Chivenor 50th Anniversary Hawk (Italeri 1/72nd)

[rossm]

After a short debate on which kit to use http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235030032-which-72nd-scale-hawk-kit/ I've made a start.

 

Usually posting a WIP thread is the kiss of death to my projects so I've waited until most of the potential showstoppers are out of the way.

 

I've found the walkarounds and a couple of threads on colours on BM. Unfortunately my Aeroguide is in Cornwall and I'm currently in Norfolk but I've found a pdf online and got the AirData to hand and the AirFile feature from Model Aircraft Monthly Sept 2008. The words in the Air Data regarding colours are identical to those in the AirFile. Wish I'd known that before spending £7.50 on the Air Data . Still, it does have lots of photos of the export versions that are not in the AirFile.

 

I'm using the Italeri T Mk.1 / 51 / 66 kit and PP Aeroparts correction set, now sold under the Flightpath name, which has a new nose, rear fuselage and 'hump' in resin, vacform canopy and lots more resin, metal and etch goodies. Decals will be from the Xtradecal sheet 72031.

 

Work done so far:-

1) remove raised detail from cockpit and fit brass side consoles and base instrument panels.

2) remove nose and tail sections from fuselage halves

3) remove upper part of bulkhead and extreme front of cockpit floor. The latter to allow the replacement nose to fit. Some filing and trimming was needed on boith the front coaming and the front instrument panel to get a good fit.

4) remove flaps from upper wing halves - most Hawks seem to have them dropped when on the ground and PP give cast metal replacements and hinges set for the drooped position so it seems a pity not to use them. The flaps were removed in two parts with a vertical cut along the 'panel' line followed by a horizontal cut using the leading edge (protected by tape) as a guide to keep the razor saw flat to the wing.

5) The canopy has a raised frameline between the cockpits where, in reality, the internal blast screen was mounted. This frame has been scraped off with a sharp scalpel then sanded with a 1200 grit sanding stick and polished with Final Touch canopy polish. This allows me to keep the Italeri canopy with the moulded in detonation cord rather than using the PP vacform replacement which does not have the cord. An internal line remains where the screen goes but I think this will be ok and will certainly help with painting.

 

Next steps are to paint the cockpit and seats, add 2mm to the rear edge of the lower wing in the flap cut-outs (an error in the kit put the flap demarcation 2mm too far forward according to PP) and find a way to weight the nose now there's a solid part there!

 

What can possibly go wrong now, even after I've tempted fate with this thread?

 

Progress so far and some of the replacement parts are shown in the photo:-

 

[Giorgio N]

Good start ! Seems to me that the PP set will correct all the issues I mentioned about the Italeri kit. And good job on the canopy, sorting transparencies is one of those thiungs that most modellers, myself included, fear the most

[wyverns4]

Interesting and one to watch!

 

How about drilling a hole into the back of the solid resin nose and filling it with weighty stuff? 

 

On-On!

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[rossm]

13 minutes ago, wyverns4 said:

Interesting and one to watch!

 

How about drilling a hole into the back of the solid resin nose and filling it with weighty stuff? 

 

On-On!

 

Christian, exiled to africa

Think I'm going to try that but there's not a lot of space. More under the rear cockpit. Worrying about the resin rear end and metal flaps making it even harder to balance out. Still, there's the metal seats up front.

 

Some time tonight for more progress I hope.

[wyverns4]

Also how about lead sheet, good for lining and tyre balance weights?

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[rossm]

22 minutes ago, wyverns4 said:

Also how about lead sheet, good for lining and tyre balance weights?

 

Christian, exiled to africa

I'm not adding tyre balance weights, not in this scale

 

But I do have some lead sheet, just have to get as much in as I can.

 

Currently waiting for paint and glue to dry. After a raid on Buoys Toys in Cromer (very much recommended for modelling tools, plastic card and rod etc. although space precludes a large stock of kits or paints) I chose Humbrol 164 (Dark Sea Grey) for the interior as opposed to 5 (the "correct" Dark Admiralty Grey) as I think the one shade lighter will look better in this scale.

[rossm]

At last some time to make progress. Interior painted, note lead sheet behind front instrument panel, also drilled into nosecone and under cockpit floors. Waiting for glue to set before taking pic of closed up fuselage.