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Reviewer: James Garnett (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  2 November 2003

Aircraft History:

The Hawk III is probably the definitive version of the Curtiss Hawks from the Interwar area and is the export version of the BF2C-1, which was a converted F11C fighter bomber for Navy use as the US Navy was pushing for radial engines.  China was the biggest customer for the Hawk III and they were used quite successfully against Japan in the precursor and early stages of WW2, but were soon outclassed by better Japanese types such as the Claude (which I reviewed last year from the same manufacturer) before being replaced by early Soviet designs.  The experience was enough for Curtiss to continue producing the Hawk series of fighters with the Hawk 75 monoplane and then ultimately the P-40 series of fighters.  

The Kit:

Classic Airframes continue releasing kits from the interwar years to fill a niche in modelling circles, particularly in this particular scale.  On opening the box you are presented with several bags containing all the parts which are a mix of limited run injection molded plastic, resin, white metal and vacform transparencies.  

The plastic is molded in light grey and comes on two sprues and totals around 30-40 parts.  The limited run technology is quite apparent with fairly thick plastic and some sprue lugs which will easily gouge the plastic if not removed carefully.  There is no flash to speak of and only a few ejector pin marks that need any notable attention.  Again, typical with limited run technology, clean up of parts along with dry fitting every assembly, most of which will need trimming of some sort, will be required during the construction phase.  Panel lines and surface detail is very finely engraved, and the wing and tail surfaces feature nice fabric detail. 

The resin comes bagged separately and is as you would expect very nicely cast.  The resin engine is the first thing that you will notice with the cylinders cast separate and individual to the central gearbox.  The exhaust pipes are also resin but are difficult to work out which is which, more on that in construction.  The wheel wells are also resin and are very nicely detailed within.  

Two vacform canopies are provided in the kit and will need to be cut from their plastic base.  Furthermore, some reference on whether you are building an example with a half enclosed cockpit or just a windscreen will be called upon during construction.  The landing gear is made up of white metal parts which is also nicely cast and comes bagged separately.

Construction:

Rather than starting in the cockpit the wings and fuselage are best dealt with first.  The wings are broken down into upper and lower halves for upper wing and one-piece moldings for the lower wing halves.  The upper wing halves fit together okay but need sanding to sharpen out the edges and blend in the slight misalignment in fit.

The fuselage halves have the wheel wells cut out and a resin bay is affixed with super glue to the fuselage interior.  Two bulkhead parts are also affixed to the fuselage interior and were a bit difficult to fit.  I did a test fit of closing the fuselage halves and found this to be poor with the resin wheel bays the worst offender.  Both areas need some serious sanding and trimming before the fuselage halves would close, which also needed the aid of clamps.  However, obviously before that happened, the cockpit unit had to be installed.

The cockpit is made up of a floor, seat, instrument panel and side framework trapped between fore and aft bulkheads, with some sidewall detail provided.  Most of these parts are in resin.  The framework is hard to assemble and looks a little dubious with the horizontal bar supposed to be affixed across the top of the assembly.  I painted the interior polished aluminium with the various details picked out in black.  The firewall for the engine is inserted after the cockpit, and again needs some adjusting for a good fit.  Once all the test fitting, trimming and other work had been done to ensure the fuselage halves would close, this was done.

Before moving onto the wings, I decided to make a sub assembly of the engine.  Again this is a combination of resin and plastic and the fit for the components is poor.  The individual engine cylinders must be affixed to the central gear box which means precise placement is called for, or your engine will look out of symetry! Test fitting revealed that the cylinders were too long and the engine mount too wide to fit inside the cowl.  Work was carried out to ensure the engine assembly would fit inside the cowl with the parts painted in aluminium and picked out by drybrushing on oil stain and dirt simulation.  The exhaust pipes only added further to both the frustration and challenges of fitting this kit together and the instructions do not adequately tell you how the pipes are affixed, which tube is which and what way they are meant to go.  Photos of the real thing are the only way to go here, remembering that the pipes are angled away from the centreline.

