Boeing P-32 "Gale", '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, USAAC, 1936

[Dizzyfugu]

Hehe, things to make from a simple Hawker Hurricane...  

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The Boeing P-32 was an attempt to produce a more advanced version of the highly successful P-26 monoplane fighter from the early 1930ies.
The airplane was only one among many developments that led to more advanced monoplane fighters. This multitude of prototypes was fueled by the USAAC's uncertainty about the right fighter concept – liquid- and air-cooled engines were tested, as well as single and two seater concepts, all the while the US Navy went through a similar orientation phase on its own. Other advances like the retractable landing gear and heavier gun armament complicated matters further, together with quick technological and aerodynamic advances.

The P-32 was a parallel development of the Boeing YP-29, which originated as the Model 264, developed as a private venture under a bailment contract negotiated with the U.S. Army. In contrast to the P-29 two seater, the P-32 was a single seater with clean lines, an open cockpit, almost no wiring but still with a spatted landing gear. The machine was constructed around the new, civil Twin Wasp Junior R-1535 two-row radial engine a 700 hp (520 kW) output, driving a fixed pitch wooden two blade propeller.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The P-32' construction consisted of a Warren truss box-girder primary fuselage structure with high-tensile steel longerons and duralumin cross-bracing using mechanically fastened rather than welded joints. Over this, wooden formers and stringers carried the doped linen covering. The wing structure consisted of two steel spars, and was also fabric-covered. An advantage of the steel-tube structure was that cannon shells could pass right through the wood and fabric covering without exploding. Even if one of the steel tubes were damaged, the repair work required was relatively simple and could be done by ground crews at the airfield. The old-fashioned structure also permitted the assembly of aircraft with relatively basic equipment under field conditions.

The P-29 failed due to several flaws and general lack of power, but the P-32 offered enough potential to attain the USAAC's interest. The XP-32 prototype made its maiden flight on 10 January 1935, almost exactly one year after the XP-29, and was flown to Wright Field for Army testing under the experimental military designation XP-941 five days later.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


During testing the XP-941 handled well and achieved a maximum speed of 260 mph at 10,000 ft (418 km/h at 3,050 m). After testing, the XP-941 was returned to the factory in March for modifications, including the installment of an uprated R-1830-1 Twin Wasp engine with an output of 800 hp (597 kW), now driving a three blade Curtiss variable-pitch metal propeller. It was also fitted with flaps and a tail wheel, which the XP-941 lacked, plus several other small aerodynamic modifications which helped raise top speed a further 16 mph (26 km/h). A closed canopy was tested, but due to the tight fit and restricted pilot vision from the cockpit enclosure, Boeing reverted to an open cockpit design, retaining the long headrest all the way to the tail.

Upon completion of the XP-941's testing, the Army decided on 29 June 1935 to purchase it, together with two sister ships. The designation P-32A was officially assigned, and the type christened "Gale". The first P-32As were delivered to the 1st Pursuit Group (27th, 71st and 94th PS) stationed at Selfridge Field in Michigan later that year, and several other units were equipped – primarily the type replaced the P-26 and also some of the P-12Es still in second line service.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Anyway, the P-32's performance was already poor by contemporary standards and, although USAAC aviators appreciated the aircraft's ruggedness, it was obsolete by the time deliveries were finished in 1936, after only 100 aircraft had been produced. Plans to improve performance through a more powerful R-1830-45 Twin Wasp radial engine with 1,050 hp (783 kW) were never carried out, as well as an updated version with a retractable landing gear.

The P-32A was only used on the American continent, primarily for weapon training purposes and also as a liaison aircraft. It was soon superseded by the Curtiss P-36 and also by the later P-40. By 1940, all P-32As had been phased out, and some specimen were sold to South American air forces including Guatemala and Bolivia, where they served on until 1949.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr





General characteristics:
   Crew: 1
   Length: 32 ft 8 in (9.97 m)
   Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
   Height: 13 ft 1½ in (4.0 m)
   Wing area: 257.5 ft² (23.92 m²)
   Empty weight: 4,575 lb (2,075 kg)
   Loaded weight: 6,118 lb (2,775 kg)
   Max. takeoff weight: 6,723 lb (3,050 kg)

Powerplant:
   1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-1 Twin Wasp radial engine with 800 hp (597 kW),
     driving a three blade Curtiss variable-pitch metal propeller

Performance:
   Maximum speed: 275 mph (443 km/h) at 11,000 ft (3,350 m)
   Range: 600 mi (965 km)
   Service ceiling: 31,400 ft (9,570 m)
   Rate of climb: 1,920 ft/min (9.8 m/s)
   Wing loading: 29.8 lb/ft² (121.9 kg/m²)
   Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

Armament:
   2x 0.30" machine guns in the upper fuselage, synchronized, firing through the propeller disc
   2x 0.50" machine guns in the upper spats' fairings
   Up to 350 lb (160 kg) of bombs under the outer wings



The kit and its assembly:
This build is not an original idea of mine, rather a personal interpretation of a whif kit I recently came across: an early Hawker Hurricane in bright (yellow/blue) USAAF markings and an open cockpit. Several similar conversions have been done in RAF markings, too, some with spatted landing gear, and the results always look very elegant.
Anyway, I liked the USAAF idea. America experimented a lot in the pre WWII era, and there were many experimental designs that never made it into serial production. The real P-32 is just such a case, so I lent that designation for my build that was to incorporate many retro design features.

