Hawker Seahawk ++++ Finished ++++

[825]

I have decided, possibly against my better judgement, or my incipient madness, after seeing the comments of  @Rabbit Leader and @Redstaff to have a go at this one.

 

 

According to Scalemates the Novo boxing is from 1977 but Frog originally released the Sea. Hawk in 1955. That makes it exactly the same age as me.  Looking at the box contents, despite 50 years of playing rugby and associated celebrations and commiserations, I have worn considerably better than this kit. There are 22 parts in the box and one transparency, along with a fair amount of flash, no undercarriage wells, the main undercarriage legs and doors as a single part which look like their built of six inch armour plate, no cockpit but a pilot's head in two halves, transfer positions engraved on the wings and a goodly bundle of flash. But little in the way of ejector pins or moulding flaws. And a reasonably well shaped Sea Hawk, albeit without cannon. The box contents. 

 

 

and the entire airframe, two fuselage halves and two solid wings. You can see the roundel position clearly. 

 

 

The box also contained this little container with a solid piece of something in it. I suspect it may have been a tub of glue. 

 

 

I have cleaned up most up most of the parts and will put some weight into the nose before glueing everything up. 

Edited September 8, 2019 by 825

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s the way @825, see what happens when a few compliments starts going your way - one starts thinking delusional thoughts!! 

So good to see another FAA Frog example being built here, they must have favoured the ‘Senior Service’ as they have an extensive back catalogue of great subjects. Your Seahawk is most welcome here. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[JOCKNEY]

Outstanding Sir 

I look forward to seeing the 2 halves of the pilot appear in the cockpit and hopefully they will be a better fit than the hunter I built a while back !

Cheers Pat 

[825]

Mouldings tidied up considerably and some ballast added. 

 

 

No doubt about where this one came from

 

[825]

Airframe completed, mind you there are only 6 parts.  Went together reasonably fine, there was a gap at the nose but that might be my over enthusiastic amount of liquid lead for ballast, and a bit of a step along the rear fuselage. Which strangely changes sides half way along. So slathered in some DPP and left to dry overnight. The putty on the wings is to rectify the moulded on roundel. 

 

 

 

And here here we are after a thorough sanding session. I think a little more work might be needed on the upperworks but let's see how it looks after some paint is on. 

 

 

 

It does look a bit messy but I have used polishing sticks on it but the plastic doesn't shine up terribly well. 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Nice work, kits are bound to look messy when they require this amount of clean-up. She's looking every bit like a Seahawk from here though! 

Cheers.. Dave 

[AdrianMF]

There isn’t a “shocked” emoticon, otherwise I would have reacted to your first post! It’s from the same era as the Gannet. On the Gannet I actually did use the moulded on line showing the EDSG/Sky border - saved me a bit of tape!

 

Enjoy it for what it is, at least you won’t have to worry about sticking the IFF repeater box in the wing place in the cockpit!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

PS and if it didn’t have IFF, please don’t bother to tell me!

 

[Aardvark]

On 6/14/2019 at 1:20 AM, 825 said:

The box also contained this little container with a solid piece of something in it. I suspect it may have been a tub of glue. 

 

Yes, it's glue.

Was two type glue such as in your picture, it was the most unreliable because it could arbitrarily open the gulf model inside or dry.  Later it began to be packaged in a separate package.  Another type of glue was completely hermetically sealed in a polyethylene tube and in order to open it, the pressure was either to pierce it or cut off the tip of the tube.

On 6/14/2019 at 12:17 PM, 825 said:

 

Box was two type, too.You box second type. Image on Your box It has a few blurry and faded colors, the paper color is lighter inside and less dense than the first type boxes.  Your box type is more mass.

On 6/14/2019 at 1:20 AM, 825 said:

 

 

Decal probably 

not original FROG or NOVO. Maybe it's second cooperative wave. First wave You may see on this my posting:

As You see first cooperative decal wave have more accurate colour but not so accurate than in reality.

 

B.R.

Serge 

 

P.S.

I had two Sea Hawk FROG & Airfix...as for my FROG was better Airfix...because Airfix was sold...and manic

sawn and cut remains of the FROG are still looking at me and my Sea Hawk from Hobby Boss with a reproach out of the box .....

[825]

The underside painting is complete, so airframe masked off and a first coat of Extra Dark Sea Grey brushed on. A small number of defects to tidy but getting there. 

 

 

The kit transfers are truly horrendous, they don't even look right and the colours look wrong, never mind Novo's reputation for disintegration. In the stash I have multiple options, the Seahawk seems to be a popular subject for aftermarket decal producers. But in the box of my recently finished Hobbyboss Seahawk is a complete set of marakings for this 810 NAS aircraft, including the Musketeer stripes. 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Whatever you do @825, don't follow Trumpy-Boss' error of placing the large underwing serials (painted over XE xxx) on the upper wings as per that paint guide! 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

[Aardvark]

10 hours ago, 825 said:

In the stash I have multiple options, the Seahawk seems to be a popular subject for aftermarket decal producers.

Some about decal for Sea Hawk. Just for information. 

Top left to right:

Two decals Hobby Boss, next Airfix (Airfix decal paper yellowish with time  ) and Special Hobby

Other decal separate.

