Kinetic 1/48 T-45 Goshawk
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The T-45 Goshawk is a heavily modified navalized variant of the internationally popular BAe Hawk trainer. It was designed to replace both the T-2 Buckeye and the TA-4 Skyhawk, and the aircraft became operational in 1991.
The Kit
One of the most highly anticipated kits for 1/48 scale modelers is finally here: the Kinetic Goshawk. With the big differences between the BAe Hawk and the T-45, trying to convert a Hawk into a T-45 was challenging, to say the least. Now, with the Kinetic kit, an out of the box T-45 is now possible. The kit comes molded in the usual Kinetic light gray plastic, with recessed panel lines and good interior detailing, with options to build either a T-45A or a T-45C. The decal sheet provides markings for a couple of Goshawks, one T-45A and one T-45C.
Starting with the interior, it is here that the most noticeable differences between the T-45A and T-45C show up. You get two separate instrument panel hoods, and separate instrument panels for the two variants. The cockpit has decent raised detailing, and the instrument panels will paint up quite nicely. The seats are made up from eight pieces, and aside from the lack of seatbelts, should be quite good by themselves. The cockpit tub has the nose wheel bay on the underside, and has a separate rear bulkhead. The canopy has an insert for the center windscreen.
Moving on to the landing gear, this is one of the bigger differences between the Hawk and the T-45. To handle the stresses of carrier landings, the landing gear is beefed up. This kit does a good job of capturing that look, with hefty struts and detailed wheels. The nose gear strut has two options, one with an extended oleo and one with a short oleo, providing a nice alternative.
For the fuselage, this is split into right and left halves, with separate intake pieces. There is complete intake trunking and exhaust pipe. The separate intake pieces include a separate splitter plate and exterior piece, with a separate interior part that matches up to the intake trunking. The instructions don't mention a specific amount, but they do note that you will need weight in the nose of this on. With all that in place, it's time to button the fuselage up.
With the fuselage together, the rest of the assembly will go quickly. The stabilizers are molded as solid right and left pieces, and the fuselage air brakes are separate. The wings are split into three pieces, with the one-piece lower wing incorporating part of the lower fuselage. The main wheel wells are built up from separate side pieces that fit around the well on the upper wing. Once together, the addition of the flap hinges complete the main wing assembly, and here you have the option of raised or lowered flaps, each with different hinge pieces. With the wings on and the landing gear on, it's time to paint.
The paint scheme for the T-45 is colorful, being in US Navy trainer white and orange. Both options are from Training Air Wing 2 out of NAS Kingsville. The decal sheet has some stenciling and detail markings. The T-45A is BuNo 163654, with MARINES on the fuselage side, while the T-45C is BuNo 167106 and has small NavAir logos on the rear fuselage. The decals are nicely printed, with artwork by TwoBobs Decals.
Conclusion
This is an excellent addition to the Kinetic line, and a great subject that will definitely be quite popular. Undoubtedly we will see some colorful markings for this kit in the near future. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.