The Little World

The Curtiss Hawk Model 75 Has joined the Royal Norwegian Air Force at their base in Little Norway… AKA Toronto Island Airport in Canada. A hub of Norwegian training.

They were delivered to the Norwegian training base on the shore of Lake Ontario from the US – part of an order that had not been delivered to Norway. Later, more were ferried over from the US. Oddly enough, they were phased out in 1943 in favour of British types – the Norwegian Air force felt that pilots would be better trained if they were started out on British aircraft as they would be flying them out of the UK under RAF control. The Curtiss’s were sent back to the US and disposed of to other air forces for the benefit of Norway.

The kit was actually quite nice, in a baggie sort of way. No major mis-fits, and enough detail to convey the lines of the original. The landing gear went on well and even the complex Curtiss doors were easy to fit – though they were small and fiddly enough to need some PVA insurance around them.

The paint job was acrylic this time – partially because I had the perfect shade of blue mixed up long ago and partly because Phil Flory has been doing a series of live airbrush tutorials recently in which he showed how to get the best effect from the older acrylics. I am pleased with it though I did wonder whether I had let myself in for trouble with using a flat colour coat. I could see the number decals on the side silvering up on me. The wing and fin colours were easy enough to mask and paint, but there was a little overspray with the acrylic red – it was over-thinned. I got smarter with the both the insignia and fuselage blues – I kept them thicker and sprayed lighter coats.

Note that this model Curtiss has no armoured windshield.

A satisfying and unusual treatment of the plane, perfect for my Canadian air base, and all courtesy of my friend Paul.