Boeing/BAE Systems Super Hawk

[CammNut]

Building on the international success of the Hawker-designed Hawk trainer and development of the US Navy's carrier-capable derivative, the T-45 Goshawk, BAE Systems and Boeing in the mid-2000s teamed to develop a successor as a private venture. Unimaginatively named the Super Hawk, the all-new aircraft was designed to meet the emerging requirement to train pilots for new-generation fighters, including the Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35.

The Super Hawk combines BAE's extensive experience and understanding of advanced pilot training wth Boeing's knowledge of agile, departure-resistant combat aircraft. Not surprisingly, the resulting aircraft resembles the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. A digital aircraft, the Super Hawk features fly-by-wire flight controls, glass cockpit and - further bridging the US/UK divide - a pair of unreheated Rolls-Royce AE3007 (F137) turbofans producing a combined 18,000lb thrust.



This one has been finished a while, but I have finally given up trying to find time to take decent pictures. So here it is. Some times you plan a whif for months, even years, and spend hours, even weeks, planning every detail. At other times, like this one, you find yourself with a kit in your hands and it suddenly comes to you - I could make this into that.



The Super Hawk began as a "support your local hobby store" guilt trip - buying a model just so I left the store with one, and not just the usual paints and supplies. Zvezda's Bravo from Disney's Planes is "sort of" an F/A-18E Super Hornet at 1/100th scale - so the right size for a trainer at 1/72nd. "Sort of" because there are bits of classic F/A-18 Hornet and even F-16 in there (the tails).

I was just finishing the model when Boeing unveiled its contender for the U.S. Air Force's T-X trainer competition - twin fins, shoulder wing and all - and I felt forced to send out the tweet below so my fellow whiffers would not accuse me of copying something real!



The mods were limited to reducing the inlet size (they are huge), adding a two-seat cockpit (canopy is a Falcon vacform Grumman F9F-8T), sanding the feathers off the nozzles to extend the fuselage aft and a new, less macho nosegear (from the original Hawk). The Zvezda kit is snap-fit, as goes together well - but its engineering made the mods, particularly of the inlets, a bit harder.







In whifspace, the Royal Air Force purchased the Boeing/BAE Super Hawk instead of the Hawk T.2, so the color scheme is overall gloss trainer black with decals from Alleycat for a 208(R) Sqn. Hawk T.1. This sheet includes hundreds of tiny white stencils, most of which are almost impossible to see at 1/72nd, but which I felt were important on an all-black aircraft.





The photo I have been trying, and failing, to capture is a side-on shot that shows the fuselage is not as "two-seat-Forger-like" as it seems from the images here. It is more reminiscent of a two-seat Harrier, which seems appropriate! And, yes, the tails are huge, but it was a Disney cartoon model and I quite like them...

[philp]

Love this.

[TheChronicOne]

I LOVE it!!  Brilliant!

I have had my eyes on the "Planes" kits for awhile now wondering how I could make one work.

Your guilt trip turned into a pleasant walk down Whif Lane.   

The pictures you have here are quite nice, I'm glad you decided to go ahead and post!  One hell of a coincidence with the Boeing announcement.

[Dizzyfugu]

Very cool. I actually had an eye on Bravo (and Dusty!) a couple of days ago, since the kit looks decent, just needs a cockpit implant. This build proofs this personal theory, well done! 

Could even become a theme for a 2017 GB. 

[Tophe]

I LOVE it!!

So do I!

[Rheged]

I LOVE it!!

So do I!

I think we ALL love it!!

[comrade harps]

It's kind of a cross between a SuperBug and a Yak-130/Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master with what I thought was a Harrier two-seater canopy. Really nice.   

[NARSES2]

Looks good 

[PR19_Kit]

A modified two-seat Harrier was exactly my impression when I first saw it.

Cracking bit of work there. 

[CammNut]

Thanks for the kind comments folks.

As for Disney "Planes" models, I have these on my workbench at the moment: Ripslinger and Rochelle



They are primed and ready for...something. Not sure what yet. I was thinking counter-insurgency hunter/killer team somewhere in South East Asia

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah that sounds good!

[zenrat]

This is great.

[DogfighterZen]

Very nice work! 
I've got the Airfix and Revell Snapfit kits of the Raptor, one will be donating it's wings and the other will be whiffed.