Azur 1/72 Curtiss Hawk 75 A-4
By Matt Bittner
History
The Curtiss Model 75 was the beginning to a long fighter lineage. This diminutive radial-engined fighter marked the beginnings of the classic P-40 design which went on to fight on just about every front of the Second World War. The Hawk 75 received mediocre attention at home under the designation of P-36 but abroad is where it really shone. British examples saw combat in South East Asia while those flown by Finnish pilots achieved great success against Russian planes.
The Kit
Azur's kit of the Hawk 75 consists of 34 injected molded pieces, 12 resin and three vacuformed pieces make up the canopy section (two rear windows and one piece for the canopy and windscreen). Decals consist of three schemes: a Vichy machine, of GC II/5 stationed in North Africa, 1942; a Luftwaffe machine in France, 1940/41; a Mohawk IV of the RAF stationed in India, 1942; and a Finnish H-75A-4 in June of 1941. These decals appear sharp and in register.
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The interior of the Azur kit is primarily injected plastic, with a few pieces of resin thrown in. Detail here is soft and not too distinct. However, it's more than enough if building your Hawk with the canopy closed.
Resin also takes care of the engine, tail-wheel and smaller landing gear struts.
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The exterior of the kit consists of very finely recessed panel lines, and is very nice overall. However, the fabric effect on the control surfaces leaves plenty to be desired. This effect appears to be just a few raised lines to represent the ribs, with no fabric sag. Since I don't own any Hawk 75 drawings, it does look like a Hawk 75 to me. For some this will be good enough. There are no options in the kit besides the decals, so you're stuck building a Hawk 75 only.
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The cowl is not separate from the fuselage, so building the kit in anything but a Hawk 75A-4 will be quite difficult.
Conclusion
This kit is nice enough, but suffers a little in the detail department. However, building it into a Hawk 75A-4 is easy, and it will definitely look the part. Building it into anything else will require a bit of surgery.