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RAF Hawk T Mk.1 - *** Finished ***


Tomjw

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Hi All,

This is my very first WIP and will be building an RAF Hawk T Mk.1 using the 1/32 Revell Kit. I will be finishing the aircraft in 4 FTS RAF Valley colours depicted in around 1990-91 (the red, white and blue scheme) courtesy of Xtradecal Sheet X32027.

Being an aftermarket junky, and wanting my model to look good (to my eye) rather than be accurate, I will be using the Big Ed Hawk T1/Mk.53 set which comprises an exterior set, an interior set, seat belts, and paint masks.

The kit is well known on this forum and is made up of the hideous red plastic which will no doubt take buckets of primer to cover. The photo below shows what I will be using:-

20131228_100813_zps5cc1aa62.jpg

I am looking forward to this, and look forward to any advice, tips and feedback.

Thanks for looking.

Tom.

Edited by Tomjw
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:welcome: Tom. First Hawk. I wonder how many more there will be.

Thanks Enzo. I have two in the stash, but would like to do a Mk.127 in 1/32 at some point. I just have to sneak it in padt the wife.

Cheers,

Tom.

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I had recently realised that the stencils included on the kit Red Arrows decal sheet will not be suitable for the paint scheme I am doing. I am now pleased to say that the nice people from Hannants have delivered my Xtradecal Maintenance Stencils sheet, which is just what I need.

I have started work on the cockpit, but nothing to show yet. Just removal of the control panel detail in prep for the photoetch panels. Pictures to follow.

Cheers,

Tom.

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Hi All,

Some progress, all be it minor, to report. First of all, my Xtradecal Stencil decal sheet arrived from Hannants. It is certainly comprehensive as follows:-

20140105_095217_zps371140ad.jpg

My first course of action was to do something about the poor kit rudder pedals. The Eduard interior PE set addresses this, along with some minor surgery of the kit parts. A big improvement I think. The next stage was to sand off the instrument panel detail, wash with soapy water and assemble the cockpit tub. All very straight forward. The kit parts go together very nicely.

Then the first problem - that red plastic. What a nightmare to cover. It took three coats of Alclad grey primer/microfiller to cover it. This is going to be a common theme for this kit I think. So now for some pictures:-

The Kit Rudder Pedals (photo is upside down, because I am stupid!!!!):-

20140104_111731_zpsd502b68b.jpg

And the Eduard PE equivalent:-

20140105_094605_zps08b26aee.jpg

And finally, the cockpit tub sanded and primed:-

20140105_184333_zpsc13efa3e.jpg

Lastly, sorry about the quality of my photos, they were taken on my phone in poor light...

I hope to report more progress soon...

Cheers,

Tom.

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Oh God, I see what you mean about the red. Good start though.

Thanks goggsy. I am hoping I can finish this without the red plastic sending me round the twist.

Cheers,

Tom.

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A little more progress to report.

I have been working mainly on fitting the Eduard photo-etch cockpit side wall structure. The PE detail is good, but it is very slow progress as each rib has to be bent first prior to gluing. The only way to get a reasonable line-up is to dry fit the cockpit into position and draw pencil lines onto the inner fuselage prior to super-gluing. The results after priming are as follows (the other side wall is complete also):-

20140110_212741_zpsbecedabf.jpg

You will notice some ejector pin marks on the photo above. The inside is riddled with them, however there is only a need to remove two of them (on each fuselage half) as I have done above as the cockpit assembly will hide the rest. I must confess that I did go a bit over the top with the sanding and made a dip where the rear cockpit anti-glare shield will be, so some Mr Dissolved Putty and some patience seems to have fixed.

I have also detailed the rear bulkhead of the rear cockpit with three pieces of PE (the two holes and the panel directly below them, right at the top of the bulkhead):-

20140110_204911_zpsda9d1b87.jpg

Next was to start detailing the rear cockpit anti-glare shield. The kit item is okay, however Eduard do improve things to an extent. The kit part:-

20140110_201610_zps6d4dbc79.jpg

And the modified part with the PE:-

20140110_212652_zps5d26f6bb.jpg

One thing to note about the PE is the piece that sits on top of the panel with all the holes is the wrong size and won't line up with the holes on the kit piece. I had to cut it into two. You won't see too much when the front ejection seat is fitted, so I will fill it prior to priming it. Also, each end of the piece of PE with all the holes will be bent outwards slightly as per the real aircraft and will line up with the angles of the piece above it. I am just waiting for the super glue to fully cure prior to doing this.

The Eduard set has a couple of boxes to fit on top of the anti-glare shield also, but I left these out because they are not a feature of the T Mk.1 aircraft. I just fitted the two panels instead. There is more detail to add, but this will be done later.

Thanks for looking in, and if anyone has any hints, tips or advice it will be gratefully received.

Cheers,

Tom.

Edited by Tomjw
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I think its probably best to start with an apology as my progress has been slow. Long work hours and family commitments have prevented me from making too much progress, although if I had shown you the bits I had done previously, it would have sent your boredom levels off the scale.

