BAe Hawk 200 - FRADU

[Knightflyer]

Well plenty of other models that I should be completing, but there was a purpose to spending 50 minutes in the garage looking for this one! I'd always had an idea to do a Hawk 200 in FRADU markings, and the 'In the Navy' Group Build gives me a chance and reason to do so.

DAY ONE So started by painting Humbrol 164 to the cockpit internal surfaces and to the 'box' that'll sit behind the pilot's seat. Then painted black detailing (ejector seat and tyres) and dark grey (Humbrol 123) to the 'cushion' on the seat and finally (because I could!) white detailing to the undercarriage legs and internal surfaces of the undercarriage doors and intakes.




DAY TWOAssembly of the wings, gluing the seat in place after another coat of dark grey paint, more white paint where it's needed



DAY THREE Well some progress at last. Lead weight pices in the nose, and then the fuselage halves glued together. Wings glued in place and a fair bit (by my standards anyway) of filler applied and sanded away. Finally (because I could even though I shouldn't of!  ) a coat of Humbrol 123 to the tailfin just to see what it looks like! I think there'll be a fair quantity of Extra Dark Sea Grey used in the kits for this build!

[Captain Canada]

Such a sexy little beast the 200. Maybe I just try modifying a kit and get one built and out of my system. Great work so far thanks for the pics !

[KiwiZac]

An exciting concept, bring it on!

[Knightflyer]

Well more progress, slow but steady

Tail-fins etc added

The Extra Dark Sea Grey paint goes on - the poorly painted area behind the cockpit is due to me remembering that I hadn't added the small intakes, so they were added and I'll paint the area next. At least the trenches on the Matchbox kits give you clearly defined areas to paint up to! 

Musings have turned whether to mess around with the wing-tips in some way? I'm fairly sure real-world Hawk 200's can carry missile launch-rails, and whilst I don't want those I'm wondering whether ECM/chaff pods might be a possibility?

[Captain Canada]

Nice. I love how much the nose on these things totally change the look.....seems angry 

[Knightflyer]

Not a great deal more done, but the addition of Satin Black in all the right places and it starts to look the business 

[Knightflyer]

Another couple of day's activity and it's getting closer to completion 

[DogfighterZen]

It's looking good, i like that small jet, looks mean with those colors.

[Knightflyer]

Well with a holiday and other things getting in the way, it's taken more that a couple of days to complete, but for your deliberations ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the .....

BAe Warhawk GA.Mk.2 "Squawk-Hawk" ZH450/191/LM,  RAF Lossiemouth FRADU 1989

Following the flight of the Hawk 200 prototype in May 1986 the UK Government and the RAF realised that here was the ideal aircraft to allow the 'down-sizing' of the UK's commitment to the defence of the British-Arab Commonweath. It would allow for the replacement of the elderly Buccaneers and the redeployment of the Tornados whilst still giving a relatively hard-hitting but cheaper alternative.

Following discussions between BAe, the MOD and the RAF, the Hawk 200 was christened "Warhawk" in service, to differentiate it from it's less aggressive Hawk T.Mk.1 cousin. When this was commented on as being militaristic and aggressive, one frustrated spokesman was caught on tape uttering the un-PC reply "Look Luv, it's a warplane, it carries bombs, not organises Tupperware parties!" It is not recorded whether the spokesperson kept their job, or whether they were promoted!

So the Warhawk entered service, mainly equipping ground-support squadrons in and around the Middle East. However this was not the only role it undertook.

With the discovery of fatigue cracks in the Royal Navy's fleet of Hawker Hunters in the late 1980's , the in-service Warhawk was seen as an ideal replacement, and a small batch of airframes were ordered and modified to perform the role that the FRADU Hunters had undertaken previously, but with enhancements to enable the Warhawk to perform even more capably

The two large under-wing fuel tanks were modified, with the port one carried a Harley in the style of the earlier Sea-Hawks, and replacing the need to nose mount the light (as in the Hunters), meaning that the Warhawk maintained full radar capability. In the forward part of the starboard under-wing fuel tank was mounted a "Sea-Spoof" radar with accompanying electronics which enabled the Warhawk to mimic and emit the signals sent out from a wide range of Anti-shipping missiles, enabling for realistic training of the Royal Navy's warships, because of it's appearance the "Sea-Spoof" unit was often jokingly referred to as Goth-Lipstick. The Warhawks were also equipped with wing-tip chaff, flare and ECM/ESM pods, and it was these along with the "Sea-Spoof" radar that led to the aircraft in FRADU service earning the sobriquet "Squawk-Hawk"

The FRADU pilots plied their trade aggressively, and following one particularly bruising training session a mentally battered warship captain was heard to bemoan how the two Squawk-Hawks sent against him and operating in tandem as attacker and missile had "Spoilt his day",  the reply of one of the attacking pilots was "Be thankful the third one with a Sea Eagle (the Squawk-Hawks were still combat capable) didn't join us, that would've more than just ruined your day!"

[DogfighterZen]

I like that mean-looking little thing!

[Captain Canada]

I do Too excellent job on this one. Love the additions to it. Nice little story as well. I'd love the see it armed up 

[Old Wombat]

 

[zenrat]

Good job.