1:48 Curtiss H-75

The export hawk from Curtiss

The H-75 designation was carried by the machines Curtiss delivered outside American military orders; at home the same aircraft was called the P-36. The largest customer was France and it was its pilots who scored the first French victories of the Second World War on the Hawk. After the fall of France some of the aircraft made their way to Finland, where they served for a long time after the war, and further machines flew under the British flag as the Mohawk over Burma and India.

A greenhouse with many partitions

The cockpit of the radial-engined Hawk belongs to a generation that had not yet met molded one-piece glazing. The canopy is put together from flat panes joined by narrow frames, and small side windows under the spine are added to them. Masking such an area with strips of tape means cutting two dozen pieces and seating every one so that the frame stays evenly wide. With cut film that step shrinks to a few minutes.

What the set is made up of

• parts for the individual panes of the sliding section
• the fixed windscreen and its side surfaces
• the rear glazing of the spine behind the pilot
• a complete duplicate of all the shapes for covering from inside

The film is flexible and takes mild stretching, so it wraps even a slightly domed pane without a fold. The recommended sequence of steps: first seat the inner parts and spray the frames in the cockpit shade, then glue the whole glazing to the fuselage, fit the outer masks and spray the top camouflage. Peeling off is a matter of one pull with tweezers.