Roden 1/48th OV-1D Mohawk
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Background
I think Roden is maturing nicely because its quality has
been improving steadily over the years, something proven by one of its
latest kits, the 1/48 OV-1D Mohawk (Kit # 413). The third in a series
of Mohawks, this kit is similar to Roden’s previous ones although
there are some differences. For example, it has a wider wingspan than
the A and C versions (the real D and B versions had 48-foot-wide wings
to help lift their side-looking radar (SLAR) pods while the A and C versions
were only 42 feet wide). Also, the D’s SLAR has a different configuration
than the one carried by the B, the second kit of the series. Besides different
markings from the earlier kits, the OV-1D also differs from the A in that
the D doesn’t have the rocket and cannon pods included in the A
kit and their wingtips differ slightly too. The D is also different from
the B because the D has airbrakes and larger air scoops near the cockpit
plus, underneath the mid-section of the fuselage, a housing for a panoramic
camera.
The Aircraft
 Okay,
for some background on the OV-1 family. It was designed and built by Grumman
in response to requests from the U.S. Army for a lightweight, twin-seat,
twin-turboprop aircraft used for various tasks but primarily reconnaissance.
Also, the plane was designed to operate from small, relatively unimproved
airfields. The Navy participated in the project during its early phases
but eventually backed out, using none. Originally designed to have a T-tail,
the Mohawk, by the time it first flew in testing, had a tail with triple
vertical stabilizers, one of its more distinctive features besides the
fuselage’s tadpole planform where the two pilots sat side-by-side
in a wide cockpit surrounded by so much glass that it looked almost like
a fish bowl (whoever designed the cockpits for Grumman planes certainly
had a thing for bulbous, bug-eyed canopies as they were also evident on
the company’s A-6 Intruders and Trackers). In the early 1960s, the
first Mohawks began operations with Army units stationed in West Germany
and then began flying combat missions in Vietnam.
Like many other aircraft, the OV-1 went through changes, resulting in
the B and C variants. Then along came the OV-1D which entered service
in 1970 with improved avionics, navigation gear and radar plus the uprated
Lycoming 1-53-701 engines. Some regard the D as the ultimate Mohawk. Before
the Mohawks were retired in Sept. 1996, the D’s saw combat in Vietnam
and were used by U.S. units in West Germany and South Korea; they also
saw action during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Two OV-1D’s were
exported to Israel for awhile before they were returned to the U.S. Now,
the only OV-1s that I’m aware are flying are historical war birds
in civilian hands.
The Kit
 One
reason I immediately took to the OV-1D kit is its box top art. I know,
I know, a kit should be judged on its contents and I do respect that but
I really thought that the box top image of an OV-1D sitting atop its reflection
on rain-slicked concrete was pretty neat although it does have a grainy
appearance. Also, from owning a Roden OV-1A kit, I knew the contents would
be pretty good, something that was verified upon opening the box.
Seven sprues of 226 pieces are molded in medium gray and clear styrene
and all were in one sealed plastic bag (ten of those pieces aren’t
used for the D version, by the way). Another sealed bag held the instructions
and decals. All pieces, from the large ones (such as the fuselage and
wing pieces) to the small ones (such as the finely detailed bomb shackles
and antenna) are well made and I didn’t see any ejection marks or
sink marks on the pieces in places that matter except in the tops of all
the gear wheel wells. Excepting some thin pieces of flash on the edges
of the main gear doors, the only other flash was on the branches of the
sprue trees. The only fault I saw was a small nick on the trailing edge
of the lower right wing, nothing that can’t be fixed with a dab
of putty.
The clear pieces are nice, especially the four for the canopy and its
doors which are as fine as can be. Because Roden’s instructions
show the cockpit doors only in their closed positions, I’m attaching
some photos (at the bottom of this review) I shot of an OV-1D at an air
show at Offutt AFB, Neb., last summer and of the same bird in its hangar
at the Council Bluffs, Iowa airport which is only six miles from my home
(considering that there are perhaps only eight or so of these still flying,
I feel pretty lucky that it’s there and I appreciate that its owner,
Mike Vande Wort, took time to visit with me and allow me to photograph
some its details to include here). Note that there are two sets of two
very fine little nubs on the left and right sides of the clear top canopy
(Part 1G, which can be seen in the picture of the clear sprue); one would
assume that’s where you attach the doors if you want them open.
