.

Well this is going very slowly... Mainly because I was looking around the various threads here and found some more truly amazing and inspiring models. The hawk is going to be better than my previous two kits so I'm really being patient - for me that isn't easy I can tell you!

So, as a result of my nosing around I now have orders at Hiroboy for lots of goodies... can't do much until they arrive!  - threre's a PE tool amongst the zillion things I ordered. The internet and PayPal can be quite dangerous!!! (Just One More... I can relate to that!) I also got some more stuff here from Phil... just waiting for that to arrive.... And, thanks again to one of you (Sorry Can't remember who put me onto this... ) I now have a Wingnut wings SE5 in the stash!!! YEAH BABY. It's a thing of beauty indeed. Almost a shame to spoil it, but I will when I'm ready for the rigging challenge.

So, some pictures...

I've started painted the cockpit and seats, not much to see as yet.

I thought that I'd paint the instrument panels in grey then paint black over for the various raised areas... Stuffed this up so then decided to do a very thin wash of light grey to wash into the panel lines sort of... As you can see, this hasn't worked yet either. Still, I'm going to try the black again etc until I either get the result I want or have to remove all paint and start again.

I have decided not to do any assembly with this Hawk unless I'm 100% Happy. May take some time! 

Now here's a bit I do like. I've taken some time and polished the join so smooth it's like glass. I know the join is visible but I'm pretty sure it'll dissapear when I spray primer. Yeah Baby!

I have to say this up-front... I am struggling! 

I am torn between wanting to get on with the Hawk and waiting for the extra tools and things I ordered a while ago. But a wise person once said (don't quote me on this as I'm a bit sketchy about it) "A poor workman blames his tools"... with that in mind, should I wait as I'm sure I could carry on with what I've got already.

Another wise modelling buddy advises "Patience Grasshopper" - Thanks Jason. 

BUT... I need an excuse as the Hawk cockpit is an unholy mess. 

I'm not sure what to do, if anything, about it. What gets me is this... the kit comes with PE panels that on the side consoles have decals on the top and the instrument panels have decals behing the PE. I was happy with the Instrument panels until I tried to fix up the paint a bit. They have gone horribly wrong and look 'mushy'. The side consoles look terrible, I've used microsol to get the decals to conform to the shape of the PE but it still looks terrible. 

So I'm not having a good time with this... 

Having said that, I have dabbled with some wire. Yeah Baby, something positive... I know it's not to scale or in any way accurate but it makes me happy that I'm doing something different to the kit.

So what's new... 

Okay, the stuff I ordered from various places in UK and USA arrived  and now I've got PE folding pliers, some more wire, Gator Glue (Don't get me started on that stuff!!!!) and Phil's beginner DVD - along with lots of other bits and pieces. I've watched most of the DVD on the 72nd Hawk and by paying attention this time have picked up some good tips. So, onward and upward I 'attacked' the Hawk again...

Now this may look the same as previous pics but it's not. No way! (okay I'm overstating it a bit!). I had a look at the 'pit and decided that I would have a go with a toothpick and paint some details... I almost did this and then thought about the pin vice with the sewing needle I used to kill the Buccaneer earlier. So I painted some little bits with this onto the instrument panels and side consoles. May not look much in the pics but it's a zillion times better than before. YEAH BABY! I'm excited!!! 

I also had a look at the kit seats Vs the resin ones and realised that the AM ones weren't going to sit right in the cockpit as they don't have the channels cut out to match the floor of the cockpit. So, I hacked off the raised channels from the floor before fitting the cockpit into the fueslage.

Here's the 'pit in place with some other bits and bobs around. I've glued in some fishing weights using CA and Kicker - thanks to the DVD  and filed away the front wheel bay and one of the weights to ensure a good fit. I've also painted the wheel bays and glued the wings together. I've not sanded these yet but will when the glue is fully set. Patience Grasshopper! 

Now that's not a big crack at the back of the fuselage and tail. I've only glued the nose so far and tomorrow I'll glue the rest of it. 

