Global Scale Modeller

FGA Mk.6 Sea Hawk



The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its origins stemmed from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company's first jet aircraft.

Following the type's successful acceptance in the RN, the Sea Hawk proved to be a reliable and sturdy workhorse. A considerable number were also produced for the export market, and were operated from aircraft carriers in both Dutch and Indian service. The last operational Sea Hawks, operated by the Indian Navy, were retired in 1983.

The first production Sea Hawk was the F 1, which first flew in 1951, entered service two years later with 806 Squadron, first based at Brawdy, then transferred to the HMS Eagle. Just over 30 were actually built by Hawker. At that time, Hawker was also producing the Hawker Hunter for the RAF and so production and further development of the Sea Hawk was switched to Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, part of the Hawker group. The F 1 was armed with four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannons. It was powered by a single 5,000 lbf (22 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Nene 101 turbojet. The F 1 had a maximum speed of 599 mph (964 km/h) at sea level and a range of 800 mi (1,287 km) on internal fuel. The second fighter variant was the F 2 which introduced power-boosted aileron controls as well as other modifications, including to its structure.

The next variant of the Sea Hawk was developed into a fighter-bomber, the FB 3 - Fighter-Bomber Mark 3 -(over 100 built) and differed only slightly from its predecessors. Its structure was strengthened to allow it to carry a wide array of equipment and weaponry. Its new armament consisted of two 500 lb (227 kg) bombs and 16 unguided rockets. The fourth Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, the FGA 4, with increased weapons capability. The fifth Sea Hawk was a fighter-bomber variant, the FB 5, basically FB 3 and FGA 4s re-engined with the new Rolls-Royce Nene 103. The final Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, FGA 6, and was exactly the same as its immediate predecessor, though they were new builds rather than re-engined, with just under 90 built. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid-1950s and eventually over 500 were built.

The Sea Hawk, as part of the Fleet Air Arm, saw extensive service during the Suez Crisis, initiated by Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The United Kingdom, France and Israel took part in the campaign, with the Anglo-French invasion being known as Operation Musketeer, beginning on 31 October 1956. Six Sea Hawk squadrons took part: two were aboard the fleet carrier HMS Eagle, and two each aboard the light fleet carriers HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. The Sea Hawks were used for ground-attack, in which they excelled, causing immense damage to a variety of Egyptian targets. The military aspect of the Suez Campaign was a success, unlike the political disaster. All Allied forces were eventually withdrawn by 1957.

General characteristics

Crew: One
Length: 39 ft 8 in (12.09 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Height: 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m)
Wing area: 278 ft² (25.83 m²)
Empty weight: 9,278 lb (4,208 kg)
Loaded weight: 13,220 lb (5,996 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 16,150 lb (7,325 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Nene 103 turbojet, 5,200 lbf (23.1 kN)

Performance

Maximum speed: 600 mph (965 km/h)
Range: 480 mi (770 km)
Service ceiling: 44,500 ft (13,564 m)
Rate of climb: 5,700 ft/min (29.0 m/s)
Wing loading: 48 lb/ft² (232 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.38

Armament

Guns: 4 × 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannons (200 rpg)
Hardpoints: 6 underwing and provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 20 × "60 lb" (27 kg) unguided rockets or 16 × 5 in (127 mm) unguided rockets
Bombs: 4 × 500 lb (227 kg) bombs
Other: or 2 × 90 Imp gal (410 l) drop tanks

Videos



Classic Aircraft Naval Fighters (first half Sea Hawk, second half Sea Vixen)

[youtube]KmWaW2XYmpg[/youtube]


Sea Hawks of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm-HMS Eagle 1950s

[youtube]1TLRkwrxgvE[/youtube]


Sea Hawk and Sea Fury of the Royal Navy Historic Flight (PlanesTV)

[youtube]AK1E5u6HatA[/youtube]

The Kit

Initial impressions are extremely positive:

• The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box.
  Each sprue is in its own bag.
  There is a small etch included with a seat belt and part of the front instrument panel.
  The instructions are in an A4 booklet.
  The painting and decalling guide is on a separate A4 glossy colour sheet.

