Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk
Halberd Models
1:48

The Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk was the last fixed wing scouting aircraft produced for service on the US Navy’s battleships and cruisers, and entered service late in 1944. The existing Curtiss SO3C Seamew and Vought OS2U Kingfisher were gradually replaced by the Seahawk in the late stages of the war and into peacetime.

The SC-1 was an all metal construction, cantilever low wing monoplane, with dihedral on the outer panel of the wings, a straight leading edge and tapered trailing edge. The wings could fold to reduce storage space on the ships. As a floatplane it had a single central float and wing tip stabilisers. The landing gear could easily be swapped between the two types. The float could also carry extra fuel. The prototype was powered by the Wright R-1820-82 Cyclone 9 radial engine. It was designed to be as simple to produce as possible, and a large number of them would be built in the last year of the war.

Losses with the "Seahawk" were high, mostly caused by the extremely hazardous conditions in which they operated. Too hard a water landing and the engine would drop, the propeller cutting through the float with several mishaps attributed to a faulty auto-pilot system. Aircraft and pilots were lost due to unknown landing accidents and it wasn't until one pilot "walked-away", that it was discovered that the auto-pilot was taking over on landings. As a result, all automatic pilot systems were made inoperative on all SC's. During the height of their career, crews aboard ship looked with pleasure at the "Seahawks" aft on the catapults as their "Quarterdeck Messerschmitts".

For what is essentially a short run resin kit, the assembly instructions included by Halberd are extremely good. You could be forgiven for thinking they were from an injection molded kit and as we will see in this build, the resin by Halberd is as good, if not better than some plastic kit manufacturers I have seen. Assembly is pretty standard with us commencing in the single seat cockpit.

As I found in my research for this build, there is very little in the way of detailed reference on this aircraft. I was shocked to find that no example of the aircraft still exists, in a museum or private hands. This means we have to rely on whatever period photos are available and as I pretty much use the internet for most of my build research it was down to Google to help me. Technical manuals are often one of the best and most reliable sources of close-up photos of WW2 aircraft and as seen here they give a good idea of the general layout of the SC-1 cockpit side consoles.

The kit is cast is a calming green resin, which I found easy on the eye and a surprisingly easy color to work with. The cockpit parts, once separated from the casting blocks, all click re-assuredly into place with the cockpit floor and fuselage side walls.

Halberd includes a small photo-etch fret for those items that would not be practical (or sensible) to cast in resin such as seat belts and sheet metal items. The main instrument panel is designed to be a combination of PE dial faces, decal instrument faces and resin backing.

I felt that the Halberd instrument dial decals did not look black enough (rather a medium grey) so I instead used a mix of decals from my generic AirScale and Mike Grant sheets. As you might expect from the era, the main IP is very simple and only included a handful of basic flight instruments.

After a bit of trimming to perfect the fit of the cockpit parts it was time for some color. An initial coat of Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black was followed by a thin coat of Alclad II Aluminium 101 in preparation for some paint chipping later. For the interior color I (mistakenly) used AK Real Color RC262 US Interior Yellow Green, which looks ok, but I probably should have used AK Real Color RC028 Interior Green FS34151 instead. By the time I realised this I was too far along and the thought of stripping and repainting did not seem all that necessary. In the end after the washes and chipping I was happy enough with the color choice.

Having properly dry fitted the tub and IP to the fuselage interior earlier, I was not in for any surprises when it came time to apply some CA glue to fix the parts in place. The one thing I would change in the engineering of the kit is the split down the middle of the main IP shroud. This could/should be supplied as a separate single piece, much like you would expect to see in a plastic kit.

As I was thinking about closing up the fuselage, I needed to think about building and fitting the engine next. As I was looking at photos of SC-1's in the wild, I noticed that they looked more interesting with the cowling flaps open. I personally find this to be the case with most radial piston engined aircraft. At the time I had recently purchased a 3D printer and wondered if I could design and print a new cowling with the flaps open.

Before I got too far down the road of designing my own part, Andrey from Halberd contacted me via Facebook and advised that he actually already had a 3D design for the cowling flaps open. He generously shared this file with me and I set about preparing it for printing on my Elegoo Saturn 2 10-inch 8K Mono.

Printing supports were added (trying our various orientations) using the free Chitubox Basic slicing software. The prepared file was now saved to a USB flash stick and then plugged into the printer.

The end result was a very clean print of the new cowling, complete with open flaps. After some trials I have pretty much now standardised on Siraya Tech Fast ABS-Like Fast Navy Grey Resin. Speaking with many fellow modellers who have been printing far longer than I, this seemed to be the resin they all recommended. Even at a layer height of 50um, this new cowling looked pretty good to me.

As i now had a cowling I was happy with, I was at the point-of-no-return and had to cut the resin fuselage. Whilst I was fairly confident that the new cowling would fit, you just never know till you try it. A fine razor saw was used to make the straight cuts and sanding sticks used for clean up.

Thankfully the fit was extremely good. Because the new cowling, as provided by Halberd, was a simple butt join to the fuselage, my initial solution was to use some plasticard strips top and bottom to both align and hold the 3D printed cowling properly in place. Later on, as I became more confident with the 3D design software, I was able to modify the 3D cowling file digitally to add some tabs to help it slide more accurately into the fuselage.

With the new cowling sorted, I could now resume my focus on closing up the fuselage. This meant sorting out the engine and offering it up to the new 3D cowling part.

The SC-1 was fitted with a Wright R-1820-62 Cyclone rated at 1,350 hp, which gave the Seahawk a respectable 313 mph (504 km/h) maximum speed. Halberd has not attempted to provide a full blow engine but more sensibly opted to detail the front face of the engine which is all that will be seen through the front of the cowling.

