Joe's Raspberry Ripple BAe Hawk ETPS

[flyjoe180]

i imagine the italeri mould will be better detailed inside than the matchbox one was

Better than the Matchbox, not as good as the Airfix kits. There is no side wall detail whatsoever, but the seats are adequate and the console, instrument panels etc look good (no decals for the instruments in Revell's kit).

[flyjoe180]

Time for updates.


Firstly I started by solving the weight issue. A quick check of the instructions showed 10 grams was required. The Airfix kits suggest 7 grams. So I crammed 10 grams in using a pair of beaten and folded fishing weights. Unlike the Airfix kits (I also have both the A02005 and the upgraded A02005A 1/72 kits), there is no cavity to hold nose weight. So I utilised the cockpit underfloor area. A check of the C of G shows this will work nicely.


[ATTACH]113699.IPB[/ATTACH]



I then sprayed the interior and wheel wells the interior grey colour. The Revell 1/72 Hawk has no side wall detail. A dry fit of the fuselage and wing halves:


[ATTACH]113700.IPB[/ATTACH]



The instrument panels were sprayed and detailed later. The red plastic is a shocker to work with. The kit feels brittle compared to the softer Airfix plastic. In some regards that does make it feel like an old Matchbox mould! There are two mould colours I now hate: white and red.


[ATTACH]113701.IPB[/ATTACH]



Eventually i got the cockpit assembled and painted. I won't be doing anything not out of the box for this one. The seat belts are moulded into the seats.


[ATTACH]113702.IPB[/ATTACH]



[ATTACH]113703.IPB[/ATTACH]



[ATTACH]113704.IPB[/ATTACH]

[flyjoe180]

Then it was time to zip the fuselage up. The exhaust pipe fits inside the fuselage, the jet pipe being moulded on the two fuselage halves. The interior pipes have no positive fit, you have to dry fit and guess. As a result of the exposed jet pipe being in two halves there is a very ugly seam that requires work. The fuselage halves were not an exemplary fit, there will be a fair amount of filling to follow soon.


[ATTACH]113705.IPB[/ATTACH]



The fuselage upper aft of the canopy is dry fitted. I'm glad I took time to do this. Always dry fit prior to committing to glue, that is a golden rule. The rear cockpit bulkhead, although positioned flush in its mount and zipped up nicely inside the fuselage, sits proud of the cockpit outline and flush with the fuselage. This prevents the canopy sitting correctly. It required filing and sanding, a task that would have required removal of that upper fuselage piece if I hadn't checked it.


[ATTACH]113707.IPB[/ATTACH]



After a good half hour of filing and sanding we have this dry fit now:


[ATTACH]113706.IPB[/ATTACH]

[flyjoe180]

Then the wings were constructed. The wing fences are separate pieces. Not a pleasant part to cement on accurately. Airfix's original new-tool A02005 had the same step, but that was improved in the newer A02005A kit on which the wing fences are moulded to the upper wing halves. Using that kit, I aligned the Revell fences and glued them into place.


[ATTACH]113708.IPB[/ATTACH]



In this photo you can see the leading edge stall strips have been added. They are optional on the Revell kit. I'm unsure how they are dealt with on the Airfix offerings. XX342 has them so they have been included.


[ATTACH]113709.IPB[/ATTACH]



The under wing pieces are added. No stores are carried on the ETPS Hawk, so I'll fill in the holes meant for the sidewinders or under wing fuel tanks. The wings have been attached to the airframe. A nicer fit but still some filling will be required at the wing roots in particular.


[ATTACH]113710.IPB[/ATTACH]



Canopy is masked up and dry fitted. Nice, the first part that has showed promise of no issues so far.


[ATTACH]113711.IPB[/ATTACH]



I'm dealing with the internal blast shield next. A coat of cream colour around the edges (this is an interior frame on the Hawk and sits under the canopy perspex). Revell wants me to stick it to the inside of the canopy. It appears Airfix stick theirs to the area forward of the rear pilot's instrument coaming.

