by Caz Dalton

Subject Modeled: Curtiss Hawk 75 A-2

Kit Used: 1/48 Hobbycraft, kit number HC1555

When France was overrun by Germany in June 1940, 291 assorted Hawk A-1, A-2, and A-3s had been delivered. From those not destroyed in the Battle of France, Germany sold Finland 36 of the Hawk fighters. Finland purchased an additional 8 Hawk A-7s from Germany when Norway was occupied to bring the total of 44. The first five Hawks delivered were serialled CU-501 to CU-505. The following thirty-nine were serialled CU-551 to CU-589. Some of the serials had a small subscript w, such as the aircraft I have modeled, after the CU. This indicated that the aircraft have been either refitted or repaired at the Finnish Aircraft Service Factory VL (Valtion Lentokonetehdas). All Hawk fighters were assigned to three flights of Flying Squadron 32 (Lentolaivue 32) and remained in service until the end on the Continuation War with the USSR. A few survivors remained in Finland's Air Force inventory until 1948. LeLv (Lentolaivue) 32 distinguished themselves very well with the Curtiss fighters and achieved 190 victories with them for the loss of only 15 in combat situations.

The aircraft I have modeled was the personal mount of Captain Aulis Bremer during the spring and summer of 1942. Captain Bremer was the Flight Leader of 2/LeLv32 for two years following the beginning of the Continuation War. He achieved 2 1/2 of his total of 7 1/2 victories while flying CU-556 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander of Training Squadron 33 (T-LeLv 33) in September 1943. He retired from the Finnish Air Force in May 1959 after a distinguishing career.

CU-556 was credited with 10 1/2 total victories while being flown by six different pilots, including Captain Bremer. It was the only documented aircraft in the Finnish Air Force, that for some unknown reason, had the swastikas on the wings painted in the reverse position.

I have labeled the model as a Hawk 75 A-2, but it could just as well have been an A-3. It is easy to see the difference in an A-1 and A-2 or A-3 as the former has two wing guns as opposed to the latter's four. But the only difference in an A-2 and an A-3 was the higher horsepower output of the A-3's engine (1200 hp vs 1050 hp).

Additions, modifications, etc.:

With the exception of adding photoetched seat belts from True Details and a lens to the reflective gunsight from clear sheet styrene, the interior was assembled out-of-the-box.

The interior was painted Gunze Interior Green with radio boxes, throttle controls, and such picked out in flat black. The instrument panel was painted semi-gloss black with the raised gauge details dry brushed in white. I then sprayed the entire panel in clear flat and applied Johnson"s FUTURE to the gauges. Seat belts and shoulder harnesses were painted Gunze Sail Color with the buckles painted flat aluminum. Wheel wells and the inside gear covers were also painted interior green and given a black wash.

The engine was painted Gunze Steel and given a black wash, after which I hand painted the gear cover and push rods in neutral gray and bright silver respectively.

I replaced the fuselage gun ports with hypo tubing and the wing guns with hypo tubing cemented inside perforated gun barrels that I bought from Meteor Productions. Sadly the perforated barrels are no longer available (The guy in Germany who made them for Meteor became a skinhead I am told).

The bulged tires were from True Details P-40 set. Brake lines were simulated with small gauge wire, as was oil and fuel feed lines for the engine. Insulin hypo tubing was used for the fuels vent and drain tube on the underside of the fuselage. A small piece of copper wire was used for the rudder hinge and for the vertical tail antenna mount. Wing antenna attachments were done by wrapping aluminum thread around a sewing needle and cementing the attachments into predrilled holes. Main gear doors and rear wheel doors were thinned with files and sandpaper.

I replaced the fuselage ring sight with a photoetched sight from Fotocut. The bead was simulated with a piece of fine stainless steel wire. Antenna wire was done with smoke-colored invisible thread. The kit's fuselage antenna post was shortened to match the type used on Finnish Curtisses.

During the spring, summer, and autumn Finnish Hawks used an olive green and light blue camouflage with yellow identification bands. In the winter white distemper was applied in no set pattern on parts of the uppersurfaces. I primed the entire aircraft in Tamiya Medium Gray. I painted the identification bands Tamiya Flat Yellow, followed by Tamiya Lemon Yellow. After masking the ID bands I painted the undersurfaces Gunze RLM 65 Blue. On this particular aircraft, the underside of the starboard wing was flat black from the wheel well to the ID band. I masked the blue and painted this semi-gloss black, I next masked the entire undersurface and painted the uppersurface Gunze RLM 71 Dark Green.

Decals came from Aeromaster and, although they were a bit thick, went on without any problems. After the decals dried, I washed the model and shadowed all recesses for control surfaces, cowl flaps, and access panels with a tech pen and india ink. The underside of the wings and fuselage behind the main wheels and rear wheel were dry brushed with earth and mud and the entire aircraft then given an overcoat of clear flat.

The pilot figure and parachute were from Reheat Model's resin Luftwaffe figures and purchased from Meteor Productions. Both the figure and parachute were primed in medium gray and hand painted using Tamiya and Polly-S acrylics.

For the interest in anyone caring to do one of these kits, get the Hobbycraft P-36 A/C kit as opposed to the Hobbycraft Hawk 75 kit. The former includes all the parts to build a Hawk 75 should you wish, but the latter does not includes the correct parts to build a P-36 variant.

Caz