This all started with the classic Hawk 1/48 SPAD XIII a good friend sent me recently (thanks a million, hamsterman!). Isn't that box art something? It almost makes you feel like you're high over the western front.
While this is one of the oldest plastic model kits made, still it comes with everything you need, even if there's not a lot of parts.
I know it's all there though because mine was inspected twice!
The decals have made it through the past four decades or so in relatively good shape.
These will be squirreled away for future use.
And here's the instructions, starting with a nice history of the SPAD XIII and an exploded view.
They tie this all up with a marking guide. Hawk has left nothing out!
Of course, mine was going to end up a little different.
My spidey-sense was telling me some scale-o-rama from 1/48 to 1/72 was in order. I scrounged some lovely white-metal Aeroclub Gloster Gauntlet spats and added a drop-tank half for that pricey perspex bubble canopy.
My spidey-sense was indeed on the beam as it turns out the Thundercloud scales nicely with a P-47.
The idea was to come up with a P-47 progenitor built with the best 1929 tech.
In the spirit of this concept, I capped it off with an actual Thunderbolt prop and tail wheel.
The cabanes were swiped from a 1/72 Po-2 and luckily, I found four I-153 interplane struts which were beefed up by adding a thinner piece in back.
The rest of it, except for canopy and landing gear, was built OOB. Rigging was done with busted steel guitar strings and white glue.
The model was painted using the old hairy stick and acrylics, a custom OD mix for the fuselage and Insignia Yellow on the wings & tail planes.
The canopy was done in Polly Scale RLM-something Lichtblau and given a gloss coat to get it nice & shiny.
The exhaust and front grille were done with custom mixes and the rudder stripes in Model Masters Insignia Blue, White Primer and Model Color Flat Red.
The decals were all spares and that Seversky logo comes from a 1/48 Williams Bros. P-35A. It took me a week all told to build this model and I was astonished again by the fit of such a vintage kit. The fuselage and lower wing almost didn't need glue.
Before I forget, here's the "money shot" (U.S. penny for scale):
Many thanks to Bill for his kindness in sending me this classic! I couldn't have done it without you!
I hope you enjoyed the Seversky XPH-29 Thundercloud and reading a little more forgotten aircraft history even if it's a bit on the heavy side.
Brian da Basher