1/48 Roden Grumman OV-1A/JOV-1A Mohawk

For me, this was very obscure plane. I’m big fan of history of the Vietnam war era, but in all docs and films I could see F4s, Skyraiders, Hueys… But Mohawk , I really can’t remember.

I saw Mohawk while reading old Osprey publications, and on some videos depicting Vietnam era planes. Insect shaped cockpit, pilot and copilot seated side by side. Shape like flying banana. Very interesting…

But, after some time I coul lay my hands onto this Roden’s kit from 2004.

I didn’t want to buy any add ons etc. Maybe it was mistake because of terrible decals in the kit. All decal had to be treated with Mikroscale’s Liquid Decal Film. Fortunately I learned this the hard way, while I was putting decals onto instrument table they were destroyed by themselves. You must put decals onto transparent instrument part, to see digits through. So You pout them on reverse onto completely FLAT surface, but after putting them they simply were torn apart by themselves. So I had to brush the Liquid Decal Film.

Details are relatively good but I scrathced back of the cockpit to represent more details, also I took pilots from Academy kit and reshaped them to sit propely on the seats. Whole cockpit have many issues to fit properly into fuselage, but trimming, sanding and job was done. Also, You will need lead for this project, I put almost 40 grams to avoid model falling backwards.

Rest of assembly went straightforwards but with real care. Canopy was nightmare to assemble and put to correct place. I had to use white glue, putty, sand, polish and many times in circles this was done.

Wings have some terrible construction instructions and I had to scratch lights and etc.

Wheel wells are spartan so I had to rewire them, to rescribe them and assemble them. Landing gears are overenginered and very fragile and they took some 4 hours for assembly.

Plastic for this kit is a little bit soft and it is easy to destroy it, so be careful.

Painting was very easy and joyful. Whole model is primed with Mr. Black Finishing Surfacer and painted with acrylics (oh yes, I have returned to acryilcs, I don’t know why but for now they serve me superbly!). Everything I could paint I painted, to avoid putting decals, also my thinking is that it is always better looking with paint on then with decals.

Then, the decals, tearing, destroying, swearing… but here they are, they are on their places. I didn’t want to put all the stencils because they are terrible!

I did a little bit of weathering, paneling and shading.

Well, Roden, hm… very interesting, obscure and silly plane, but not for beginners, fitting is good, but canopy is reserved for some more experienced modellers. Also, engine cowls are awful and they need patience, many putty and sanding, rescribing… Also, from this point of view I would certainly buy aftermarket decals.

So, here it is, Roden’s Mohawk, feel free to comment and stay safe, cheers!

12 additional images. Click to enlarge.