WRONG!!!! Look at the photos I’m attaching and you’ll see
that each door has hinge points on the windshield frame and the cockpit’s
back bulkhead; these allow the top of each cockpit door to rotate into
the cockpit while the bottom portion swings out. Something else you might
see in a photo or two is that Vande Wort has installed blue sunshades
below the clear panels of the upper canopy section; he says the Army originally
had green ones there that the pilots could slide back and forth?so there’s
some knowledge for you if you want to do a bit of detail work. By the
way, cut those nubs off Part 1G; they don’t exist on the real aircraft.
 Okay,
back to the kit. Its panel lines are engraved; they’re more defined
on the wings and tailplane surfaces than on the fuselage where they’re
shallow by comparison and almost hard to see (I wonder if the mold is
wearing down because the engraved lines on fuselage pieces in my OV-1A
kit are better defined). The airbrake wells and wheel wells have simple
but nice detail. More details abound in the cockpit--even the throttle
quadrant has four pieces! Each ejection seat has ten pieces but if you
want seat belts, you’re going to have to find some after-market
ones. This kit, like Roden’s other Mohawks, has some plastic pieces
designed to be bent, ala photo-etch materials; onepiece bends at an angle
to form the center overhead instrument panel and each ejection seat has
a pad where the back folds up and the leg pads fold down so the entire
piece conforms into the base of the seat.
A nice feature is that the forward instrument panels, including the
big display screens, are molded in clear plastic. The fuselage’s
nose cap is also molded in clear plastic so its clear areas can be masked
and the rest of it painted the fuselage color (by the way, note that there’s
a gray styrene nose cap too which the instructions fail to point out is
NOT used in any of the three versions that can be created from this kit)--be
aware that the instructions call out for 19 grams of weight to be put
in the nose cap to keep the kit on its nose gear although I’m guessing
that it may be easier to add weight just behind the rear cockpit bulkhead.
From looking at the landing gear doors, I’m guessing it’s
possible to build the kit wheels up if desired although that may take
a bit of care to fit those pieces into place properly.
Each engine has a set of fan blades which can be seen from the rear
although each is up a rather long tailpipe. The landing gear is also nicely
detailed with the nose wheel having open spokes.
Just to see how well things go together, I dry-fitted the fuselage halves
and the upper and lower left wing pieces--this is going to be a nice kit
to work with, with what looks like a minimum of work to handle the seams.
When built, the kit can be modeled into one of three versions: a gull-gray
Mohawk based with the 2nd U.S. Military Intelligence Battalion when it
was stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1991 during Desert Storm; another gull-gray
Mohawk with the 73rd U.S. Combat Intelligence Company in West Germany
in 1988; and a Mohawk that served with the Israeli Defense Force/Air Force
in 1975 and had olive drab upper surfaces and light gray undersurfaces.
The decals, which are nicely made and are in fine registration, include
gray stencils for the first version and black stencils for the other two.
Instructions
 One
minor shortcoming is how the instructions fail to call out the color of
the airbrake wells and the inner portions of the airbrakes plus their
struts. Again, I’ll refer to my pictures of Mike Vande Wort’s
OV-1D because he got it from the Davis-Monthan storage yard and is maintaining
its military looks although its SLAR pod is presently off. So I can tell
you the following with certainty: the inner portions of the airbrake doors
and the airbrake wells are red. Since I have never packed FS color chips
with me, I can’t say exactly what type of red this is but I plan
to use a Chrysler Engine Red, darkened by a smidge of black to get the
color of red I want. The airbrake struts are white and the oleos of the
struts are silver as one can imagine. You might notice that in my picture
of the left airbrake, the top surface of the inner panel is gray; however,
the same surface on the right airbrake (not pictured here) is definitely
red?.so you choose which you want.
The instructions are accurate about the colors of the landing gear and
struts, inner gear doors and wheel wells in most of the steps but in Steps
30 and 32, they fail to point out the that the inner gear doors are painted
white for the U.S. Army versions and olive drab for the Israeli version.
Another omission in the painting instructions is that Part 41D, a thin
antenna below the fuselage, is flat black. So is the lip of the enlarged
air scoop (Part 3E) near the pilot’s boarding step.
Finally, a construction note: when building the propellers in Step 31,
make sure their blades are feathered because that’s the way they
were when the Mohawks sat on the ground (otherwise the wind would spin
the props of the turbo-props, not doing the engines any good).
Conclusion
The kit retails for $29.98 and, even if you’re not an OV-1 fan,
it‘s worth it.
Thanks also to Roden for the
review sample.
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