As with most resin parts, a good quality razor saw is a must for removing the parts from the casting block. I turn to my trusty Galaxy Tools Hobby Saw for heavy cuts such as these. Once the part(s) have been separated an easy wasy to ensure they are sanded perfectly flat is to stick a sheet of wet-n-dry paper (360 grade or lower) to a known flat surface and then slowly rub the resin parts over the surface, to remove the remaining excess.

With the parts now clean and sanded true, the assembly proceeds and once again the level of fit in this kit continued to impress me. The instructions do show that two lift rods are needed for each cylinder, but you need to provide these yourself. I found that measured lengths of 0.015 thou brass wire from Detail Associates did the job nicely.

Not surprisingly, the kit engine fitted very well to the new 3D printed cowling with only the smallest amount of adjusting needed to get these two to play nicely.

With both the cockpit and engine/cowling sorted I could confidently proceed with sealing up the main fuselage. As you can see from the kit instructions, Halberd suggests adding the wings prior to the fuselage join, but experience has taught me that this is just not a good idea.

Being an all resin kit, the use of "normal" plastic styrene glue was not an option here. The most common weapon of choice for gluing resin is Super (Cyanoacrylate or CA) glue. These glues achieve a very strong bond with any surface/material in the presence of moisture. As I knew there were some small gaps along the main fuselage join, and I wanted to give myself the maximum amount of alignment/working time, I opted to use some VMS Flexy 5K CA SLOW glue. VMS provides their Flexy CA glue in several use-specific flavours including PE, Thin, Slow, Resin and 3D. As I also wanted to use the glue as a putty/filler, I mixed some VMS CA Glue Filler fine powder in with the base glue, turning it into a fast curing putty.

The engineering of the fuselage is pretty standard with a left/right split. The one exception, that I never seen before, occurs at the rear where the tail (vertical and horizontal fins) are all molded into the port side. This results in a join along the starboard (right) side just forward of the tail. This is not a natural panel line and needs to be sanded smooth.

To be extra careful I left the VMS CA Slow + Filler mix cure overnight. To sand I used my normal 400 grade wet-n-dry abrasive and the glue/filler was cleaned up and along the way various panel lines were lost, as is normal.

The most awkward panel line that was unavoidably damaged was on the lower fuselage just to the rear of the main float pylon. This is a curved panel line and these can be tricky to re-scribe without some form of guide or template to follow. I made use of my Silhouette Portrait 3 cutter to make a custom template for re-scribing the damaged panel line. First step is to take a photo of the area on the model. This is imported into the Silhouette Studio (or Inkscape) software and the shape traced out digitally.

The shape is now cut from a sheet of white Evergreen (9010) 0.25mm styrene and then laid onto the model, held in place using using tape. Finally a sharp pointed scriber is used to re-instate the missing detail, using the plastic guide. I've found this works very well and once you are familiar with the software can be created in less than 15mins total.

The remaining "straight" panel lines were re-scribed. At first I tried my standard Tamiya Scribing tool, which works brilliantly on styrene plastic, but not so well on resin I found. Scratching my head I tried a few different options to obtain nice sharp panel lines and settled on the use of a 0.2mm razor saw blade, held just by my fingers. This worked very well and I was very satisfied with the results. Interestingly, I have since used the same saw blade on plastic and it also work very nicely.

After some sanding, scribing, priming to test, then repeating, I arrived at a finish I was satisfied with. One good thing about being forced to use super glue is that I will not have to worry about ghost seams appearing at some point down the track.

A personal preference of mine, where practical, is to model the control surfaces (typically flaps, rudder and elevators) in a offset or relaxed position. The flaps on this all resin kit would have been a huge effort to drop, however the elevators looked to be more doable. The basic idea is to cut along the straight parts of the join and then put back any detail removed along the way. It's a bit of extra effort that I find really adds to the look of the finished model. Of course I'd never tried it with resin before so ...

My Galaxy Tools Hobby Saw was once again used to make the main straight portion of the cut. On the SC-1 the elevator join curves as it approaches the outer tip, so to complete the cut, I swapped the razor saw for a #11 blade, which was used to make several cutting passes along the curving portion of the line.

The end result is two parts, both with straight faces, that we need to now re-connect at a suitable angle. The drop angle can be achieved a few ways, for this model I decided to use the more realistic option, but also most difficult/risky.

Ideally we want to re-connect the two parts of the horizontal tail, much like the real aircraft, with one seating inside the other. To achieve this, the first step is to create a semi-circular channel in the trailing edge of the fixed tail section. You could use a curved blade, round file or a motor tool to do this. Feeling adventurous, I reached for my DSPAIE Portable Electric Sanding Pen and fitted a conical shaped grinding bit. I carefully used the motor tool to cut a half cylinder channel along the edge of the tail, stopping regularly to blow away the residue and check progress. As you might expect the curved tip was the most tricky, but in the end I managed to do both tails with only minor slips. One of the nice things about the Dspaie motor tool is that it sits very comfortably in your hand, allowing a high level of control.

Both hinges were now cut out with the razor saw and the leading edge of the fabric covered elevator was rounded off using a sanding stick such that the curve matched the previous channel. The result gave me a new join with which I could select any drop angle I desired.

New hinges were added from some styrene plastic strip, fitted to small cutouts in the forwards "fixed" half. This completed the conversion and now I could display the elevators at a relaxed angle.