So that's where I'm at tonight. A bit further along... I've been thinking about colour schemes and have swapped between the two tone grey with the low-vis markings and the grey/green wrap-around cammo depending upon my mood. I think it's going to be grey/grey with a bit of a cheat. The kit comes with a really nice tiger tail for a fully black Hawk scheme. I'm not brave enough to try the black colour scheme yet so think this will be a hybrid between grey/grey with a black fin and tiger decal. 

Finally... Gator Glue!!! I got some and have started putting the kit PE belts, now nicely (actually I think I cooked them a bit - Oops) annealed - thanks Ant - onto the kit seats. I must be doing something wrong as it's taking forever to set and then the PE isn't sticking well. It's possible that I need to clean the PE again after already doing so once after the annealing process but it's a little frustrating!! No photos here as it's way too embarrassing. 

I"ve done a lot of sanding/polishing and a bit of filling which is more than I did on the A10... Yeah Baby!
Some of the fit on this has been a bit 'interesting' - especially behind the cockpit where there is a whole panel to place that had a large seam/gap for some reason. Still, gave me the chance to try making a plasticard shim. Seems to have worked. 

Although the truth about this will be seen when I fit the panel.

Another shim below the intakes for the starter was needed as the intake cowls are a bit too far back - my mistake - and there was a hole in front of the cowls that shouldn't be there.

I think this looks much better now. Yeah Baby! 

I started to glue the wings in place. I dry-fitted several times and did a bit of filing around the wheel bay and wing roots to try and get a good fit. This photo shows the wing un-glued at the root. As you can see it's 'drooping' away from the root. It's glued at the front and back to hold it in place before I use my Mk1 clamp.

What I had to do was glue each wing root one-at-a-time whilst applying upward pressure to ensure it was in the right place. Seems to have worked  ALthough it took a while for the glue to set. 

TIME FOR A LITTLE ANECDOTE...
Way back in my past I spent four years working for British Aerospace in Kingston (I think the factory has gone now) straight from school doing an apprenticeship as a Technical Illustrator (1979 - 1983). It was great. This was the factory where the Hawk and Harrier were built prior to shipping to Dunsfold for initial flight testing etc. Now for four years I worked at the factory, spending months rotating various departments getting experience of the 'product' for a better understanding as an Illustrator, remember this is pre-computers. Anyway, at the rear of the factory were two 'test jigs' that each had an empty airframe for a Hawk and a Harrier. The jigs were designed to keep an airframe in the factory ahead in 'flying hours' over the real planes. For four years I saw these jigs and assumed that they were constantly working. NOT! One day, in my last months at the place, I actually saw these Jigs working. MY GOD!!! How much they move and twist!!! It's totally amazing how much airframes so small can twist and bend. I've seen commercial jet wing-tips flex and they're so long it's not a suprise, however the Hawk wing tips seemed to flex up and down by about a meter!!! Amazing. 

Almost as much as this kit flexed as I was using my Mk1 clamp to glue the wings in place. 

Anyway back to the Hawk kit...

Glued wing - looks okay to me. 

A bit of the green putty around the wing root/intake - ready for filing tomorrow.

And Lastly... (This isn't pretty)

Here's one of the kit seats with my overcooked PE belts in place. I still have more PE to play with on these but at the moment I'm a bit afraid of it still. 

The AM seats haven't progressed any further and I'm building up courage to tackle them when I've got further with the Hawk build.

Anyway, thanks for looking everyone. Maybe there'll be some paint in the next post!

The panel aft of the cockpit in place. The shim worked sort-of but the panel itself was 'rounded' towards the rear of the plane. I filled/sanded and re-scribed until I was happy. Even put in some rivets with the needle I used to kill the Buccaneer with!

I got a bit keen and managed to sand off the stall warning/anti-stall strips on the wings! Still, thanks to my new-found love of plasticard I've made new ones. Yeah Baby.

The flaps are on, the airbrake is in place with blue-tac - It'll be open when finished and the wheel bays are full of Mr Something. (Can't remember what it is and I'm doing this up-date from work so can't see the bottle from here!!!). There were too many pieces to the wheel bay covers for me to try the blue-tac method, hopefully this stuff will work and I won't damage the paint work in the bays.

