1/48 Airfix Hawk T1

The “Red Arrows” 

by Karl W Branson

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This is my 1/48 scale Airfix Hawk T1 as used by the world famous aerobatic team, the “Red Arrows”.  The BAE Hawk is basically the same aircraft as used by the RAF for advanced flight training but with the addition of an up-rated engine, a pod that contains a mixture of diesel and coloured dye and a smoke generator that pumps the diesel mixture in to the hot jet exhaust to produce the distinctive smoke trails used during aerobatic displays.  

Construction started with the cockpit.  The standard kit cockpit is a bit sparse so I included a few scratch built details, including a new rear cockpit wall, modified the cockpit combing and drilled out instrument dials on the control panels.  The ejection seats in the kit only bore a passing resemblance to Martin Baker Mk10’s so I replaced them with some white metal seats from Aeroclub.  The cockpit was then installed in to the fuselage.

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As the kit is a tail sitter, I added some extra weight in the form of some lead bird shot and super glue in to the space beneath the cockpit tub. The fuselage halves went together quite nicely with only a small amount of filler used to conceal the joint.  I didn’t really like the main wheel wells on the kit, so I scratch built new ones.  However, to make the wing assembly fit after I’d done this, I had to cut out a section on the bottom of the fuselage to accept the new, deeper wheel wells.  I replaced the jet exhaust pipe with a section of brass tubing.  This was installed after making the opening in the rear fuselage wider so it would leave a slight gap around the jet pipe.  I’d installed a new bulkhead in the fuselage before gluing the halves together to make it easier to mount the brass pipe.  The smoke pipes were made from brass rod bent in to shape. The kit’s main wheels also did not really look anything like they should, so these were replaced with some white metal items from Aeroclub.  I did use the kit’s nose wheel as this looked better than the one from Aeroclub, I also used the kits u/c struts, suitably modified and with the addition of some brass wire to simulate brake pipes. The pitot tube was replaced with a brass rod, and the little probe on the rear of the smoke pod was also made from brass.

I primed the model using Halfords grey acrylic primer and then sanded this smooth. The main colour coat is Xtra Color Red Arrows (Signal) red enamel.  I airbrushed this on in several thin coats.  After it was fully dry (even though the Xtra Color Red is already gloss) I gave the model a coat of Johnsons Klear (Future) so it would be ready for decaling.  The Airfix decals went on without too much drama, although my sheet had a missing white stripe (looked like a miss-print) so I had to wait for a replacement to arrive from the Airfix spares department.  After all decals were applied I gave the model two more coats of Johnsons Klear to seal everything in and to give it an extra glossy finish.  I didn’t do much in the way of weathering; my reference pictures of the Red’s Hawk’s look like their aircraft have just been polished with several coats of car wax – they’re just so clean and shiny.

The last part was just to install the landing gear, seats and glazing.  I dipped the canopy parts on Johnsons Klear, and after they had fully dried I picked out the MDC in the canopy with white acrylic paint.

I really enjoyed this kit, and after the usual assortment of grey and/or grey green camouflage patterns it was a real treat to paint something in a different colour!

Enjoy!

Karl

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Photos and text © by Karl W Branson