scvrobeson

Hey there guys. While working on the Sukhoi, Hunter, and the Skyhawk landing gear, I decided to get started on another project I've been really wanting to get to. This is the Revell Bae Hawk, and what a nice kit it is. Besides the crazy red plastic, the molding and detail in this one really are great. The only things I thought I could improve on are the cockpit and seats, and luckily Eduard came to my rescue there, releasing a photo-etch set to add the sidewall detail Revell missed entirely. While I was at it, I set about replacing the seats, just because I didn't like the decal seatbelts, and I hate PE ones, they just never look right. So luckily someone told me that the MB-10B seats used in the Tornado are pretty much a dead-on match for the MB-10A seats used in the Hawk, so I was able to pick up some CAM resin seats off Great Models, much cheaper than the Aires ones. I also picked up the Air Data book, which really seems to have some great photos of all of the parts inside the Hawk, and should really help out. The last thing that has been added is a set of AdAstra camo masks (Thanks Ian! ) But the scheme will be kept secret for a little bit, but I encourage you all to guess at what it will be. Moving on, here are the first pictures! The Eduard photo-etch. All of this should really help bring the cockpit up to the next level. What Revell provides is decent, but the Eduard stuff really is a step up And the CAM resin seats. These things are gorgeous, I can't believe that they only cost me 7 dollars, and the Aires ones would have cost me 30! Looks like I got the better end of the deal. And the reference book. I've never heard of this company before, but they do some really good stuff. This book has tons of good info and pictures. I'll probably end up supplementing it with the Kagero book, but that's only a maybe right now. And being me, I couldn't resist a quick tape-together to see how this whole thing will go together. It looks like it will go together fine, but I might end up reinforcing a couple of the seams because of the really low number of alignment aids for a Revell kit. Only problem I've found so far is some ejector pins in the cockpit, but luckily some Tamiya white putty and Mr. Surfacer took quick care of those, and now I can start mounting the Eduard etch on the sides. Thanks to everyone for reading in. I start school up tomorrow, but I should have enough time to work on this one and get it done relatively quickly. All comments and critiques are welcome guys. Matt

Yeah, it's one of those strange tweaks, kind of like how the French twisted the cowlings on their planes to counter-act major torque, the US just twisted the tails to do the same. Must be something about the European versus American train of thought? Matt

Looks perfect Harv! The tails look perfectly aligned, now you have to press on and finish this build man! Can't wait to see what's next once you get the gaps fixed and smoothed over. Matt

Thank you Peter. I'm not sure if the results would be the same, but I can hope they'd be better, plus the work would be a lot easier. Thank you for reading in though, and for all of the nice comments. Hopefully you can get some work done on your builds soon here, I was really liking that Panther and Jug you had going on, two really good looking planes and kits. Matt

Wow, thank you Maru! Those are such amazing comments, there have been so many great Flanker builds on here, I don't think I'm even close. But thank you so much for the kind words. I'm just hoping to get this one finished up soon, without a big screw-up. I usually have one per build, and I haven't gotten this ones yet. Hopefully I can avoid it altogether. I am hoping to get some work done this weekend, really down to the last couple of painted bits, just the code number on the side of the Russian Falcons, and then the wheel bays.Then it's decal and weathering time, then hopefully all done. Matt

Thank you Loic! I'm loving this build. And I can't wait to see what you can do on your Do-335, that build is just way too cool! Matt

Thanks Peter! Can't even imagine how good this could work if I had a top-level airbrush like an H&S or Iwata.... I think I'm doing okay with my little Paasche Millennium. Guess sometimes it's the person as much as the equipment, but sometimes good equipment can make someone mediocre like me look good. I'm glad you like it. Hope to get some more progress done on this soon, and maybe finish it off by the time the big contest rolls around in March. Matt

Thanks Mark! I'm glad that you like it! This build has been so much fun to do, I'm just glad I haven't made a mess out of it yet. Matt

Thanks Harv! I'm glad you like it. I'm really loving this paint scheme, and each little piece really makes it come to life even more. Can't wait to get the markings on it, but it will be a shame to cut up the Kazakh unit crest on the speed break, it's so cool, the big snow leopard head. Thanks for reading in man, hope to get some more work on this over these next couple of weeks, maybe I can even finish this one off. Matt

It's okay Harv, this one was hidden in the Non_LSP stuff, I know this isn't a forum I check every day. This is kind of a rare plane, there was just two made, and this is the only kit of it besides Frank Mitchell's scratch-build on Hyperscale. I'm glad you like it, hope to finish this off soon. Mat

Thanks Peter! i'm glad you like it, this plane was completely new to me when I first looked at this kit, and fell in love with it. It's just such a crazy design. The fit was actually really nice, just some putty to get it smoothed down, because of shrinkage in the resin. But re-doing the wing isn't much of a problem, just a quick re-spray. Thanks for reading in man, hope to get this one done by the end of the year. Matt

