1:32 Curtiss H-75

One aircraft, four different roundels

H-75 was the export designation of the Curtiss Hawk, that is the machine that at home with the US Army Air Corps flew as the P-36. France bought the most of them and in May and June 1940 its pilots shot down more opponents with them than with any other type, even though it was slower than everything it took off against. The groups designated by the abbreviation GC with a Roman numeral were the most successful with this aircraft, and some of them then flew from French bases in North Africa.

Markings as a map of the war

French machines carried the three-color roundel, stripes on the rudder and from the autumn of 1939 prominent yellow and red stripes on the cowling as well. The British took over the undelivered examples as the Mohawk and sent them to Burma and to India, where they were given a round insignia with a light blue center, which differed from the European one deliberately so that the machine would not be confused with a Japanese one. The Finnish Air Force, which deployed this type against Soviet formations, used a blue marking of its own until 1945; only after the war did a round roundel replace it.

On the set itself

The cockpit on this machine has a fixed windscreen, a sliding middle section and behind it a long glazed spine with several frames. By hand it is slow and uneven to mask, whereas cut shapes bed down the first time. Pieces for the inner side are in the set too, so the cockpit can be built with the canopy slid back.

Press the stencil down over its whole area, mainly in the corners, where the film most often lifts. Direct the spray square, so that the paint does not get under the edge from the side.