Academy Hawk 67 / T-59 ROKAF 1:48

[Julien]

T-59 Hawk 67 ROKAF

Academy - 1/48

The Hawker Siddeley, later British Aerospace then BAE Systems Hawk has without a doubt been one of the most prolific post WWII Trainer / light strike aircraft developed. With over 900 built, and still being built by BAE and other countries under licence, it can be said to be mildly successful.

The Hawk can trace it origins back to a 1964 Royal Air Force requirement for a new fast jet trainer to replace the Folland Gnat. In 1968 Hawker Siddeley Aviation as it then was began studies for a simpler aircraft than the original RAF specification. This was a privately funded venture by the company, which even though a gamble paid off as the RAF selected the aircraft; and an initial contract for 175 aircraft was signed in 1972. Following on from this many countries have selected the hawk, or one of its variants for their own armed forces. The Republic Of Korea selected the Hawk 67 (Locally know as the T-59) in September 1992, with an order for 20 aircraft. These were all to be built by BAE.

The Hawk 67 is an export version specifically designed for The Republic of Korea. This is a follow on to BAEs Hawk 60, which replaced the Hawk 50. These export Hawks can as well as conversion training, offer weapons training, and a limited ground attack capability. Weapons carriage is increased, and the aircraft has up rated engines. The Hawk 67 is further fitted with the longer nose of the Hawk 100, to accommodate additional avionics and a steerable nose wheel.

There was some controversy in Korea in 2009 when it was suggested that the 20 aircraft could be given to Indonesia to offset future arms deals. It was said that there could be problems spares and support. Though it has been pointed out that the aircraft is still in production in the UK and India and used throughout the world. Others in the Korean Military say that the aircraft should not be used as a trainer but as a forward air control/strike platform. This is currently being done by the KA-1 which has a smaller weapons load and is a turbo prop not a jet. With only 20 delivered and a reported 15 left in service it remains to be seen what the Koreans will do with the Hawk as more home grown aircraft such as the T-50 come on stream.

The Kit
The kit appears to be a re-box by Academy of Italeri's Hawk kit. The kit comes on four sprues of light grey plastic. All appear to be well moulded with no evidence of defects or flash.

The kit can be built with the rear air-brake open, or closed. Also the main flaps can be deployed of left flush with the wing.

The first sprue contains the fuselage halves, internal parts and the centre line gun pod. The Korean Hawk is cleared to use the 30mm gun pod however there don't seem to be any pictures in circulation of it loaded on the aircraft. The second sprue contains the wings, tail planes, and other parts.

The Third and forth sprue are the same and contain fuel tanks, sidewinders, main wheels and flap parts. While the Hawk 67 is primarily a trainer it is cleared for the carriage of Sidewinders, free fall bombs and rockets. However like the gun pod I have seen no photos of this.

Canopy
The canopy, windscreen, blast shield and lights are all contained on one clear sprue. This is clear and relatively distortion free.

Photo-etched Parts
The kit includes two small photo-etched frets. The first is clearly the same as issued with the Italeri kit. This contains the main instrument panels, side cockpit panels and seat belts for the ejection seats. The smaller fret from Academy contains the wing fences present on the Hawk 67.

Conversion
For the conversion from the standard Hawk to the Hawk 67 the kit comes with 6 additional resin parts.

The main resin part is a complete nose section with the wheel well moulded into it. Instructions show where to remove the kit nose and attach the resin part. This is fairly easy as it follows a kit panel line at the front of the cockpit. The other resin parts appear to be some kind of conduit located on the rear fuselage, A square antenna for under the nose, a smaller blade antenna; and all three nose gear doors.

Decals

In Korean service the Hawks wear a SEA type 5 colour camouflage scheme with high visibility orange markings on the wing tips and vertical fin. This consists of Tan & two greens on top with light & dark ghost grey undersides.

The decals are made by Academy themselves rather than some recent releases which have used cartograf. The decals for the kit are minimal with subdued national markings and some stencilling. The decals appear in register. I have had good and bad Academy decals before so will treat these with some care until I see how they behave.

Conclusion
This is a quality offering from Academy, and the Italeri base kit is a good kit in its own right. The addition of the Hawk 67 parts and South Korean decals by Academy will make this into a great and less usual model of this important Korean trainer. As the conversion is fairly simple and of high quality, I would recommend this as a first foray into resin for a modeller who has no experience of resin, remembering that Super-Glue will be needed to bond the resin parts to the kit.

Review sample courtesy of

[Mark M]

I got one of these a couple of months ago direct from korea

The nose is a goo fit but care needs to ne taken in cutting the fuserlarge as the instructions dont show the position perfectly

also ma decals hawks in world wide service give alternative markings for this

ill be getting another soon