The Hawk has been a popular subject amongst model manufacturers, Airfix were the first off the mark in the mid-1970's with their 1/72 kit which was pretty much state of the art for its day and is still a neat replica, albeit in need of updating. The Matchbox Hawk followed shortly afterwards and was slightly more simplified both in design and appearance, but it is not without merit and would be an ideal choice for a younger modeller. Fujimi were the first foreign kit company to show interest with their Hawk family in the mid-1980's. They featured neat recessed detail, but some of the smaller parts were a little heavy and many enthusiasts combined Fujimi and Airfix Hawk's to get the best possible result. The Hawk also made it into ‘quarter-scale' with the release of two 1/48 kits - RAF and Red Arrows - from Premier Models. These kits were very basic but had good shapes and could be turned into excellent replicas. However, given the uncertainty that now surrounds the Premier brand, these 1/48 Hawk's are fast becoming hard to find.

The final word (so far) on the Hawk was from Italian giants Italeri. Their 1/72 kit was released in the early 1990's and is a gem; superbly recessed panel detail, finely moulded parts and decals for three aircraft - all this is a kit that retails for around £3.50 (UK). Alas, it's not perfect; the nose is a touch too slim in profile, the upper fuselage is squared off and the jet pipe diameter is undersize, but help is at hand in the form of PP Aerokits Hawk detail set (AC740) which is aimed specifically at the Italeri kit. It's a mixed-media package that combines resin, white metal and photo-etched parts to correct and convert the base kit into something special.

Seventy two times smaller
Anyone new to mixed-media accessories may well find the Hawk an ideal project to kick-off with, as the base kit is very cheap and widely available. The PP detail set is so comprehensive that most of the parts can either be used all on one model or spread across several. For the novice this means they can used as much - or as little - as they want until they get the feel for the various materials and techniques involved. Modeldecal's Hawk sheets (115 and 116) also offer the opportunity to go beyond the finishing options offered in the basic kit and again, it it's up to the individual modeller as to whether it's just a change of markings or an entirely new paint scheme.

Spread of parts for the PP Aerokits detail set.

Cutting your nose... Off come the unwanted Italeri kit parts, resin replacements below.

With the Italeri kit to hand, the first task was to remove the nose and tail portions of the fuselage. Bind the fuselage halves together with masking tape and saw off the unwanted parts using the kits engraved panel lines as a guide. The PP nose and tail section are geared up to match these ‘breaks' so don't be tempted to sand away what look like moulding plinths at the back of the resin parts - these are designed to act as a ‘key' when fixing them in place. With a little trimming, the resin parts should fit into place with ease. Once you're happy with the fit, put them aside until later

The Italeri cockpit is well detailed, but not beyond improvement. Following PP's instructions, I sanded off all the raised detail on the instrument panels and side consoles and replaced them with the etched parts. The forward portion of the cockpit floor needed trimming so that it wouldn't interfere with the new nose. The top part of the rear bulkhead (Italeri part 6B) also had to be removed as this matches the inaccurate contour of the kit parts, and is replaced by an etched piece.

The cockpit was painted light grey with black panels and drybrushed/washed to bring out the detail. PP supply new ejector seats in the form of the Martin Baker Mk 10 as well as alternative head rests for the earlier style seats. I needed to shave a little off the bottom of each seat until it nestled into the cockpit tub. These were sprayed mid-grey with dark green cushions and pale blue straps. The cockpit was then installed (sans seats) and the fuselage halves closed up. The resin nose, upper decking and tail were superglued into place, if you got your cuts right then there should be little need for any filler on these parts.

In a flap
PP give you the option of dropping the flaps on the kit, and preparing the wings for this gave me pause for thought, not least due to their complicated looking arrangement and a slight error on the Italeri kit. I eventually armed myself with some good reference material and read the PP instructions very carefully.

I cut the kits flaps straight off aft of the aileron hinge line and cleaned up the remaining edges. Turning to the underside of the wing, scribe a line some 2mm back from the cut and then use that to carve a ‘ledge' into the plastic - the upper surfaces should eventually overhang. I used a chisel blade to route out the excess plastic and then finished up with some needle files. It's easier to do than it is to describe.

Cutting the flap areas away from the wing.

The finished model. (Click here for a larger image)

The wings were then fitted to the fuselage and all joins were treated and rubbed down. There were some minor gaps along the upper wing/fuselage join, but these were easily filled with a mixture of Milliput that was smoothed off while still wet, needing no extra attention. The holes for the flap actuators were filled in with superglue and sanded flush. In fact now would be a good time to make sure all joins and seam lines are taken care of, for hereupon the model starts to get a little delicate....

The flaps require a little care and forethought and I found the best way to assemble them was to cut off the wing - but not the flap - locating pips on the white metal actuators. These were then bonded to the metal flaps with superglue and the whole unit checked against the wing, making sure the flap edge butts-up close to the cut-out. The flaps were then fixed to the wings, via the actuators, and the whole thing left to dry thoroughly.

The fuel dump pipe moulded to the fuselage was removed and replaced with the white-metal PP piece. I also cut away the wing tip lights and replaced them with slivers of tinted clear plastic, sanded to shape and polished off ready for masking. The kit windscreen was fixed into place and the edges blended into the airframe - after all that cutting and sanding the aircraft was starting to look like a Hawk again, only better ).