[yak face]

Nice progress Joe , its throwing up a few hurdles but youre getting over them fine. Could you not use a drinking straw to replace the jet pipe ? the fast food chains (BK ,Mcds )have various sizes that could replace the kit parts . As for the canopy blast shield , its attached to the canopy on the real thing but the problems this would create on the kit canopy mean it might be best attaching it to the coaming after all , cheers tony

[rickoshea52]

Cripes! You're not hanging around Joe.

[rickoshea52]

I'm dealing with the internal blast shield next. A coat of cream colour around the edges (this is an interior frame on the Hawk and sits under the canopy perspex). Revell wants me to stick it to the inside of the canopy. It appears Airfix stick theirs to the area forward of the rear pilot's instrument coaming.


I had a look at my daughter's Red Arrow Hawk, kit number A02005, for comparison and the Airfix instructions for this kit tell you to fix it to the canopy.


[ATTACH]113743.IPB[/ATTACH]

[flyjoe180]

Could you not use a drinking straw to replace the jet pipe ?

Great Idea Tony, but the internal jet pipe is okay, it's the exterior exhaust that has the seams. I could cut it off and insert such a straw I suppose. I'll have a think about it, thanks for the idea.

[flyjoe180]

I had a look at my daughter's Red Arrow Hawk, kit number A02005, for comparison and the Airfix instructions for this kit tell you to fix it to the canopy.

So it does Rick, I was looking at the A02005A instructions which now have you place the shield onto the coaming. I'm not sure how I'll tackle this just yet, if the shield is slightly out it'll stand out like dogs bits against the canopy frame.

[flyjoe180]

I've managed to get the interior shield in using white glue, looks good. Fitted the canopy into place and now cleaning up the obvious flaws and adding aerials and the nose gear doors. I've noticed that, despite the less desirable nature of the Italeri/Revell kit over the Airfix offering(s), there are a few details that Revell have included which Airfix appear to not have. Namely the wing leading edge stall strips, and the rear nose wheel gear door.

[papa 695]

Very nice work Joe

[flyjoe180]

In true jinxed fashion after dropping my Hellcat build, I dropped the Hawk and had to reattach the nose pitot tube and one of the ventral stabilisers. All is well again, I have since repaired, primed, touched up and will apply the first white coat soon. No pictures at the moment sorry. I'm finding the red plastic a shocker to deal with, it tended to bleed through primer. I'm hoping the paint will deal to it, don't think I could stand a pink Hawk!

[Guest]

I heard there is a primer come sealant you get for plastics such as red. It isolates the plastic from the primer coat if you want to use white etc...


I can't recommend one in particular but I found the yellow halfords filler primer covered the red on the Ferrari that bleed through perfectly although you would have to use it sparingly as it's a high build primer.

[flyjoe180]

After the dry-fitted canopy was removed , the fuselage and wing root gaps were then dealt with in the usual fashion:


[ATTACH]115660.IPB[/ATTACH]



The canopy was then set into place using white glue, and the tail planes and various aerials fitted. The tail planes were not a positive fit so I again referred to the Airfix instructions to get the correct angles.


[ATTACH]115661.IPB[/ATTACH]



The intakes are fitted. As usual for jet intakes the fit was less than perfect, so a bit of sanding and filling was required to get a smooth surface. This photo is prior to the smoothing process.


[ATTACH]115662.IPB[/ATTACH]



Primer time, and farewell horrible red plastic:


[ATTACH]115663.IPB[/ATTACH]



The white areas are painted (the upper fuselage forward of the tape and the upper surface of the main wings). The red kept on showing faintly through the primer and paint (hence my earlier comments regarding the pink hue), so a gloss white coat was applied and this did the job I was after.


[ATTACH]115664.IPB[/ATTACH]



Next job will be to apply the signal red paint on the tail section, cheat lines and wing tips.

[Guest]

Looking good, nice job on stopping the red bleed with grey under the white.