I wanted to take the "'Cane with spats" idea a bit further, though, and during background legwork I came across the contemporary first attempts to use a Twin Wasp radial engine in a fighter. An engine conversion was therefore plausible, too, for a hopefully completely different look.
The basis is Airfix' relatively new Hurricane Mk. I with fabric wings – an excellent kit with an outstanding cleanliness and fit of parts. Fuselage and wings were basically built OOB, just with some modifications.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The spats come from a (otherwise crappy) Mastercraft PZL 23 Karaś, a 1:1 transplant. Furthermore, the whole front end was modified: The original Merlin engine was removed and a front end plug sculpted from massive 2C putty. This now carries a scratched, two-row radial engine with a long cowling, also improvised. The propeller with spinner comes from the Hurricane kit and runs on a long metal axis that reaches deep into the fuselage's putty plug.
On the wings the landing gear was built in retracted position (the Airfix kit offers special parts for this option) and covered with putty. Furthermore, the wing machine guns were deleted, even though I kept the metal covers for the ammunition boxes on the wings – as wing tanks. The cockpit with its detailed interior was taken OOB, with only the windshield mounted and the canopy sliding rails on the fuselage concealed.


Painting and markings:
The USAAF's bright blue and yellow scheme of the pre WWII era is pretty, but I rather went for its early Thirties predecessor, the olive drab/yellow option. Both would be eligible for this whif.

Painting was rather straightforward. The yellow wing surfaces and white trim were painted first (Humbrol 69), then masked, and the fuselage painted with Olive Drab (Humbrol 155). The cockpit interior was kept in a greenish primer yellow, a mix of Humbrol 81 and 159.

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The colorful trim comes from a PrintScale P-26 sheet, but these decals had to be adapted to the much bigger Hurricane dimensions. The decals are crisply printed, but deadly thin, so handling was challenging. On the other side, the thin carrier film made adaptation to the curved surfaces (esp. on the cowling and the spats) rather easy – just some surgical cuts and the decals went into place. Anyway, a lot of improvisation had to be done with paint.
Besides the Peashooter basics, many markings came from the spares box: the US roundels come from a Hobby Boss F4F Wildcat, while the "U.S. Army" marking under the wings belongs to a Trumpeter P-40.
Anyway, the result was IMHO worth it, and the boldness of the era's markings comes out much better than on the brighter blue/yellow machines, which are already garish in themselves?

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Only slight weathering was applied - on the fuselage with some light Modelmaster FS 34087 dry-brushing, the yellow and white wing surfaces were actually wet-sanded after a thin black ink washing, for a subtle shading of the internal structures. Finally, the kit was sealed with a semi-gloss (2/3 matt and 1/3 gloss) acrylic varnish.



1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Boeing P-32 "Gale", aircraft '13' of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); March Field, California, 1936. (Whif/Airfix kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Not a totally original idea of mine, but a very thorough execution of a retrograded Hurricane. And the more the model came to a close, the more convincing the P-32A became - and more and more colorful.    

[Old Wombat]

That is fantastic!

I'd never have picked it as a Hurricane & it looks brilliant in its pre-war US colours.

[Mossie]

Me too, didn't spot that it was a Hurricane (despite it being mention in the first line)!  Very convincing as a design derived from the P-26.

[Hotte]

Very nice bird 

Hotte

[PR19_Kit]

Nice one Thomas.  

As others have said its Hurricane origins aren't at all obvious until you see the wings from above.

I see you used about the same amount of putty over the main gear doors as I did on my Cyclone, ie. TONS of the stuff!

[Captain Canada]

What a great looking aeroplane ! Love this one. The shape, the colour, the power ! Great job. One of my faves 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you very much, gentlemen. Actually, a simple conversion, but the spats and the open radial engine change the look fundamentally - the 'Cane really looks like a big P-26 brother! Never expected that this one turned out so pretty and conclusive, but it's really cool. Applying the decals/trim was just a tough job... 

[DogfighterZen]

Great job, although i don't like spats very much, that looks very good!

[NARSES2]

Superb build   Colour scheme is a great piece of work.

Must admit I twigged Hurricane when I saw the second picture, but then I've built a few.

Martin H did a radial Hurricane years ago but it was simply a US re-engined aircraft for USAAC service

[Dizzyfugu]

I've also built a late WWII Hurricane with a Twin Wasp radial from a B-24. But this one looks so completely different, it's amazing. 

Again, thanks a lot!

[zenrat]

Are you sure it's a Hurricane? 

Very good.  As usual.

[king of men]

As a confirmed Hurricane fan and long term builder, I may just have to swipe that idea at some undetermined future date...

[stevehed]

Great idea and an excellent build.

[ChernayaAkula]

Gorgeous! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Vielen Dank.