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Silver Wings Hawker Hart Review Build

Parts Cleanup

Since they are not numbered, I decided to start this build by cleaning up all the parts. Immediately, I noted that the resin used for this kit is “softer” than resin I was used to dealing with. This made it much easier to do the parts cleanup since the parts were not as brittle. I was able to use my sprue cutter to clip all or most of the pour stubs from all the parts, and what remained just required a small bit of sanding with a sanding stick to finish. Overall, I think cleaning up these parts was easier than doing so for an injected plastic kit!

Things to note:

■ The bottom of the pilot’s seat has an interesting pour plug with two holes in it (see photo 1). As nice as this looks, it is not part of the seat and should be removed. Also note that the bottom of the seat will be visible from underneath if you have the bomb aiming panel open.
■ The area between the pilots and gunners cockpit has a section that needs to be removed. See photo 2.
■ The lower wings each have what looks like it could be a light housing on the wingtips. This should also be removed as the wings should be smooth with only rib detail in this area.

Interior Subassemblies

I began construction with the interior subassemblies. The instructions show these are a number of steps, each focused on one part of the interior. I encountered no issues with getting these completed. Photos 3 and 4 show the completed cockpit subassemblies.

Things to note:

■ When installing the lower seat brackets to the pilot’s seat, use two rods to position them correctly. You will need to line up the rod that goes through the top seat brackets with the top of the cockpit side frame, and then line up the lower seat brackets with the rod that goes into the forward hole in the bracket on the cockpit side frame.
■ You will need to drill a hole into the bottom of the control column to hold the cross-frame rod. I chose not to attach this to the floorboard at this time, rather attaching it during the building of the cockpit frame.
■ When installing the camera into its frame be sure to attach it oriented as shown in the instructions, noting that the frame is longer on the front side.
■ Review page 4 of the instructions, and attach items to the side of the frames as indicated (See photo 4) I ended up gluing another piece of frame to the port side frame to hold the radio gear frame and give me something solid to attach it to, and would recommend adding this to the portside frame at this point (see photos in cockpit assembly sections below).
■ The PE provided is very soft, and bends very easily, even when you don’t necessarily want it to, so I advise that you do not cut the outer frame of the PE fret at all, as it will destroy the integrity of the fret making it easier to damage the parts, and only remove the needed parts with the tip of an Xacto blade.
■ The instructions do not provide much in the way of painting instructions; however, according to the Mushroom Models Publication’s “Hawker Hart Family”, it appears that the cockpit framing should be semi-gloss black or grey, with the pilot’s seat, floor boards in natural aluminum or grey, oil tank in grey, fuel tank in natural aluminum or grey. And instrument panel in grey with black instrument surrounds. Fuselage sides metal areas in grey or natural aluminum, with fabric covered areas in linen/tan or with red dope bleeding through. Padding color for the floor where the observer lays to use the bombsite color unknown, but likely black or leather colored.