SpitHawk

Hawk T.1 XX184/19 of 19 Squadron, 2008

I struggled with where to blog this one: on my Spitfire blog or my general modeling blog? Obviously I chose this one because it's aligned to Spitfires.

This is my response to our club theme of "Build the same kit". 2013 was a year where I was able to align a Spitfire to each of the monthly themes for the year, if one presumes the SpitHawk counts!


The Subject

Google "SpitHawk" and you'll find lots of info on this aircraft. Essentially 19 Squadron, now a training unit for the RAF, was authorized to repaint XX184 in a commemorative scheme in 2008 to recognize the 70th Anniversary of the first operational Spitfire squadron -- 19 Squadron. My own commemoration of that event, this year being the 75th Anniversary, is here.

There is a photo of XX184 flying in formation with a Spitfire IIa P7350/XT-L that is in BoB markings. To mimic that photo I chose to put both my Spitfire I K9797 and Spithawk XX184 on a double in-flight stand. The effect is precisely what I wanted.

The Model

Construction was strictly out of the box. The kit provides an in-flight option, so with some care I was able to close up the landing gear. There is no attachment point provided for the Airfix stands (those double holes usually flashed over on their other modern kits) so I looked at what should be the balance point and drilled two holes in the under-fuselage gun pod. I then filled the pod with some white glue to let it harden and redrilled so the pins of the stand would have something to "grab".

The intakes took some work as photos show it to be a smooth surface yet the kit had ugly seams and some other "panels" that all needed filling. Once done it looked good and the rest of the construction was straight forward.

Painting was per photos and decal instructions, I used Humbrol Acrylics for the Dark Green (Hu163) and Aluminum (Hu56). The Dark Earth is Vallejo 70.921 which matches perfectly the RAFM chip. The more I use it, the more I like it (color that is, I'm still not happy with adhesion of the paint).

Decals are by Model Alliance. I did not use all the stencils at most are not visible in photos so I chose that are readily visible. They all laid down well using Revell Decal Soft over a coating of Future/Kleer. A final coat of flat to tone it all down finished the model.

Summary

As many should know, I'm not a modern nor jet builder. This was an easy and enjoyable build and I can see why some modelers are fans of the BAE Hawk and this Airfix kit specifically. I'll never say "never" but I doubt I'd build another Hawk. The only other scheme that tempts me is the USN commemorative "yellow wings" scheme. Maybe if this becomes another theme…

Thanks for looking…