Culver PQ-14B by Clear Prop
1/48 scale
Kit No. CP4816
Retail: $40.00
Decals: Four versions – one USAAF, 1940’s; three USAF circa late 1940’s
Comments: Detailed cockpit with optional decal for main instrument panel, engraved panel lines, recessed rivet detail, separately mounted control surfaces, two-part canopy, detailed landing gear, single piece two-bladed propeller
History
In August 1940 the U.S. Army Air Corps joined in the development of radio-controlled target aircraft for training anti-aircraft artillery gunners. These unmanned targets were controlled by radio signals from the ground or a “mother” aircraft, but would have provisions for carrying a pilot for ferry flights or check flights, allowing a pilot to verify hat construction and operation of the target drone was within the required specifications. The Culver Aircraft Corporation submitted the only design that was accepted for production and subsequently became a major producer of radio-controlled target aircraft for the Army and Navy during World War II.
During the war, both the Allied and Axis air forces experimented with radio-controlled aircraft. Germany created a successful radio-controlled bomb used primarily against Allied shipping. The Allies launched an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Germany’s submarine pens in France using B-17 loaded with TNT. The Culver PQ-14 represented a practical use of radio technology to control a target drone.
The PQ-14 and its slightly older and smaller sibling, the Culver PQ-8 Red Fox, played key roles in preparing the nation’s anti-aircraft gunnery crews (on both land and at sea) for the situations they might encounter in combat. These diminutive, radio-controlled aircraft presented realistic, live targets for trainee gunners to test their skills. The men got to practice every aspect of how best to track, lead and shoot down incoming enemy aircraft. Short of experiencing actual combat, this opportunity presented them with the most effective way of gaining such vital skills in their efforts to become effective anti-aircraft gunners.
Culver built three basic models in quantity for the Army (with corresponding models for the Navy). The PQ-8, powered by a 90-hp engine, was based on the civilian Culver Model LFA Cadet sport airplane and was succeeded by the faster PQ-8A. The success of the PQ-8 series led to the development of the larger and faster PQ-14 with a retractable landing gear. The fuselage, wings and tail components were made of wood with stressed plywood outer skin.
The PQ-8 and PQ-14 were flown remotely using the same principles by which present day RC hobbyists fly their model aircraft. Each of the drone’s control surfaces (rudder, elevator, ailerons and trim tabs) was connected to its own servo motor, which input precise position adjustments responding to commands it received from the remote pilot (via the aircraft’s radio control receiver). Similar servo motors were connected to the engine’s throttle, mixture and carburetor heat levers. The PQ-14 also had a relay for operating the retractable undercarriage as well, a feature which the fixed-gear PQ-8 obviously didn’t need. Neither aircraft type had flaps, to reduce their complexity and weight, although it did mean that landing speeds were comparatively high (90mph for PQ-14) relative to other aircraft of their size.
Culver produced just 200 PQ-8 Red Foxes, a modified variant of the company’s civilian LCA Cadet tourer, before revising the design significantly into the PQ-14 Cadet. Culver produced more than 2,000 of the latter for the U.S. Army, which transferred roughly 1,200 examples to the U.S. Navy as the TD2C-1 Turkey.
With retractable landing gear and light construction, the PQ-14 was fast for its size and fully aerobatic, which reportedly made it a lot of fun to fly, albeit a little heavy on the controls. Without flaps, the aircraft also landed pretty hot. Occasionally, these drones were hit but did not immediately crash. In November 1943, a drone operating from a base in Georgia was hit and thereafter did not respond to radio control. It flew on for four hours until it ran out of gas and crashed near Chatham Field just outside of Savannah. During WWII, the USAAF procured 2,043 PQ-14s, 1,198 of which went to the Navy. Some PQ-14s remained in service for several years after the war.
Specifications:
Powerplant: Franklin O-300 or a Continental C-85 air-cooled engine, both of 150 hp
Maximum speed: 185 mph
Cruising speed: 154 mph
Range: 362 miles
Service Ceiling: 17,000 ft.
Rate of Climb: 910 ft/minute
Span: 30 ft. 0 in.
Length: 19 ft. 6 in.
Height: 8 ft. 4 in.
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 1,820 lbs.
Armament: None
Serial number: 44-68462
The Kit
Upon opening this kit, the first impression is that the manufacturer got the scale wrong. The Culver PQ-14B seems more like it is in 1/72 scale, but that is indicative of how small target drone aircraft could be. The scale is accurate, and the diminutive size is a reminder of the challenge that target drone aircraft were meant to present to aerial-gunners-in-training.
The Culver PQ-14B is injection molded in grey plastic and is presented on five sprues, one of them clear plastic for the canopy and windshield. There is also a single 3-D resin part for what appears to be a wingtip sensor that is mounted to the starboard wing in the final stages of assembly. The kit consists of 77 parts, including three clear plastic parts for the two-part canopy, one of which is a spare windshield. In a rare bit of detail, the canopy and windshield parts feature recessed rivet detail along their metal framing.
The cockpit is well detailed, consisting of a dozen parts including a seat back (the seat itself is integrally molded into the cockpit floor) control yoke, corresponding control rod, rudder pedals, and main instrument panel. While this latter part features raised detail that can be brought out with painting and dry brushing, a decal is also provided for modelers so inclined. The fuselage interior features cockpit sidewall detail plus separate parts for sidewall instrumentation. Internal ribbed detail can be seen beyond the confines of the cockpit.
There is a part for the face of the Continental engine that may be seen if modelers opt to depict the engine cowling open, for two separately mounted cowling parts are provided. The reudder and ailerons are separately mounted, and the wings feature boxed in wheel wells with ribbed detail. While the PQ-14B features engraved panel lines, there are not many of them as the plane was constructed mostly of wood. What panel lines exist can be seen around the engine cowling.
Markings
The kit decals are by Decograph and printed in the Ukraine and appear to be of the usual high quality modelers have come to expect from this brand. They have excellent color, are fully in register with no color bleed evident, and bear a pleasant satin or semi-gloss finish.
Decals are provided for four versions, only one of which represents the PQ-14B during the WWII period and the two years immediately afterward. This is the second version, painted in overall red, tail serial 421881, bearing the WWII era national insignia on the fuselage and wings. It dates to the period in which the Air Force was called the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF), prior to the formation of the Air Force as a separate branch of the Armed Services in 1947.
The first version is the only one appearing in overall yellow, tail serial 468334, and its markings clearly indicate it is a U.S. Air Force aircraft, with large USAF markings appearing prominently on the wings and smaller markings above the serial number on the tail. This machine, bearing fuselage marking QK-334, bears the national insignia that include the red bar.
The third and fourth versions are also USAF machines appearing in overall red, with national markings containing the red bar, but for some reason neither machine has a “USAF” marking on its wings, unlike the all yellow version. However, “U.S. Air Force” markings do appear on the tail of both aircraft. The first of these aircraft, tail serial 468454, bears a yellow semi-circular marking on both sides of the fuselage below the cockpit identifying the aircraft as a machine belonging to the Air Force Flight Test Center. The final version, again all in red, bears tail serial 468462 and the fuselage code TK-462 appearing in white.
Conclusion
This is a well detailed kit capturing the essence of an aircraft that was an important part of preparing USAAF personnel for combat during WWII. Highly recommended.
References
- www.nationalmuseum.af.mil
- www.planesoffame.org
- https://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/