geedubelyer Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) Dedicated to the memory of Flt Lt John Egging and Flt Lt Sean Cunningham, Red Arrows pilots who tragically lost their lives during, 2011. Godspeed, RIP * Hello folks, Here's a peek at what I've done so far on this great little kit. Revell have to be congratulated on this latest offering. I feel it represents superb value for money and thus far appears to be a neat starting point for a Hawk in 1/32. The profile and silhouette look good to my untrained eyes. I have n't discovered any glaring issues so far. The surface treatment is classy. Subtle and fine yet sharp and refined. The full sized item does n't have a large number of panel lines and this is represented well on the model. I've been following a number of excellent on-line builds to get a feel for the model and those guys have highlighted one or two areas that are ripe for a bit of tweeking so I'll attempt to emulate what they've done as I go along. My model will depict a parked aircraft in the livery of the RAFs' aerobatic display team "The Red Arrows". I'm going to try using the kit decals in the first instance but I'm not sure how the white banding will cover the scarlet paintwork so that will be interesting. Most of the other builds that I've come across are using aftermarket decals so I've not got any evidence either way on the opacity of Revells white decals yet. For my parked aircraft I'll go with a closed canopy. Actually, the only reason for closing the canopy is that I'm not a fan of side hung glazing (Any future Rafale or Gripen will have the canopy closed too) That does n't mean I can't tinker with the cockpit though. There is alot of glass to peer through and as I mentioned earlier, the Revell parts give a good basis for some additional detail. The kit IPs are identical and provide raised knobs and switches along with circular instrument bezels. The individual dials are covered by a large one piece decal but I was n't confident in my ability to lay the decal down flat over the molded on relief so I opted to punch out each dial and add it individually. I painted the remainder of the panel and used the same technique for the cockpit side consoles. The seats are nicely detailed with raised rivets on the surfaces and plenty of detail at the rear of each seat plus a rocket pack beneath the seat base (a nice touch even if very little of that is seen once the seat is installed). One issue that has come to light is that the seat base is modelled in the raised position. In fact, one contributor on another forum explained that the seats are regularly left in that position when the crew exits so for me and my parked airframe, no problemo Revell provide a suggestion of the straps on the decal sheet but to be honest, in this scale they are n't very convincing. Instead, I chose to add straps using strips of metal foil. I also decided to try something a bit different and re-create the bib that is fitted to the rear seat to keep all of the straps in check when the pilot is performing his/her display. Again, I used metal foil. I crafted a semblance of parapack detail for the top of the head box and added one or two additional bits like the ejection handles too. The final touch was the neat warning placard decal that Revell thoughtfully provide. With the seats complete and installed I could add a few bits to the voids beside the front seat, wiring bundles and a couple of pipes just to create some clutter. I also added the removable GPS device to the front lip of the pilots' IP coaming together with the "smoke-on" reference light packs on either side. On the rear IP coaming I ground out some subtle dings to the front of the panel as witnessed on numerous reference images. I suspect that little detail will be hidden by the rear pilots' internal screen but hey-ho. On the bulkhead behind the rear seat I added a foil document pouch too. Things were starting to look nice and busy so the last task was to address the blank cockpit sidewalls. On the full sized aircraft the framework is very evident yet Revell have left the kit sidewalls smooth. With all of that glass area to peer through it does n't hurt to add a suggestion of the framing. Using other on-line builds and reference as a guide I cut strips of Evergreen stock to length and glued them in place. The Hawk interior is painted in Dark Admiralty grey which is darker than the US aircraft that I'm more familiar with so I used a couple of Valejo acrylics that looked ok but first I had to get rid of the red To do this I used Citadel Miniatures Chaos Black primer from a whizz can. This stuff lays down nice and smoothly but it took several good coats to cover the plastic before I could start adding the top coats. I used the airbrush to paint the largest areas then a hairy stick to pick out details. A wash of Paynes grey oil paint mixed with Burnt sienna followed by a bit of subtle dry-brushing lifted the raised detail on the sidewalls a bit. I've had alot of fun doing this and I'm pretty pleased with the results up to this point. Next up is the nose gear well and some airframe details before I button up the fuselage. Edited November 9, 2011 by geedubelyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Fantastic work there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Looks great Geedub! These Revell Hawk kits are certainly proving popular, and seem to be awesome value for money. I'm not a jet guy, but I may get one myself. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phartycr0c Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Have to agree, superb work. Iv'e got one of these great little kits to do at some stage. seeing what youve done, im looking forward to it. keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Superb, love the work you've done on the seats - Laurence Llewelyn Bowen would be proud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Fantastic work there! Cheers HL-10, I appreciate the kind words. Glad you like things so far. I look forward to more on your Hawk soon. Looks great Geedub! These Revell Hawk kits are certainly proving popular, and seem to be awesome value for money. I'm not a jet guy, but I may get one myself. Kev Thanks for the kind words Kev, much appreciated. Even as a non-jet guy you'd be sure to enjoy this kit. Have to agree, superb work. Iv'e got one of these great little kits to do at some stage. seeing what youve done, im looking forward to it. keep it up. Thanks Pharty me old china. I'll keep an eye out for your build. I know you'll enjoy it. Superb, love the work you've done on the seats - Laurence Llewelyn Bowen would be proud! Cheers Kagemusha. Maybe I'll go for a gingham look next time... So I'm aiming to get the fuselage closed up but there are one or two bits to stick inside before I do. I've got the various nose gear bay components in place in the right hand side of the fuselage and I've joined the two halves of the jet pipe together and glued that in too. Incidentally, I don't think I've ever come across better fitting parts than the two halves of the jet pipe. For those that are using the kit parts look forward to next to no seam filling or sanding. Plus, the lip of the jet pipe is commendably thin and to scale. Lovely work Revell. If I'd known that it looked so good before I started assembly I might have changed my mind about using the FOD cover....... Anyhoo, I continued on with a couple of airframe mods. Very minor stuff but worth doing in my humble opinion. Starting on the right hand side toward the rear of the airframe.... 