Hawk 75 (P-36)

11 Sheets with 22 Options

LPS Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Xtradecal's 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 87 B/K/R Stuka decals
are available online from Squadron.com

I was very pleased to see this group of eleven sheets dedicated to one of my favourite fighter subjects, the Hawk 75. I assume these are timed, perhaps a little prematurely, to exploit AZ Model’s forthcoming release of its new 1/72 Hawk 75 kits.

Followers of the “One True Scale” have long awaited an accurate and easy to build kit of this most appealing subject, and I for one hope AZ Model manage to satisfy this need. Of course the markings reviewed here can also garnish the existing Monogram, Aoshima/MRC/UPC, Heller/SMER/Mistercraft/Intech, Revell, Special Hobby/Azur and AML kits.

Each set of decals comes in a zip-lock plastic bag. An A5 sized header is illustrated with a profile of each subject, and a folded A4 sheet serves as the painting and decaling guide. This has either three or four-view drawings of each subject. The guides are attractively printed in colour with a matt finish. As it happens, I could not but feel these guides were quite a step up in appearance compared to LPS’s F4U Corsair sets I reviewed recently.

Depending on the subject, the guides use generic colour names, RAF colour names, and in some cases include FS595 or RLM codes (the scrollable gallery images with this article include scans of all eleven guides).

Until their recently released F4U sheets, LPS Hobby has provided three subjects per sheet but only with sufficient national insignia and stencils to complete one option; this was something I had questioned the value of in previous reviews. Pleasingly, all of the sets reviewed here have sufficient national insignia to complete the two subjects covered by each set.

Although not really pertinent to the review, LPS does really need to improve the appearance of their website. The sheets reviewed here are illustrated by rather poor quality screen-grabs of the decal artwork (at least at the time of writing, see here), which does little to convey an image of quality the prices asked for would imply.

I am unsure of who prints the decals, but for the first time I can recall with LPS decals I had some concerns regarding opacity, colour matching and accuracy. This observation only applies to some sheets, so I shall comment as appropriate when illustrating each sheet’s subjects and decals below. I must admit that in some respects I have been critical of rather minor flaws, especially with regard to opacity concerns; but these are expensive sheets given the small number of decals provided and when compared to most decal brands, and so it seems fair to expect the highest standards to apply. 

The Subjects

LPM-72-24. I think this sheet has two most interesting and attractive schemes.

Although perhaps less apparent in my scans. The red in the US markings appeared a little light to me, as does the blue in the Brazilian insignia (I am less sure about the Brazilian green). Also of concern is that the US star points do not quite touch the outer circumference of the roundel’s blue disc as they should.

LPM-72-25. This sheet is also sure to be a winner as these camouflage evaluation schemes are definitely eye-catching.

Observations mentioned for LPM-72-24 concerning the US national insignia apply. The small yellow stencilling is blurred.

LPM-72-26. Finnish schemes are almost always appealing choices.

Perhaps I am being a bit nit-picky, but I feel the swastikas in the Finnish national insignia should not touch the edges of the roundel’s white disc. This may be a registration issue, as some points seem closer than others.

LPM-72-27. One for those who like captured subjects.

LPM-72-28. Can you have too many Finnish options? Probably not!

Observations mentioned for LPM-72-26 concerning the Finnish national insignia apply.

LPM-72-29. Or maybe you can have too much of a good thing...

Observations mentioned for LPM-72-26 & 28 concerning the Finnish national insignia apply.

LPM-72-30. Good subject choices in my opinion with the choice of Dark Green/Dark Earth/Sky or Dark Green/Ocean Grey/Medium Sea Grey camouflage schemes.

Oh dear! The red of the roundels is too bright, as are the yellow rings surrounding the fuselage roundels. The interpretation of the colour for the fuselage recognition band would seem to be a medium grey, whereas other Mohawks of the same squadron have been shown with Sky recognition bands. Moreover, the aircraft serial numbers should have been printed separately to give modellers the option of painting their own fuselage bands. This last point reflects poor sheet design. This sheet is worst of the eleven overall, with almost unforgivable faults given the price being asked for it.

LPM-72-31. The US option is an appealing one, although its dark green (as opposed to olive drab or black) anti-glare panel may raise eyebrows, but I am not an authority on this point.

Observations mentioned for LPM-72-24 concerning the US and Brazilian national insignia apply.

LPM-72-32. It is nice to see a French option, although I feel it would have been nice to have more. As an aside, the five Brazilian options across the eleven sheets are an obvious pitch to LPS’s home market.

The French roundels’ red may be a tad orange in tone, and their blue a little dark, but these are probably acceptable. Observations mentioned for LPM-72-24 concerning the Brazilian national insignia apply. I also think that there may be are registration issue between the red and underlying white to the roundels, or the underlying white disc is too small) that will affect opacity when placed on a painted model (the same was apparent with the Norwegian option). This is less visible in the actual decals than the scan, but again the price being asked calls for greater scrutiny of imperfections.

LPM-72-33. Nice to have a Norwegian option.

Observations mentioned for LPM-72-32 concerning white underlay and opacity apply here to the wing stripes, although many modellers will choose to paint the wing and rudder stripes anyway.

LPM-72-34. Nice to have a Dutch option.

It is a good thing to have twenty-two generally attractive and interesting options for the Hawk 75/P-36 in 1/72 scale, and LPS has made a nice job of the supporting artwork for each scheme offered.  

I always struggle with LPS Hobby reviews, because no matter how I look at things, I always question their value compared to other decal brands that seem able to offer far more subjects for the same or less cost. At the very least, LPS’s asking price should be supported by superlative decal quality.

In the past I have not questioned LPS’s quality, but several of the sheets reviewed here suffer from minor accuracy points concerning national insignia configuration, opacity, and colour tones. One in particular, the RAF Mohawk IV sheet (LPM-72-30), is almost worthless in my view, so inaccurate are some of the colours.

I really like the P-36 and Hawk 75 and the wide variety of attractive schemes that can be applied to them; so I wish I could unconditionally recommend these sets. On subject choice I generally can, and if you are willing to pay more than the decals are possibly worth, and live with some suspect insignia and colour hues, I say “fill your boots”; but don’t waste your money on the RAF Mohawk set.

Thanks to LPS Hobby for these samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Mark Davies
This Page Created on 26 October, 2016
Last updated 26 October, 2016

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