P-36A Pearl Harbor defender

Off we go! Overall products used for this project. Brown''s machine is most propably an A as there is no actual photo of this plane and all informatins come from the pilot and ground crew which both were contradictory. Az models based its scheme propably on the aj press publication about the hawk where the caption states P-36A but the drawing is from an C. All other reference material I researched states that this machine was an A. 

Removed all parts from the sprues and cleaned them up. Did the same with the resin seat and wheels which I also sanded a bit to give then a light, weighted look. 

It took a considerable trimming effort to get a decent fit of the wings. 

Glued all parts together that could be done before priming. Test fit of the cockpit to fuselage showed that it's decent enough 

Filled the gaps with mr dissolved putty 

Filled the gaps in the firewall with mr disolved putty - i can really recomend this product 

Parts ready for grey primer, others like the engine will be primed black after those ones 

First layer went ok 

Backdated the wing to P-36A configuration - deleted the wing guns covers and ammo case chutes, installed the canvas "boots". Some holes and scratches still visible as I use clear super glue for gap filling. It took consderable amout of test fitting to get a good fit. 

Glued the wing assembly together - much sanding awaits. 

Parts that will be painted silver/metal primed and ready for the first coat of paint. 

First layer of tamiya bare metal silver applied. 

And the other side. 

Coming back to this project after the completion of the Dongfeng-1, working on the gaps after joining the wing together and working on the correction of the panel lines as they did not match up after aligning the lower and upper sides. They will be later cleaned and smoothed out with tamiya extra thin. 

 

 

Managed to smooth the lines with tamiya ultra thin yesterday. Wing sanded from 800 to 2500 grit, the surface will be further refined before priming. Did also start with detail painting of the cockpit floor. 

Working on the detail painting of the interior. Checked also references for the hawk and did fill some panel lines on the lower wing which did not exist on the real plane, at least according to 6 reference materials. 

Detail painting of the cockpit done, drybrushed silver on the cockpit. Used the yahu instrument panel, as always it ads a lot of detail. Now a coat of varnish and a black wash. I do not recommend ak true colors for brushpainting as they leave a irregular surface wot brushstrakes visible. 

Black wash added. Now one more coat of varnish and it's time to glue the cockpit floor to the fuselage half. 

Attached tbe floor today and did some simple 30.cal imitations on the instrument panels as they were visible in the original. 

Attached the yahu instrument panel today, cleaned the future glue areas on the fuselage sides and added locating plastic 0.3 mm stripes on one side. Suprise, suprise, the halves didnt come together after attaching the instrument panel. Had to substancially trim the other fuselage part where the panel meets the side. 

Test fitted the front windshield also today and fit isn't as bad as on the example built by Łukasz. Hopefully I will have also better luck on the cowling ? 

Glued the fuselage together today. Used pattex sos superglue as to get a good bond and already fill the gaps/seams. No getting away without sanding everything here. Fit is horrendous unfortunately.  

Filled and sanded all seams, rescribed lost panel lines, needed to do some corrections with tamiya easycsanding ca glue. Sanded and filled the cockpit rear wall. As you can see fit is not good. 

Filled and sanded all seams, rescribed lost panel lines, needed to do some corrections with tamiya easycsanding ca glue. Sanded and filled the cockpit rear wall. As you can see fit is not good. 

Fuselage sanded and rescribed. Did some detail work, mainly painting and drybrushing the sanded of interior colors. Added a black wash on the rear panels where the rear glazing will be mounted, and drubrushed it with silver. Had to modify the pavla resin seat extensively to get it to fit also removed the too thick seat framing and reconstructed it with bras wires. 

Fuselage sanded and rescribed. Did some detail work, mainly painting and drybrushing the sanded of interior colors. Added a black wash on the rear panels where the rear glazing will be mounted, and drubrushed it with silver. Had to modify the pavla resin seat extensively to get it to fit also removed the too thick seat framing and reconstructed it with bras wires. 

Did glue the the wings to the fuselage today. Dry fitted and adjusted extensively by scraping the mating surfaces to get a decent fit. Bad fit is strong on this one 🙂 

Smoothed out the seams and rescribed lost deatails. Sanded the fuselage from 800 to 1500 grit and smoothed out the rescribed panel lines with tamiya extra thin. As tamiya primer and as sprays give a good, thick layer the panel lines will blend in smoothly even if the apear deep in the photos. 

Smoothed out the seams and rescribed lost deatails. Sanded the fuselage from 800 to 1500 grit and smoothed out the rescribed panel lines with tamiya extra thin. As tamiya primer and as sprays give a good, thick layer the panel lines will blend in smoothly even if the apear deep in the photos. 

Smoothed out the seams and rescribed lost deatails. Sanded the fuselage from 800 to 1500 grit and smoothed out the rescribed panel lines with tamiya extra thin. As tamiya primer and as sprays give a good, thick layer the panel lines will blend in smoothly even if the apear deep in the photos. 

Attached the rudder, fit is again very bad, much sanding had to be done to make it look at least acceptable.  

Had then better luck with the horizontal stabilizers which had better fit, still filled the joints with super glue to close some gaps. It's on to sanding once again.... 

Had then better luck with the horizontal stabilizers which had better fit, still filled the joints with super glue to close some gaps. It's on to sanding once again.... 

