1/48 Airfix BAe Hawk T. Mk1

Gallery Article by Burt Gustafson on Mar 25 2015

 

      

For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of my AIRFIX BAe Hawk T. Mk1. 

The BAE Hawk T.Mk1 is a British single-engine, two seat, advanced jet training aircraft. First flown, in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. Since then it has been produced by its successor companies, British Aerospace, and BAE Systems. It was conceived for the dual roles of advanced pilot training and tactical weapons training, it is also used as a low-cost combat aircraft.

 

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Construction
This was an out of the box build—no after market accessories. Overall, construction is straight forward just following the instructions, which are all pictorial. The general fit of the parts is not too bad, but not great. A lot of work was needed to get the engine air intakes seamless. The rest of the build was pretty much a standard build. However, I had to do the filler and sanding thing with every seam. The kit provides an assortment of under wing things. I chose to give my Hawk a gun pod and two AIM-9L air-to-air missiles.

Painting
Painting the Hawk was quite simple, except for the landing gear and wheel bays, the entire model is painted with MM Gloss Black. The landing gear and wheel bays are painted with MM Flat White, and the AIM-9Ls are painted with MM Light Ghost Gray.

Decals
The kit decal sheet provides common decals and decals for three British Hawk aircraft. I chose to use the decals for the British Royal Navy. The kit decals are excellent, they adhered nicely to the model surface with no silvering. 

Comments
Even with all the filling and sanding, the finished Hawk came out looking pretty good, I was quite pleased. The external detail is good, the decals were excellent, and the kit went together with no major upsets.

Burt Gustafson

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Photos and text © by Burt Gustafson