Trumpeter 1/48 Hawker Seahawk Mk. 100/101
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Overview
The Hawker Seahawk was an attractive aircraft, but like the biplane
fighters at the beginning of World War Two, its straight-winged design
doomed it to obsolescence in the face of better-performing swept wing
fighters. Still, the Seahawk did manage several years of active service,
and even saw combat in the Suez Crisis in 1956 and in both Indo-Pakistan
wars in 1965 and 1971. In addition to the Fleet Air Arm, the Seahawk saw
service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, the German Bundesmarine, and
the Indian Navy, the latter retiring their Seahawks in the mid-1980s,
long after they were considered outdated. Several examples survive today
in museums, including one in flying condition.
The Kit
 This
is the second release by Trumpeter of their Seahawk kit, and this one
is the export variant with all its appropriate changes. The most noticeable
difference with the Mk. 100/101 variant is with the tail, which is taller
than the original fin. Trumpeter captures this through an entirely new
rear fuselage/fin assembly. The rest of the kit is identical to the FGA.6
release (well, aside from the decals, that is), so any notes regarding
fit and assembly on that kit would apply here as well.
Starting with the interior, this is rather well done, and out of the
box it should do quite well for most modelers. The seat is made up of
no less than nine pieces, with the last being a set of photoetch seat
belts. Also in photoetch is the instrument panel, with the expected film
instruments. This, coupled with the multi-part gunsight, separate rudder
pedals, control stick, and that nice seat, will make for a detailed cockpit
without the need for expensive resin.
 Moving
on to other interior bits, the main gear well, a wide open space on this
plane, is well represented, as is the nose gear and intakes. The latter
have inserts that provide all the interior vanes and are properly curved
on the back side, but they do open up into an empty fuselage. By painting
the inside of the fuselage black, though, it is highly unlikely that much
would be visible anyway. The rest of the fuselage assembly is straightforward,
with the forward pieces split horizontally and the rear fuselage split
vertically. Some careful dry fitting will likely result in minimal filler
required, even with the complexity of a four-piece fuselage.
 The
wings are quite simple, even with the included option of separate flaps
and the choice of folded or unfolded. These extra features are well done
and will make for some great variations in the Seahawks we will see on
the contest floors. The landing gear, both main and nose, are robust and
nicely detailed as well, and will require little more than some cleanup
and detail painting. For external stores, you get eight rockets and two
fuel tanks, with the latter being the more common sight during peacetime.
 For
marking options, the choices are either Bundesmarine or Indian Navy. There
are two options for the Bundesmarine, with the differences being only
in the placement of emblems and the serial number. These aircraft are
camouflaged in similar schemes, with dark sea gray upper surfaces separated
by a sharp demarcation from the lower surfaces. The painting instructions
indicate that the Bundesmarine Seahawks should have a lighter gray than
the Indian Navy on the undersurface, but my references indicated that
both should have Sky undersides. The decals look to be nicely printed
and should have no problems in application.
Conclusion
This is a great kit of the Hawker Seahawk, and it will undoubtedly find
its way onto the shelves of quite a few modelers. My thanks to Stevens
International for the review sample. |
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