Curtiss Hawk 66

[Brian da Basher]

The 1930's may have been the Great Depression, but some industries actually thrived in that era. Few could afford new cars, so auto parts stores did well since folks wanted to keep their old vehicles on the road. The modern retail behemoth Canada Tire saw huge growth during this time. At first, the U.S. paid little notice...



Prior to 1934, Canada Tire remained contained up in the Great White North.



By July of that year, the picture had changed considerably.



The famous U.S. 94th "Hat in the Ring" squadron was sent to a forward base on Michigan's upper peninsula called Yooper Field to check the advance of Canada Tire. Fortunately, they'd recently been re-equipped with the new Curtiss Hawk 66 monoplane pursuit prototype for service testing.





Powered by a powerful nine cylinder Curtiss-Wright NineClone radial engine and having advanced features such as a cantilever wing and enclosed cockpit, the new pursuit was on the cutting edge of aviation. Its heavy armament of four machine guns along with the incredible intimidation factor of it's sleek, sexy spatted landing gear were thought to be more than enough to deal with the new threat from Canada Tire.



On July 32nd, a flight from the 94th took off from Yooper Field, headed towards the newest Canada Tire which S-2 intelligence had informed them was being built just outside of Houghton.




The Curtiss Hawk 66s dove on the worksite. Expecting the construction crew to flee en masse at the fighters' intimidating spats, the pilots of the 94th were rather surpised the workers didn't even flinch and remained on the job.



The U.S. pursuits returned to base to get clarification from the highest authority on the rules of engagement with the Canuck auto parts enemy. By the morning of the 33rd, clear, strict orders were cut and the pilots of the 94th approached their 'planes with a look of grim determination for the mission ahead.



Unfortunately, not one of the new pursuits took to the skies that dawn. None of the NineClone engines would start. A 3 cent gasket had failed and the only place that had them in stock for 700 miles was Canada Tire. As the patriotic heroes of the 94th refused to trade with the enemy, the crisis stalemated until resolved by a clever franchising agreement worked out by diplomats.



While forgotten today, the Curtiss Hawk 66 was once all that kept the U.S. safe from the looming threat of Canada Tire.

Brian da Basher

[kitnut617]

LMFAO!!!!!!   

Nice build to BdB, as usual

[Brian da Basher]

This all started with the wonderful 1/72 Airfix Curtiss Hawk 81/P-40B which I think may be the finest early P-40 widely available in this scale.



Unfortunately, that wouldn't save it from falling victim to an unholy marriage with the nose from a Russian I-5 biplane.

First, I had to cut off the useless but sleek Allison engine.



I needed something to attach the I-5 engine on that would blend in with what was left of the P-40 nose. The tip of a 1/48 Walrus engine pod seemed just the ticket.







Since I was itching for spats, the P-40 wheel wells needed filling.



My putty-fu looks much better with the flash on.



Next I glued on all the little cylinder fairings. All friggin' nine of 'em!





Once again, forcing the flash on the camera makes me look like a much better modeler.



Next up were the spats. I'd put some thought into this and decided "trousered" gear was the way to go. Ahead is a brief tutorial on my patented method for scratching spats. Now remember, I don't share this kind of top secret stuff with just anyone...

Sprue of a suitable shape was cut and attached. The sprue was compared to the kit landing gear to make sure the length was right.





Then I glued on the kit wheels.







Here's a brighter bonus pic:



Next, card stock was cut and glued on. I crimped the back with a clothespin.





The putty came out again and I filled any gaps.



Once again, more light makes this all look better. I figured the paint would hide any remaining flaws.



Speaking of paint, figuring out the color scheme was the most time-consuming part of this project. Initially, I wanted to do war games camo, but this bird wanted yellow wings. A while back, Bill & Jeff sent me some mystery paint of a perfect blue shade that seemed just right for this model.



The number made me think of the famous Humbrol line. And indeed Humbrol has a close blue 089.



However, the Humbrol is enamel and this stuff is definitely acrylic.



It reminds me of the stuff that comes in a paint-by-numbers kit, but it's honestly a mystery to me.



The mystery paint worked a treat. However, the yellow required multiple coats. I always find yellow so challenging for some reason...



I used a mix of decals from the stash. The U.S. Army under-wing markings are probably older than I am but went on without a problem. The rudder stripes are hand-painted. I couldn't really mask them off, so tape was used more as a guide to get things square. Which may have only met with limited success.





I had a lot of fun on this model which took me about two weeks from start to finish. I hope you enjoyed it and reading about a long-forgotten crisis. Here's a bonus shot of those fearsome spats.



Brian da Basher

[GTX_Admin]

Wow! :)

[Jeffry Fontaine]

That is one sleek looking Curtiss Hawk!

[taiidantomcat]

Instant classic    I love the look. Thanks for the tutorial as well, I was really curious how you did this

[FAAMAN]

Seriously cool  scenario,  Had quite a laugh with that!! What a brilliant Whiff, absolutely first class build of a very 'Art Deco' looking design!!!  :)

[raafif]

wow !

............ that chunky engine ! ... those so-very-cool spats !

If I wasn't into women & I'd say that's the sexiest thing I've seen in a few years !

[Kerick]

There should be a much larger rudder to counteract all that side area so far forward. Just kidding! Great build!

[Frank3k]

I love the colors you picked. The cylinder fairings are great! You could probably fit a family of four in those spats! Still, they look great on the plane.

[CSMO]

That is one of your best that I have seen.

Adios, Larry

[TallEng]

 Now those are Spats a gentleman could be proud of.
Nice build.

Regards
Keith

[Tophe]

This is brilliantly completing the Curtiss family...