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1/32 Kitty Hawk T-6/Harvard, "Kicked Up A Notch"


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April 15/20

 

After about 4 ½ months of work, which is an a record short time for me, I’ve finished the Kitty Hawk T-6 Texan kit into a Canadian Harvard.  This pandemic we find ourselves in provides plenty of motivation to model, especially when the weather is crappy outside, so I got a lot done the past 2 weeks.  This Harvard Mk 4 is a museum bird that lives at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum near Hamilton, Ontario and as far as I know, it stills flies now and then.  It was built at Canadian Car and Foundry in 1951 and served RCAF flying schools until it was purchased by a private owner in 1965 and later donated to the museum in 1972.

 

I have many pics of this aircraft and all of them show it to be super clean, especially those in the museum hanger.  Other than dirtied up walkways and the characteristically weathered exhaust pipe, it still looks brand new today.  I have always loved the look of these yellow birds and chose this aircraft since the kit decals are the only ones available in 1/32 that I know of.  This kit presented many, many challenges too numerous to mention, but I have a build log from start to finish here for those who might be interested:

 

Work in Progress Build Thread

 

Key aftermarket items include:

 

  1. #32354 Eduard Exterior and Landing Flaps
  2. #32810 Eduard Interior Set
  3. #32100 AMS Resin Corrected Prop Blades
  4. #BR32380 Barracuda Resin Tires and Wheels
  5. #132004 HGW Late Spitfire Fabric Seat Belts
  6. AR88015 Archer Decal Rivets (various)
  7. And lots of scratch made enhancements

 

Now the pics with a few explanations.

 

 

0Iy0Sx.jpg

 

 

LIW28A.jpg

 

 

BEoGAp.jpg

 

 

TmZn1b.jpg

 

 

lrr6MO.jpg

 

 

JbQoOb.jpg

 

 

The antenna wires look just like this.  Tight, but also kind of sloppy.

 

 

5ISmtA.jpg

 

 

XwTOMV.jpg

 

 

Landing gear was corrected outwards from the kit anchor points.

 

 

OYlGYJ.jpg

 

 

lRPH29.jpg

 

 

To replicate a drain tube of some kind found at the bottom of the engine, I used a steel pin.

 

 

FmiDDB.jpg

 

 

I am most proud of the exhaust, which was modified with the addition of a cockpit heater pipe, then painted with Alclad Steel and Stainless Steel, followed by Tamiya pastels in rust.  Fuel tank caps on the wings were also recessed as per references.

 

 

x0V05H.jpg

 

 

A red vent tube was added to the top behind the engine cowling and a steel colored dipstick looking assembly at the bottom.

 

 

DW3IHf.jpg

 

 

The kit canopy is the weakest part of this kit and doesn’t fit at all, so I modified it with a channel slider at the bottom to hold everything together.

 

 

OJSjgT.jpg

 

 

oghpIX.jpg

 

 

All of the ribbing on the rudder and elevators was sanded down and modified with Archer decal rivets to create a subtle, but lumpy look of fasteners behind fabric.

 

 

LGw5FK.jpg

 

 

sw5Not.jpg

 

 

Aileron control arms were replaced with Eduard PE replacements, which include an arm to the small trim tabs.

 

 

MYhnbU.jpg

 

 

The Eduard landing flaps were a ton of work, but very satisfying to see them completed.

 

 

zkDtPi.jpg

 

 

For those who might want to see the upper portion of the landing flaps, they look like this.

 

 

APCPhZ.jpg

 

 

The Eduard set also has control arms for the rudder missing from the kit.  The formation lights were added which should be red, amber and blue in a variety of positions according to references.  Since the amber color would be lost against the yellow fuselage, I added a green one instead, just ‘cause.

 

 

EqTpNb.jpg

 

 

If you have any questions, fire away.

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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Chuck,

I'm a huge fan of realistic looking models, in other words... aircraft normally are dirty

and show signs of normal wear & tear. That being said, I can also rightly appreciate

one that has been well maintained and taken care of. Your representation of the T-6

Harvard is absolutely exquisite. Really enjoy everything about it, extremely well done!

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Thanks Guys!

