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Welcome to my abbreviated build log for the Curtiss Mohawk! Since MSW is dedicated to ship modeling, I will not be cluttering up the message traffic by updating this log as regularly as I would for a ship model, just so y'all know. The Mohawk was the RAF designation for the export version of Curtiss' successful P-36 Hawk design. This 1/33 scale card model kit was deigned by Lukasz Fuczek and published in 2020 by the Polish firm of Answer. The kit consists of four pages of parts and 2.5 pages of diagrams. There are no English instructions. The kit depicts an aircraft of No. 1 Operational Training Unit of the Indian Air Force in 1942. Since I can't read Polish, I'm not entirely clear on what variant of the P-36 the model is supposed to represent, but the text does say "H-75A-3." That doesn't seem very likely, considering that all but two of that variant went to France. More likely the kit depicts an H-75A-4, a large number of which were diverted to England and, being deemed inadequate for operations in the ETO, were shipped off to India, where they fought primarily in the Burma theater. So rapid were developments in aviation in the late 1930s that the P-36 was already obsolete by the time war broke out. Nevertheless, the P-36 and its variants served admirably wherever they happened to be. Especially to be noted is that H-75s of the French Armée de l'Air accounted for roughly a third of all French aerial victories during the Battle of France while making up only 12.6% of France's single-seat fighter force. French H-75 pilots claimed 230 kills for the loss of 29 aircraft. I have a soft spot for the P-36, because it is an interwar aircraft with remarkably clean, well-balanced looks. I often marvel at how these early all-metal monoplanes and their more glamorous successors, like Curtiss' own P-40 series, enjoyed only a decade in the spotlight before being eclipsed by jets. But what a moment in the spotlight it was! Enjoy!

You are off to a fine start.

Already did. You even hit the 'like' button! We're gettin' old, Mark! 😉

Just in case anyone is wondering, the default setting for tags with the previous edition of our software produced tags in lowercase. The new software allows tags to be written in uppercase. The case does not affect the tag function -- clicking an uppercase tag will pull up all tags with that name, regardless of case.

Welcome aboard, Tom!

Nowhere, yet. James is building the second prototype for the instruction manual. Probably be about a year before the kit is out.

That is an excellent question. It will definitely be an aircraft, but I currently have 35 in the stash, so deciding on which one will be an enjoyable challenge.

Well, ladies and gents, I refrained from posting progress pics recently because there wasn't really much to do in order to finish the model up. So, this is the Big Reveal! And it only took me four months and nine days to knock this one out, which must be close to a personal record. As is usually the case, I'm not entirely happy with everything and feel there are some things I could have done better (if I weren't so hasty), but overall I am satisfied. More importantly, I am DYING to get back to a card model, and now my bench is cleared for action. Some thanks are in order: Thanks to all of you who hit the 'like' button and/or commented. The camaraderie is always appreciated. Thanks again to SHIPYARD for taking the plunge into wood kits and sending this one out for a review. All in all, I think we can say that this kit works, and I hope they sell a lot of them. If this build log has helped anyone decide to have a go at a SHIPYARD product, be sure to check them out through their USA vendor and MSW site sponsor, Ages of Sail (see ad banner on home page). Here are some preliminary glimpses of the finished model. I will shoot a better set of photos for the gallery in the near future. Enjoy!

Ah, the famous "box scale" Revell models. I built this one back when I was seven or eight years old.

Welcome! That kit is a popular one, and we have numerous build logs for it here, which should serve you well as a source of visual aid. Cheers!

The mystery is where, if anywhere, does the hawse disappear to on the aft side of the deck beam. It looks like it just simply terminates at deck level.

"Messy"? You should see my space! Welcome aboard!

Okay, gents, I have one final task to do on WH, which is adding the anchor and its hawse. Here I have a bit of a conundrum, because the pictorial instructions show the hawse cable looped around a knighthead -- but then they do not show where the hawse leads to, that is, the end that should lead below deck somewhere. It seems logical that the hawse should come out from the amidship hatchway, but that seems a bit far away from where the anchor is lashed to the bulwark. Any advice?

Looking very nice!

Welcome, Jerry, and thanks for sharing an introduction. Glad Tidings makes a very attractive model -- hope you enjoy building it.

Hi, Gary. We had a discussion about craft store points in another thread, where I pointed out that they don't provide very smooth finishes. But since working boats like this one very often have rough finishes (lots of wear and tear covered by multiple paint jobs), this type of paint is perfect (as is your model). Cheers!

Gonna need more information, like severity of warp and kind of material.

Nice hooks, and another great example of modeler ingenuity.

There are far worse things to be distracted by. 😉

They're probably not identical sets in terms of what's included and what isn't, but if they include some of the same items, say grab rails for instance, then those parts should be interchangeable, assuming the sets are for the same time period. It's not uncommon for the plastic masters to buy multiple PE sets and then pick-and-choose which parts they will use from each set.

It's like when you run through all of your children's names before you arrive at the right one. 😉

Received mine today. Great product!

That is simply gorgeous!

I find that the Ceramcoat paints don't provide a very smooth finish, if that's something one is looking for. But the price can't be beat, and they come in a huge range of colors. I use them for edge coloring on my card models.

Matt, the sail comes in two pieces with the panel lines and mad dog printed on them. All the painting and stitching, etc., must be done by the builder.