As I was in a mood for adding more detail to the kit, I took a long hard look at the general lack of rivet detail on the main airframe. The float by comparison was wonderfully riveted by Halberd but the wings/fuselage looked very bare. While looking for some scale drawings or plans of the SC-1 to give me the rivet layout, I came up empty handed and period photos were too low resolution to be of much use. The only option would be for me to add my own riveting, using my best educated guess. Let's see how that went.

I have previously added rivet detail to models "by hand". What I mean by that is I used no template or design but manually laid out the rivet runs based on drawings. For this project I wanted to step it up a notch and design the rivet patterns in the computer so I could make changes at will and ultimately use the layout to cut templates for riveting, much like we cut masks for painting. The starting point was once again a scaled/calibrated photo of the kit wing which was imported into Inkscape. I used the drawing tool to layout dotted lines across the wing to match where I imagined the real rivets might be. I referred to drawings I had of similar era aircraft, such as the F6F Hellcat and Helldiver to give me ideas of what rivets looked like around wing-folds etc.

Once I was happy with how the layout looked, I converted these dotted lines into sets of vertical and horizontal cut lines for use in the Silhouette Studio software. It was from here that these would by cut out using Oramask 810, a flexible translucent vinyl masking material, to be laid onto the wing for use as a visual guide for the riveting wheel. There was a lot of back and forth getting the sizes right to the real model, but eventually I was satisfied. It was a wonderful learning experience and a new technique I plan to use again in the future.

Now that I had some accurate templates for the rivets, these were laid down on the model and my Galaxy Tools - Rivet Wheels were used. The idea is to push the wheel along the edge of the vinyl template to mark the rivet line. That strip of vinyl is then pulled up and the next line along is used. In this way I worked along each vertical strip to mark all the line, remembering to skip over hatches and spots where rivet lines would stop naturally. Vertical lines were tackled first followed by the horizontal lines, using a wash of black Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color to highlight the work as I went.

The end result was better than I had hoped for on a first attempt. Some small touch-ups would be needed to handle slips and overruns but the complex pattern had transferred wonderfully with the spacing all handled consistently. The best thing of all was that to do the other wing I simply had to copy and mirror the pattern in the software, cut a new set of templates and start riveting.

The same basic technique was used on the bottom of the wings, adjusting the pattern in the computer and then applying templates to the model. I very much judge this experiment a resounding success.

A progress dry fit of the wings to the fuselage along with the float really made the still bare fuselage stand out. There was no turning back now and the more complex shaped fuselage would receive its rivet upgrades next.

I mentioned earlier that the kit float came from Halberd with all the rivets applied, which made it visibly distinct from the airframe. I later learnt from Andrey @ Halberd that this was because it was the only part of the real SC-1 that he could reliably and accurately determine the rivet patterns from period photos. If he had located photos of the rest of the airframe which showed the actual rivet patterns he would have added those as well. His decision was based on accuracy over creativity and I understand and respect that. For my own build I was more than happy to "make up my own" as a way to improve the finish of the model, even if they were not 100% accurate.

For the fuselage rivets, I started by applying a primer coat, to make it easier to see the panel lines and give me a clean slate onto which I could layout the rivets. Once again I used the computer to determine the spacing and quantity of rivet lines I wanted.

Unlike the relatively flat wings, onto which my patterns and subsequent templates would fit reliably, the compound curvature of the fuselage made this same technique far less useful. I realised that using strips of masking tape to mark out the spacing was a more practical method than trying to work out curvatures for template cutting.

For the vertical fin, which is flat, I did use templates to do the horizontal rivet runs, making the job of keeping the spacing accurate and each line parallel to the next much easier.

After a few hours of riveting work, the fuselage was complete and I celebrated with a new coat of primer to see the results. It is so rewarding when all your hard work pays off and this riveting mini-project had turned into bigger than Ben Hur. To be honest I was glad to see the end of it. Time to move forward.

It was now time to start attaching some of the sub-assemblies together. First was the tail and when I had earlier done my initial dry fitting these seemed to be fine, however now I was ready to apply glue the alignment seemed way off, making the tails sit anything but horizontal. I tried to correct this as best I could before realising that I would need to glue them in the right position and then deal with the gaps and ledges later. It was also the first time I noticed that the gap from the vertical tail to the join with the horizontal tails was asymmetrical, with the starboard being noticeably wider than port. I have no reason to question the accuracy of this and trust that Halberd got it right.

The poor tail joins needed a lot of sanding to get them smooth and along the way much of the rivet and panel line detail was lost.

To reinstate the panel lines, I once again used my 0.2mm razor saw blade, allowing me to finely cut the resin. As a guide I tried out some recently acquired DSPIAE CG Series Masking Tape for Scribing which is thick enough to guide a blade or scriber safely.

Rivets were re-added and a black wash applied to test my work before moving on.

The tail ended up being more work that I had originally expected, but that is one of the joys of scale modelling I have learned. Sometimes (most times) you just gotta roll with the punches and come up the best outcome. I am happy with the results of the extra work, some optional, some necessary.

The new cowling and detailed engine was now attached to the front fuselage. Ignition wires were added from 0.3mm lead wire and hand painted.

After an initial coat of primer I was not satisfied with the join between the cowling and fuselage so I filled the small gap with super glue and sanded smooth. As I was sanding I noticed that the layer lines on the 3D print were quite visible and it was then it dawned on me that I never did go back and make a higher resolution "final" print at 20um, and this was one of my test prints at 50um. Thankfully it was only really noticeable when you sanded it but I have put it in my "lessons learned" folder for next time.

The resulting line between the cowling and resin fuselage was much improved when tested under a coat of grey primer and so I was finally ready to add final details to the cockpit such as the reflective gun sight and a coat of paint on the main shroud.

