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Hawker Hart racer - Amodel + Arctic Decals - 1/72nd scale


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Also from last year, a build that may especially interest the British membership.}

 

This Hart, as all harts do, loved to race.

Purchased by Princess Margaret, she entered the plane in the King's Cup race of 1951 (that was cancelled), and after that in other competitions and events, some times in the company of the Hurricane seen also bellow (and that I will post after this one).

The opportunity to build this racer came in the form of a set of high-quality decals produced and released by Arctic Decals.

The Hawker Hart is from Amodel, and it's typical of their range: reasonably-priced, lots of parts, good detail in their masters, but in general a somewhat indifferent molding creating a bit of flash and occasionally dubious fit, making you perform a thorough cleanup session before starting. But you will get a good model if you do your homework. I have built a number of Amodel kits, showing that ultimately it's a fair deal, as long as you spend some time to get the parts sharp and clean and refine them up for a good fit.

Small grumbling aside, you will need of course to de-militarize your Hart. A whole sprue of bombs and similar expendable miscellanea will go the scratchbuilding recycling department to become something better. Then a few external features will have to be modified. 

There are photos on the Net showing this racer with and without a faired cover for the aft position, so it's up to you. Surely it didn't race with a guy on the back of the pilot, though, so I'll be scratching a cover.
The Arctic Decals set and the Amodel kit (there are other 1/72 kits of the Hart, by Airfix, Aeroclub and Kora, and the latter has also resin sets for it) is as usual excellent.

 

(Fire engine is a commercial item)

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(fueling truck is scratch-built and was posted some time ago here at Britmodeller)

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With the Hurricane it many times shared the field (also purchased by Princess Margaret):

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Edited by Moa
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Wonderful, & what a pair they make.

 

It’s nice to see this in a civil guise, as the Hart is one of the most appealing biplane designs, with that pointy spinner & streamlined inline engine.  I must research whether Artic Details do their decals at 1/48 .. & I guess I also ought to research whether there’s a 1/48 Hart to be had too!

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Great model of a very pretty aircraft. Lovely little thing.

15 hours ago, greggles.w said:

 

It’s nice to see this in a civil guise, as the Hart is one of the most appealing biplane designs, with that pointy spinner & streamlined inline engine.  I must research whether Artic Details do their decals at 1/48 .. & I guess I also ought to research whether there’s a 1/48 Hart to be had too!

Arctic decals do produce the Hart racer in 1/48. It seems that AMG may release their kit at SMW in a couple of weeks but if it doesn't materialise, Aeroclub did a 1/48 Demon. John Adams intended to produce a Demon with parts to make several of the Hart family but I don't know if it ever happened.

 

Dave

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6 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

I don't think that the Princess actually bought it.  Like the Hurricane in the same house colours, it remained owned by Hawkers.  The link was the pilot Peter Townsend, who was her boyfriend at the time.

Thanks for the correction, Graham, the references actually said "entered by" and not "purchased".

I wrongly assumed you have to be owner of the plane to enter it on a race.

Cheers

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It seems a reasonable assumption and I must admit to knowing little about the etiquette of aircraft racing, but I was sure that neither the Hart nor the Hurricane ever passed through any hands other than Hawkers until they were handed over to the RAF for the Museum and the Historic Flight respectively.  It seems a shame that the blue and gold colours did not survive onto their Hunter and Harrier, or even the Sea Fury.

 

I recall from The Dangerous Skies that Clouston had to borrow G-ACSS from its owner for each race or record attempt, but I don't recall any reference to Mr. Tasker being involved in the organisation of these flights in any way. 

Edited by Graham Boak
P
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What is this red car that is supposedly a 3 wheeler and looks a bit like a speed record breaking vehicle ?

Or what is it ?

 

Besides that enigma you've made another fantastic model with a very atmospheric photographic presentation !!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...
On 28/10/2020 at 04:11, Moa said:

Thanks kapam

A couple years old post, but fellow BMers keep rediscovering them.

I do have a Hurricane that I want also to do as a racer...

Cheers

 

I've just discovered this and I'm glad I did! I had no idea a racing Hart existed and your model is excellent :)

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