speaking of the top, here's a "birds-eye" shot for you.

5th of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

I had a lot of fun building this little model which took me five days to finish. I hope my little projects serve as an inspiration to others to go ahead and play along in the I Love Spats! Group Build.

Many thanks to our Group Build Commisar Anthony for giving this GB a slot on the calendar and for generously sending me the Oscar kit that was the base for this project.

Last of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

Very, very sharp.  And believable.
Judging by the prolific number of recent builds, I'm guessing you no longer have to work for a living anymore, do you?

This is cool, Brian.  

 

[Daryl J.]

BdB, that looks very good too.


Daryl J., off to pick up some paint in about 20 minutes

[lancer]

This has got to be one of your finest yet Brian. Superb build.

[Rafael]

I would have to have a fresh change of underwear if one of these terrorific-looking spatted mean fighters shoul pursue me!!!

I loooove spats!!!

Rafa

[kitnut617]

That really looks the part BdB  , so convincing I was just about to go rumaging through my references to see what it was. 

[ysi_maniac]

Very, very sharp.  And believable.
Judging by the prolific number of recent builds, I'm guessing you no longer have to work for a living anymore, do you?

This is cool, Brian. 

 

A fortunate man.

BTW: Really beautiful plane