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Curtiss H 75A-3, GC II/4, 3 Escadrille


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Something a little outside of my normal comfort zone, non Luftwaffe that is. This is the Azur 1/32 Hawk H 75A-3. This will be the plane of Sergeant-chef Antoine Casenobe of GC II/4, 3 Escadrille.

After just finishing up wrestling with another Eastern European limited run kit (PCM Fw 190A-3), I decided I need some more plastic induced pain. The detail on the kit looks very nice, the kit comes with a full resin cockpit and pre-painted PE goodies from Eduard. This is the easy part, I don't anticipate any pain until the wings and fuselage start going together. As you can see I've decided to go with good old interior green for the cockpit. I found a great walk-around site here for this plane here:

H-75 Walk-around

As you can see the cockpit on this one is a light olive green. Then again restored aircraft are not always a good source for colors. With the limited research I did it appears interior green may have been the actual color, and since I had it on hand already that's what I went with.

Here's my progress so far:

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Next up, the engine.

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Finished up the engine. Wasn't real impressed with what was included in the box initially, looked into a Vector replacement but the $30+ price tag encouraged me to see what I could do with this one. Added a little plumbing and it didn't come out too bad.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

OK, I haven't posted much progress lately but I have been plugging along. I'm not real big on sanding and filling so my work on limited run kits can be slow just because I really have to force myself to sit at the bench and get it done.

The fuselage halves joined together, not exactly Tamigawa fit!

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I've called in the heavy artillery for this one, Tamiya two-part epoxy putty, excellent stuff!

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The fit of the cover for the tail wheel bay was nothing to write home about either, Tamiya white putty sufficed here.

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Wings attached, the port side wing root is good, should only require minimal clean up.

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Starboard side not so good, wound up with a step that will have to be fixed.

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And we'll need to spend some time sanding and blending the the wing/fuselage joints on the underside as well.

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So back to fill, sand, blend routine....yay. :rolleyes:

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Well, almost ready for paint. I'm not 100% happy with with all my filling and sanding work but I just don't have any interest in doing it anymore! May the modeling Gods have mercy on my soul! Hoping to finish up before the deadline, we'll see how it goes.

The starboard wing root, Tamiya Epoxy Putty and Mr. Surfacer:

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I tried drilling out the blast tubes for the cowl guns but that didn't work out too well so I replaced them with brass tubing:

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These were a real bugger, they provided a little insert to go in between the lower upper and lower wing sections which I didn't like. I filled it in but it proved very difficult to get a smooth, rounded finish.

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And the lower surfaces:

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It's painted, but I have suffered a setback. The roundels on Cutting Edge decal set I purchased for this one just didn't cooperate. Didn't react well with Micro-sol and were pretty brittle. The roundels that came with the kit appear to have some color issues, the red in the roundels is more orange than red. So considering all the hours I have invested in this thing I was looking at two options:

1. Press on with the kit decals just to get it done for the GB.

2. Order a set of masks which will allow me to have the roundels match the red, white and blue on the rudder and give me something that I can live with on the shelf.

I chose option #2. Ordered a set of Montex masks that also have the correct ID code for the under surfaces of the wings as well. Disappointed that I won't finish on time but I'll be happier with the end product.

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Yeah, agree with your choice--it's going to live on your shelf!

What you've shown us has been outstanding; I'd like to see the paint job too! :)

Edited by David N Lombard
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It's painted, but I have suffered a setback. The roundels on Cutting Edge decal set I purchased for this one just didn't cooperate. Didn't react well with Micro-sol and were pretty brittle. The roundels that came with the kit appear to have some color issues, the red in the roundels is more orange than red. So considering all the hours I have invested in this thing I was looking at two options:

1. Press on with the kit decals just to get it done for the GB.

2. Order a set of masks which will allow me to have the roundels match the red, white and blue on the rudder and give me something that I can live with on the shelf.

I chose option #2. Ordered a set of Montex masks that also have the correct ID code for the under surfaces of the wings as well. Disappointed that I won't finish on time but I'll be happier with the end product.

I did the same and painted the rudder,roundels, and underwing serials (the decals were a nightmare) in this scale it's the best way.

Cheers

Dennis

Edited by Britaholic
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OK here is the current state of affairs, couple of areas that still need some minor touch up. Paint is Gunze. Green, brown, and blue were recommendations from IPMS Stockholm charts. I decided to go with good old RLM 75 for the gray. You'll note some variation in the sheen. I still have to re-apply a coat of Future for the areas that I had to touch up after removing the decals.

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Edited by The Mikester
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