Italeri Mk.64 Hawk conversion from BAe Hawk T1 1:48 – build review

Kuwait Air Force 1993
Feature Article by Mick Stephen

Intro from Geoff

Here’s another great little project from Mick S – his conversion of the Italeri BAe Hawk T.Mk.1 into a Mk.64 Hawk of the Kuwait Air Force in 1993. Here’s a photo of Mick’s lovely model on completion. What follows is the full story! Nice work Mick .

Background

I have always chosen build subjects that hold some interesting history, an affiliation of some sort, direct experience and above all a good story to tell. Along with telling a good story it makes the build so much more interesting in terms of research and in the end, “with a tale to tell” should anyone admire the finished result.

With this in mind, pull up a sandbag and I will share with you the story of a Hawk Mk.64 of the Kuwait Air Force. Don’t despair, this does lead to a build review

In 1993 I had the good fortune to be asked to join a small team of tradesmen tasked with rebuilding the small fleet of BAe Hawk aircraft, (or what was left of them), after the 1st Gulf War. A couple of examples did manage to escape the clutches of a certain local dictator, but the majority fell into the hands of his forces. Left in a poor state of repair, in early 1992 they were stripped down and relocated to the UAE, as the closest similar operator able to support their return to flight.

After spending a period of time languishing in disarray, the flying examples that had escaped their fate, joined the rest of the dismantled fleet and our task began.
Utilising the age old method of beg, borrow and steal the first of the airframes returned to the air in early 1994, the squadron reformed and new trainee’s arrived to get the Hawks back into their primary role of basic fast jet conversion and weapons training platforms. One of the first to fly again was serial 151 pictured below.

However my chosen subject is serial 145, for no other reason that she became the primary weapons training platform and as this was my specialty it seemed a reasonable choice.

The kit

The basic kit is the Italeri 1:48 Hawk T1 which I will attempt to do my best to replicate a Mk.64 from. The differences were in fact very small so this will be a ‘quick build’ using only a basic Eduard PE set to detail the cockpit and little else than a suitable paint scheme and decals.

I see little point in going through every sprue and contents of the box, this has been done by many before me, let’s jump straight into the build.

Initial construction…