The final pic I was going to post is too fuzzy. It was the top of the Hawk with the front canopy in place. Only the wing fences and a few little bits to go and then it's primer time. YEAH BABY!!!

Okay, YEAH BABY! The Hawk survived primer and I only had to do some minor filling again. The join at the wings and bottom of air intakes was a little 'interesting' but it seems to have come good. I'm happy. 
It's now in the "Paint Shop"...

Some of the airbrush work is a bit loose as I'm using a new arbrush for this. I've moved from an Aztec to an Iwata and it seems to be easier to use... but I'm still practising!

Okay the Hawk progresses... a little.
The paint woes continued unfortunately I cooled the paint and the temps here dropped also to about 24C so there should be no problems with heat etc. I sprayed again and, although it lasted a little longer before clogging it wasn't good.
I took a pic of the paint when I thinned it 50/50 with filtered water and just before I filtered it all through a stocking - not mine!

But you know what? It's just not happening for me. 

So, I cleaned the brush and put in some Mr Hobby light grey. Now this was also a leap in the dark as I haven't used this paint brand before. I bought a few colours in this brand for the ME 109 I'm doing for the BOB build.

I just noticed that this pic is a bit fuzzy - sorry. Anyway this is the underside with two attempted coats of Xtracrylics and one coat of Mr Hobby light grey. The pre-shading is still evident for real - doesn't show too well here!

The Mr Hobby sprayed a treat! No issues at all and I'm quite happy with the result. I'll have to mix my own version of the darker grey for the upper surfaces and with a bit of luck I'll do that tomorrow. 

Okay, so I continued on to the upper surfaces, I am using a slightly darkened Mr Colour light grey for this

I think that even in this photo you can see how 'mottled' the paint is. Now this is only my first, rough, coat of the darker grey so don't think that I think this is finished... just how bad do you think I am at this??

This is a bit closer and it's not pretty. 
I'm using paint that has been thinned with water, then additionally thinned with tamiya acrylic thinner, I am spraying at between 20 and 25 psi and the room temp is 22C.
I'm not very experienced with an airbrush and don't recognise what the paint is 'telling' me. 
can anyone seeing this recognise my problem and give me some advice on what to do about it. PLEASE!
I don't want to stuff up the painting now... and I need to learn so that I can, well, learn. You know what I mean I hope. 

Also, here's a couple of pics of the seats... I finally got up the courage to glue on the PE stuff. (I didn't anneal these as they are pre-painted and... I'm chicken since I pretty-much cooked the kit PE - thanks anyway Ant, I'll deffinately anneal the ME109 straps etc as they're a bit bigger)

I know they're not great but they're a step on from the A10 build and the next ones will be better again... I hope!!!

Anyway, onward and upward. I'm going to post the paint pics in another area in the forum also to plea for help. Wish me luck.

Okay, so I managed to re-paint the upper grey with Mr Colour paint thinned with Mr Colour thinner. Makes lots of sense. I've ordered some Xtracrylics thinners from Hannants so, with luck, this will help sort out my problems there. 

This shows the upper surfaces after about three very light coats of grey and one of klear. I'm quite happy with the results - I didn't want to push it too far so stopped a bit 'earlier' than I'd like. Still learning... I went a bit further with the grey on my A10 and then lost all the pre-shading. This time I think I've gone too light on the paint and have too much pre-shading showing. 
But next time... on the ME 109 BOB hopefully, I'll get it just right. Yeah Baby!

I'm doing a loose version of the Hawk from the RAF 7th Flying School, Chivenor from 1992 - that's got the two tone grey and the low-vis markings that I just love. I'm cheating a bit as I wanted to use the tiger decal that belongs to the Hawk from 4th Flying Training Sqdn, Valley from 2001 so I've painted the tail fin a dark green/black instead of grey. 

I think I'm learning quite a bit on this kit. A fair bit about paint for a start!! But I've also tried to get the joins as seam-free as possible and I'm pretty happy, especially as this is only kit No 3 for me in the last 31 years. (was 30 but that was a year ago... )...

One thing I am a bit slow on though... and that's not damaging the kit whilst handling it!!! 

OOPS!!!    

Insert rude word here... (....)!!!

