USAAF Curtiss P-36 Hawk North Africa '42 (WIP)

[nighthunter]

Well, I figure it's enough of lurking and smart comments, time to get my show on the road. So, I am working on an old Monogram 1/72 Curtiss P-36 Hawk and I want to turn it into an Irish Air Corps Mowhawk/Hawk 75. The armament is a total of 4 .50 cal (12.7mm) HMGs and 2 20mm cannon, and it looks pretty nice so far. I am not much of a gear down kinda guy, but with it being made that way, and not wanting to tear off a pair of P-40 wings, I'm adding to the gear to make it look good.

Parts list:
Plane: Monogram P-36A
Armaments: Nose .50cals (kit), wing .50cals & 20mm cannons (1/72 Academy Allison Engine P-51 Kit)
Center line Drop tank: 110 Gal "Paper" Tank (1/72 Academy P-51B Mustang III)
Cockpit: Mostly kit, with a Instrument panel from the Allison P-51 kit.

Starting out Pictures, WIP pictures tomorrow.

Everything in one place:


Cannons, MGs and Instrument Panel:


Drop Tank and Bombs:



A close up of the victim...   :




Once finished, history of aircraft will follow...

[Captain Canada]

Looking good so far. The Hawk is a neat looking plane, and one I've never built. Didn't even know there was an old Monogram kit in 72nd scale !

[nighthunter]

Thanks Cap!

Disaster has struck, when I was removing the canopy from the sprue, part of it shattered.

This always seems to happen, lol. I will crawl up into my attic to search for a P-40 canopy, or a Malcolm Hood canopy if I have one.

[nighthunter]

Most of this was done last night, and since the fiasco this afternoon, well lets just say I pulled out all the stops to find a new canopy in my other parts boxes. Now to check the Attic, lol.










Where I'm at right now:


What I want it to look like, hopefully:

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, that's a nice little kit and it'll look just great in IAC markings. And pretty darn believable too! 

Years ago I did that kit as one of the ex-French machines that never made it to France and were impressed by the RAF into point defence fighters complete with French roundels on the underside! A Real World Whiff even. 

[pyro-manic]

This will look good! Re. the canopy, how about an open-cockpit version? Say the pilots were "old-school" types who wanted to feel the wind in their hair, and they demanded the removal of the closed canopies? That exact thing happened in Italy with the Macchi MC.200, and possibly elsewhere too.

[Father Ennis]

Looking great,my friend ... !!!   

[Nick]

Nice idea and looking good so far!

[NARSES2]

Good idea, being well executed 

I've fond memories of that Monogram kit 

[Hobbes]

Thanks Cap!

Disaster has struck, when I was removing the canopy from the sprue, part of it shattered.

This always seems to happen, lol. I will crawl up into my attic to search for a P-40 canopy, or a Malcolm Hood canopy if I have one.

If you still have all the pieces, use e.g. Humbrol Clearfix to stick it back together. That dries up invisibly, so the canopy should look okay.

For next time: use a razor saw to remove the canopy from the sprue.

[nighthunter]

Thanks Cap!
Disaster has struck, when I was removing he canopy from the sprue, part of it shattered.

This always seems to happen, lol. I will crawl up into my attic to search for a P-40 canopy, or a Malcolm Hood canopy if I have one.

If you still have all the pieces, use e.g. Humbrol Clearfix to stick it back together. That dries up invisibly, so the canopy should look okay.

For next time: use a razor saw to remove the canopy from the sprue.

Thanks for the advice, sadly there are slivers of canopy and it's just bad. If I could have fixed it, I would've. Thanks again though for next time.

[nighthunter]

 
Well, no luck finding an alternative canopy. *sighs* But there is hope, I just need to contact a certain Kiwi friend of ours to see if he would be willing to help me out... We shall see!

[Father Ennis]

You didn't say where the damage was to the canopy. If it left the windscreen and the sliding part of the canopy, in good shape or you.can "fake it", to achieve that you are home free. There was a version of the Hawk that had the windows behind the piolet filled in with a recessed fuel filler cap.  That solves that problem. Of course, that version also had fixed spatted landing gear,too ...

[nighthunter]

Ennis, it is the sliding Canopy, at its base, quite noticeable I assure you, lol.

[Father Ennis]

Sucks to.be you.buddy ...