This is a plane they only made approximately 442 of in real life at 1 to 1 scale. This number included the export versions that were used by other countries, some even as a single seat lightly armed fighter.
Only 305 were built as trainers for the US Navy though.
I have previously started this build, shortly after I got my hands on one when they first came out a little while ago.
For one reason or another, I stopped working on it. No fault of the kit's though. I simply have way too much stuff going on that's all.
While figuring out what steps I needed to do, in order to save my current Boyington Corsair build with the decal fiasco, I ran across some great information that got me interested in this one again.
These planes were used nearby at several US Navy training airfields. The ones I was particularly interested were NAS Daytona Beach, (my hometown), NAS Jacksonville, and NAAF Green Cove Springs. These are all within a 90 miles range of our home. I like to build subjects that bring our rich local wartime aviation history to light. This one will be no exception.
I will be resuming work on this one as soon as I finish up the two Boyington F4U's.
So saddle up, and lets get this party started.
Here's the box art for this bad boy. It shows a Blue Gray over Light Gray SNC-1. From what I have read so far, not many were painted this way..
But then Gary Sausmikat
gary sausmikat (
@gwskat)
found me this picture... It shows not only a Curtiss trainer, but the caption says the plane was stationed at NAS Daytona Beach in late 1942. Check out the chimney in the background. We still have one standing just like this over here at our local Deland Airport, which was also a major Naval Air Station during WW2. Thanks brother !
It gets even better. This is a picture from one of Jim Sullivan's books. Now we are really cooking with gas boys and girls !
Previously I assembled the cockpit and painted it in a base color of a Dark Green. Now I don't remember exactly what color I used at the time.
I added the fuselage side inserts now instead of following the instructions. This allowed me to get a perfect fit. No filler or sanding was needed so far.
This shows the work I have done so far.
Next up are the tires and wheels. These have been painted in a very Dark Gray color. I'll come back later and detail the wheel hubs, making them more visible with a metallic color, possibly foil.
The prop was sprayed Flat Black on the back side while it was still connected to the parts tree.
The kit also comes with some nice PE parts.
Next we get to which color scheme I will most likely build this one as. I found this picture on Wiki.
I zoomed in on the Bureau Number, which is located on the Rudder / Fin Assembly. It says "6294".
Now I have to make sure that I was correct with this. So I started digging even deeper.
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1. 6290-6439
2. 05805-05234
3. 32987-32991
Wiki stated there were not as many built by Curtiss for the US Navy. Here are the Bureau Numbers listed for the type.
The plane in the picture falls directly in line with this set of numbers shown here. 6294 is in this bureau number range.
The number I saw on the tail section definitely falls in line with what I have found so far. Now I'm really getting stoked !
It's incredible as to what stupid little things like this can do huh ? Airplane geek. Yep that's me !
Then I kept on going... Lo and behold, I ran into this. It's the same picture. SNC-1 #24
This time it's also listed with an explanation f when and where the photo was taken. These pictures are in the public domain and OK to use.
Wiki says it was taken on January 8th, 1942. The location is listed as NAS Jacksonville. Then I got another good lead... so I kept on digging. These planes were transferred to Green Cove Springs later on in 1942, according to the description. Green Cove Springs was often called "Lee Field" too.
Which led me to this... Green Cove Springs 1942. Curtiss SNC-1's on the flight line. You will also see some land based Kingfishers, a Stearman biplane or two "Yellow Perils", and there's even a few SNJ's in the background.
The Navy called these smaller fields a NAAS (Naval Auxiliary Air Station), or sometimes an OLF (Outlying Field), depending on the size, type of facilities that were available such as repair shops, and uses.
Some airfields were used for Field Landing Practice like this, where they painted an outline of an aircraft carrier on the runway. This got the new pilots accustomed to landing on a small patch of ground. It was setup with a LSO (landing signal officer) and it was much safer that trying to land on an actual aircraft carrier for the first time.
This also happens to be where a man named Jimmy Doolittle got his idea for the raid on Japan in April of 1942 on board the USS Hornet.
Green Cove Springs was used as a additional airfield to support the nearby Jacksonville base. There are a lot of smaller WW2 airfields like this in Florida.
Not happy yet, I found this photo. I shows what I believe is the same Falcon Bureau Number 6294 on the flight line.
Then I got tossed a curve ball... No big deal, but it says the last picture was taken on 20 December of 1941. The location is listed as Jacksonville, but it could also be Green Cove Springs.
George Blair
George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
was asking me about how I was going to paint this plane. I'm 90 percent sure I will build a model of #24, since I have some good pictures showing both sides of the plane now.
However, there are also quite a few available showing this plane here. I believe this is the second SNC-1 built, and it's on a test flight over the factory in St. Louis MO. I think this is Bureau Number 6291.
You can see it again here, and the number is easy to read. This is one of the pictures from the same group of photos on this particular plane. Some are in color.
Speaking of color. You can see how the upper wings were painted Yellow on this one. This was reportedly taken at NAS Corpus Christy in Texas. In all reality, it could have been there, or one of the other Florida bases I mentioned where they were regularly flown from as trainers, and used to augment the SNJ trainers for the Navy.
Speaking of SNJ's I found another one that just might end up here as another future build for this group. More on that one later though.
I'm fairly certain this one is a restored example. Not many of these are left, especially when you consider how few were made to begin with. 305 to start out with, then consider how many were lost in accidents, and you can see how this one is a rare bird indeed !
Kermit Weeks has one. Maybe someday I'll head back over there and take another look at his.
This next picture shows a Falcon painted up in camouflage just as it is on the box art.
One last possible option as a painting scheme for me would be this one shown here. It's later in the War, September of 1943, and it's operating here in an overall highly polished aluminum. I like doing my bare metal foil...
It's bureau number 6421, and is one of the later builds in the second set of number ranges.
Now the stage is set, once I finish up the Boyington Corsairs, I will get cracking on this one.
Choices , choices, choices. In a perfect world I would get another kit and build up several of these.
As always, comments are encouraged. Thanks for stopping by.