All parts in this kit are cast from resin, this included the clear canopy and windshield. Being a short run kit, no pre-cut masks are available so hand masking is required. For the main sliding canopy I first masked the borders of each panel with 1mm Tamiya Masking tape. These panels had sharp corners so its only necessary to cut the tape at the right angle to get a good fit in the corners. Once the outside framing was masked I did the same to the inside, this time using the outside tape as a guide. This is necessary as the inside is smooth with no framing to mask along.

Many WW2 windshields have rounded corners on most panels. The best way to deal with the corners is to use a punched circle of tape. Select the best size for your corner radius and attach some Tamiya tape a strip of plastic. Slide this into your punch and die set and punch out discs. Peel the tape off the plastic disc and then attach to the windshield. For the straight framing edges I simply use strips to join upto each of the corner masks. Although not shown here I also masked the inside of the windshield so it could be sprayed later as well.

The inside of the canopy has some framework which Halberd provides in photo-etch brass. These slide with the canopy and will later be gluded in place. For now a dry fit it needed to get the placement correct before glue is applied. Notice also that the last two panels in the SC-1 canopy had no glass and were open to the air. Remember this as they resin parts come out-of-the-box with those panels lightly flashed over, so you will need to cut and remove the clear resin.

To secure the windshield, I took the opportunity to test out another new tool. DSPIAE UV Light Curing Transparent Glue is useful for situations where you need to have full control over when the glue cures and grips. This glue, out of the bottle, is not runny and you can apply it easily to any part. Place the parts together and clean off any excess now with a Q-Tip (Cotton Bud). Once you are happy for the glue to set simply shine a UV torch at the join and hold for 10-20 secs (or thereabouts). The glue sets very rapidly under UV light and in my testing seemed to have about the same strength as CA glue. The resulting join was clean and strong, not much more you could ask.

As the attachment between the windshield and the fuselage was basically a butt joint, the result was a hard edge. Photos of SC-1's clearly showed this join should be a smooth blend with no gap visible.

An easy solution to fill and blend smooth this join was to use two part epoxy putty. Any brand of putty would do the trick, I would normally use Milliput (Black) but in this case I happened to have some Magic-Sculpt close at hand so that was mixed and applied to form a blended finish to the join. Any excess was cleaned off with a moistened cotton bud which also helped achieving the smooth finish. Tested under a coat of primer the join was much improved.

The wings were now attached and secured using Pacer ZAP Z-Poxy 5 Mins which I use quite often when I need a strong bond with a longer working time than super glue. The flaps on the SC-1 extended beyond the wing root and so the join that runs right through the flaps needs to be filled and sanded smooth. The same mix of VMS Superglue and VMS Filler I used previously on the fuselage seams was used to secure and fill this gap.

For joins, like the wing to fuselage, that do not need to be filled and removed completely I find that Milliput 2 part Epoxy Putty is ideal as it shapes easily and can be smoothed using a moistened cotton bud (Q-Tip) or even the tip of your finger. This can be done before it cures, thus avoiding the need for sanding. Ideal for seams/joins in tricky places.

The superglue/filler putty is carefully sanded smooth, using 400 grade wet n dry, all the time being mindful to retain the scalloped effect of the fabric covered flaps. A few of the damaged panel lines were re-scribed and the final result checked under a coat of grey primer.

For the most part, assembly was now complete and a final coat of Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Gray was applied. I felt an overall primer coat was needed in his case as I wanted to make sure the first layer of paint against the resin was strong and would adhere well. It's also the last chance to look for issues and blemishes before we start applying the color coats.

As covered in my initial Halberd SC-1 Kit Review, we have a choice of four marking options. I was drawn to one of the two schemes which featured the mid war three-tone camouflage pattern and my final decision came down to liking the touch of color the red spinner/cowling provided. This scheme is a Seahawk operated by VCS-9, circa 1946, onboard the USS Helena (CL-50), a Brooklyn-class light cruiser built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s.

With the scheme now selected, I could pick out the paint and load up the airbrush. For this project I did not have all the required colors in my favourite brand, MRP, so I opted instead for the lacquer range of AK Real Color, as these are readily available here in Australia.

To start, those parts which would later be chipped, were painted in a base coat of Mr Color C8 Metallic Silver. I use this paint as I find it has a suitable silver finish to replicate aircraft aluminium skin and is very robust. One thing to note when chipping propeller blades which are "cuffed" is that the cuff was actually made from rubber and so you do not want it painted in silver or indeed have any chipping extend down over the cuff at all. I have masked the base of my four props to protect the rubber cuff from the silver coat.

The forward lip of the engine cowling on my selected marking scheme is painted in red. A coat of MRP-052 RLM 23 Rot was applied as this seemed to be a decent match. To mask the sharp demarcation between the red I needed a tape which could handle the challenging compound curves and so I turned to Tamiya Masking Tape for Curves 2mm (TAM87177). This is a vinyl tape, which as the name implies, is extremely flexible and can be stretched around most shapes. It took me several attempts to get the alignment of the tape correct, using the forward edge of the cowling as a guide.

I used these two color photos extensively during my painting. As far as I can tell these are period original and not colorised which makes them all the more valuable. My color selections and weathering efforts all stem from these photos in one way or another.

On aircraft models, my painting sequence typically starts with the lower surfaces. As a rule, these tend to be one color, more often than not a light blue or white. So it was with the three tone US Navy mid-war scheme. In my endeavours to improve my paint finishes and make them less monotone, I have migrated to using a dark color (typically black) as a base over which the light color is applied. Following a base coat of Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black, progressive thin coats of AK Real Color (RC222) Insignia White FS17875 are applied in random mottled layers. A total of three thin coats was used, which builds up the opacity of the white without completely covering the black, this results in what I consider to be fairly natural tonal variations.