Needed to take a brake from sanding and filling so did start some detail work. As P-36 had at least 4 different styles of propeller markings I needed to decide which ones to do. Setteled on the late style ones as the P-36 was already heavily phased out by the P-40 in time where the japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Additionally the painting scheme was the same as the P-40B with silver outer blade sides in natural metal and insides maroon with identical prop markings. Did paint the seat belts interior green with gunmetal buckles. Painted the engine cylinders in the sane color using the AK true metal wax. 

Did a black wash on the seat and a black and a engines and turbines wash fron ak on the second engine row, which actually looks good when applied. 

Attached the seat to the cockpit today. 

Disaster struck when I tried to put mr hooby matt varnish on the firewall painted with ak real color as it dissolved the paint. Did a quick cleanup with tamiya airbrush cleaner which did an outstanding job. Used pactra interrior green instead which takes the varnish without problems. Installed the lower intake in closed position, the fit was as always bad so filled it with super glue, eill smooth it out after inslalling of the cowling. 

Applied a wash to the firewall and engine compartment and drybrushed some silver. I instaled the second engine row and did some detail paintwork on the first engine row. 

Did some wash job on the first row and prepared the ingnition cables. 

Added wiring to the engine and glued the first row in the engine compartment. 

The cowling is unfortunately too wide so I decided to cut of the lower part of it in order to attain a better fit. Hat also to cut a small part of plastic on the front fuselage to attain a more symetrical look. 

Added the cut off lower part of the cowling. Another sanding orgy awaits? 

Sanded the cowling smooth and rescribed it. Added the exhausts. The instructions are vague on the locations of them so did have to check references in order to locate them as correct as possible. The panel lines are also incorrect on the lower cowling so another filling ans sanding session awaits. 

Dry fitted and sanded the clear side panels. Fit is bad. Did additionally treat the parts with tamiya compound which improoved the clarity slightly. 

Disaster struck after trying to glue the side glas with help of tamiya extra thin. Had to rework the sides and also the glas with 800 -2500 grit sanding paper and the with tamiya compound. Did masking after it had to use both tamiya masking tape an montex masks - after sanding the clear parts to fit the masks didnt fit. Will try with mikro kristal clear now. 

Done some further detail work today. 

The rear glass fitted horribly and left a nasty gap after sanding it to fit. Carefull application of micro white glue and then filling it with mr surfacer 500 did the job. Another sanding sesion awaits. Apllied also matt clear on the smal parts in order to start chiiping and appling wash to them. 

After sanding down the surfacer 500 with 800 to 2500 grit and corrections with pattex super glue I managed to blend in the clear side panel to the fuselage to in my opinion a very good effect. After a treatment with tamiya compound the clear part is now almost crystal clear. Did a black wash to the smal parts. 

After a long fight i managed to attain a good flush fit on both the front canopy and the second side window. The side window needs some final sanding and tamiya compound treatment but the build is steady getting nearer to the priming stage. 

 

Finally done with the side window. As you can see on the photos the procedure is as follows:
After 2 coats of paint I drybrushed silver on the base color, then sealed it with matt varnish, then washed it with tamiya panel liner black and sealed it again. After this I used microscale kristal kleart o glue the window to the fulselage. Then used paytex sos super glue as filler and sanded the window flush starting with 1200 grit to 2500. I finished the window woth polishing it with tamiya compound i rescribed the outlines of the window to give it a more correct shape - the one on the kit is incorrect. 

Slowly getting ready for primer. 

First layer of primer painted. Only minor corrections needed. 

Primer ready, did some pre shading just to do some airbrush exercise - still not the desired endstate but Im ok with the result. 

Underside painted with tamiya AS-7 Neutral Gray. 

Now comes the hard part: there is no photogrphic evidence of how Brown's plane looked like. We only have the statements of Brown himself that states the plane had a number 2 painted on it and his mechanic which stated that the aforementioned statemnt was bollocks. I think the painting guide of the 48th scale P-36 from Academy takes a very good approach showing 3 possibilities of how the plane might looked liked. Having some military expierience and taking into account that hawaii was a boring assignent I assume that the commanders had many ideas of "standarisation" just to keep the soldiers busy, thats why I will go with scheme 2 as the most propable, as it looks the most alike the P-40B's that were stationed there, modyfing it with painting OD on the full lenght of the fuselage sides like the P-40,s. There are actually not to much pictures of OD P-36's and some have this type of OD fuselage sides. 

Tamiya AS-6 Olive drab sprayed on. 

Decal donor just arrived.  

After some research found a picture of a Pearl Harbor P-36A which backs up my theory. That one has a two digit white number behind the cockpit! It also looks as there is not much wear and tear on it so I will go easy on chipping. 

Underside decals on. There is really something special about those pre war USAAC markings. 

Decals on now on to sealing with mr hobby premium topcoat and a wash. 

The fight continues. Managed to mess up the clear parts as always, had great difficulties to attach the opened up canopy and it managed to crack a bit on the upper side. Not much left to do, hope to finish it until the end of the year. 

Did the rigging and landing gear today. A few more days and it will be completed. 

All parts assembled. Just the painting of the pitot tube and a small clear varnish touch up remains. I think the landing gear legs are too long - noticed it when compared to the airfix P-40B. 

Engine detail 

Left side 

Right side 

Front 

Father and son together 

Underside