Anyhow, I have made progress with the cockpit. The Anti-Glare Shields were primed after the PE was bent into the correct places and then primed:-

20140112_101133_zpsbd16ab65.jpg

Following this, I had to make a custom mix of paint for the cockpit to match the pre-printed colour PE cockpit panels from Eduard. Believe it or not, the Eduard instructions do not give a set paint colour to use from any manufacturer, so you have to wing it. Starting with a number of greys from Tamiya, I settled for XF-66 Light Grey as the closest (the grey colour on the PE has a slight blue hue to it). I then progressively added white to it - three drops at a time until I got the colour that matched:-

20140118_101731_zps1bb72122.jpg

The next step was to complete the cockpit and sidewalls painting with my new custom mix, and then CA the PE in place. This is the result:-

20140118_100413_zps4cc86e2f.jpg

Needless to say I am pleased. The colour match looks spot-on to the eye, but the photograph does show a different (for some reason). Normally at this point, I would varnish and weather, I am nervous about doing this as I suspect that the painted areas may darken to a level different to the pre-printed panels. The next step will be to weather the cockpit with Flory Models washes and Tamiya Weather Master powders. I have also started to scratch some cable looms and pipework for the recessed areas behind the left and right consoles.

More later.

Cheers,

Tom.

Edited by Tomjw
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Thanks Deon. I must admit that I like the pre-painted etch for instruments also. The only issue I encountered was that the self-adhesive backing wasn't very sticky. Nothing that a couple of drops of CA couldn't sort out.

Thanks,

Tom.

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Another slight update. I have now weathered the cockpit using Flory Models Dark Dirt wash. It has come out slightly dirtier than I wanted, however I do quite like the look of it. I like my aircraft to have that used look!!!

The cockpit tub (The rear anti-glare shield is dry fitted):-

20140119_113408_zps6983abfa.jpg

And the cockpit tub dry fitted into the port fuselage half:-

20140119_113651_zps8f9dd5f4.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Tom.

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wow theres plenty of detail in this, very nice.

Thanks noeyedears. The kit is great and the Eduard etch is superb, but there is still scope for more. I will share my efforts at scratch building later this week, hopefully without trashing it.

Thanks for looking in.

Tom.

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Tom,

Looking good but if you want to add a bit more detail to the cockpit, behind the rear seat, on the upper part of the bulkhead, there was, (usually), a canvas bag, which is there to give the pilot a place to carry the aircraft Servicing Log,(Form 700). The bag was initially made from canvas and was just over A4 size and has been blue or green in colour.

Also on the Left Hand rear cockpit coaming there is a handle to allow crews to pull themselves up.

It is inset into the coaming, and you'll clearly see it, (and the F700 bag), in pictures of the rear cockpit.

Look forward to seeing how you progress.

Regards, Brian

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Tom,

Looking good but if you want to add a bit more detail to the cockpit, behind the rear seat, on the upper part of the bulkhead, there was, (usually), a canvas bag, which is there to give the pilot a place to carry the aircraft Servicing Log,(Form 700). The bag was initially made from canvas and was just over A4 size and has been blue or green in colour.

Also on the Left Hand rear cockpit coaming there is a handle to allow crews to pull themselves up.

It is inset into the coaming, and you'll clearly see it, (and the F700 bag), in pictures of the rear cockpit.

Look forward to seeing how you progress.

Regards, Brian

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the kind comment and the advice. I've just had a look at the walk around section of the forum and see exactly what you mean. It will certainly busy up a bland part of the cockpit. I might try to fashion something out of wine bottle foil for the canvas bag. I hadn't noticed the handle until you pointed out. With all this good stuff and the additional pipework and cable looms to add, it all make for a suitably populated cockpit.

Cheers,

Tom.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's been a while since my last update, and progress has been slow. The kit seats are fairly detailed, but come with a decal for the harnesses. They do, however form the basis for some great detailing:-

The kit seats:-

20140201_100643_zpsaa3be45d.jpg

The modified seats with the help of Eduard etch and some milliput to make the head boxes more realistic:-

20140208_095348_zps9bb1d998.jpg

I have done some extensive work adding some cockpit clutter such as hydraulic plumbing, cable looms and the two canvas backs on the rear cockpit bulkhead as recommended by Goodchap:-

20140208_100357_zps685767c2.jpg

And finally a couple of photographs with the seats added:-

20140208_100227_zps7e6bd784.jpg

20140208_100150_zpse0ccf6ca.jpg

I am now calling the cockpit complete (after I have fitted the throttle handles).

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Tom.

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Those bang seats looks fantastic.

Thanks Henrik. I must admit that I got carried away with the whole cockpit area. The problem with working in 1/32 scale.

Cheers,

Tom

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Tom,

Looking good but to help you further:

As anyone who works with the Hawk will tell you, the ejection seat shoulder straps are always secured to the ejector seat head box when the seat has had a Flight Servicing.

They are never left lying around in the seat pan!

To help this being achieved there are a couple of points on the side of the head box, where the shoulder straps click into.

The other point is that you have made the cockpit a bit too dirty!

Dirt is (was) always kept out of a cockpit, (there are (were) brushes on the access steps so the pilots - and groundcrew, could brush excess dirt off their boots before entering the cockpit) - so you would never had the accretion you have shown.

Hope you won't mind my comments. - Keep up the good work.

Regards, Brian

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Hi Brian. I don't mind the comments at all. I knew the situation with the seat belts, and have seen what others have done with the seat belts in the same scale, but it was beyond my skills to achieve.

I also hear what you are saying regarding the dirt in the cockpit. I would normally varnish the cockpit first before applying the wash, but it was so difficult to match the paint colour to the pre-printed etch, that I didn't do this in case the paint ended up darker than the etch. The net result was that the wash wouldn't come off as well as it would if the cockpit was varnished.

Besides, I still quite like the way it looks.

Thanks for the comments. Keep them coming.

Cheers,

Tom.

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