Once the white was dry (less than a hour for lacquer paints), thin rolls of Bostik Blu Tack were used to mark out the demarcation lines for the first upper blue. The round rolls of Blu Tack help to give us a slightly softened mask. The larger the rolls, the softer the result. To avoid overspray, small sections of TAMIYA 10mm Masking Tape were taped to the top of the Blu Tack.

AK Real Color (RC235) Intermediate Blue FS35164 was applied over a black base coat and much like the Insignia White, a random pattern when spraying was used to avoid that monotone coverage.

The main float also received it's lower and upper colors, same as the main airframe. To obtain stronger variations in the paint finish the base colors are lightened a small amount with white and used to spot highlight hatches and panels. By angling the airbrush nozzle I was able to apply the blue without any masking of the lower white, a small time saver.

More Blu Tack sausages were used to mask off around the tail and nose in preparation for the third (and final) color. To create the Blu Tack sausages, use a clean cutting mat and repeatedly roll a flat metal ruler back and forth over the Blu Tack, applying a small amount of pressure each time until you get the desired thickness.

The tackiness of the sausages allows them to self-adhere to the model surface and this comes in handy when laying out the shape of the masking over tricky parts such as the open cowling flaps. I have seen people report that they have oily residue leach out of the Blu Tack over time, and I guess this is possible if you leave it on the model for a long period, but in my experience I have not had this happen.

As I started to lay down the third Halberd recommended color of AK Real Color (RC257) Sea Blue on the fuselage, the shade did not seem to match my main reference color photos. I put down the airbrush and decided to do a little more self research on the various color schemes used by the USN during the war.

SR-2C, Specification for Exterior Colors, Insignia and Marking of Naval Aircraft dated January 5, 1943, directed that aircraft be painted with the new basic camouflage scheme. This was the most elaborate camouflage used on US Naval aircraft during World War II. It must be remembered that the basic directive applied to all aircraft, everything from a small F4F to a large PB4Y. The variations used were extensive because of the complexities involved in properly applying it. This scheme utilized the general principle of Counter-Shading/Counter-Shadowing.

This camouflage scheme required the use of semigloss Sea Blue, nonspecular Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and nonspecular Insignia White. All horizontal airfoil surfaces seen from above were finished in semigloss Sea Blue. The slight shine of these surfaces tended to match the chang- ing shine of the sea. Care had to be taken not to apply this semigloss to the rounded surfaces of the fuselage, the hull, or the leading edges of airfoils where it would cause glare. Nonspecular Sea Blue was applied over the top portion of the fuselage and around the leading edge of the airfoils extending approximately 5 percent aft on the top surface. All horizontal airfoil surfaces viewed from below were painted nonspecular Insignia White. Aircraft with wings that folded so as to expose the lower surfaces to visibility from above had these surfaces finished in Intermediate Blue. Vertical surfaces of the fin and rudder assembly were finished with Intermediate Blue.

From my research, the three "Sea Blue" colors of ANA 607 (Non Specular/Matt), ANA 606 (Semi Gloss) and ANA 623 (Gloss) are the same shade of blue with the only difference being the level of "sheen", as shown in the table below (refer to the Fed Spec 595a and Remarks column).

With this better understanding, I did some test sprays of the paints I had on hand. The RC257 ANA 607 (which I had rejected earlier) looked very grey when compared to the Gunze Mr Color and MRP Sea Blue's. These shades of blue looked closer to the SC-1 photos I had and I felt these would be a better starting point for my model.

Switching to MRP-014 Sea Blue ANA 606/623, I tested a small section on the fuselage and was much happier with this shade of blue. I knew that I would be later fading and weathering this paint so could tone it down as needed.

The MRP-014 Sea Blue is an interesting paint, in that it comes in the form of an "Ink" for perfect atomization and spray, featuring excellent drying time and very good coverage, all at the same time. This made is quite easy to lay down an almost translucent layer over top of the grey base coat. For darker colors using a neutral/light base coat, such as grey, is preferred to black such as I used for the lighter top colors.

The end result was a patchy semi-translucent coat of Sea Blue, which would hopefully form a good basis for further weathering.

Based on photos the Sea Blue extended around the wing leading edge. This was reproduced by carefully free handing with the airbrush set on a low pressure for control.

Wishing to distress the Sea Blue, I experimented with lightly sanding the finish with some 4000 grade mesh. This had the unexpected, but pleasing, result of highlighting some of the riveting runs I had put so much effort into. Each wing was gently sanded to look somewhat random and visibly different to the other. The result of this step was too much blue had been removed but I was ok with this as it is easy to add more.

Once the blu tack was removed I fine tuned the feathered edges by free-handing with the airbrush. I find this method much more successful than trying to freehand it from scratch. Many modellers I know can do amazing freehand camo schemes but despite my best efforts I struggle with this particular skill. Not to worry, there are always more than one way to skin a cat.

A series of Sea Blue "shades" followed next. Some were lightened with white, other straight from the bottle. I wanted to give the paint a worn and patchy look. Notice that the fabric covered control surfaces at the trailing edge of the wing are noticeably lighter than the metal wing itself. This is quite common to see on WW2 aircraft as the paint tended to fade differently over fabric than metal. It also helps break up the monotone surface of the wing. Hatch covers are another easy and obvious place to change the shade of the paint just that little bit. Once we add the darker washes later on this will really help to highlight the contrast differences.