The wings were then affixed to the fuselage, with the lower wing first.  A jig of some description is highly recommended to aid in ensuring the wings dry at the correct angle, as they are butt joined.   At the same time I affixed the N-shaped struts to the lower wings and whilst the glue had not completely set, further ensured they were drying correctly by doing a dry run of the upperwing.  Satisfied, I left the model to set properly before filling in some very minor gaps at the wing roots.

The other struts were then affixed to the lower wing ready for the upperwing to be added on top which is all simple in theory but in reality I found that the struts were different in length to the N-shaped struts already on the lower wing!  Faced with the choice of either removing the N-shaped struts and somehow lengthening them or trimming the other struts, I decided on the easier latter option, which in hindsight I think was correct anyway when looking at reference photos.  The painstaking process of ensuring the length of the other struts matched the N-shaped struts accurately was taken out and finally the upperwing could be placed on top.  All your biplane wing affixing skills are definitely needed here, along with a high amount of patience, dedication and persistence.  The reward was worth it for me with an almost flawless looking wing assembly.

As you would expect, the tailplanes are also butt joined to the rear of the fuselage but also have support struts that need to be affixed in place.  It is therefore very important that the tailplanes also dry at the correct angle to make the job easier when installing the struts.  The tail fin presented similar problems with the rudder actuating struts difficult to place correctly.

With the airframe complete all that was left to do was affix the landing gear, drop tanks and external parts, and paint up the model.  As is the normal state of the affairs when I build up kits, landing gear and external parts are left off until after the painting.  The model needs priming first, blemishes dealt with, and then can be painted in overall olive drab, with some weathering and simulated fade to make the model look more realistic.

The landing gear is a multi media affair with the struts cast in white metal whilst the wheels are broken down into plastic halves.  Once the frame was constructed the main strut and wheels are affixed and then the landing gear can be installed straight into the nicely detailed resin wheel wells.  The installation of the tailwheel was more difficult and required some improvisation in opening a hole and sanding the fuselage.  The small windscreen is vacform and needs to be cut out, and it is smaller than the fuselage cross section, and a little difficult to insert with the wings in place. Finally, the individual prop blades are affixed to the central spinner which in itself is fixed onto the front of the engine cowling.

The only other thing left to do was rigging, something which I am not very good at so I won't bore you with all the details here of how I went and what process I went through.  Suffice to say I used some invisible thread and stretched out at the right length dabbed with super glue at each end.  This is a painfully long process but if done right I feel yields excellent results.  Sticklers will find something wrong with my attempt with some wires not quite taught, but I am pretty happy with it, especially from a distance.  

Colour Schemes/Decals:

There are two colour options for the kit, either a Chinese 1937 or a Royal Thai 1940/41 offering.  The decal sheet is rather small featuring only unit badges, code numbers and the insignia of the respective air forces.  The sheet carries the Classic Airframe badge but provides a Propagteam feel about it, with thin decals, little carrier film, matt appearance and excellent colour register.  I took care applying the decals, with the aid of setting solution they bedded down very well.

Accuracy:

The kit provides accurate dimensions and profile overall.  You do have to be a bit ahead of yourself with the instruction sheet, the Chinese example of the Hawk III differed to others, for example the lack of drop tanks, armament on the training version and only a windscreen instead of a half enclosed cockpit, which are not always noted on the instructions, so a good set of reference material is needed.

Overall Recommendation:

Having recently built an excellent Accurate Miniatures Mitchell, I find my assessment of this Classic Airframes kit perhaps a little tainted even though I have built these kits before, given the experiences and the vast difference in engineering between the two kits.  With that said, basically this is not a kit for beginners or anyone without a fair bit of experience building both multi media and biplane kits.  At times the frustrations, challenges and extra work gets a bit much and can take out the enjoyment of completing the project. The instruction sheet looks comprehensive on first glance but you definitely need reference photos to clarify a number of vague placement directions.  

However, if you are not fazed by putting these types of kits together and have a few under your belt, the result is very good and well worth the effort and persistence you put in.  Recommended for the experience limited run and biplane modeller.

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