1/48 Academy Seversky P-35A

Gallery Article by Eric Hargett on May 28 2010

 

With ominous signs that the United States was definitely going to be drawn into the ongoing war in Europe, the U.S. War Department sought and was granted an immediate military expansion program for defense of the homeland, territories and allied states.  New Air Corps units were created rapidly and normally much faster than the Army could equip them with front line aircraft.  At the time, advanced aircraft like the P-38, P-39 and P-40 were still unavailable in large quantity.  As a temporary measure until sufficient quantities of modern aircraft were available, the U.S. War Department equipped the new Air Corps units with obsolete aircraft such as Seversky's P-35.  Another option exercised by the U.S. War Department to equip the new Air Corps units was the seizure of combat aircraft already on the assembly lines that had been purchased by other nations.  One of these seizures was the last sixty P-35s on the Swedish EP-1-106 contract with Republic (formerly Seversky).  These sixty EP-1-106s were confiscated by the U.S. War Department and forty-five were assigned to the 24th Pursuit Group at Clark Air Base on the Philippine Islands as a stopgap defensive measure in December 1940.  These aircraft arrived in their bare-metal finish with Swedish national insignia and metric flight controls.  The Army Air Corps designated these sixty aircraft as P-35As that flew alongside the well worn P-26s and other obsolete aircraft at Clark Air Base.  When additional P-40s became available at Clark Air Base in mid-1941, many of the forty-five P-35As were assigned to pilots of the 17th and particularly the 34th Pursuit Squadrons.  In the fall of 1941, many of P-35a assigned to the 17th and 34th Pursuit Squadrons were hastily camouflaged in Olive Drab over Neutral Gray.  Absence of primer plus tropical moisture caused the freshly applied paint to chip and fade very quickly.  This hodgepodge of P-26s, P-40s and P-35As were the first line of defense when the initial wave of Japanese aircraft attacked the Philippines on December 8, 1941.  Many P-35As were either destroyed on the ground or shot down by 'friendly fire' since they resembled Japanese Zero's.  Though easy prey for the much faster Japanese fighters, the handful of remaining P-35As fought on until the battle of the Philippines ended in May 1942.  The Battle of the Philippines was the only time the United States used the P-35A in combat.  Remaining P-35As were relegated to training units around the United States for the remainder of World War II. (Information obtained from Larry Davis' P-35 Mini in Action). 

I used the 1/48 Academy kit as the basis for representing P-35A, 125-34P, of the 34th Pursuit Squadron, Philippines in late 1941.

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I enhanced Academy's kit with:

  • 1) Reheat Model's Seversky P-35 Detail Set RH076

  • 2) Decals from my spares box

  • 3) Rigging with 4X Tippet

  • 4) Squadron Vacuform Canopy

Construction was straightforward with only minor filling along the wing root/fuselage join near the leading edges.  I constructed a floor for the fuselage cargo area equipped with sleeping role and backpack near the door which is difficult to see in the photos.

Reheat's old P-35A detail set dramatically improves the bare bone Academy cockpit.  The cockpit was painted aluminum followed by a lamp black oil wash and dry brushing.  Model Master buffing Aluminum was applied for a bare metal finish undercoat.  I covered selected areas with salt followed by flat black on panel lines.  The ventral surfaces were given a light mist of Neutral Gray whereas dorsal surfaces received light mists of Olive Drab.  Tints of the aforementioned colors were applied to select panels for weathering.   I also applied Khaki Drab to random dorsal areas to represent paint touch-ups.  After a coat of future, the salt was removed with a cloth to simulate paint chipping.  The few available photos of camouflaged P-35As show extensive paint chipping, though I chose to represent a moderately chipped aircraft.  Raw umber oils were used for the pin wash applied to panel lines and as a filter applied to the entire aircraft.  Mixtures of raw umber and lamp black oils were used to simulate fuel and oil streaks.  The P-35A did not have self-sealing fuel tanks and so streaking from fuel leaks was common on the central ventral surface of the aircraft.  Mixtures of gray and black pastels along with the Tamiya Weathering Master A set was used for final weathering.  A coat of thinned Flat Clear completed the model.

Photographic evidence of camouflaged P-35As is rare and so this project provided me with a bit more artistic license.  This was an enjoyable build of a nearly forgotten aircraft that was the precursor to the P-43 and eventually the famous P-47.

Eric Hargett

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Photos and text © by Eric Hargett