The SC-1, like most contemporary aircraft, had non-slip walkways along the wing roots, typically on both sides. Some manufacturers provide these as decals but using these means it's much harder to simulate chipping and heavy wear such that these heavy foot traffic suffered. The walkways started out black and here I am using a mottling technique I picked up where you spray a grime coat through a section of "kitchen scouring pad". This act like a random mask allowing only some of the airbrush paint through. This technique is quick and easy and can be applied in many different ways across your models.

With the bulk of the main painting complete, it was time to start removing some of the masks. The one I was a bit nervous about was the vinyl flexible tape on the nose. This tape has a higher "stickiness" and can if you are not careful lift the paint. Thankfully the modelling gods were with me and the tape came away cleanly leaving a beautifully sharp demarcation. These are the days you love this hobby.

An overall shot of the upper-surfaces shows the, almost final, colors. In the end I lightened the top of the fuselage to better match the fading effects I had seen in photos. I later abraded the fuselage paint again using 4000 mesh to give that scratched/patchy look which seemed to work so well on the wings.

The float also received its initial round of chipping. The plan here was to chip away to reveal two different colors, the natural silver of the metal and a second primer layer of Zinc Chromate yellow. For chipping I use plain old acrylic water based hairspray and just as with one layer, for two layers you cover each one with hairspray and then use water to activate (dissolve) the hairspray and chip with a blunt toothpick or stiff brush.

I was certainly very happy with the chipping results on the main and outer wing floats. Just enough of the Zinc Chromate showed through to give that hint of color. Were I was a little heavy handed the dark green resin showing through did not even ruin the effect.

The Seahawk carried an APS-4 radar pod under the starboard wing. The APS-4 was a lightweight air-to-air and air-to-surface radar with a detection range for large ships of about 15 miles (24 km), and about 5 miles (8.0 km) against aircraft. It could also detect coastline at approximately 75 miles (121 km). Halberd provide a nicely detailed APS-4 complete with the metal straps used to secure it under the wing. The body was painted white and then masked to allow a coat of silver to be applied to the metal framing and straps.

You can never predict when a problem will arise in this hobby. As removed the tape a small section of paint lifted as well. As you do more modelling you learn to accept these things and more importantly how to fix them. To start the repair we need to blend/smooth the sharp edges of the paint chipping. For this I used a GodHand #800 Sanding Sponge. These are excellent abrasives which allow for fine control when handling delicate sanding jobs such as this.

One trick I have learned is that before repainting repairs like this, especially when the chip is dark and the color you need to paint is light, is to use an intermediate coat of neutral grey primer. This removes the high contrast and means you can spray lighter coats of white to cover the final repair. The grey primer coat also allows you to check that your blending of the edges has been successful.

Its not uncommon for resin parts to warp once removed from the mold after casting. The SC-1 has four propellers so I was not surprised that one of them had quite a noticeable bend. A short 20 second dip into a cup of hot water was enough to soften the resin and allow me time to bend it back into shape. Once cool the resin retains its new shape.

As I was now ready for decals I examined the sheet closely to decide which I wanted to convert into masks and those I would use straight off the sheet. The best candidates for using masks are any shape which has one or two colors, so in this case the national insignia (blue and white) and the "Linda" noseart were easy picks. Due to the physical limitations of my Silhouette Portrait 3 cutter, the smaller lettering and stencils are not possible to cut so decals would be used.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I had previously downloaded and saved a file which contained all the various US National Insignia's. I obtained this file from a very helpful Facebook Group called The Cutting Edge Scale Modeling Cutter Users. This has a wealth of information around using these machines and also a library of ready to cut files uploaded by the members. For the "LINDA" noseart, I had to trace this myself and used the Silhouette Studio software for this. It might look complicated but like any tool, once you learn the basics it's not hard at all.

My preferred masking material is vinyl and the material I find works best for aircraft curves is Oramask 810. After cutting the Oramask sheet, the sections not required are "weeded" out (and discarded) using some sharp tweezers, in this case the interior section of each letter.

The mask is next transferred to the model surface. To ensure all parts of the mask are kept in place as it is removed from the backing sheet, a spare piece of Oramask is use as a "transfer tape". This simply allows you to pickup all the individual parts of the mask in one go. Consider the interior triangle section of the letter A. It needs to be transferred to the model with the right alignment to the rest of the mask. Transfer tape allows us to that easily. Once the mask is burnished onto the surface the "transfer tape" is peeled away, its job now complete.

Tamiya tape is used to protect the model from over-spray and the airbrush loaded up with white. Once dry the mask is removed.

This photo of a SC-1 shows us that when painted in the three tone scheme, the Insignia Blue for the stars n bars is noticeably darker than the underlying sea blue. After doing some testing I settled on SMS INSIGNIA BLUE FS15044 (PL71) as I felt it was an accurate match to period color photos.

As the national insignia was a two color mask, an extra step is required to make this work. First up we lay down the main outline mask for the insignia. The SMS Insignia Blue is painted now.

The second part of the mask (the star and bars) is next laid down and aligned to the outline mask. This I find is probably the trickiest part or masking as you need to make sure everything is properly aligned before spraying the next color. I choose to take extra precautions with the edge of the interior mask by using small section of Tamiya tape to cover the join. You would be surprised how little a gap is needed for white paint to get in, better to remove that variable from the equation. Now the SMS Insignia White FS17875 (PL72) is applied. One tip is to not over thin any second colors as you don't want them to run under the mask. Better to underthin than overthin.

The moment of truth when the masks are removed and your handy work is revealed. Masking is the ultimate way to apply any markings to your model and it would be so good if we could do it for all sizes no matter how small. The reality (unlike you have a very expensive laser cutter) is that decals are still very much part of our arsenal.