Just when I thought I was doing okay with this... now I'm not sure quite how to fix this. The plastic part is broken in two places and is now fully off the kit!!!

I live in Perth, Australia, (apparently we're the most remote capital city in the world.) so nipping down to the LHS for a turned pitot tube isn't an option as I'm lucky if they sell basic kits let alone 'fancy' AM stuff! Thank god for the internet!!!

Fixing the kit part is one way forward but I'd appreciate any tips before I try that. 

I'm not done yet... although I have placed about a zillion decals! I am truly amazed since returning to this hobby just how many decals a kit will have!!! 

Still, I'm getting better at putting them on. I think!.

I'm choosing not to put several onto this Hawk. Some just appear to be way too big for the scale. Particularly the canopy release and 'canopy opens other side' text decal which would be HUGE if in real life!!!

So the Hawk has most of it's decals and will get another coat of klear, after I wash the decal sticker residue off, and then I plan to do some light coats of both greys and the tail green/black to further 'bed them in'... hope it works.

Here's my attempt at a brass pitot tube... next to the broken kit one. Hopefully it'll go in okay.

So, the wheels are done and awaiting final assembly, not much left to finish this kit... I'm getting impatient to get on with the ME109... it's sitting on the bench calling to me...
Some bits and bobs,

These are the bits...

And this is bob!

I'M SO CLOSE.... It's driving me crazy!!! 
Thanks again Dan and Jason,
Here's proof that I listened. 

These are both painted un-thinned. I did try with thinned paint first but it looked too 'thin' for the result I was after. This looks great. Thanks again for the tip.

Okay, so where am I up to? I'm so close.
Here are some recent pictures.

This is before any washes etc and I took this just to prove that there are two greys on this model. The upper coat is a bit lighter than I really wanted but it is still darker than the lower surfaces. Have a look at the intake and you'll see clearer.

Dark dirt promodellers wash on, yeah baby, I love this stage of the process.

The wash is on and off again. I've smoke stained the starter exhaust and added other stains around the place. I'm really glad that I sprayed a light coat of the grey and black/green over the appropriate surfaces as that's really toned down the decals. 

I'm really pleased with the new nose job (pitot tube), for my first go at brass I'm really happy.

Shame I can't say the same about the fit of the clear parts on this kit. Check out the nose light lens. It's HUGE. And this is after I've sanded it back.

It may not be obvious in the picture but the clear part was at least 1mm larger in diameter than the aircraft nose!!! Still, it's another thing I've learned for the future.
So many lessons on this kit. YEAH BABY! 

The wing nav lights were also a bit on the large size. I wish I'd checked this before I painted them! Still, I managed to sand back the wing to suit and I think they look okay now. If I'd noticed before painting I'd have made them a little thinner also.
Nearly done... time for a nap!

Anyway, I'm so close to finishing. I've only got to put on the matt coat, install the undercarriage and doors - after removing the Mr goo stuff, then check the bang seats and fit them, this may involve more sanding of the cockpit floor, finish the 'internals' on the canopy and then I'll fit the drop tanks... 

Okay, now some people may think it's a good idea to paint these as you go.... not me! Well, not this time! AGAIN!!!Another lesson to learn... sequencing. Oh well, it's not as if I'd installed the clear parts - freshly painted and looking good - before puttin on the matt coat!

Still, I can either cover them with the Mr Mask goo stuff or re-paint over them with klear when I'm done. 

Okay, so this will be my second final post here - no, really! I'll be finished soon and then it'll be the final reveal pics. (Famous last words perhaps...)

So, since my last 'real' post - just before New Year - I've had a zillion issues with the kit, my poor skill level, inpatience (Sorry Obi-wan) and... I'm going to blame the Aussie Cricket Team for my poor morale! 

Firstly, I went to remove the Mr Masking Sol stuff that I was so keen to put into the wheel wells. Problems here. Now I've never used this stuff before so I don't know if this is normal but it was a total nightmare to remove!

This photo shows my weapons of choice in removing the stuff and some of the 'bits' that I got out. Seriously, it was a nightmare. the stuff came away in such small amounts and even then it was sticking to everything!!!

