Harvard Mk IIA NZ1041 - Hobbycraft 1/48

[dewobz]

I've been working on Hobbycraft's rather dated but rather good Harvard kitset as NZ1041 in the livery she wore late 1943 or early '44 as described in Robert Montgomery's essay on Ventura's RNZAF historical pages


Harvard 123 BERNIE WKS 005 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

including wide yellow bands on the wings. The Occidental/Hobbycraft/Italeri kit has quite good cockpit and engine detail, to which I added only seatbelts in the former and rudimentary ignition wires on the latter


Harvard 123 BERNIE WKS 024 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard 123 BERNIE WKS 031 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard 123 BERNIE WKS 037 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

I also scratch built flap internals & actuators (since the kit had flaps) and I've done a small correction to the cowling where the short exhaust exits and painted the aircraft


Harvard 123 BERNIE WKS 040 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 5 & 6 030 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 7 Masks Decals 001 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 5 & 6 022 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 5 & 6 026 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

However, in all the world of decals I cannot find a 'squared' O and a rounded D in 24" code letters that match in their red colour, so it is going to be one or the other shape, most likely the squared version of both.
Cheers
Wally.
PS - edited with BBCode photos. They should show up now.

[harvard1041]

Hi Wally - well that sounds like a worthwhile build ... perhaps I could help with a few details, as my buddy Marty Nichol did a 1:1 scale paint of 1041 for the 2009 Omaka Airshow.

Robert Montgomery's article is pretty good - have known Robert since I was a kid, both being Blenheim people, and he has most of the details correct in his article as usual ( the later photos are actually of 1044 at Christchurch however ) The photo of 1041 on it's nose is from the 'Des White' Album at the RNZAF Museum - I copied the photo back in about 1989 and gave Robert a copy I think. It shows the aircraft in it's No 4(F) OTU scheme ... interesting in that I've spoken to a couple of ex- 4 OTU pilots who confirm that some of the Harvard ended up with red cowls and lettering to distinguish them from the ( also located at OH towards the end of the war ) No 2 (F) OTU - FE coded 'in white' aircraft. The P-40s on both OTUs were also Red & White lettering for 4(F) OTU & 2(F) OTU respectively.

The scheme is basically as it came from the NAA Dallas factory - the glare shields were green I believe. The OD-4 marking was done with masking tape of course - and a couple of photos of Marty doing just that.

Found a couple of other OD coded Harvard photos over the years...but the one of 1041 is the best I think - suspect the rear fuselage in the photo is wooden hence the overall silver.

Rgds
John.


Start of the Rebuild for the 2009 Omaka Airshow



Extract from the Harvard -3 SRM with the basic / std Scheme


Des Whites Photo Album


Marty starts the Paint


Basic Silver on


Most of the Scheme


Finished Job


Other neat photo in Roberts article is this one taken at Wigram in 1961 by Master Signaller WG (Bill)Cowan, who incidently I was emailing this week as he generously shared some of his other wonderful Harvard photos. Bill posts on this board as well.

[dewobz]

John, here's me building a model of Harvard NZ1041 and I get a message from someone who's avatar name is Harvard 1041 and who's friend has painted the same life-size aircraft. Could a model builder ask for better reference material? Thank you so much. This is awesome. When my camera battery charges up I will post again regarding my (what turned out to be) two conundrums with decals.
But I seem to have got it mostly right, which is gratifying.
Cheers
Wally.

[dewobz]

Faced with the decal option of all squared [brighter red] or all rounded [darker red] Code Letters & Numbers I applied the squared versions. At 1/48 scale 24" they may be slightly too large -


Harvard NZ1041 DECALS 001 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 DECALS 002 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

I straight away didn't like the squared D and should have made the decision then but I was initially distracted by the new conundrum of where to position the Codes on the starboard side because of the lack of space behind the roundel to simply reverse them in the usual way, as in OD-4. Thankfully John's photo (as far as I can tell) has vindicated my decision to leave the roundel directly opposite and use 4-OD.


Harvard NZ1041 DECALS 003 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


Harvard NZ1041 DECALS 004 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

So now the decals have all dried, making them much more difficult to remove, but I am very unhappy with the squared 'D' and I suspect the darker red rounded Code Letters will ultimately look better even if not technically perfect. (These are Ventura codes representative of my Fantasy Printshop ones)


Harvard NZ1041 DECALS 007 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

What do others think? I really loath removing decals but I reckon maybe I have to ....? Better to have the rounded D and not the squared O maybe ....?

Once again John, thanks so much for your input.
Regards
Wally.

