Hawk 1/32 Lotus 30 Ford & 'Jim Clark' **FINISHED**

[JamesPerrin]

So this is a classic American kit of a British racing classic, the kit dates from 1965, they also did a Chaparral II which would make a nice little pairing. They also did a Maserati the original release of which had a sold windscreen! Like a lot of American kits in this scale they were also released in slot car versions.

More Hawk cars here: http://members.ziggo.nl/dwijsman/Invoeg ... insert.htm;

The is a later boxing with the photo of a completed kit. The instructions are charmingly photo illustrated too.



Parts cleanly moulded in milkly, translucent plastic. Very basic detail but with finely rendered panel lines. Nothing underneath, the axles are held in place by the front and rear parts of the body that warp underneath. A really nicely sculpted drive is also included.



The decals despite there assurances of curve hugging look like they were printed in a saw mill as there are a few bits trapped under decal. Should be straight forward to mask the yellow stripe.

[flakmonkey]

Not something you see very often. I was surprised not to find a Scarab in the Hawk line-up, but now have my heart set on an Alky-Saltzer. A snip at €15.99. The Apache Roadster also looks interesting, not least for the fact that box art seems to depict the driver having run over a cyclist

[JamesPerrin]

That's not a complete list just what teh dealer has but it's a fascinating website.The Testor boxings of the Bonneville racers appear on ebay regularly at bargain prices.

[JamesPerrin]

"The Ford engine was the same as used in the GT40."

[JamesPerrin]

The pale translucent plastic makes it quite hard to judge joins. I thought I had the side pods nicely flush but when they had dried it was apparent that there would be filling and sanding. The front and rear parts of the body shell only needed a little touch up.

Now with these old kits since it would take a lot of work to bring them up to scratch I feel you might as well do them OOB and not be shy about what it is. However I couldn't live with the novelty engine exhausts that are mount on a base plate. They should poke up through a rectangular hole in the body. Luckily by slicing these off the hole reveals itself.





I'll just make a new set of exhausts from plastic tube mount on a base plate that will be attached to the inside of the body shell.

[JamesPerrin]

Oh yeah the black shadows are from where I painted the inaccessible areas before closing up.

[Jagewa]

Whoa, that is translucent.

I like Lindberg kits for the same reason, James, no point getting wound up about the details and just enjoying them for what they are.

Great fun.

Cheers
Jim

[mattbacon]

...I like the stripy deck chairs that pass for seats! ;-P

bestest,
M.

[JamesPerrin]

I had a few scratches and seams to treat after the first coat of primer and was ready to start on the yellow and green but then...

Well despite what I said earlier I realised I wouldn't sleep at night if I didn't open up the side intakes, 'cos intakes are what make racing cars cool, 'cos aeroplanes have intakes and they're cool, right. Tape was applied to stop me clumsily scratching the body shell.



I applied some white before the yellow to help achieve a solid colour quicker, I used Xtracrylix's RAF Rescue yellow as it has a slight orange tint that seems to match the picture I'm working from of Jim Clark sat in the car. I also used this photo to paint up the figure.



This is a really lovely sculpted figure that despite being just to halves fits togther very well and pretty much avoids any simplification or filled spaces. Event the zip pulls on his breast pockets are moulded. His overall is pale blue with a tinge of lilac. Here he is in his base coats.

[JamesPerrin]

The more effort you put into doing something right to greater the chance you screw something else. So after get the smoothest finish on my primer that I had yet achieved, precisely measuring the stripes and their location, I precariously hold the model in a crocodile clip while I take it out side to spray. A minute later and make my seedlings blush as the freshly painted model has pinged onto the floor and landed in a tray of compost.



Thankfully the Tamiya paint goes off quite quickly and once it was touch try I was able to removed the dirt and re-sand the back end.

After some discussion with Matt I had decided to take his advice and try out Tamiya's mini spray TS-9 of "British Green". Though the colour is great I have not been able to get a fine spray out of the can. On subsequent coats I tried warming the can before hand with not much improvement. The finished is therefore not as smooth I would have hoped for. Oh well I can put it aside for a few day to harden up and then attempt to smooth it before giving it a clear coat.

[mattbacon]

It looks good, James... that green and yellow is something special, isn't it? If you let the Tamiya paint cure good and hard (say 5 days in the airing cupboard) it polishes up beautifully. I used Novus #2 Polish, which I have stocked up on, but I'm sure Micromesh and canopy polish would work just as well. And Jim looks very cool, too... looking forward to seeing him finished.

bestest,
M.

[TimJ]

Great looking paintwork James. Jim Clark looks good too.

[Dazzled]

Classic curves on a classic kit. Nice one James

[flakmonkey]

But did the compost make it bigger?

[JamesPerrin]

But did the compost make it bigger?

No, but I swear it's greener.