**** DONE: 1/48 Hawk 75N Royal Thai AF 1940 - Aircraft in Foreign Service GB

[T Bolt]

User Name: T Bolt
Name: Glenn
Category: 1, Advanced
Model: Curtiss Hawk 75N of the Royal Thai Air Force, 60 squadron 66th wing Phanom, Thailand, 1940
Kit: Hobby Craft Hawk 75 M/N/O
Scale: 1/48th.
Accessories: Some scratch-building

My first entry for the Aircraft in Foreign Service Group Build is a Curtiss Hawk 75N of the Royal Thai Air Force, 60 squadron 66th wing Phanom, Thailand.

The Aircraft
Not too much info on this aircraft. I found these profiles on Wings Palette which match the decals in the kit pretty well. The text on that first profile is also where I got the above mentioned info. The write up in the kit plans said next to nothing, just “Thailand, 1941” I also have collected many over-all and detail shots of the preserved example at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum in Bangkok, and while the paint scheme is similar, there are few differences which lead me to believe that aircraft represents a later time period, as I know the Thai Air Force used the type up until 1949
I plan on doing some more research before I start the build and any information that anyone has on this aircraft would be most welcome.

The Kit
The Hobby Craft kit is their P-36 kit which I’ve made twice before, with one different sprue with the bottom half of the wing, the fixed, spatted undercarriage, and under wing gun pods. There is also an extra section of the fuselage sprue containing the new cowling and Wright GR-1820 Cyclone engine. I was pleased with the P-36 kits when I built them, and see no reason why this build should be any different. The only worry I have is with the Hobby Craft decals, which have given me trouble in the past.

[Florence]

How cool is that? Nice choice indeed.

David.

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent!

[ozhawk40]

Interesting pick Glenn, I'll be watching this one for sure.

Cheers

Peter

[Wayne Little]

Wow, now that's something different, nice one Glenn!

[rochie]

great choice Glenn

[Airframes]

Great to see something really different Glenn, good choice mate.

[Crimea_River]

Excellent choice!

[Wurger]

[brucejscott]

Nice choice Glenn. Always thought about building this kit.

[Vic Balshaw]

Great choice Glenn, good one to start the ball rolling.

[Rogi]

Pretty cool, I should of picked up this kit at our local shop, looking forward to the build

[Lucky13]

Cool choice!

[woody]

Nice Gleen.

[T Bolt]

With my Aces GB builds finishing up I’ve made a small start on the Hawk75.
The kit seat has the right basic shape, (picture 1) but the plastic is way too thick and it lacks any detail so I decided to make it look a little better. The Hawk75/P-36 seat was very much like the early P-40 seat except the P-40 had embossed stiffening ribs on the back while the P-36 was smooth. Picture 2 shows the modifications I made. Thinning of the sides and back, new front seat pan, and stiffing plate at the junction of the back and bottom. Picture 3 shows it after painting with Aluminum Plate and a black acrylic wash.