Hawk 127 LIF

by Ryan Hamilton

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The Premier Hawk was first issued some years ago, and is now hard to find. I was lucky, as I discovered that the Hawk was on the RAAF’s short list as a replacement for the Macchi at about the same time Squadron were selling them for about USD$3.00. Needless to say I picked up a few.

The kit is very poor, but it is the only BAE Hawk in 1/48.

The airframe has thick engraved detail, and the cockpit and undercarriage are basic. Construction is complicated by Premier trying to do to much with the one set of moulds. They apparently had the Goshawk and Hawk 200 in mind for future releases. Before starting I obtained some after-market parts and pieces to help improve the kit. They included:

• Airwaves photo-etched set – excellent set for any 1/48 Hawk, which includes cockpit consoles, wheel hubs, wing fences, grills, etc;

• Aeroclub seats;

• Hawkeye Models Australia decals.

Conversion

I was originally going to do a full construction feature on this model, but with the pending release of other 1/48 Hawk 127 models, I have decided to keep it very brief.

The conversion included:

• New cockpit – the front cockpit console came from an F-18A, and the rear was the same with the liquid crystal screens arranged into the correct positions. Airwaves side consoles were used, with the addition of throttles. New Aeroclub seats, with the Airwaves seatbelts. Scratch-built cockpit dashes, both front and rear. Other items added such as rudder pedals, wiring, etc.

• New nose;

• Two fuselage plugs – front and rear to lengthen the fuselage to the correct length. As the fuselage comes in three sections, the plugs were inserted between each join.

• New wing tips – missile rails came from an F-18 again.

• New tail tip;

• New air intakes as the kits are awful. I had trouble with the interior so decide to put covers over them, but at least the shape is correct.

• New aerials and other bits and pieces including many of the Airwaves photo-etched parts.

Australian Hawks are finished in a standard two tones of grey with coloured squadron markings. Not too much colour, but let us hope they become as colourful as some of the Macchis they replaced.

Hawkeye Models Australia offers two sets of decals for a 76 or 79 Sqn. Hawk. Both sets contain several sheets of decals and a double-sided instruction page. The decals when on smoothly, without any silvering or air bubbles.

At least I now have a Hawk 127 in my collection but as usual, when I finish a conversion or a scratch-built kit, someone goes ahead and announces that they are producing the kit. This is a difficult conversion to do, and although I was planning to do a second Canadian Hawk in 1/48, this has now been shelved for the time being.

On another note, congratulation to Pieter Stroethoff on his efforts at the recent Model Expo 2002 in Melbourne Australia. His models are even better then his excellent photograph work.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model and Text Copyright © 2002 by Ryan Hamilton
Images Copyright © 2002 by Pieter Stroethoff
Page Created 08 May, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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