Hawker Seahawk FGA.6
British Postwar FAA Fighter

HobbyBoss, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

HobbyBoss' 1/72 scale Hawker Seahawk FGA.6 is available online from Squadron for $89.99!
 

Background

Hawker’s Seahawk was the Royal Navy’s first successful single seat jet fighter replacing the unsatisfactory Supermarine Attacker. It showed itself to be a good ground attack aircraft and participated in the 1956 Suez Crisis.

The Model

The only HobbyBoss kits that I have had anything to do with up until now are those quick-build WWII single engine fighters. They are a bit ‘hit and miss’ quality wise, like the Mk.VB Spitfire with a canopy about 3mm wider than the fuselage and no gear doors. Others were not quite so bad and some were even good though lacking in cockpit and wheel well detail.

I had read somewhere that this Seahawk kit was good so when it turned up in my local I shelled out the readies. At around $20.00 Australian the price seemed okay if the quality was reasonable, but I was not expecting what I got.

My favourite plastic manufacturer is MPM/Special Hobby and both have given us renditions of the Seahawk in Braille along with Airfix many years ago. The MPM effort is all plastic but can still be built up into a good model while the Special Hobby kit  has an excellent resin/PE cockpit and a host of under-wing stores. No need to mention the Airfix kit here.

Wow! This is Tamiya quality moulding.

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The parts breakdown is similar to MPM/Special Hobby in that the forward fuselage and wing is split horizontally while the aft fuselage and tail are split vertically. There the similarity ends.

The “A” sprue has the lower forward fuselage/wing, intake inserts (lacking in both MPM and Special Hobby kits), jet pipes, tail hook and other small odds and sods.

“B” has the upper half of the fuselage/wing along with a main wheel well that is more accurate than those in the other kits and a plastic cockpit which is perhaps not quite up to Special Hobby’s resin  but very good for the scale.

“C” is just the rear fuselage and tail surfaces.

The “E” sprue has all of the undercarriage bits plus 2 drop tanks and 8x60lbs rockets with separate tails. I’m not sure what happened to the “D” sprue but perhaps HobbyBoss intends to give us an alternative kit with bombs?

The “GP” sprue is the 3 clear parts, separate windscreen and canopy plus gun-sight lens and they are very thin and it looks like the canopy can be modelled open.

I have compared the parts to the plans in the 4+ book and they look spot-on except for the fin/rudder, which is a little wide in cord. Of course, I have no idea how good the plans are but they look okay.

The wheel-wells in the MPM/Special Hobby kits show parts of the engine protruding into the wells. Photos in the 4+ book show these engine parts to be covered by panels and the HobbyBoss kit has these panels in place with none of the engine bits visible.

At first glance the decals look quite good. There are two sheets, one with national and squadron markings and the other with black and yellow ID stripes, stencils and serials.

The problem is the red in the British roundels is slightly out of register, not a major problem for me as I have plenty of spares but annoying just the same as the rest look so good.

As noted above, there are three marking options on the decal sheets, the first being WV805/187-A of 806 Sqn., HMS Albion 1959-60. With the large Ace of Diamonds below the canopy, this aircraft is in the later scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey over White but although not mentioned in the instructions I think this aircraft can also be done in the earlier Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky. Next is one of the Seahawks that participated in the Suez Crisis with the black and yellow stripes. XE375/239-Z of 810 Sqn., HMS Albion in 1956 and it’s in the earlier EDSG over Sky scheme. Although the stripes come in decal form I’d be inclined to paint them on because of the tapered nature of the fuselage. Last but not least, an aircraft from the Indian Navy, IN157/077-W from 300 Sqn., INS Vikrant in the 1960s. Like the first, this one is in the late scheme.

Not only is this kit from HobbyBoss more detailed and accurate than the abovementioned kits but it should be easier to get, cheaper and easier to build. In fact, I can see no reason why this kit would not be suitable for absolute beginners.

Text Copyright © 2011 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2011 by Brett Green
Page Created 11 July, 2011
Last updated 12 July, 2011

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