[smithy]

Looks good Wally.

Have you already used decal softener on the decals you want to remove? I find good old Tamiya tape great for removing decals.

[dewobz]

Good tip Smithy, thanks. I will soften with Micro Sol or Set I guess (confusion reigns in me over which is which and what the difference is) but I had not considered good old yellow masking tape to assist removal.
Thanks again

[smithy]

Hi Wally,

I had to remove a couple of old decals the night before last and Tamiya tape took them off without any hassle and with no damage to the Klear coat. Not sure though how well it would work on decals where you have used a setting/softening solution.

In relation to Micro Sol and Set, I personally only ever use the Sol which is for after decaling and effectively "melts" them to conform to panel lines and surface detail. The Set is meant to be painted onto the area where the decal is to be positioned and help adhesion. Personally I've found Set a pain in the backside making it difficult to move the decal into position. Just my 2c but hope it helps.

Cheers,

Tim

[dewobz]

I have been using Micro Sol & Set the wrong way around for maybe 10 or 11 years!
Smithy, Micro Set worked a treat removing these decals. I didn't even need to use tape once I got some flat brush bristles under a softened edge. I am much much happier with the Darker Red RAF 24" 1946 Code Letters & Numbers despite the O being somewhat too rounded -


NZ1041 DECALS 2, XX-O 2 011 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


NZ1041 DECALS 2, XX-O 2 005 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


NZ1041 DECALS 2, XX-O 2 006 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


NZ1041 DECALS 2, XX-O 2 007 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

So it's on with the canopy painting, no mean feat on this model, and contending with the possibility the cowling code numbers '41' were actually Red. Does anyone have hard evidence of this? My position nowadays (generally) is I will trust my eyes where there is a discrepancy between what I see in a photo and a written description. (I acknowledge this is a mule-headed position). Robert Montgomery claims the 'last two' were Red but gee they look a whole lot darker than the cowl top or the fuselage codes to me and a lot more like the anti-glare panel(which he claims was Black but may apparently have been Olive Drab?) or the 8" Black Serials at the back.
I stand to be corrected and am willing to correct.
Wally.

[smithy]

Aug 29, 2013 17:39:40 GMT 12 dewobz said:

I have been using Micro Sol & Set the wrong way around for maybe 10 or 11 years!

Classic Wally

That looks great and you'll be much happier having the codes in the correct style.

Good stuff!

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Wally.

[ZacYates]

Gorgeous work! I'm glad Hvd1041 identified himself, there's little better reference material than the real thing?

[dewobz]

Thanks Flyjoe and Zac.
Yes indeed, nothing like the owner of the aircraft for references. I have a stack of pictures of 1041 and various similar Harvards thru the eras now. Some possible great future projects, especially when she was decked out in AirNZ colours (if I can ever learn to make my own decals). Had to go back to eBay where I got the 24" red codes to buy 12" red code numbers. When they arrive I'll apply them and re-paint the anti-glare Olive Drab ... then she'll be as pretty close to the owner's specs.
Cheers
Wally.

[dewobz]

I've applied 12" Red Code Numbers to the cowling, painted the anti-glare Olive Drab and matt coated the entire aircraft.


XX-O DUCK NZ1041 021 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

Just the canopy to fit and some final details now.
Cheers
Wally.

[flyjoe180]

Looking great, a very colourful scheme.

[harvard1041]

Ah very nice there Wally - good job. Bring it down to Omaka after Xmas - let's take a photo or two of the 1:1 Scale aircraft and your 1:48 one.

Cheers
Hvd1041

[dewobz]

Here is the finished aircraft, Harvard Mk IIA NZ1041, as it may have looked in mid-late 1943.


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 026 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 007 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 006 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 003 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 017 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 014 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr


HARVARD NZ1041 FinishV1 011 (Medium) by Wally Hicks, on Flickr

Many thanks for looking, for your feedback and to those who have contributed information and pictures, especially Harvard NZ1041, the man himself. As someone said, "You can't get better modeling reference material than from the owner of the actual aircraft".
Cheers
Wally.
PS - coming up, 5 x commission builds of RNZAF European Theatre aircraft, starting with Wing Commander Leonard Trent's 487 Sqn Ventura II.

[Andy Wright]

Bloody nice, Wally.

[Dave Homewood]

Well done Wally. Was this a commission job or is it for your own collection?

[dewobz]

Thanks Dave. Essentially I built it for my own collection although, like most of my models, I will consider offers to buy it.
Cheers
Wally.

[flyjoe180]

Beautiful Harvard Wally, lovely work