To save time I masked and sprayed all four of the national insignia together. The results were generally pleasing but of course the modelling gods are always looking for ways to keep you on your toes.

When removing the port fuselage mask, unfortunately some of the underlying Sea Blue paint peeled as well. As you can see the paint only peeled down to the grey primer layer, so I could not blame the resin or the primer as they seem to have do their job. The only thing for it was to sand the whole area smooth and re-prep for another attempt.

In the end I had another two attempts at using a mask here, both with the same results of paint peeling when the mask was removed. I'm not sure what caused this, but it meant my options were limited to trying again or switching back to the kit decals. The decals seemed like the obvious choice and I applied the one decal from the kit sheet. The only downside was that the blue was a lighter shade than the other markings but I was ok with that as it once again helped get a bit of variety in the model.

The US Air Force and Navy employed Aircraft Recognition Lights, a series of colored lights (White, Red, Green and Amber), which were installed on aircraft that were used to identify friendly aircraft at night. These lights were used in different combinations, or could be used for signalling purposes as a limited form of communication. The White recognition light would be mounted on the upper fuselage of the aircraft and was teardrop shaped and protruded slightly upward. The Red, Green and Amber recognition lights were flush mounted usually on the bottom of the fuselage or on the starboard wing tip. Most model manufacturers supply these light as clear parts, but Halberd simply provided them as circular rings on the wing-tip surface. As they were such an small diameter I made up some custom masks using Oramask 810 and my Silhouette Cutter. The first coat was silver to simulate the reflector part of the lens. As usual Tamiya tape was used to mask for over-spray.

Tamiya Clear Red, Green and Orange (Amber) were applied over the silver to provide the lens tinting. These are small details that will not often be seen on the finished model but deserve to be given the same attention as the rest of the project.

Without doubt my personal favourite part of any model build is when we get to apply all the grime and dirt washes. For this build I needed to carefully select the best colors for the upper and lower surfaces for my panel line wash. To start I mixed up a custom blend of Black and Dark Brown from the Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color range. I have standardised on the Tamiya range of pre-mixed panel line washes as I find them very consistent, forgiving and easy to work with, much like most things Tamiya puts its name on.

The enamel wash is applied liberally over all the surface as I'm looking for general grime as well as shading for the panel lines and rivets. Normally I would apply a protective acrylic (or laquer) gloss clear coat to protect the decals but as I had used so few on this model I skipped that step and instead applied the wash directly onto the lacquer based paints. Through experimentation I have learned that this poses no risk as long as the cleanup step is handled properly.

For the white undersides I selected a wash color that would be more of a shadow effect than dirt/grime. The best shade I find with white is Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color (DARK GRAY) #87199. Once again I applied the wash liberally as I want some of it to remain to subtly begin the weathering process.

The Tamiya washes dry very quickly and within 30 mins I was ready to clean away the excess. The most important thing to remember here is to use a very "soft" or "weak" solvent. The best I have found is "White Spirit" which can be found at most art supply shops or hardware stores here in Australia. You can mostly get away with "Mineral Turpentine" but anything stronger than that and you will be risking damage to the underlying paint. Absolutely DO NOT use paint thinners of any sort. For more details on my method check out my How To article on Aircraft Panel Line Washes: A Step by Step Guide.

The secret to a good panel line wash is that it should be visible only if you look for it. Your surface detail, including washes, should not be a main feature of your model, but very much a supporting act.

The Dark Gray wash over the white is almost so subtle as to be missed, but that's the intention here. More weathering will be done so we only want the panel line wash to be the starting layer.

After the panel wash, which focuses mostly on the recessed surface details (think panel lines and rivets/fasteners), the next layer is surface grime. For this we need a weathering product that has more "body" than panel line washes. After considerable experimentation over the years I have currently settled on the Mr.Weathering Color range by Mr Hobby (GSI Creos). These products are designed for subtle weathering finishes, not unlike the use of artist oils. I started on the main float and applied the weathering color directly from the bottle, using a medium brush. The product is quite thin and will run by itself so you need to apply it sparingly in selected spots.

I like to leave the weathering color about an hour to dry off and then come back with a clean fine tipped brush dipped in white spirit or GSI's own Mr.Weathering Color Thinner. Unlike the panel line wash where we want to clean all the excess off the surface of the model (leaving it only in the recesses), the goal of this second step is to push and move the pigment particles around on the surface to gather realistically in crevices and around raised detail just as on the real aircraft. The good thing about this range is the number of colors available. I often use two or three different shades to build up some depth to the weathering and grime. Don't be afraid to experiment.

One of the questions we ask ourselves all the time is "how much is enough". Using period photos of your modelling subject or other aircraft of the time can often help us with this. As you can see the bottom of the SC-1 is relatively clean and I imagine they crews would have tried their best to keep it that way. So for the white underside I decided to keep the weathering somewhat restrained.

This meant limiting the spot application of the Mr.Weathering colors to only those places where oil and fluid would accumulate. This is normally along joins and seams in close proximity to the engine and exhaust.

I was sorely tempted to go harder here but I remember reading years ago that when it comes to weathering the best time to stop is when you find yourself thinking "it just needs a little more" !!

It was now time to start attaching some of the sub-assemblies to the main model. To give myself more working time to get things aligned properly I usualy opt for glues such as Two Part Epoxy or Slow CA which offer longer curing times.

From what I could see the SC-1 did not end up with long black exhaust staining like some aircraft do, but rather shorter feathered stains. Before I glued the exhaust stacks in place I lightly airbrushed a heavily thinned mix of Tamiya Rubber Black (XF85) to simulate the exhaust staining.

