OzMods 1/144 Hawk T.2

The BAE Systems Hawk is aBritish single engine, advancedjet trainer aircraft. It first flew in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. The Hawk is used by theRoyal Air Force, and other air forces, as either a trainer or a low-cost combat aircraft. The Hawk is still in production with over 900 Hawks sold to 18 customers around the world.

The Hawk 128 is the new Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) for the RAF and Royal Navy. The Mk.128 includes modern LCD displays instead of conventional instrumentation, and allows preparation for flying modern fighter aircraft, particularly the all "glass" Typhoon. It uses theRolls-Royce Adour 951 engine. The UK Ministry of Defence awarded a Design and Development Contract to BAE Systems on 22 Dec 2004,^[building on the design of the Australian Mk.127 and the South African Mk.120s. A £450 million contract was signed in October 2006 for the production of 28 Hawk 128s.The MoD had originally announced its intention to order 20 aircraft with options for 24 more. The aircraft's maiden flight occurred on 27 July 2005 from BAE Systems' Warton airfield and lasted for 1 hour 18. minutes. I have to guess that this is what is being called the Hawk T.2. It is similar in outward appearance to all the long nose Hawks that started with the Hawk 100 and have continued through a variety of Mk. numbers, depending on to whom the aircraft was sold.

It was only natural that OzMods would produce a kit of this later variant since the RAAF flies the type. For this kit, there was a need for a new fuselage that incorporates the new nose, and a new wing with the missile rails. I'm also thinking that the sprue containing the fin with the ESM antenna on it may be new or at least modified with the proper fin insert. This later mark also had additional strakes on the upper rear fuselage. The rest of it looks pretty much the same as on the older Hawk variant that was kitted last year, and build by your editor.

The general molding of the kit is good when one considers its short run background. The surface detailing is quite good and the kit comes with two vacuformed canopies. The instructions are inside the header packaging and well done. These is a diagram of the parts layout along with some building tips. The plastic on this type of kit is a bit on the brittle side, if past experience is a guide, so one has to be quite careful when removing parts from the sprue. I recommend a fine toothed razor saw as do OzMods. There are markings provided for two aircraft. One is an all Black RAF version and the other is the very Dark Blue Canadian CT-155 with 419 Squadron, which used to fly CF-116s. Both are easy schemes to paint, but being dark will probably cause some of the background color to show through your decals; especially the white parts. The decals are fairly well done and appear to be ALPS or Ink/laser-jet printed as they are covered by a solid clear carrier so one will need to cut out each marking separately from the sheet. 

II know you've seen this aircraft type kitted in 1/72 and now you have the opportunity to add it to your 1/144 scale collection. As it is a short run kit, it is not for the inexperienced, but for those who have the skills, the results should be superb.

http://en.wikipedia.org

June 2009

My thanks to the fine folks at OzMods for the review kit. Get yours today from the link.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note toContributors.

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