And I'm back with more work on this one! I got the gun panel painted up today, did a little more work on the exhuasts, and got the radome grey sprayed onto the Kazakh side today, I was very productive! The gun blast panel is sprayed on using Alclad, like always. It's a base of Duraluminum, then a mix of the DA and Steel were mottled on, then pure steel was mottled on some more, then sprayed over the panel lines to darken it a bit more. I think it looks really good now. I'm not sure if the airshow scheme would have such a weathered gun panel, but I think it looks good, and it matches most of what I've seen on Flankers in my books. I love Alcald so much, there's really nothing else out there that can give that same look of metal as Alclad, or is as easy to work with. i don't think there's an easier paint to spray either. And here's the radome on the Kazakh side. This was done using a mix of Tamiya Dark Grey (XF-24) and Nato Black (XF-69), which gave me the dark grey-green I needed for these parts. The Nato Black is actually an extremely dark green, not really a grey, so it gave me the right shade when put with the dark grey. That's all for now. The next step is to spray the false canopy on the bottom, and the rear wheel wells for both sides, then I can move on to decaling and the weathering stages. Each little piece painted really makes this scheme more complete, at least I think it does. Thanks for reading in everyone. I know the group build is over, but I still want to get this build done before I have to go back to school. All comments and critiques are welcomed. Matt

Thanks Maru! I actually did pretty well on my finals, ended up with a pretty good GPA this semester, 3.2 Matt Thanks Loic! It really is an interesting design, and the only reason for the second engine was that it was too underpowered with one engine. Speaking of the odd design, I'm back with a lot of progress. It's actually all painted now, and unmasked. Since it's a prototype, there are no markings or anything, so once the paint was dry, I could take the masks off. But I had one mistake in the paint that had to be taken out, so I'll have to re-spray that part of the wing before it's all done. But now all that I have to do is attach the landing gear and the prop, and this one should be done by the end of the year! The paint came out pretty nice, it was a mix of Model Master Aircraft Grey and RLM02, to match the color on the box top. The masking actually came out pretty nice for me, I usually have at least one big screw-up with masking, but I escaped it this time. And the problem. I had a super glue booger in the paint, so I had to chip it out with the X-Acto, and now re-spray it. You can really see the cool look of the twin-engine layout of this plane, such a cool looking bird. That's all for now, hopefully the next pictures I post will be the completed photos of this one! i thank everyone for reading in, you're all so great to read in and comment. All comments and critiques are welcomed. Thanks everyone, I hope you all have a happy holiday. Matt

Thanks Peter! The underside seam was actually super simple to fix, just some Mr. Surfacer, and a re-spray. Took nothing more than some quick work. I'm glad you like the scheme, I really think this one looks cool, can't wait to get it all done. Not sure how I'll get the high shine finish on it though, that will take some thinking.... I'm going to be very happy and relaxed until January 17th, hopefully doing a whole lot of building during this time, maybe clear out some of my ever-expanding stash. I hope you're having happy holidays Peter. Matt

Thanks Phil! I'll stick them on then. All I have of this scheme is one profile in MAI and a couple of pictures online, but nothing that shows the underside, so I figured I'd better ask. Actually, you can just press fit the doors into place, that's what I did with mine. They just stuck in place, and the masks stopped them from falling off. Thanks! Hope to see your build get done too! Matt

Thanks Christian! I hope to get this one done over the break, I should have enough time. Thanks for the nice comments, I'm really enjoying your Ju-52 build. That thing is going to be so cool once it's done. Matt

Thanks Mark! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Happy Holidays to you too! I've really been enjoying your Wefer-Grenate build, and your 109 is insanely cool. You really have a gift with detailing and with the airbrush. Matt

This looks really cool! You really pulled off the subtle weathering well, and made the grey scheme come alive! One question though, what color paint did you use on the avionics bays and radar? That's a wild shade! Keep up the great work though, your display is going to look really cool Matt

Thanks Brian!! Glad you like it, your build has been so cool to watch come together, just wish I could have gotten mine together in time for the group build to end, but I'm getting closer. Your Su-30 came out so great, hopefully you'll show that one off at some shows, it should do very, very well. Hope to get the rest of the painting done over the weekend, in between time with family. Matt

Thanks Harv!!!! Merry Christmas to you man, hopefully you'll get some kits or some progress done on your builds. I'll be sure to say hi to Ernie next time I see him, which will probably be next Tuesday. I will probably do the wheel wells, I actually sprayed the radome today on the Kazakh side, so really all that's left to paint are the wheel wells, and the gun blast panel on the Falcons side, plus that false canopy I just found out about, that will require some creative thinking.... Matt

This is looking great already man! I've got one waiting in the wings for my next big project, with some of the Eduard etch. I'll sure be using your build and Nigel's as hints when I get to mine. One question though, did you discover any warp on your fuselage? My example has a little bit of depth-wise discrepancy between the fuselage halves. Is it just a one-off, or a problem for all of them? Keep up the great work please, your 262 and 88 were amazing, this one should be just as nice if not even better! Matt

Thank you Phil! I must have missed that. I'm kind of hoping for a "D", just because of all of the bright US color schemes, but I know that the "K" had a very long and proud history overseas, so either one should make model builders happy! Hopefully it won't take too long to come out, but I hope that they'll get on the Yak-3 first!!!! I just hope that this will be a quality kit, since MPM seems to be improving with every new kit they put out. Matt

Hey guys. I was flipping through the new issue of SAMI, and it had something very interesting in its news section. It had a little blurb about a visit to the MPM facility in the Czech Republic, and it seemed to show a master for a 1/32 F-86D or K... Has anyone heard anything else about this, or is this something I missed awhile ago? Matt

Thanks Florin! That's an awesome picture to show the false canopy. Looks like that will cause some problems to mask, but I think I'll figure it out. And that also shows the weathering on the underside, looks like these airshow planes get just as dirty as their military counterparts.... crazy. I'm so used to air show planes being polished and spotless.... Thanks for stopping in man. Matt

Thanks Taffy! It's getting closer and closer to getting all unwrapped, I think it's time to either do the decals, or finish up detailing and painting the wheel bays, since I still need to do the rear part of the bays. Matt