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Hawk T.1 of 4 FTS/CFS 1987 - sort of finished


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I bought an old Modeldecal sheet from Hannats to do a couple of matchbox Meteor NF kits that I had somehow acquired.  This also had a somewhat colourful set of marking for a Hawk from 4 FTS/CFS in 1987:

 

hawk

I am not at all au fait with Hawks or modern era (not that 1987 is modern) jets, so this may or may not work.  It will be only OOB and the decals may well be interesting to apply!

 

 

Edited by Olmec Head
finished
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Very nice choice Mr.Olmec. Also one of the best profile photos.

 

How are the Modeldecal decals? I bought some last year for a, still-haven't started it, vampire. They were old and I'm not at all sure how well they'd work.

 

Alan

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On 06/11/2020 at 11:39, Angus Tura said:

Very nice choice Mr.Olmec. Also one of the best profile photos.

 

How are the Modeldecal decals? I bought some last year for a, still-haven't started it, vampire. They were old and I'm not at all sure how well they'd work.

 

Alan

 

The ones that I used Alan were fine from the Meteor set, I used the 'Future' with a little water mixed in as the bedding down agent and they seemed to go OK.  That said I didn't go over board and I may have just used the squadron markings, crests and serial numbers.

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An Actual Start!

Having put together the cockpit and painted it I thought I should follow up rapidly with putting the fuselage sides together.  I clamped them as the fit was bit iffy in places and due to me packaging some lead pellets around the nose which took some squashing in.

 

IMG_3474

 

As I am sticking strictly to the OOB box concept, I used the kit ejection seats which are not the correct type for the actual aircraft and I haven't done the alterations to the rear fuselage and filet extension.   The red plastic reminds me of the old HO OO Airfix Guards Band set.

 

 

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Further Progress

 

As I was sticking things together, my wife, who is not know for her aircraft recognition skills, looked at it and said 'you're making a Red Arrow' which goes to show that the strange red plastic does what it is designed to do and shouts: 'Red Arrows'.  I didn't ask her what the aircraft type was  - that would be going to far.

 

A good thing about building an aircraft that I am not familiar with, is that I am happy to put it together rather than agonise over the detail and correctness, this is a refreshing change. So the wings and tail planes are on and I have hopefully sanded and filled the worst gaps.  I will have to replace all the little mid-line triangular aerial things that Revell put on despite the fact that most modellers will sand them straight off.  The overall fit is not great, but not bad I think.  It's not an simple kit, but not overly complex and the red plastic does make it look interesting from the start:

 

IMG_3481

 

IMG_3482

 

I have now sanded down the glue marks around the lower actuators (if that is what they are) and I am not sure if I will fit the airbrake as up or down, can anyone tell me the usual position when parked please?  It may also come down to if it fits well closed up!

 

There are a few more minor things to put on and I had planned to fit the undercart after finishing.  So the next stage is to spray with Halfords white plastic primer before moving on to the actual paint scheme.

hawk 172

 

The white cheat-line should be provided by the decal sheet, so I should be painting it red and then blue with red and grey wings.  Whether the cheat line works and fits is of course another matter!  it is from a 1990s set.

 

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Almost ready for painting

 

I think I have glued on most of the necessary parts and accessories, less the ones that will be black and added last.  

 

IMG_3500

 

After looking at the gap fit of the closed airbrake, I decided to leave in an open position and it might help prop the plane up if the nose isn't weighted enough.  I am still trying to find out the colours for the airbrake, but I think it will be the lower fuselage red.

 

I also added the air intake bumps aft of the cockpit and the other bit in the centre of the fuselage.

IMG_3499

 

The seat belts probably shouldn't be yellow but the cockpit will be closed and they are the wrong bang seats anyway.  And a side view:

 

IMG_3496

 

I will Halford's white spray it and then I plan to spray the upper fuselage white (using Tamiya or Vallejo, if the Tamiya is grainy).  Then I will spray the wings in light grey (probably lightened MSG), then do the fuselage lower red and finally the blue on the upper spine and tail.  That sounds easy, oh and the black antiglare nose at some point.  What can go wrong!

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Now in White and Grey

 

As a quick update, I have sprayed the model with Halfords White primer and then sprayed the wings with Tamiya Medium Sea Grey.  That was too dark for an '80s aircraft and so I lightened it a bit.  I have now masked off the wings and cockpit in preparation for airbrushing on the upper white coat.

