OV-1A / JOV-1A Mohawk

Clear Prop!, 1/144 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The Mohawk began development as a Bird-Dog replacement in the late 1950s, offering a great deal more speed, carrying capacity and weaponry than the tiny Cessna plane, although carrying out a similar role as a two-seat observation and attack craft, while operating from relatively unprepared airstrips.

It entered service in 1961 and some 380 were built in a   number of different variants. (information from the instruction booklet). 

This is a relatively new Ukrainian company and they have quickly placed themselves amongst the quality kit manufacturers, and I am certainly impressed with this offering as part of their ‘Starter’ series.

A glossy card, fairly flimsy, end-opening box is embellished with a great illustration of a Mohawk in flight.

There are two dark grey sprues in a clear sleeve, a clear sprue and a 40 x 150mm decal sheet all in their own bags.

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The 12-page colour A5 instruction booklet is an excellent guide to the construction and finishing of this kit. Unfortunately it is bigger than the box and so have to be folded around the parts bag! The box could be 10mm longer and wider for them to fit in perfectly. I reviewed the exceptional 1/72 Mohawk kit by Clear Prop a few months ago, and this is a lovely smaller rendition.

This kit is, I believe, the first Mohawk in this scale and will look just fabulous in the hands of a skilled modeller.

The 63 dark grey parts come in clear sleeve and are very well moulded with excellent surface detail and texture in this scale. No sign of seams or flash are visible.

Sprue gates are commendably fine and mostly in unobtrusive places.

The main control surfaces are all separate to allow some different poses. Wheel wells are adequately moulded and the cockpit is well done in this scale, with seats, control panels, sticks and pedals all provided along with decals for the instrument panel and seat belts.

All flying surfaces are single surfaces to maintain fine trailing edges.

The undercarriage is made up a number of exceptionally fine parts so do take care in separating them from the sprues.

Paint details are called out in every stage with reference to a Mr.Color and A-Mig table as well as colour names.  

There is a need for nose weight given the amount of aeroplane behind the main wheels. Not mentioned in its 1/72 big brother, this kit asks you to put 2.5g somewhere in the front of the fuselage.

There are tanks and rocket packs to add to the wing hard-points as you choose. 

Five decal choices are on the nicely printed glossy sheet with dozens of tiny stencils and lines to be added to the airframe. Each propeller has six tiny markings and even the rocket pods have stencils!!

The decal locations are illustrated in colour drawings at the rear of the instructions booklet. The five alternatives are the same as the ones in the 1/72 kit, and differ only in markings as all aircraft are overall Olive Drab, either new or faded, with black leading edges and engine areas. 

They are :

1. JOV-1A, 60-3736 of 225th Aviation Coy, Vietnam, December 1964,

2. OV-1A ,59-2617 of 23rd Special Warfare Detachment, Vietnam 1963,

3. OV-1A, 63-13129 of 73rd Aviation Company, Vietnam 1966,

4. OV-1A , 63-13129 as above , Vietnam 1967, with special markings on upper surfaces, and

5. OV-1A , 63-13125 of 73rd Aviation Company, Vietnam , September 1964.

It appears that the modeller will have to paint the grey walkways before adding the black decal outlines.  Transparencies are blemish-free and thin. They provide the canopy in separate parts to enable the canopy to be posed open to show off the interior.

All-in-all, this is a really nice kit of an important participant in the Vietnam war and, if this is your area of interest and scale, then this is the kit for you. It is well detailed, nicely presented and moulded kit which will satisfy anyone interested in this aeroplane.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Clear Prop! for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2022 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2022 by Brett Green
Page Created 21 September, 2022
Last updated 21 September, 2022

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