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1/72 Hawker estonian Hart


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So, here it is at last. Thanks to the advices I've collected here, I've been able to gather enough information to complete this model.

In the mid-thirties, Estonia ordered to Hawker a dedicated version of its Hart light bomber which was called...estonian Hart, and differed from the basic version in several points, including a second fixed machine-gun on the engine cowling starboard side, a windscreen for the gunner, and long Osprey-type exhaust pipes. Theses machines were still in service with the estonian air force in 1940 when the country was invaded by USSR. Some of them were used by the soviet VVS later.

The model is based on the A-Model kit with a little bit of scratch-building to match the estonian specifications. The starboard machine-gun has required a little "surgery" on the right fuselage half-shell. The national insignias come from a Kora sheet intended for an Avro Anson, while the "146" code was printed on Experts Choice clear decal. The shiny metal parts were painted with Alclad II "polished aluminum" and the fabric-covered areas were sprayed with a coat of Tamiya TS30 which was later oversprayed with Pebeo matt varnish to give it the typical "silver dope" finish.

Now enough with talking, here it is:

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Thanks so much to you all. Information about estonian a/c is not what you can find at every street's corner (typical french idiom but I guess it also makes sense in English...), so I had to cross information from various sources, including the excellent "Hart Family" book from Aeroguide Classics.

looks much bigger than it,s actual scale

I really do appreciate this compliment, thanks.

The rigging was made with very thin stretched sprue, which I find easier to use than nylon threads, but it's also a lot more fragile. An important point is to drill the holes with the correct angle so you don't have to stretch the rigs too much for them to fit properly.

Edited by VincentM
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Wow!! I wondered what the 'Estonian' bit was and was not disappointed. She's really lovely and an incredible job given it's just in 1/72nd!

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Thanks!

the blues goes well along the silver.

That is also definitely my opinion now I can see it completed, and the reason why I chose this aircraft to represent the estonian aviation of the thirties.

I think i just fell in love with those silver dope planes of the late thirties. I'm looking for others to build, and thinking about an egyptian Audax.

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Thanks!

That is also definitely my opinion now I can see it completed, and the reason why I chose this aircraft to represent the estonian aviation of the thirties.

I think i just fell in love with those silver dope planes of the late thirties. I'm looking for others to build, and thinking about an egyptian Audax.

Thank you for your rigging process.

I love these aircraft too as I am building a pre-war Gladiator.

Patrick

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Thank you all. I have to precise that the golden wheel rims are just a guess since I only have greyscale pics of the bird. But I noticed that the shade of wheels was different from the rest of the plane and considered it was probably because they were gold like most other silver dope Harts.

I love these aircraft too as I am building a pre-war Gladiator.

I only recently noticed that in the pre-war era, most countries used to paint their fighters with silver dope. Which means there is a lot of colorful models from that time to be built...

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Lovely looking bird. I have a Fury on the workbench which I got for £2.99 as a bit of a testbed for rigging. I'd intended to use ez-line but could be tempted to have a bash with stretched sprue seeing this.

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Thanks.

Stretched sprue is difficult to use because it's fragile. Whenever it gets folded, it is likely to break. But I think it's easier to glue than nylon because it's made of styrene like kit parts. IMO an important thing to do is not to drill the holes for rigs perpendicular to the kit surface, but with the same angle that rigs will have to be, which makes rig tension much easier, and without having to bend them.

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