Hawk T.1 - XX163, No. 4FTS/CFS RAF Valley Solo Display Aircraft. 1992

[nimrod54]

Having received my Hawk T.1 kit a couple of weeks ago now, here is my entry for this Jadlam sponsored GB. I plan to build a 4 FTS example painted Roundel Blue/Signal Red fuselage, and have decals for two aircraft based at RAF Valley carrying similar colour schemes, the only difference being the wing colour. Both are from MODEL DECAL sheets the first one off Set 115 is for XX249 in a 70th Anniversary Scheme 1991-92 RAF Valley which has Light Aircraft Grey/Red wings, whilst the second comes from Set 116 for XX163 which was the Solo Display aircraft in 1992 and has the same fuselage colour but Red/White and Blue wings. I'll see how things progress before making a final choice.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Hockeyboy76]

Oooooo nice, red white & blue wings sounds more colourful. 

[nimrod54]

2 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Oooooo nice, red white & blue wings sounds more colourful. 

 

Yep. Mrs N thinks so too, so it looks as though she has already made my mind up for me... again.

[nimrod54]

I have finally made a start and have sorted out the twin office, I will fit it later and then fill up any available space with some weight, before I close up the fuselage.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

After fixing the cockpit into one fuselage half and squeezing weight in any available space, I closed up the fuselage. Since then the join has had an initial clean up and I've added a small section of plastic to the short shot side of the fin. Once that has had time to set up I will sand it to shape.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

The upper and lower wing sections have also been assembled, and after an initial once over the fit doesn't look too bad. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Hockeyboy76]

Coming together nicely good buddy. 

[nimrod54]

On 11/11/2020 at 18:56, Hockeyboy76 said:

Coming together nicely good buddy. 

 

Cheers Buddy, apologies for the delayed reply.

 

I have spent most of my modelling time over the past week getting this one together and completed most of the main assembly work last-night, leaving all of the fiddly bits that could be easily knocked off to add at the end of the build.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

The seats have just been popped in to check fit after assembly, I still have to finish the painting on those. I will then brush some grey on the joins to check those over and carry out any remedial work before prepping for paint.

[nimrod54]

I have been slowly plugging away at the Hawk over the weekend and made some progress with the painting. After a coat of grey primer and a tidy up of one or two joins I gave it a couple of layers of white primer.  The plan is to finish this one in markings for the 4FTS Solo Display Hawk as it appeared on the airshow circuit in 1992. 

 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Then I masked off the blue/white areas in readiness for painting the Signal Red.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

With the undercarriage and airbrake bays filled with blu-tack it was time for the red.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I removed the masking tape a short while ago and this afternoons job is to mask off the red/white areas in preparation for the Roundel Blue.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Hockeyboy76]

That’s looking great and nice masking work, just one question?

Why no pink primer ????

[nimrod54]

4 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

That’s looking great and nice masking work, just one question?

Why no pink primer ????

 

Cheers buddy. I did think about using pink primer on this build (albeit briefly), but just couldn't bring myself to placing it in the web-cart.  It may possibly have had a weird effect on the blue too.

[Hockeyboy76]

11 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Cheers buddy. I did think about using pink primer on this build (albeit briefly), but just couldn't bring myself to placing it in the web-cart.  It may possibly have had a weird effect on the blue too.

I will have a word with Santa for you. 

[nimrod54]

Masked off for the Roundel Blue yesterday afternoon and I was able to get the colour on this morning. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I took the tape off the model a short while ago and this is the result of all that masking/unmasking and re-masking work.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

There are a couple of areas of bleed on the white wing markings which will need retouching, but then I can paint the anti-glare panel and along the leading edges of the wings, fin and tailplanes using some black. Then it will be decal time.

[Hockeyboy76]

That looks very smart. Which brand of roundel blue did you use?

[nimrod54]

1 hour ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Which brand of roundel blue did you use?

 

Both the Signal Red and the Roundel Blue are from a HATAKA Orange Line set for RAF Trainers, being lacquer based they dry quickly. I think that they may do an acrylic version of the same set.

[thepureness]

I'm really loving the scheme 

[nimrod54]

I should hopefully have this one wrapped up tomorrow, some paint touch ups and the last few bits to add and that should be 'job done'. I am slightly disappointed with the MODELDECAL set of decals used for this build, the colour density is not great and as a result the red and blue can be seen under the white stripe. I also decided to switch to the kit roundels in lieu of the MODELDECAL set for the wing markings.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

 

[Olmec Head]

Looks significantly better than my 4FTS CFS version from 1987 using a Modeldecal set from 1988.  How did you get on with the cockpit windscreen please?

[nimrod54]

5 minutes ago, Olmec Head said:

Looks significantly better than my 4FTS CFS version from 1987 using a Modeldecal set from 1988.  How did you get on with the cockpit windscreen please?

 

Thanks for the comment OH, I used Sheet 116 for my build and had a bit of an issue getting them off the backing paper, but they came away in one piece and settled down nicely.

 

As for the cockpit windscreen, as experienced by several others, there was quite a bit of flash on the on the port side, and due to some sinking on that side it didn't fit the fuselage width very well. Looking at the number of other builders who had the same issue suggests to me that there may be some damage to the moulds around that area, causing a poor seal and not allowing the parts to form correctly.

My attempt to resolve the issue was to dip the part in Klear and when that had dried I glued it in place, taking care to get a best fit on the starboard side. I then built up the area with several layers of superglue, which was shaped and polished to a clear finish with finer grades of sanding sticks/sheets, then buffed at the end. A couple of coats of Klear helped restore the part to full clarity. It would not stand up to close scrutiny, but it looks OK to me.

 

HTH

 

John

[CliffB]

That's a cracking scheme John 

 

[John Masters]

Very sleek.  👍👍

[Hockeyboy76]

Looks great good buddy. 

[nimrod54]

8 hours ago, CliffB said:

That's a cracking scheme John 

 

 

5 hours ago, John Masters said:

Very sleek.  👍👍

 

41 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Looks great good buddy. 

 

Thanks for your comments chaps. After wrapping up the bits of painting this morning I added the last of the bits that are easy to dislodge just before lunch. Once those parts had been allowed to set up, it was time to take the final photos and I completed that a short while ago, so here are a couple of shots of the finished job.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

And here is one of a Hawk when it is playing dead.  I will post more in the gallery once the World Ski Flying competition has finished. 

 

by John L, on Flickr