Here's one of the wheel bays after about an hour or more of scratching and pulling. See the nasty little devils still sticking to the paint!!! 
By the time I got rid of them all I had so many scratches in the paint that I had to do a significant touch-up repair paint job. Not Happy!!!

Sometime during this process I managed to... guess what? Yes I knocked off the new pitot tube... this time it took half the fairing with it. No pics as I'm too embarrassed. Not sure why I'm mentioning it really. Must be mad. That'll do. I am considering re-painting the fairing again as if it was a real repair/replacement... it'll look different to the rest of the colour scheme due to lack of weathering etc but I'm not convinced yet. Although it does now have a crack across it that I can't photograph. Okay, you've talked me into it. Thanks.

Therapy anyone? 

OKay, back to the Hawk... Now I'm getting close to the finish and wanted to get this done last year but without rushing it. I've just been away with the family and our French exchange student (Don't get me started on that situation!!!!!!!!!) and haven't done any modelling for almost a week. Before we went away I glued the undercarriage into place. Good work Kevin. Yeah Baby. 

Not sure if my eyes are really stuffed or if I'm just a bit out-of-line myself. The u/c legs were not straight. They seemed to 'toe-in' a fair bit.

So, with my newly acquired razor saw I decided to cut the legs, drill and pin them and put them back at a better angle. They are now both a bit straighter and the join will be fixed with paint. It's at a change of diameter in the legs themselves so isn't too bad. (Also, after a lot of soul-searching I decided that they're underneath the model when completed so no-one will see them anyway!!.... please forgive me for this is not the Promodeller way)

Actually, if you look at this one you can see that my drilling is a little off-centre. Oh well! 
One of the knock-on effects of my u/c legs pointing in was that the actuators didn't fit. The lug on the legs were too far out for the actuator to fit into. Also, the actuators don't fit properly even if I had the legs in straight. They bend if put in as per the kit. I had to dig out the inboard hinges so that they could sit lower and be straight. As per the kit they actually bend as they're too high from the base of the wheel bay.

So, the undercarriage has taken me a lot longer that I had considered. But now it's in. I've still got to touch-up some of the paint work, particularly as I painted the doors on the sprue and have the stub points to paint over.

Whilst I've been butchering this kit I've also been looking at a lot of the Phantom and BOB builds. I'm trying to finish this and not trash it in the process but my ME109 and two Phantoms are now screaming at me from the desk!!! But looking at the builds works two ways... There are so many truly stunning builds there that I am finding it really difficult to go past a fault that I see/create in this kit. I am not aiming for perfection but am no-longer accepting my occasionally poor (lazy) standards as acceptable. I'm already wondering if I'm kidding myself having the two banners on my signature! 

Now Kevin... It's not your fault Australia lost the Ashes... ON HOME SOIL!!! 

I keep repeating this to myself in the hope I'll pick up. 

OKay, some other pictures....

I got the seats in okay and they look about right I think. Now that they're in place the cockpit looks kind of boring to be honest. Some of the Phantom builds have really busy cockpits and they make this one look very plain. I suppose it is a trainer afterall. 

I've got to learn not to remove the canopy masks until the very very last minute. I have managed to keep them pretty clear but got close on the front screen with some glue. Nearly a major OOPS there. 
The fit of the main canopy isn't that great - but I am going to fit it in the closed position because I did make a bit of a mess of the rear bulkhead and I can hide it easier under the canopy.

Anyway, thanks for looking, I'm nearly there... Wish me Luck!

Kit No 3 after 30 years is almost done. YEAH BABY. 

"Hurrah" The Hawk is FINISHED!!!!

Here's proof... YEAH BABY!

The canopy is open because... it doesn't fit closed!!! Really!!! It's either the AM ejector seat in the front getting in the way or the screen between the crew is too far forward! Either way, it doesn't fit! Bummer!
Now the rear bulkhead of the cockpit is on display and it's not pretty!

Anyway, as someone said on another post "if it looks right... then it's right" I'll go with that and hopefully this looks right... sort of.

Anyway, I'm going to post the final reveal pics and move on to the ME 109 at last... 

Thanks all for looking and for the positive comments and feedback.

Thanks for looking. Happy modelling all... YEAH BABY!