 

4 hours ago, The Underdog said:

Chuck,

I'm a huge fan of realistic looking models, in other words... aircraft normally are dirty

and show signs of normal wear & tear. That being said, I can also rightly appreciate

one that has been well maintained and taken care of. Your representation of the T-6

Harvard is absolutely exquisite. Really enjoy everything about it, extremely well done!

 

Me too.  This Hanger Queen is pretty clean these days.

 

lJLrKE.jpg

 

I also like dirty, when the subject should be dirty.

 

Jx5ST8.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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5 minutes ago, chuck540z3 said:

 

Yup.  More pics here:

 

The Display Case

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

Not bad, actually I'm being a bit snobby... just kidding. I don't know what others think,

but when I see a model like that its difficult for me to "wrap my head around it." Its so

well executed, it could easily pass for photos of the real thing. How much experience

or how long have you been modeling? Obviously your skills are exceptional, beautiful

looking Spitfire and on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler... very well done indeed.

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could you not get an Alley Cat corrected canopy instead of using the kit T-6 canopy

 

edit; just read in your WIP about your canopy woes,  that's too bad as I have the Alley Cat canopy but no KH kit. 🙂

 

 

Tony 

Edited by Snowbird3a
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7 hours ago, Snowbird3a said:

could you not get an Alley Cat corrected canopy instead of using the kit T-6 canopy

 

edit; just read in your WIP about your canopy woes,  that's too bad as I have the Alley Cat canopy but no KH kit. 🙂

 

Tony 

 

Curiously, the Alley Cat canopy is not corrected for width and from what I've seen, is thicker and not as clear as the kit parts, so I have no idea why one would buy it.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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9 hours ago, The Underdog said:

 

Not bad, actually I'm being a bit snobby... just kidding. I don't know what others think,

but when I see a model like that its difficult for me to "wrap my head around it." Its so

well executed, it could easily pass for photos of the real thing. How much experience

or how long have you been modeling? Obviously your skills are exceptional, beautiful

looking Spitfire and on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler... very well done indeed.

 

 

Thank you sir.  I started modeling about 13 years ago and like everybody else, was not very good to start, but I still enjoyed the hobby immensely.  Over time and practice- again like everybody else- I got better and better as I made every mistake possible.  I still strive to make each model better than my last, but I'm starting to hit a bit of a wall now that I'm 65 years old and my sight and dexterity are not what they used to be.  Here is my first model posted here at ARC in 2007 or so.  Orange peel paint, silvered decals and likely crooked landing gear, but I was very proud of it.  We all have to start somewhere!

 

1/32 Revell F-15E

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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6 minutes ago, chuck540z3 said:

 

Thank you sir.  I started modeling about 13 years ago and like everybody else, was not very good to start, but I still enjoyed the hobby immensely.  Over time and practice- again like everybody else- I got better and better as I made every mistake possible.  I still strive to make each model better than my last, but I'm starting to hit a bit of a wall now that I'm 65 years old and my sight and dexterity are not what they used to be.  Here is my first model posted here at ARC in 2007 or so.  Orange peel paint, silvered decals and likely crooked landing gear, but I was very proud of it.  We all have to start somewhere!

 

1/32 Revell F-15E

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

Chuck,

I agree, we've all "been there - done that" in building models. And, not everyone is on

the same page as far as skills are concerned. But, I believe what makes modelers so

passionate and collectively a unique group... is our love for the Hobby. Just reading

through your detailed thread on the Harvard build in the Display Case, was amazing.

You seem to have acquired and understood the necessary skills needed, in elevating

the desired results to another level. And, accomplishing that in about 13 years time!

Right there with you, mid-sixties with eyesight not what it use to be but still building.

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6 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

 

Curiously, the Alley Cat canopy is not corrected for width and from what I've seen, is thicker and not as clear as the kit parts, so I have no idea why one would buy it.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

perhaps, when I get around to it, I could use it to get a master for vacuforming. 🙂

 

Cheers, Tony

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5 hours ago, Snowbird3a said:

perhaps, when I get around to it, I could use it to get a master for vacuforming. 🙂

 

Cheers, Tony

 

 

DO IT!  This aircraft is very popular and the kit would be much more popular if somebody fixed the width of the canopy parts, which is a major big time flaw.  I bet you wouldn't be able to keep up with orders if you marketed a good product.  Mark me down for your first sale if you do, since I have another kit.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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