Curtiss P-36 Hawk
Completed October 2010

This Academy kit is my first attempt at building a cutaway model. The Hawk is a fairly small model, even at 1/48 scale, with the fuselage around six to seven inches long. Building the internal structure is quite challenging as there are so many parts made from very thin material. This is however good practice for larger models to come which should be easier by comparison.
Planning what order to build in and what would be built has been a major part of the project. I decided the easiest way to proceed was to cut the view holes in the fuselage and from there, work out what could be seen through the holes.

Internal fuselage fittings include the fuel tank behind the pilot, oxygen bottle, battery and tail gear retraction mechanism.
The kit engine was fairly simple, so a new rear crankcase was built along with ancilleries, and cylinder intake tubes made from copper wire. The exhaust collector ring has also been scratch built.

The engine bay has an oil tank to fit, and a copper wire engine mount was made to support the engine. The stringers and fuselage formers were added to the starboard side of the fuselage, extending from the new firewall to the tail.

The wing was opened up along with the aileron and skin over the flap. Ribs, spar and stringers were made, gun and ammo box added, and then the landing gear mechanism.

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The kit tailplanes were moulded with the top and bottom all one piece. It was going to be to difficult to sand the tail to half the thickness, so a new tailplane half was made and structure built onto it. The original kit elevator was used.
After pondering for a while on how best to mask the open areas, I finally decided on brush painting the camo rather than spraying. The whole model was then given a satin coat prior to decalling. The landing gear, prop, canopy, pitot and aerial were then fitted.
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