Clear Prop! Models 1/48 scale Curtiss Hawk 75N by Brett Green

Clear Prop! 1/48 scale
Curtiss Hawk 75N

by Brett Green

Curtiss Hawk 75N

Description

Here is my latest completion - the new Cleap Prop! 1/48 scale Hawk 75N.

What a lovely kit!

Detail is very good and surface textures are the equal of the best out there. Just gorgeous.

The model goes together very precisely. Fit is almost perfect. Some of the cockpit elements are a bit fiddly but the front office looks fantastic when it is painted and weathered.

I used both of Clear Prop!'s after-market accessories - their resin exhaust (Item No. CPA-48005) and their canopy masking set (Item No. CPA-48004).

I thought that the kit’s pilot's seat looked a little on the thick side and did not seem to reflect the shape of the real thing. It seems like a bit of an afterthought compared to the high quality found everywhere else in the kit. I replaced the kit's plastic seat with Ultracast's 1/48 scale resin SBD pilot's seat (Item No. 48053), which I think looks more like the shape of the Hawk seat, and is also closer to scale thickness than the kit seat.

I also used the unmentioned plastic instrument panel with the raised bezels. The one-piece dial decal was laid over the raised detail and it settled down nicely after a couple of rounds of Solvaset and a few slices from a new hobby blade.

Spots of Future were applied to represent the glass lenses.

The instructions recommend that the engine should be build and the engine cowling then built up in pieces around it. I thought that I’d try to assemble the cowling separately and push the engine through the back before the bottom cowl piece was added. I thought there would be enough flex in the assembled cowl to do this.

It worked, but I had some worrying moments and probably caused myself some fit issues between the cowl and the fuselage down the track.

If I was to build another Clear Prop! Hawk I would follow the instructions.

Camouflage colours of these Thai Hawks seems to be a bit of a minefield.

One of the options is Tan and Dark Green upper surfaces with light grey below.

These aircraft were manufactured at the Curtiss factory in the USA so surely they were painted with American stocks. Curtiss built Hawk H81s and P-40s were finished in American DuPont equivalents to RAF colours with light grey lower surfaces, so I assumed that this Hawk 75N might have been painted the same way.

Kit decals were used. They are a bit brittle but they look good under a coat of Solvaset.

Clear Prop!'s second 1/48 scale release maintains the very high standard of their earlier offerings.

Their 1/48 scale H75N Hawk is highly detailed, features world-class surface textures and fits together very well.

I’ll be writing this one up for a couple of detailed articles in Model Airplane International (I have taken more than 200 photos again!) starting in Issue 196.

Thanks to Clear Prop! Models for the sample.

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