1/...this small exhaust (?) is left as a hole in the kit but the full sized jobby is a tube. I simply cut a short length of plastic tubing at an angle and glued it behind the hole. 2/...The NACA ducts near the base of the fin are just scribed on the kit so I opened up the hole and slid a triangular sliver of plasticard up into the recess. 3/...This sight gauge has an index marked vertically and a display that rotates to show the fluid level. I painted a very thin red line vertically down the centre of the rear face of the clear kit part. On top of that I painted a white quadrant then finished off by painting everything black. From the front the red line shows on top of the white which has the black behind it. By painting the sides of the clear plastic gauge it creates a kind of recessed tube, much like the full sized article. This is repeated in the left side of the fuselage. 4/...This particular sight gauge is only on the right hand side of the fuselage and differs from the first version. For this one I did away with the kit part. Instead, I punched out a clear disc of acetate (from waste packaging) just big enough to fill the hole in the kit and painted a thin black line vertically on the rear face. I pushed this into the hole leaving a slight recess behind it. I dipped a larger white disc into some tinted Future/Klear and then glued the larger white disc in place behind the clear acetate window. 5/...This ram air vent only appears on the right side of the fuselage but is missing from the kit so I drilled a hole, squashed a 0.9mm micro-tube a little then pushed that through a disc of metal foil that I'd poked rivet detail into. I glued the whole lot in place. 6/...the hot air holes seemed to me to be too large when compared to reference photos. I plugged the kit holes with plasticard discs then drilled out new, smaller diameter holes instead. Same for the other side. The final airframe mod is to create a small NACA style intake duct just ahead of the windscreen and slightly off to one side. Next up......the airbrake well. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Fantastic work GW. Your attention to detail shows that you have really spent time researching your subject Keep up the good work. Regards Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Well well now! Usual mind boggling stuff mate and I really love the fertilizer sack on the back seat. With two of these coming soon its so nice to have someone do all the tweaks in advance! Seriously I know what you can do and if I can get mine anywhere near your quality I shall be very happy! Terrific stuff Guy! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Well well now! Usual mind boggling stuff mate and I really love the fertilizer sack on the back seat. Terrific stuff Guy! Yes, yes! Lovely attention to detail man.....very cool. Cheers, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Hello Derek, Phil and Brian, many thanks for the generous comments, glad you like it so far. if I can get mine anywhere near your quality I shall be very happy! Phil Cheers mate but I have no doubt that yours will be top notch. One point of conversation on the various build threads that I've followed is the stressed skin effect, particularly aft of the cockpit above the intake trunking. This Airliners dot net image shows the effect well. A little bit of research coupled with some suggestions and guidance on other forums came in handy. I used dymo tape as a guide then gently dragged a curved blade along the plastic. It is remarkable how little material needs to be removed before an undulation becomes evident. With a number of very shallow vertical lines scored in the surface of the plastic at intervals I first sanded up and down the grooves with the rounded end of a sanding stick. Once I'd smoothed out the shoulders of the grooves a bit I sanded across them with a sanding sponge to round the shoulders even more. Using gradually finer and finer grades of sanding pads I ended up with a smooth, rippled surface. I't not easy to photograph this effect directly but I hope these couple of images give a clue to how it looks in the flesh..... I might knock the ripples on the nose section down a bit more yet, it depends how I feel after I've looked at them for a while. Bye for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Fantastic work on the ripples, though they do seem less pronounced on the nose http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air/British-Aerospace-Hawk/1796960/L/&sid=98e74b18b73038ba8cbacb0ed83ffb6a It will need a little work, but this might interest you http://www.hobbydecal.com/detail.cgi?number=mt32006v1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Fleischmann Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) Guy! Holy smoke-Sorry I'm so late to the party, but I've been admiring your outstanding work on this Hawk- The cockpit looks fantastic. I love the way you can detail with paint..I know, you threw a few fiddly bits in there, but a careful eye and steady hand really serve you well! The stressed skin effect is wonderful, my friend..that really made me smile- Can't wait for the next installment- Regards, Pete Edited March 7, 2011 by Pete Fleischmann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 this is a really nice build, and informative thread too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Nice to see the stressed skin effect between frames 13 and 20 (this is where the fuel tank bag is situated between the intakes, as it is pressurised and de-pressurised, it stresses the skin - the same thing happens to the cockpit skin, but to a less noticeable degree). It will be interesting to see how you are going to tackle the fuselage external dome head rivets from frame 28 aft to the tail cone? Great work GW. Cheers Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Whoa, nellie! The cockpit is just beautiful. The stressed skin is so subtle. This is wonderful stuff. Way to go! Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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