Pro Resin 1/72 Hawker Hunter T.66/66A/66B/68

The Hawker Hunter was a British jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. The Hunter served for many years with the Royal Air Force and was widely exported, serving with 19 air forces. A total of 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under license.

Two-seat trainer versions of the Hunter, theT 7 and T 8 remained in use for training and secondary roles by the RAF and Royal Navy until the early 1990s.

The Hunter was exported to over 20 countries, each nation accepting at least one two seat aircraft for conversion training.

Pro Resin's kit is molded in the usual tan shade that we have come to expect from most resin kits. You notice right away that there are a lot of parts in the bag and this can cause some parts to dislodge from their pour stubs. I also had a hole in my bag, but it was small and once the loose parts were put back, the hole was taped shut.

Detailing is superb. Molding is very nicely done with minimal voids. The kit's nose section and wheel wells have nicely molded in detailing. The fuselage is in four sections, which is OK, but I'm sure most would have preferred it to be just two pieces to eliminate the additional seam. However, it does offer the possibility of doing other Hunter variations. The kit has a separate nose section as often that is the major difference between variants. Two drop tanks are provided for the inner stations and there are also outer pylons in case you wish to add something there.

The nicely done one piece wings have separate flaps and the intake is molded in one section as well, making for no worries on inside seams. The pylon attachment holes are pre-drilled in the bottom of the wings so if you want to leave any off, you'll need to fill the holes. The cockpit comes with separate rudder pedals and control sticks. The seats are well molded, look to be the proper type and have harness detail molded in place. Photo etch is used minimally consisting of the rudder pedals, instrument panel and dual windscreen wipers for the vacuformed canopy. Thankfully, two of these are supplied in case you goof on one or want to have the canopy open. I should also point out that there is room in the nose section for weight if you feel it needs it. The instructions don't list any, but I'm always gun-shy when it comes to resin and will put weight in there just in case. The kit is also supplied with nicely done landing gear, doors and wheels. The speed brake can be shown raised or lowered. I should also note that the tail section has the parabrake housing molded in place, which I believe is the norm for all two seat Hunters.

This kit differs from the previous boxing by having a different nose section for the Swiss version as well as not having the tail hook. There are a couple of other minor differences; Pro Resin did their research on these to be sure all the changes from type to type have been taken care of.

Instructions have seven nicely drawn construction steps that include color information. This is provided with generic, Humbrol, Model Master and Revell color references. There are markings for four aircraft. All of them are in standard RAF colors though the colors show all with a light aircraft grey underside. Not sure if that is correct for the ones from the 60's and earlier, so one should check reference photos to be sure.

Anyway, one is the box art T.68 from the Swiss AF in June of 1995. This is the one with the additional ESM bumps on the nose and tail. Next is a Jordanian T,66B from 1 Squadron in 1968. Third option is an Iraqi AF T.66A from 1957 and finally, an Indian AF T.66 from 'The Banners' Target Towing Flight in 1999. The decals are very nicely printed by Begemont and provide a full stencil suite with the instructions having an excellent stencil placement guide.

A very nice resin kit that will surely appeal to many. There have been conversions in both vacuformed plastic and resin available over the years, but now we have a complete kit with some excellent markings choices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter

February 2011

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