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Swiss Air Force Mk.66 Hawk

The Swiss Air Force trains its pilots to fly the worlds best aircraft. In the late 1980s the Swiss Air Force chose the Hawker Siddley Mk.66 Hawk to replace the DH-115 Vampire which they had been using as a training aircraft for over 30 years. Hawks training regimens were air-to-air, air-to-ground, and instrument training. Hawk deployment began in 1990 and were used as advance trainers until their retirement in 2002.

The Kit

The Tamiya/Italeri 1/48 scale kit depicts the Mk.66 Hawk, in particular the Swiss Air Force Mk.66 Hawk. Illustrated options include flaps in the up or down position, airbrake assembly in the open or closed position, and external fuel tanks or AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles. The kit also includes a fret of PE parts, a single decal sheet that supports five different aircraft, and a well illustrated instruction guide.

Construction

Building the Mk.66 Hawk was straight forward using the 16 step instruction guide. The parts fit was good so only seam filling and sanding was required. The kit provides PE parts for the cockpit instrument panels. However, I did not use them and just used the instrument panel decals. The kit also provides two metal pilot figures which again I did not use.

Painting

The Swiss Air Force Mk.66 Hawks were painted the same way as the first RAF training aircraft. The fuselage was painted in red and white while the inner sections of the wing were painted in Light Ghost Gray. Landing gears, the wheel bays, and the inside of the wheel bay doors were painted in Light Gray. Since the Mk.66 is a training aircraft, I equipped the model with two AIM-9L training missiles. Captive (training) Sidewinders have a live seeker head, but the rest of the missile is non-functional and painted blue.

Decals

Decaling this model presented a couple of problems. First problem was the access panels on the marking guide did not match the panels on the model. The second problem was again with the marking guide. The marking guide was unclear as to where some of the decals were supposed to be placed on the model. Recently I have built two RAF Hawks. I used one of those Hawks as a model for decal placement. The decals themselves were great.

Comment

With excellent detail, good fit, and good decals, the Tamiya/Italeri Swiss Air force Mk.66 Hawk is very buildable. It was a relatively easy build with a very impressive finished model.