We take a look inside the box of Arma Hobby’s latest 1/72 scale kit: the Curtiss H-75 A1/A2 (kit number 70080). This is a beautiful American design, one of the top fighters of the beginning of World War II, which achieved its greatest fame fighting in French colours. In the US Army Air Corps – as the P-36 – these aircraft actively fought for only about an hour (!!!) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. By then, in the third year of the war, they were obsolete and were being replaced in combat units by another legendary Curtiss design – the famous P-40 with in-line engine. But two years earlier, under the skies of France, it was a great fighter!
The first kit we offer of this aircraft allows you to build a model in the French colours of 1939-40 – when they fought against the German invaders.
Among the three colour schemes are one early 1939, in natural metal finish, one early war in large camouflage patches from 1939/1940 and a third, from the very end of the fighting in the skies of France in June 1940 (it was on this aircraft that the famous Polish ace Jan Zumbach flew!). Although the aircraft are from two different production versions, A1 and A2, apart from the paintwork they do not differ, as the early Curtiss H-75A2s had, like the A1s, single guns on the wings.
The careful observer will notice, however, that there are other parts on the sprues, not used in this kit. This foreshadows more boxes to come: with U.S. planes, Finnish ones, French Vichy ones and maybe even more?
Let’s take a look inside the box and see what it looks like!
Curtiss H-75 A1/A2 (70080) kit box content
Kit contains:
- Plastic sprues (2 grey and 1 clear)
- Decals for three marking options (2 French and 1 Polish in France)
- Self-adhesive masks for painting the canopy and wheels
- Instructions
- File with details for 3D self-printing
Plastic parts
The plastic parts of the Curtiss kit are arranged on three high quality sprues, two grey and one clear. This is the familiar and much-loved Arma Hobby quality – sharp trailing edges, very fine recessed panel lines, screws, joints, hinges, inspection panels, a reasonable amount of beautiful detail allowing you to pleasantly build a very faithful, lively and accurately looking model.
First sprue
The first, large grey plastic sprue contains the main large elements of the fuselage and wing, as well as many small details. Notable are the even and very fine recessed panel lines.
Second sprue
…includes smaller parts with a lot of fine details.
Clear sprue
The clear parts were wrapped in additional plastic bag so that their glossy surfaces would not be scratched during transport.
The glazing elements are thin, crystal clear and glossy.
Decals and masks
The decals and masks of this kit, made as usual to the highest standard by the Polish company Techmod, have already been shown in detail in a separate article:
Instructions
You can view the entire instructions for this model kit in this article:
File with super-details for 3D self-printing
Traditionally, we add a free download to the model kit, allowing you to print resin 3D details yourself in a quality not possible with plastic injection moulding. Nowadays, even if you don’t have your own printer or a friend who has one, commercial printing from a company that provides such services is widely available and cheap. See in a separate article what amazing details you can add to your model this way!
Curtiss H-75 A1/A2 – plik z detalami do samodzielnego wydruku 3D
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Modeller, son and father of a modeller. Loves digging through references and analysing old photographs. He builds aircraft, ship and vehicle models, the older the better. He has a weakness for Polish equipment, but does not despise the RAF, FAA and Great War topics. A journalist by training.
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