Looks a great kit mate good luck with the build.

I've been looking at this kit for ages now, looks great. I love this era, early jets, especially FAA stuff. If I'm going to get one, I'd best hang around for a while

Joesdad wrote:I've been looking at this kit for ages now, looks great. I love this era, early jets, especially FAA stuff. If I'm going to get one, I'd best hang around for a while

I'm impressed so far

The front panel for the cockpit is an interesting design. They supply a printed piece of clear plastic that you need to cut to shape and a PE piece for the dial covers. Better than a simple decal

The dial faces are actually clear rather than white and the instructions tell you to paint the pieces that it will stick to should be matt black Methinks this is an error as the dials will then not show up so I will be painting the area behind the dial film white.

The fit is great so far. Here's hoping the rest will be as good.

instrument panel looks good

rgds
John(shortCummins)

I spent some time properly reviewing the instructions (a first for me) and I noticed that it doesn't tell you put any nose weight in. I am pretty certain its going to be a tail sitter so I'm going to add some behind the nose wheel just to be on the safe side.

Ordered some 'Medium Grey' to paint the cockpit tub. It arrived this morning - but there was something not 'quite' right :



Luckily turns out I had some by Model Master that was the correct colour that I didn't know I had. Note the stark difference in the tub:

Just painting the seat so went looking for a picture of the real thing. Found this:



This guy has a great selection of pictures for reference - Nick Parker.

Seat and cockpit tub done.

This is NOT going to be a tail-sitter

All fitted together and undercoated - she's a handsome lady





When you fit the rear to the front you do get a bad step underneath. I was aware of this as I had read another build article.



On the top two main panel lines don't line up. I filled the original and scribed a new line from the front to the 'kink' in the rear piece.

The build looks great so far. Watching the video first gives some real perspective to what you're doing. Nice find on the ejection seat too

Danta2er wrote:The build looks great so far. Watching the video first gives some real perspective to what you're doing. Nice find on the ejection seat too

Thanks

Just out of the paint shop

This is my first completed attempt at pre-shading.

Started putting the decals on and disaster struck

When attempting to position the invasion stripes around the body the decal split straight away in various places - no pressure really needed. The burning question is do I try and get some replacement decals or try to paint them? I have tried to mask the area but it's a beeping nightmare trying to get straight lines.

I have also discovered that Vallejo Decal Medium dissolves Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish so beware!

A bit more on the kit decals....

They aren't that good - many of them have white speckles throughout them - especially the roundels. If I had known how bad they are I would have bought some aftermarket ones.

Painting the invasion stripes - I used Xtracolour RAF Rescue Yellow and Tamiya Flat Black:









As you can see the stripes came out ok - but disaster struck. Some of the decals stuck to the cling film that I was using to mask off part of the model. I have used it before but never suffered this issue. It's at points like this that I seriously wonder why I bother!

I've ordered some new decals from Hannants - same squadron - just a different jet.

I read quite a few posts about removing decals from around the internet and most said to sand them off. As they seem to have been pulled off using cling-film I thought I would try some tape. It worked I tried with some Tamiya tape - and it pulled the decals off as well

So strong piece of advice - REPLACE THE DECALS IN THIS KIT!!

The proof:

Great job on spraying the Suez stripes. Shame about those decals.

Hope you have better luck with the replacements.

Willem wrote:Great job on spraying the Suez stripes. Shame about those decals.

Hope you have better luck with the replacements.

Thanks

Sucks about the decals, sometimes the only way to find out they suck is to try and use them.

Hope the AM ones work out better for you. Its looking great so far, very neat work on the main colours.

Gav0909 wrote:Sucks about the decals, sometimes the only way to find out they suck is to try and use them.

Hope the AM ones work out better for you. Its looking great so far, very neat work on the main colours.

Thanks - masking is one of the few things I seem to be good at