Curtiss-Wright
SNC-1 Falcon II

Dora Wings, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Curtiss-Wright CW-22 was a 1940s American general-purpose advanced training monoplane aircraft built by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

It was operated by the United States Navy as a scout trainer with the designation SNC-1 Falcon.

The main customer for the aircraft equipped with the Wright R-975 Whirlwind air-cooled radial engine was the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force and 36 were exported. The aircraft had to be delivered to the Dutch in Australia due to the advancing Japanese forces.

A developed version, the CW-22B, was sold to Turkey, the Netherlands East Indies and in small numbers in South America. Some of the Dutch aircraft were captured and operated by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. The CW-22 and CW-22B were armed with two machine guns, one fixed.

An unarmed advanced training version (CW-22N) was demonstrated to the United States Navy. To help to meet the expanding need for training, the Navy ordered 150 aircraft in November 1940.

Further orders brought the total to 305 aircraft which were designated SNC-1 Falcon.

Curtiss converted a CW-19 into a CW-22 demonstrator. They hoped to use this to sell the CW-22 to China. The aircraft was obtained by the Burma Volunteer Air Force, and later used by the Royal Air Force in India. It was scrapped in 1946.*

To my knowledge, the only 1/48 scale Curtiss-Wright SNC-1 kits were a high quality vacform from Sierra Scale Models released in the 1990s and a resin limited edition kit from Planet Models released in 2005.

Dora Wings has a knack for picking interesting and esoteric subjects, and they have now expanded their range to include this 1/48 scale injection moulded plastic 1/48 scale Curtiss-Wright SNC-1.

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale SNC-1 comprises 95 parts in medium grey coloured plastic, three parts in clear plastic, 29 parts on one photo-etched fret, die-cut masks and decals for four marking options.

Although the plan form of the CW-21B Interceptor, also available from Dora Wings, and the SNC-1 bear strong similarities, the only parts in common between the two kits are the upper wing halves and control surfaces on Sprue B.

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Thumbnail panels:

The plastic is smooth and quite shiny. Surface textures are made up mainly from crisply recessed, fine and consistent panel lines. Sprue attachment points are narrow, but they do extend onto the visible outside surfaces of the wings and the fuselage so do take care when removing the parts and cleaning up.

The cockpits are fitted out with a photo-etched switches, handles, rudder pedals and harness straps with plastic seats, front and rear bulkheads, oxygen bottle, control columns and more. The instrument panels feature raised bezels. Dial decals are included for both.

The engine is made up from finely detailed cylinder banks, crankcase cover, exhaust manifold (seemingly, and quite unusually, fitted at the front of the engine) and a photo-etched ignition harness.

Mercifully, the engine cowling is all-plastic - no photo-etched cowl flaps here.

The wings are made up from a full span lower half and and port and starboard upper parts. All control surfaces are separate parts and may be posed neutral or offset. Flaps are moulded closed.

The characteristic clamshell doors are depicted correctly and with lots of lovely structural detail inside. The wheel well ceilings are moulded to the bottom of the lower wing.

Clear parts are thin and free from distortion although the canopy and windscreen are moulded together as a single part. It might have been nice to have a separate sliding sections.

Dora Wings has thoughtfully provided die-cut, self-adhesive canopy and landing light masks, which will save some time.

Instructions are supplied on a 12-page, glossy booklet. There are 31 illustrated construction steps.

The marking guide is in full colour.

Markings

The decal sheet is printed by Decograph from Ukraine. The decals are satin in finish.

Markings are supplied for three varied options:

• SNC-1 in service with the US Navy and finished in US Navy Light Grey lower surfaces and US Navy Blue Grey upper surfaces.

• SNC-1 in service with Ecuador finished in Aluminium with Chrome Yellow upper wings and a black anti-glare strip on the upper cowl.

• SNC-1 in service with Peru in overall dark blue.

Registration and printing look good.

Dora Wings' SNC-1 Falcon II is a high quality kit of a type that has never before been offered in injection moulded plastic in 1/48 scale.

This may technically be a limited run kit in terms of production techniques but it looks very mainstream to me, with its fine recessed surface texture, tiny locating pins and holes, high quality plastic and fine sprue attachment points.

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale SNC-1 Falcon II will be warmly welcomed by lovers of esoteric and trainer subjects worldwide.

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Dora Wings for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by Brett Green
Page Created 20 January, 2022
Last updated 21 January, 2022

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