At this point I was content to call a wrap to the general weathering on the airframe and think about final assembly.

Looking more closely at the details of a given modelling subject is something that I enjoy. Can I add something that the model manufacturer left off or forgot. The one thing that jumped out at me with this particular picture was the unique looking boarding ladder, an essential accessory for the SC-1 for the pilot and crew to get onto the wing. As I had started to think a bit more about a display base for my model, I figured a ladder would certainly add more than a little interest to the overall result. But how to fabricate said ladder?

3D printing is something I have been learning for a while now. I can quite successfully print 3D models that others have designed, but I had not seriously put my mind to tackling that design step myself. So I decided to have a go at creating the boarding ladder for the SC-1 using Autodesk Fusion 360 for personal use. This is a limited, free version that includes basic functionality for qualifying users who generate less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue and use for home-based, non-commercial projects only. After a few hours of YouTube tutorials and reading I was able to create something that I thought looked pretty close.

My first design and test print was pretty basic, just the core shape of the ladder itself. It did prove to me that this idea could work and I just needed to keep adding more detail and adjusting to fit the model. Very much a prototyping workflow and with the ease of doing prints for each change I made I made fairly quick progress.

One of the things I realised was that its all well and good to design an object in the computer, where annoying things like gravity and weight have no affect. However when your prepare you 3D model for printing in the real world you need to start catering for these things.

All 3D prints have to be "supported" as part of the additive printing process build them up in layers. So called "Slicing" software (mostly free) is readily available to help you add supports to your models, but like most things you need to experiment and learn what works best for your particular model. This picture shows an example of three different support layouts I created when printing my final ladder design. Remember that each of the arms of my ladder were only 0.5mm in diameter, so very fragile and prone to sagging (due to gravity) as they printed.

After about four incremental versions I arrived at a final design that I think matches pretty well the photo of the real thing. The ladder will certainly add to my SC-1 model but more importantly, the new skills I learnt around 3D design will be of far greater use to my future modelling projects. It is indeed a brave new world.

With the model all but finished it was time to think more seriously about that base. I was so happy with the aircraft that I wanted to put that extra effort into the base to make the whole thing work. As a starting point I used a 2D photographic base of a float-plane ramp from Coastal Kits. Their flat surface display bases are constructed from durable, hard wearing 3mm plastic board, a rigid weatherproof plastic, printed with the latest odourless latex ink onto laminated matt vinyl for near photographic quality, giving a permanent and waterproof finish which unlike paper/card products will not fade, lift or bubble.

It certainly was a good start but when viewed or photographed from any angle other than straight down it looked flat and unconvincing. What I needed was a way to add some depth to it.

To go along with the base I needed some suitable 1/48 figures. I've collected many figure sets over the years and had a dig around to find a mix of figures I could do something with. To tell the truth I did not do a lot of planning here but just picked more figures than I thought I would need. Some of the figures were quite old (and basic). As an example, the Eduard US Navy Personnel 1942 (8506) from 2007 was (by today's standard) was quite poorly detailed. The plastic hands, which looked more like lobster claws, were cut off and replaced with a set from Royal Models (RM1001) 1/48 Assorted Hands.

Other figures were sourced from the excellent Tamiya (61107) 1/48 WWII US Navy Pilots w/Moto Tug set and assorted Verlinden and Aero Bonus sets were prepared and primed in black with a white mist coat.

Figure painting is not my strong suite, but it is something that I want to improve in. After more YouTube tutorials and a few false starts (resulting in complete stripping of the figures) I think I actually started to get the hang of it. Still plenty of room for improvement but my aim here was to paint the figures well enough so they did not detract from the finished aircraft and base. With that modest goal in mind I was happy with the outcome.

In the meantime I had been, you guessed it, watching more YouTube videos about water bases. I ordered some of the AK Interactive Diorama series products including Water Gel Transparent and Water Foam and set about applying them to the flat base.

The Water Gel needs to be applied in thin layers as it air dries and any thicker can cause the deeper sections to not cure (and hence stay milky). AK recommend about 2-3mm for each layer and I ended up doing 2 to 3 layers across the areas with water. I used a brush to apply and as it's a gel you can move it around to form waves and variations in the surface as seen here.

It takes overnight to cure and become clear. I was very happy with the effect and I felt it really added some depth to the 2D photographic base. I decided there was not much I could easily do for the ramp, which should of course be an angle into the water, so I simply flat coated it.

The second step was to use a small sponge to apply some of the AK Water Foam on the crests of the waves I had created with the gel. This again was super easy and I was impressed with how easy it was to make fairly convincing water. Nothing at all to be afraid of here and top marks to AK for these excellent products (at a reasonable price as well).

I didn't want to over clutter the scene as this was not meant to be a maintenance diorama but more a "ready to launch" vignette. Looking at more period photos of SC-1's and they always seemed to include some lengths of rope and at least one bucket. My 3D printer came into play once more as I found a free 3D model of steel buckets online and printed a few. The scale rope was sourced from Ropes of Scale in Canada. As the name implies these guys focus entirely on scale accurate rope and I ordered a few different sizes and colors from their Polyester range. The one you see here is 0.45mm Tan rope over which I have applied a light wash.

The last (and enjoyable) task was to bring all the elements together on the base and photograph it. In many ways this was one of my most challenging builds to date and the reason I think why it's also one of my most rewarding ones. Here are a few photos to see how it all turned out. Jump over to the Halberd 1:48 SC-1 Seahawk - Model Gallery for more.