1/48 Modelcraft/Belcher Bits

SNJ-2 Texan

by Ryan Ahern

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Now that I have developed a good approach to painting yellow and lighter colors, I am really enjoying the variety of color these Golden Era aircraft add to my display shelves in my office. But before I get into my painting approach to yellows and whites, I’ll share a bit about this plane. This is an SNJ-2, BuAer No. 2009, used at the New York Naval Reserve Aviation Base, circa 1940. This plane flew out of Floyd Bennett Field in New York in its day. The NYNRAB insignia on the fuselage depicts Father Knickerbocker. At the time of publication of these decals, this plane was currently being restored to flying condition by the Fighter Factory.

The kit itself is a converted 1/48 scale Modelcraft (old Occidental) T-6G kit. SNJ-2s had a rounded rudder as you may notice in the picture above, different from the iconic triangular rudder of later Texan variants. The conversion from a T-6G to an SNJ-2 was made possible by a few additions and modifications. I’m sure I missed a few things regarding complete accuracy on the conversion, but she’s close enough for me. First of all, many thanks go to Mike Belcher for making this very nice scheme readily possible and allowing us the ability to convert back to the old pre-war SNJs and AT-6s with the replacement rudder. A resin replacement rudder comes with Mike Belcher’s (Belcher Bits) decals for the SNJ-2 variants (see Belcher Bits Product No. BD5). This replacement rudder is more easily applied to the Modelcraft T-6G kit than the Monogram AT-6 kit since the rudder in the Modelcraft T-6G kit is a separate part from the fuselage parts. The Monogram kit requires sawing off the rudder from both fuselage halves; one less tool needed to build the model.  

Another necessary conversion for the early Texan variants is making sure the frames on the rear canopy are accurately portrayed. As the Texans matured into later variants the frames on the rear canopy began to disappear with advancements in technology with glass manufacturing. These technological advancements are more obvious with the bubble canopy variants of the P-51s and P-47s. From what I remember the kits came with clear and “caged” rear canopies for Texan variants used during, but not prior to the War. I used Chris Loney’s vinyl EZ-Masks for the Modelcraft (old Occidental) T-6G kit and modified the masks for rear canopy accordingly, allowing for six panes of glass, as opposed to the original four panes provided by the kit parts. 

Click on images below to see larger images

Painting consisted of applying a Alclad Gloss Black Base to the entire airframe. I let this cure for 36 hours, and then applied Alclad II Aluminum. After returning from a business trip five days later I noticed that the Alclad finish had cracked in several areas on the fuselage. The only conclusion I could come to after reading a few posts on various forums, and not having this problem in the past on planes I have painted in the past using Alclad products, is that I didn’t let Alclad Gloss Black Base cure long enough. In the past I usually timed it so the Alclad Gloss Black Base was the last thing I did before walking away from my workbench for the weekend. Regardless, I applied another coat of Alclad II Aluminum and let that cure for a week itself before I started anything else on the plane.

Alclad cured,. The tail, fuselage band, and nacelle areas were then masked and airbrushed with Model Master Enamel True Blue FS15102 (couldn’t get it in acrylic).

After letting that dry I then tackled the yellow wings. I’ve never had much success with Yellow and White over NMF in the past. My F2A-2 Buffalo being a case in point and thus why it’s in the back of the display case.  The problem is the paint needs something to adhere to and a NMF finish is like painting on glass. I found that a coat of Tamiya Flat Yellow serves as a great primer for the more accurate color of Model Master Chrome Yellow FS13538. Tamiya Flat Yellow doesn’t run or pool on NMF like Model Master Chrome Yellow tends to do regardless of airbrush setting. Tamiya paints also provide the “teeth” thinner Model Master paints to adhere to when it comes to the lighter colors like Yellows and Whites. Furthermore, I find this approach allows me to weather more easily (if desired) using salting and other chipping techniques where the NMF can be exposed. I then finally masked off the anti-glare panel and wings walks and airbrushed them all Tamiya Flat Black.

The antenna was manifested from some styrene strip and monofilament was used for the wire and adhered using CA. The propeller was painted using Alclad II Chrome. The backs of the propeller blades were painted black from the tips down about half way so any glare from the chrome on the propeller would not impede the pilot’s sight. Classic Red, Yellow, and Blue markings were painted in the front of the propeller blades.

The decals provided by Belcher Bits were excellent with one minor exception. The white trim for the fuselage band came up a little short to cover the underside of the fuselage, but that could be a function of me placing the fuselage band too far forward. Eduard PE USAAF seatbelts were added as well. A fun build of a very interesting subject. 

Ryan

Photos and text © by Ryan Ahern