Olimp 1/72
Curtiss P-6E Hawk

Background

The P-6E Hawk was a one of many 'Hawk' series fighters produced by Glenn Curtiss' company starting in 1925 with the P-1. The P-6E would be the last biplane fighter produced for the US Army Air Corps. The aircraft served with the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field in Michigan in the 1930s and would never see combat. Only 46 of these aircraft were built as the Army Air Corps, like the rest of the US, was still suffering through the effects of the great depression.

The aircraft was powered by a 600 horsepower liquid-cooled engine that would allow the fighter to cruise at 167 mph and achieve a maximum speed of 204 mph. The aircraft was armed with a pair of .30 caliber machine guns.

The only surviving P-6E is on display at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton OH. The aircraft wears the markings of Captain Ross Hoyt, commander of the 17th Pursuit Squadron/1st Pursuit Group.

The Kit

Olimp is a model company from Odessa, Ukraine, that produces a nice array of 1/72 scale kits and decals. This release tackles the Curtiss P-6E and this is quite a detailed kit! It provides a nice alternative to the classic Revell kit in this scale. The detailing is nicely done without making the model overly complex to build.

The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on two parts trees. You can see in the details (click an image to see a larger photo) that Olimp has designed the kit for ease of assembly. The one-piece lower wing plugs into the lower fuselage, add the cabane and interplane struts and you can mount the upper wing. What you may not notice are the finely molded details and locating holes to help make assembly easy.

The instructions are simple and very clear. An experienced modeler will have no problems with this project. You'll have to be careful as you remove these small parts from the trees as they might disappear into the carpet abyss.

Decals

Look at those decals! There are few decal companies left that will print red, white, and blue on the same decal anymore. The markings replicate the aircraft on display at the USAF Museum as described above. These decals are in register and are very nicely done.

Conclusion

This is a nicely detailed kit of the P-6E and is a nice alternative to the old Revell kit.

Definitely recommended!

My sincere thanks to Olimp Models for this review sample!