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A
True Veteran
The Airfix Sea
Hawk was first released in 1959, and is therefore one of the earliest
Airfix kits. Sadly, this is all too obvious to the builder, but
whilst it is VERY basic, it is still possible to make it into a nice
representation of the real thing.
Here are a few
examples (but certainly not all) of its different boxes and bags. It
seems to have been widely and consistently available over the years,
so it is surprising that so few built ones are seen "in the wild":
Building
the Kit
Plus points -
-
Its
Cheap ! I haven't paid more than £2.50 for one in the last 6 years!
-
Rescribing
the simple detail is a very easy job.
-
It
looks like a Sea
Hawk.
-
There
is a superb range of colourful aftermarket decals available.
One or two
shortfalls of the kit deserve a little attention; some are easier to
address than others:
-
Cockpit
- completely bare, with a flat, featureless ejection seat and an
undersize pilot. If you decide to scratch-build
a new seat, watch the thick canopy as it reduces the available headroom.
-
Intakes
- completely
see through, but easy to add some internal
blanking plates. Note that the Sea
Hawk
does have vanes in its intakes, but these are not particularly
visible from most angles.
-
Jet
Pipes - Likewise. The upper section is too
flat (stretching on to the wing) and it is difficult to get them
looking round.
-
Undercarriage
and bays - The main legs are very simplistic, the main doors very
thick and there are no tops to the undercarriage bays. Oh and its a
tail sitter, so some added weight up-front is essential.
-
Canopy
- very thick, but not too bad, however the fuselage is strangely
flattened where it sits, giving a rather sunken appearance.
-
Wings
and tailplanes - bad ejector marks, even on very early issues. Tailplane
assembly tends
not to sit flat or square, so needs careful assembly.
-
Inner
wing sections - need to be carefully aligned - it is possible, but
if done wrong can spoil the kit.
-
Tailhook
- needs to be trapped between fuselage halves at an early stage of
assembly and inevitably gets broken off later.
-
General
- the mould is showing its age; locating pins don't locate (e.g. on
the drop tanks) and there are several sink holes.
... and the 2 most
difficult problems to fix:
-
There
are no gun ports. Boring them out is very difficult not
least because
the Stbd fuselage is very thin. The Swordfish
Trust issue has decals to cover the ports.
-
The
distinctive auxiliary air intakes on the upper fuselage are
represented by very lightly raised detail. Making these look
realistic is very hard, and in any event they are likely to disappear
as you fix the wonky upper fuselage join!
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