E-2C Hawkeye 2000
VAW-115 Liberty Bells "Sayonara Atsugi"

Kinetic, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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The Grumman E-2C Hawkeye is the US Navy's long-serving carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft.

The E-2C is fitted with two turboprop engines and a distinctive 24' circular radar rotodome above the upper fuselage and wing. The Hawkeye flies with crew of five.

Since entering service in 1972, the E-2 has seen combat in Vietnam, Libya and the Persian Gulf.

Kinetic released their all-new 1/48 scale E-2C Hawkeye towards the end of 2009. This was the early version with the four-bladed propeller. Kinetic followed up with their 1/48 scale E-2C Hawkeye 2000, the upgraded version with the distincive eight-bladed propeller assembly, in 2010.

Now, in 2020, Kinetic has re-released this impressive kitwith parts for both versions and a colourful new decal sheet designed by Fightertown Decals.

The kit comprises around 170 parts in grey and 14 parts in clear.

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Thumbnail panels:

In common with the earlier release, moulding quality is very high with no sink marks or ejector pins visible on outside surfaces. The plastic is moulded in a slightly darker shade of grey than the debut Hawkeye release. This looks more attractive to my eye, and it is still perfectly smooth. There are a few ejector pin circles on the inside of the wheel wells, but undercarriage doors and hatches are entirely free of imperfections.

Larger parts such as the fuselage and wings are attached to the sprues with correspondingly large connectors. I would recommend caution when removing these parts from the sprues to avoid scarring the edges of the plastic parts.

Surface detail is by way of recessed panel lines and selected rows of rivets. The surface textures are heavier than Kinetic's more recent releases but I think they are still quite acceptable on a model of this large size.

This model represents the post-upgrade version of the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 with the broad eight-bladed propeller provided on two new sprues. These parts are moulded with raised lines that correspond with the bare metal leading edge. If these raised painting guides are not to your taste they will be easy enough to sand off. Each propeller assembly is made up from two sets of four blades.

There are plenty of features and options. Probably the most welcome of these is the folded wing. The wing may be posed either extended or fully folded. No cutting is required, as the outer wing panels and wing fold areas are supplied as separate pieces.

The flaps and ailerons are separate parts too, with moulded-on tabs that will set the correct angle for dropped surfaces. If you would prefer to have the flaps and ailerons retracted, just cut the tabs off. The mechanism on the upper wing that locks the outer wing panel to the fin is also depicted.

I particularly like that Kinetic has engineered a nice solid join for the extended wing by the inclusion of a substantial spar for each side.

The fuselage entry door may be posed open or closed. There is no main cabin detail, but the door seems to open onto a small equipment bay.

The determined scratch builder could always omit this part and build some structure inside the fuselage.

The cockpit is pretty basic, with raised detail on the instrument panel, centre and side consoles, but no harness straps on the simple seats. To be fair though, very little will be visible through the windows.

By contrast, the wheel wells are very busy. The wheel hubs and weighted tyres are separate parts, and the insides of the multiple undercarriage doors look great. Two different styles of engine side cowling are offered.

The clear parts look good too. The main canopy is supplemented with bulged side windows and the top escape hatches as separate parts. A substantial top console is glued to the inside of the main canopy. The nose transparency will reveal glimpses of avionics equipment.

The big rotodome can be built to rotate - manually of course!

The arrestor hook is a separate part, so this may be glued either stowed or deployed.

Instructions are laid out in a 12-page stapled booklet.

Markings

Markings are supplied for an E-2C Hawkeye 2000 of VAW-115 Liberty Bells with very colourful tail markings

The big beautiful decal sheet is perfectly printed by Cartograf.

Artwork was designed by Fightertown Decals.

The large decal sheet includes grey walkway markings for the wings and horizontal tailplanes, plus extensive decals and propeller tip markings.

In common with their earlier E-2C releases, Kinetic's latest 1/48 scale E-2C Hawkeye 2000 is an attractive and imposing model. Its relatively modest parts count of less than 200 parts should make it a straightforward project for the intermediate modeller.

The folded wing option, the stout brace for the extended wing, separate flaps and ailerons and the sparkling clear parts are all well done. The decals look well-researched too.

Kinetic's 1/48 scale E-2 Hawkeye 2000 is an impressive model of a facinating subject.

Thanks to Lucky Model for the samples

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2020 by Brett Green
Page Created 3 February, 2020
Last updated 3 February, 2020

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