 

IMG_3504

 

 

I dry fitted the cockpit canopy and I think that it may well be a problem in the offing!  I was going to do a closed canopy, but there gappy fit issues, this always seems to be an issue when you get two piece canopies.  

Edited by Olmec Head
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PBS Beat me to it!

 

I was quite happily cruising along with this when Phantombigstu  got there ahead of me with a red, white and blue scheme, so I thought I should crack on.  So I put on a white coat, then masked over the white areas and grey wings and sprayed a red coat.  Then after a day I masked the red areas as well and finished with the blue uppers.  This types out much easier than it was!  Red is a nightmare to spray, white is a nightmare to spray and blue not much better.  And of course, where I mis-taped the demarcation I got some bleed through and misalignment.  After several touching ups and using (cheating with?) paint pens I got to where it is now acceptable:

 

IMG_3515

 

As you can see, the canopy and windscreen are balanced on.  I damaged the windscreen when trying to cut off the flash and its fit is a bit agricultural anyway.   I will glue in the starboard side first with canopy glue and then may need a spot of superglue to fix the port side in place as the windscreen needs slightly widening to fit.  Hopefully, I can then fill the gaps with canopy glue and a bit of filler.  Then the black anti glare panels can be masked off and painted.  Sounds simple.

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Markings On - But Hmm

 

When at the start of this thread, I said I wanted to use some old decals (more probably transfers then) I did not realise that the  Modeldecal sheet was printed in 1988, so the same vintage as the aircraft!

 

As an exercise in using the markings, it was a success.  as a finished model far less so.

 

The glue disintegrated on contact with the water, and so each item had to be cleaned off on the back and then applied.  I used the trusted Future and water method which seems to stick down most decals without silvering.  The Union Jack tail decals were not a good fit and had to be cut down to match the tail -with various degrees of success.  The long red and white 'go faster' stripes (appropriate for a Hawk) were interesting and broke in some places which stopped perfect accuracy in placement.  Further, the white was actually a light cream and looked like they had been aged in a room full of Rothmans' smoke.  This clashed somewhat with the white that I had carefully airbrushed.  Worst some of the blue from a touch up paint pen leaked when I applied the decals!

 

IMG_3521

 

The alright side and:

 

IMG_3523

 

Dodgier side with:  silvering at the nose, raggy cockpit framing,  lumps where  the windscreen that does not fit well and the blue cockpit stripe covered by the misaligned decal and now scruffy white rear where I tried to blend it to the decal stripe!

 

That said, the old transfers did go quite well and I did use most in the end.  I think to do much more to rectify would end up in a spiral of errors.

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Now finished 

 

Hopefully I get points for turning up!  I thought that I should finish this before the better red white and blue Hawks also being built turn up.  I am conscious that the model went down hill a bit after I applied the decals, which was ironic as the exercise was to use the colourful old Modeldecals from 1988.  Thanks to the mods for the GB and for Jadlam Models for sponsoring, I have just bought the Eduard Spitfire Story from them as it was nice price.  Anyway the pictures of Hawk T.1 238 of CFS/ 4 FTS in 1987, when Hawks were Hawks and not the 'Johnnie come lately' T2 or  worse -painted black:

 

IMG_3533

 Note the 20 a day Rothmans shade on the decal white cheat stripe!

 

IMG_3532

 

The kit was good, although I wish I hadn't put on the last little silver bits,  the cockpit would be very good with some work as the canopy is clear.  The windshield fit is a bit off as I think some others have found.  This looks a bit like an RAF recruiting picture from the 80s

 

IMG_3530

 

I lost the antennae on the sprue so I had to cut some from plastic card.

 

And the underneath.

 

IMG_4437

 

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  • Olmec Head changed the title to Hawk T.1 of 4 FTS/CFS 1987 - sort of finished

Thanks Angus, iy has cured me of lets us up those 30 years plus decals!  The kit was looking reasonable until the yellowing stripes went on.  And black Hawks at least don't need 4 lots of masking and painting.

 

The only real downside of the kit is the fit of the front windscreen on the port side, I think most people have found this to be an issue.  Apart from the wrong fin fillet size and incorrect EJ seats and the fit of the wings to the fuselage.

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