One from first Soviet/post-Soviet aftermarket decal on Sea Hawk from Econica. It's decal just is oddity. Strange colour, strange type printing decal.  Probably now Econica maked shoes (!?):

Eastern Express decal:

Second (or three?) generation late Soviet cooperative decal. Model with this type decal have new box and assembling manual:
First generation late Soviet cooperative decal:

Polish Hematic/Gomix decal: 

One from first Soviet/post-Soviet aftermarket decal on Sea Hawk from Kanga, too:

Kanga has an interesting feature.  The manufacturer at one of the forums recommended white spirit for it as a decal solution. According to the manufacturer, white spirit dissolves the transparent substrate and the decal takes the form of a as "painted airbrush".

Kanga have interesting stencil, but I don't know was this stencil on real Sea Hawk.

 

Decal from Eastern Express & Hematic/Gomix I bought separately in local hobby shop at ridiculous prices about 20 cents apiece. Some post-Soviet hobby shop sometimes they sell such decals.

 

B.R.

Serge

[825]

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Whatever you do @825, don't follow Trumpy-Boss' error of placing the large underwing serials (painted over XE xxx) on the upper wings as per that paint guide! 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

I noticed that before when building the late 50s Seahawk from HMS Albion in the NATO vs Warsaw Pact GB. Seems really odd as very few aircraft, especially military, have serials/codes on the upper wings. 

 

@Aardvark that's a fine collection of transfers for Seahawks. In the Novo box they are definitely some form of Soviet cooperative decal but of much poorer quality, as can be seen in the post above (#1)  than the ones in your post. 



[PeterB]

8 hours ago, Aardvark said:

Kanga has an interesting feature.  The manufacturer at one of the forums recommended white spirit for it as a decal solution. According to the manufacturer, white spirit dissolves the transparent substrate and the decal takes the form of a as "painted airbrush".

 

B.R.

Serge

Hi Serge,

 

That reminds me of the "Methfix" transfers I used on some railway rolling stock. You put them in place with the transparent backing paper on the outside, then soaked them with Methylated Spirits and the paper came off. A variation on the "rub on" dry lettering sets of old. Bit of a fiddle but done properly they really do look "painted on" with no carrier film showing.

Edited July 3, 2019 by PeterB

[jean]

Hi,

you know, the crazy thing is that this made in USSR re-pop looks better than the old Airfix kit I started last year in the Airfix Classic GB!

Pilot's head on a platter notwithstanding!

Will look good!

Cheers

 

JR

[825]

On 7/3/2019 at 7:50 PM, jean said:

Hi,

you know, the crazy thing is that this made in USSR re-pop looks better than the old Airfix kit I started last year in the Airfix Classic GB!

Pilot's head on a platter notwithstanding!

Will look good!

Cheers

 

JR

Yes, like Frog kits, the shape is good and some of the detail like trailing edges pretty sharp. 

 

Now the airframe is painted and reday for transfers. Looks a good shape and definitely a Sea Hawk. 

 

 

I've also painted the pilot's bone dome. I think white is correct for the 50s. 

[825]

Some transfers on. Stripes and markings left over from my recent Hobbyboss build. Roundels from a Model Alliance 'Ark Royal' sheet which has a bundle of 36' roundels including for a Seahawk. 

 

 

 

A few more to put on. The stripes on the wings are perfect but aren't 100% straight over the fuselage, fine on top and underneath but have a bit of a bend on the side, but the roundels should mask that. A little bit of yellow touching up needed but that can wait. 

 

[Jinxman]

Very smart! 

[Rabbit Leader]

Now that’s starting to pop!! Looking very nice, well done. 

Cheers..Dave 

[825]

Thanks @Jinxmanand @Rabbit Leader, I've most of the transfers on now. The canopy needed a bit of cleaning up, it's pretty thick but after dipping in Kleer it's presenrable. Simple to mask and fixed on with a first coat of black before some EDSG added over the top. 

 

[JOCKNEY]

Looks the business, well done !

[jean]

This really looks like a Seahawk! 

Well done on a really quick job! Suez stripes are indeed always so photogenic!

 

Keep having fun!

JR

[825]

Thanks @jean the Seahawk is coming along bit by bit. I've now got the rest of the transfers on and the canopy painte and unmasked. Only the ( quite simplified but chunky) undercarriage to go on and we're pretty much done. The Suez stripes do look pretty good I must admit. 

 

 

And despite its age, it does look very much like a Seahawk. 

[zebra]

That really looks the part. Suez stripes make an aircraft I often find a bit dull much more interesting!

[825]

Frog engineered this kit to have moving wheels and used pins rather than the later hot knife approach. However, using the pins (and one is missing anyway) means much of Frog's nice moulding of the wheel hub is lost. Picture is very magnified and the wheels do look better. 

 

 

I will sand down the existing pin to the circumference of the hole and use some rod for the other. The axle for the nosewheel is far too big but I couldn't really sand it down much. I've sanded it a bit and drilled out the wheel carefully and it fits ok (ish)

[825]

Undercarriage on and just a couple of swipes of Aluminium paint needed to complete.