Stores
PP supply AIM 9 sidewinders, launch rails and adaptors, ACMI data link, MATRA 155 rocket packs, CBLS units (and practise bombs), Red Arrows centreline smoke discharger and a radar repeater pod (as used by 100 Sqn Hawk's to simulate a variety of threats training exercises against the Tornado F3). A few published photo's have shown Red Arrow's aircraft carrying Sidewinders, which serves as a reminder that they can be conscripted if a crisis looms. I had to cross-check with the Modeldecal sheets in order to pick an appropriate mix of markings and stores.

Paint
With the airframe initially complete I masked off the cockpit using the unwanted kit canopy and primed the model with Halfords spray paint. A final rub down with a worn piece of wet and dry paper prepared the model for the paint scheme. The wheel wells were airbrushed Tamiya white and masked off with the kit doors. The kit canopy was removed and the vac-form replacement canopy was cut out, masked and tacked into place with white glue.

I gave the canopy frames a light coat of flat black (Tamiya) this provides a better opaque base for the subsequent lighter colours. As I was modelling a ‘grey' Hawk I sprayed the undersides Barley Grey with Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces. I used Humbrol enamels, mixed with their own brand of thinners.

Which Hawk?
Perhaps the most difficult part for some will be choosing the final colour scheme. Anyone who has one of the Modeldecal Hawk sheets will appreciate the problem, but those with both will have a real headache. Even though I had opted for ‘grey' Hawk, I still had a variety of fin colours and unit markings to choose from. With memories of the 1992 IAT Boscombe Down, I settled on the 234 Sqn aircraft with the black fin and dragon.

I masked off the fin and airbrushed a couple of coats of satin black (Tamiya). The leading edges of the wings and tailplanes are coated with a buff coloured protective tape and I drybrushed this on using a mixture of ochre and yellow paint. Prior to applying the decals I added some weathering to the model, finally a few faint washes of thinned oil paint and pastel streaks aft of the vortex generators. Halfords Clear Lacquer provided the gloss finish. This needs to be lightly dusted on in several coats to avoid attacking the enamel paint, but the result is a super smooth gloss sheen that doesn't yellow. The decals went on without a hitch. Modeldecal provide plenty of minute stencil markings which bring the model to life.

With the decals dry it was time to add some of the last detail parts. The etched aerials were painted flat black as was the forward portion of the nose probe mount, the probe itself being natural metal. The PP set provides new undercarriage doors which were fixed in place with gel-type superglue. For the final finish I sprayed Humbrol's Satin Cote, this time mixed with cellulose thinners - and plenty of ventilation. The masking was removed and the model was finished. Or was it...?

Final, final details
With so much having gone into the model, the time spent adding a few extra touches wasn't going to hurt. Like many aircraft, Hawk's have safety locks fitted to the oleo struts and these were simply simulated with red paint. The upper intakes and louvres are sometimes covered with blanking plates. I used a Reheat Punch and Die set to make the plates, these were then cut in half, painted red and fixed into position.

A lot of effort for a small aeroplane, but worth it. (Click here for a larger image)

An Italeri hawk built straight from the box sits below the superdetail model. (Click here for a larger image)

The RBF (Remove Before Flight) tags also came from the PP range, I cut them to the required lengths, the locking pins were made from strips of wire. The tags were ‘crumpled' into a more irregular shape and then fixed into place with white glue - those that hung down the fuselage sides were attached with double sided sticky tape. Make sure they hang more or less vertical, unless you wish to depict your Hawk in force ten gale. The tailplanes sometimes carry triangular protective wedges on the corners when the aircraft is on open display at air shows. I painted these on with black paint with silver dots for the fasteners. Two RBF tags were then fixed to the ‘wedges' and the etched blanking plates for the intakes and jet pipe were added, again painted red.

The interior of the canopy frame was carefully painted flat black, the PP etching for the internal blast screen was too small so I cut my own from clear sheet and trimmed to size until it fit. The absolute final touch was to fix the vac-form canopy into place using superglue and plenty of patience - you really don't want to goof things up at this late stage.

Further options
On top of the two Hawk sheets mentioned, there are some other options in the Modeldecal range covering the original CFS/FTS scheme of red/white/grey, camouflaged TWU aircraft, ‘Raspberry Ripple' ETPS Hawk's and the 1987 display machine with the Yellow stripe down the fuselage on sheets 45, 50, 55, 64, 80, 86, 91, 93 as well as 115 and 116. Red Arrows markings are catered for by the Airfix, Fujimi and Matchbox kits.

As comprehensive as the Modeldecal sheets are, there are still a few aircraft missing and some of these can be found on Xtradecal sheet X031-72, the highlight of which is the skull and crossbones of 100 Sqn with it's black/yellow/blue trim. It also features XX289 (also on Modeldecal sheet 115) but this time with a black hatchet on yellow circle. Superscale also have a Hawk sheet (72-434) in their range that covers export models such as the grey/white US demonstrator that acted as a precursor to the Goshawk programme. That same aircraft also sported a ‘desert' scheme of dark earth/mid stone and azure blue undersides during a tour of the middle east. Perhaps the most spectacular Hawk scheme can be found on Fineline Models sheet 2003 which features an aircraft from RAF St. Athan with a large dragon painted down the entire length of the fuselage.

If you've never tried the marriage of injection moulded kit with mixed-media parts, then this one is a good starter. If you are familiar with various materials involved, then you'll appreciate the quality of both the kit, the detail set and the various decal sheets. Italeri's Hawk looks good out of the box, but with all these add-ons its even better and it's quite illuminating how much extra detail can be packed into such a small model.