Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Military Illustrated Modeller Issue 005

Hawker's Seahawk was the Royal Navy's first successful single seat jet fighter, replacing the unsatisfactory Supermarine Attacker. It showed itself to be a good ground attack aircraft and participated in the 1956 Suez Crisis. The only 1:72 scale HobbyBoss aircraft kits that I have had anything to do with up until now are those quick-build WWII single engine fighters. They are a bit 'hit and miss', quality wise, like the Mk.VB Spitfire with a canopy about 3mm wider than the fuselage and no gear doors. Some others were pretty good but still basic, usually lacking in cockpit and wheel well detail. I had read somewhere that this Seahawk kit was a quantum leap so when it turned up in my local I shelled out the readies. The price seemed very good if the quality was reasonable, but I was not expecting what I got. My favourite plastic manufacturer is MPM/Special Hobby. They have released several versions of the Seahawk in 1:72 scale, along with Airfix many years ago. The MPM effort is all plastic but can still be built up into a good model while the Special Hobby kit has an excellent resin/PE cockpit and a host of under-wing stores. No need to mention the Airfix kit here.

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