Hawk 100 Series Advanced Jet Trainer

Published on
June 10, 2013
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$70.00
Product / Stock #
K33206
Company: Kinetic Model Kits - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: Stevens International - Website: Visit Site
Box Art

The Hawk 100 series jet trainer is a British two-seat, single-engine advanced jet trainer. It was selected for use in a joint venture between Bombardier Aerospace Corp. and Canada. Some were also ordered and built in Australia. It is used in many variants by many countries friendly to England.

The kit is molded in light gray plastic and comes with a photo etched set; the clear parts are thin and very clear. The overall details were good, but some parts were soft and not sharp. There were sink holes in several places, among them the tops of the wings and the rocket rails. The kit gives the option of wing tip caps or missile rails if you want to arm the model; a drop tank is also included. Some extra parts weren’t used, which are probably for different versions.

Since I wasn’t familiar with this jet, I followed the instructions. Fit of the cockpit parts was good, but I left the ejection seats out until the end of the build, since that's when I added the photo etched seat belts. The cockpit interior didn't have enough painting information. Interestingly, there are paint reference numbers adjacent to some of the parts on the instruction sheet, but I was unable to find some of them on the included paint chart.

The part marked C-21 (turbine blade) in the instructions is actually part C-12 on the sprue. In section 13 of the instructions, there were several small hatches (parts D-26 and D-28) which needed to be glued in, and when in place were flush with the outer skin and would’ve made my life easier if they were represented by panel lines. Part C-4 in section 8 was recessed when glued into its opening – however, I think it was supposed to be flush.

Fit was generally good overall, but I had to fill the intake seams on both sides; a spot behind the wing on the bottom also needed to be filled. On my example, the wings were warped – I corrected this with tape while the glue was drying. The horizontal stabilizers have a nice robust attachment point.

The landing gear was a little soft in detail. I had the opportunity to use aftermarket metal replacement ones from Scale Aircraft Conversions for another review, so I used them on this plane. The tires are each two pieces, which allows you to paint the wheels and tires separately, then assemble the tires around the wheels and touch up the tread area for a nice clean look.

When it came to the photo etched seat belts, the instructions are very poor. I tried to find pictures of the seats on the Internet, but never figured out how the various parts of the belts went together, so I finally just took a guess.

The decals are made by Cartograf and were wonderful – they lay down nicely using Micro Scale’s Micro Set. There are markings options for five aircraft: one Canadian and two each for the RAF and Australia. The decal instructions were hard to read on the three-views of the dark-painted aircraft because the lines from the numbers got washed out on that dark surface. On the plus side, the last two pages of the instructions have a detailed line drawing of where everything goes.

I broke my delicate refueling probe in the painting stage. If you search online, there’s a metal one available. Overall, Kinetic’s offering is a good kit to build of this modern jet trainer.

My thanks to Stevens International and IPMS/USA for the privilege of allowing me to review this kit.

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