S u m m a r y
Catalogue Number:	Azur kit no. A045 - H-75A-1/3 Hawk "In French Service"
Scale:	1/32
Contents and Media:	114 parts in grey injection moulded plastic; 39 clear injection moulded parts; 38 parts in cream-coloured resin, 1 x colour photo-etched fret; 1 x standard photo-etched fret; decals for two aircraft.
Price:	USD$71.96 available online from Squadron.com
Review Type:	FirstLook
Advantages:	Important and attractive subject; crisp consistent surface detail (recessed panel lines, subtle fabric detail); highly detailed cockpit and engine; thin trailing edges; no sink marks in visible locations; includes resin and coloured photo-etched parts; excellent thin and distortion free clear parts; optional spinner hub, windscreen styles, cockpit parts and machine guns; high quality decals; separate elevators and rudders; simple engineering.
Disadvantages:	Some flash to clean up; no locating pins means previous experience will be helpful.
Recommendation:	Recommended.

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The forward fuselage and engine cowl is moulded as a separate assembly, suggesting that we will see the short-nosed P-36 / Hawk 75 variants from Special Hobby some time in the future. Cowl flaps are moulded shut.

There is a little flash to clean up on some of the parts, notably the undercarriage, but the story is otherwise very good. There are no sink marks or other imperfections anywhere on the visible exterior surfaces of the model. Trailing edges of the wings and tailplanes are sharp.

However, as good as the moulding is, there are no locating pins so extra time and care will be required to align the parts perfectly. That nose to fuselage to wing root join looks especially tricky. I would recommend gluing some tabs to the inside of the fuselage to assist alignment and reinforce the join with the nose.

Detail of the kit is very good. The engine features fine cooling fin detail on the cylinders and a separate ring of push rods. The only detail wanting is an ignition harness. In this large scale, the extra work will be well worthwhile. Engine assembly will be quite straightforward with only eight parts in total.

The cockpit is comprehensive. For starters, it is the correct depth, and the basic shapes of the seat, sidewalls, instrument panel, rudder pedals and rear bulkhead look accurate. Almost the entire cockpit is fitted out with resin and photo-etched. The resin is very well detailed, including a fine seat with a realistic cushion, deep sidewall detail and authentic instrument panel with the instrument housings protruding from the back. All this lovely resin is supplemented with parts from the large pre-painted photo-etch set. Some of these elements include a harness, instrument panel, rudder assemblies and sidewall details.

Two alternate resin gun cowls are also included.

Eight additional resin parts are packed separately for the main landing gear legs and retraction mechanism.

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

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Rudder and elevators are supplied as separate parts with photo-etched actuators, but dropped flaps are not an option.

The clear parts are very thin and totally free of distortion. Although they are not destined for this version, the clear sprue includes three alternative styles of windscreen. Navigation lights are also supplied.

 

 

Markings are supplied for three aircraft, two in Armee de L'air service in 1940, and one Vichy machine in service during 1941. The decals are clear, crisply printed and in perfect register.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion