I started this about a month ago between some assembly and drying times on other models. It’s the 1/48 Lindberg Goshawk kit, which would Goshawful if it weren’t for the resin kit from the Modelshack. It’s a huge improvement over the kit peices.
I’m trying to depict the Goshask displayed at the Pensacola Naval Museum, also shown below. For some reason, I just love the color the Willow Green adds.
EDIT: Silly me, I made a mistake. The Pensacola bird is a BFC Goshawk, whereas my kity is the F11C-2 Goshawk. Keeping the same color schemes, I’ve changed the picture
Nice job with the paint. I’ve had that kit open, and been working on it sooo long, I’ve lost pieces. I don’t know if I want to bother Lindberg to get teh missing ones. I agree that it’s not the best kit. But it’s somewhere to practice techniques. I agree with you about the willow green, also.
Great looking progress Charles! From what I have heard about Mark’s resin bits, you’re in for a treat. [#ditto] on the willow green, that is one of the coolest colors I have seen on a bird. [^]
I’m not sure if it helps or not, but Lindberg has re-released the kit last year (I think). It’s a neat little bird but hard to imagine this was our carrier based fighter at one time!
You’re not kidding, Frank. And it’s not just the resin parts…the instructions, rigging diagram, etc. He took all of the guess work out of it , which is important to someone like me who doesn’t know a whole lot about bipes. All in all, it’s made it a fun process.
I’m going to speak up in defense of this kit, though. It’s not that bad. The basic shape is accurate. The drawbacks, if you will, are the lack of real and accurate interior details, and Lindberg’s choice for molding the tail assembly as a separate piece, guaranteeing that you’ll have to putty it, if you want it to be more accurate, and their choice of molding only the front half of the engine. Sure, this kit’s really only a nostalgia build anymore, especially since Classic Airframes produced a more detailed kit. But think of this venerable old kit more as an opportunity to stretch your scratchbuilding muscles.
The hardest part about building an interior for this kit, in my experience, has been the complete lack of photos of the F11C’s cockpit. I know, I know, there is the old Squadron “Curtiss Navy Hawks”, and the Profile magazine. But neither of those show the F11C’s interior (in fact, I think neither show any dedicated interior pics). And you’re right, the aircraft at Pensacola is the later BFC (half-canopy and higher turtleback added, as kits for field modifications). I have a disc of photos of that bird, inside and out, but I’ve never been able to confirm whether there were any changes internally to the Goshawk as a result of that development, or if the BFC’s interior is unchanged from the F11C mark.
But otherwise, unless you’re willing to shell out the kind of money that the Classic Airframe kits go for on eBay, the Lindberg kit is a reasonable alternative and a good starting point.
Well said, Brad. You seem to know the Goshawk well and I appreciate your post.
I’d have to agree with you. All in all, this has been fun to build (so far). The poor interior was taken care of of with the resin set from Modelshack, which also addresses some of the other dimensional issues like the propeller, wheels and cowling…all which are a bit undersized on the Lindberg kit.
Trus enough about the interior, too, but in the end you really can’t see anything inside once the fuselage halves are put together.
I’ll pondering what to do with the tail. I want it to be “accurate”, but at the same time I want to keep this a fun, simple build.
Man, you don’t believe in letting the grass grow under your feet, do ya Charles! That is some seriously good work. I’ll be following this one closely! [tup]
Great work Charles, the progress is looking quite good!
Brad, your assessment on the Lindberg Goshawk is very correct. The only thing I would differ on is that the tail assembly should need very little puttying with careful test fitting/mating. The other notable inaccuracy in the Lindberg kit is the shape of the “turtleback” behind the pilot - my research shows it to be too squared. I hope to have replacement turtlebacks for both the F11C and the BF2-C in my retool of the resin kit, currently in the works.
For designing the interior, I used photos of the Pensacola BF2-C for reference. I believe there should be no real difference between it and a F11C, since my research indicated the BF2-C’s were field modified primarily with the high turtleback and the additional rear/side windscreen. However as Brad pointed out, there’s relatively little info available on these planes.
Great looking paint job! I just finished building the Classic Airframe version of this kit in Chinese Air Force markings. I even have another CA kit in my stash - but perhaps I’ll wind up selling it as there’s just so many new kits to build. In any case, the resin pieces do look great. BTW, I bought his book on resin casting, great little booklet that explains everything very clearly if you ever want to cast your own resin pieces.
It definitely wasn’t a ‘easy’ build, but then having built a 2 older CA kits before, I was prepared for the ill-fitting engine, butt joints wings, etc… So it actually went easier than I expected. One of the rigging snapped off after everything was done, so that was a bit frustrating. In any case, here’s some pictures of the finished model. Hope you find them of interest.
The only Goshawk pictures I have are the ones I could scrounge up on the internet. Wouild any of you out there have pics of the engine, specificaly of how and where the exhaust pipes attach? The True Details engine is very nice, but it lack insturctions of how to attach to the Lindberg kit…
