Revell Germany’s Hawk trainer offers markings for the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s aerobatic team, in the current eye-catching red-and-white scheme.
Molded in slightly soft red plastic, the parts feature excellent recessed surface detail. Several smaller pieces have flash and seam lines on them. Take care cleaning them up, as they are delicate.
Revell Germany has developed a new look for its instructions, with color diagrams and paint callouts throughout, matched by the printed colors.
Cockpit detail looks good for the scale, with instrument-panel decals and raised details on side consoles. The ejection seats are nice but lack pull handles.
Construction of the major parts went quickly, and it was soon time for the fiddly bits. I used just a little filler on the fuselage/wing seam, intakes, and lower fuselage, and added ballast under the cockpit floor to keep the nose wheel grounded. I was a little disappointed to find that the intakes open to the interior.
The tail fillet (parts E15 and E17) is too short — it should extend to the end of the fuselage — but that should be easy to fix with a little styrene.
I left off the landing gear, doors, pitot tube, and speed brake for painting. I also omitted the two inboard flap hinges on each wing to facilitate decal placement.
After priming, I sprayed the Hawk with several coats of Tamiya red (X-7), followed by several coats of clear.
The decals, though nicely printed, easy to apply, and opaque, presented some challenges. First, the white arrowhead outline under the fuselage crosses the main gear doors — but Revell did not separate the decals or indicate where they should be cut. If you want to position the gear extended, as I did, you’ll need to measure and cut these decals yourself.
I laid the decals over the open wheel wells, then cut away the section over the bay and applied them to the doors. Unfortunately, the decals split and cracked when I separated the doors. I repaired them with spare white decals and paint. Temporarily fitting the doors in the wells might be a better option.
I placed the stripe too low along the forward fuselage. Both sides should terminate around the opening for the pitot tube. I didn’t catch the error until after the port side decal had dried, so I placed the starboard decal to match.
Liberal applications of decal-setting solution wrapped the white stripes around the intake lips.
Note that the main-gear retraction arms (parts B44 and B45) are reversed in the instructions.
I spent 25 hours on the little Hawk, a bit longer than I expected. Despite my missteps, the Hawk looks the part of a Red Arrows aircraft and will make an attractive, colorful addition to a collection of modern jets. I recommend it for modelers with a few kits behind them.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2016 issue.