Curtiss-Wright SNC-1 Falcon by Kora Models

1/72 scale
Kit No. 72042
Cost: $30.00
Decals: Four versions – one U.S. Army Air Force, three U.S. Navy
Comments: Limited run injection molded kit, engraved panel lines, vacuform canopy, resin seats, wheels, and radial engine

The prototype Curtiss Wright CW-22 two-seat advanced trainer was developed at Curtiss-Wright’s St. Louis, Missouri factory in 1940. The two crew members were housed under a continuous glazed canopy, and the all-metal CW-22 had the same landing gear design as the CW-21, allowing the main gear to retract rearward into underwing fairings. The CW-21 was a similarly configured single-seat lightweight interceptor that saw service with the Nationalist Chinese Air Force, the Flying Tigers and the Dutch East Indies Air Force from 1939-1941. Powered by a 313kW Wright R-975 Whirlwind radial, 36 CW-22s were also exported to the Dutch East Indies, but due to the Japanese advance in that region were delivered to the Dutch in northern Australia in March 1942.

A CW-22B version was sold to Turkey (50 aircraft); the Dutch East Indies received 25; and various Latin American countries ordered a combined total of another 25. Several Dutch aircraft were later captured and flown by the Japanese. Both the CW-22 and CW-22B were armed with two machine-guns, one fixed forward firing .30 caliber weapon and the other flexibly mounted for the back-seater, who depending on the version, might serve as a rear observer/gunner.

After an unarmed advanced training version, the CW-22N, was flight-tested by the US Navy, the first order was placed for 150 aircraft in November 1940 and it went into production. The war had triggered the need for hundreds of trainers, both biplanes and more modern types such as the CW-22. The US Navy applied the designation SNC-1 Falcon to the type, and a total of 455 were ultimately purchased in three batches of 150, 150 and 155 respectively; the aircraft of the third batch had a modified, higher cockpit canopy.

The CW-22 prototype first flew in 1940, with Curtiss, depending on the audience, marketing it to prospective customers as a civilian sport or training monoplane, or as a combat trainer, reconnaissance and general purpose aircraft for military use. Many SNC-1s were sold to private owners in the USA after World War II.

Specifications

Length: 27 ft.
Wingpan: 35 ft.
Height: 9 ft. 11 in.
Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-975-28 Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 450 hp (340 kW) on take-off ; 420 hp (310 kW) max continuous
Maximum Speed: 198 mph (319 km/h) at sea level
Service Ceiling: 21,800 ft.
Range: 780 miles
Rate of climb: 650 ft/minute
Armament: 1 x .30 caliber machine gun in the nose, 1 x .30 caliber machine gun on a flexible mount (non-trainer military versions)

The Kit

Kora Models’ Curtiss Wright SNC-1 Falcon is injection molded in beige plastic and consists of 35 plastic parts and 10 resin parts for the radial engine, seats, wheels and landing gear fairings (the SNC-1’s main gear, once retracted were not fully enclosed in the wing but partially covered by fairings. In addition, there is a single vacuform canopy. The cockpit is fairly detailed with resin seats, front and rear bulkheads, separately mounted control yokes and rudder pedals, and two instrument panels featuring recessed detail, complemented not by panel decals but paper covers bearing printed dials. Lastly, the fuselage interiors bear raised sidewall detail.

There is an engine firewall onto which the resin radial engine is cemented, a separate cowling cover and a separately mounted two-bladed propeller, which has some burrs and rough edges and will need sanding and finishing before it is presentable. Likewise for the major airframe parts, all of which at first glance appear to be crisply molded with nicely engraved panel lines, but on closer examination would benefit from some buffing with fine sandpaper.

The doors of the main landing gear look like they will be a bit fiddly, due more to the design of the gear on the actual aircraft than the scale of the kit. The elevators and vertical tail are each a single piece, but the wings are a three-part assembly. An unusual addition is that of paint masks to assist modelers in painting the curved black walkways on the wings. A pair of vacuform canopies are provided — these do not include paint masks but their framing is well-defined and easily visible, which will facilitate painting.

Markings

The kit provides decals for four versions, and the sheet includes Hamilton Standard logos for the propellers, along with blue and yellow stripes for their tips. The first version is a U.S. Army Air Force aircraft originally intended for the Dutch East Indies but based at Bankstown, Australia in 1942. This is a CW-22B in a camouflage paint scheme of Olive Green/FS 34088 and Mid-Green/FS 34092, over aluminum under surfaces. Curved black walkways were on both wings of all versions, and markings are not provided for them so they will have to be painted on. This might have presented a bit of a challenge but has been simplified by the provision of paint masks for that purpose.

For the Australian plane, national markings appeared on six positions on the wings and fuselage (this “belt and suspenders” approach was often employed with aircraft in forward areas in the early part of the war, when inexperienced Allied anti-aircraft gunners would sometimes blaze away at anything airborne, assuming it to be hostile). Propellers were in natural metal on the front side, flat black on the back.

All other versions are painted in natural metal overall with yellow upper wing surfaces, and bear a black (likely Flat Black) anti-glare panel on the nose. The second version, bearing a black number “52” on its fuselage, is a Navy SNC-1 Falcon based at the U.S. Navy training base at Corpus Christi, Texas in 1943, tail serial 6417. It has no national insignia on the fuselage, but bears national insignia on both upper and lower wings.

The third version, tail serial 6421, bears the national insignia on both sides of the fuselage, but only on the upper left and lower right wing surfaces. It was stationed at the U.S. Naval base Coco Solo in Panama in late 1943. The fourth version, tail serial 05147, was stationed at the U.S. Naval base in New Orleans in 1944. It bears the black number 22 on the engine cowling.

Conclusion

This is a great kit of one of the highly aerodynamic but lesser known trainers of World War II, based on an equally obscure fighter design that preceded it. Highly recommended.

References

• www.navalaviationmuseum.org
• aviastar.org
  .