The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Here is the Hawk 1/48 F2H2 Banshee. The copywrite inside the wing showing the original mold in 1957. I was six years old then and remember building it but probably not then.

This release had a weird box stating HSO or Hobby Shop Only(making it circa 1985ish). Nothing has changed except the really nice Scale Master decals.








Back in the days when the manufacturer showed you where the decals went.











And here we are. All the parts are there.





And so you don't confuse the pieces





Not doing anything special to this build except remembering the good old days.

Heyyyyy, ain't that stretching the Group Build rules a bit?

Ok Greg. I may have this in reverse. Old kit but the boxing is post 1980. What say he? I have many others that are long in the tooth.
No worries.

Oh hold while waiting Mods weigh-in

It's more about the plastic than anything and a quick google search says that even this boxing is quite rare, besides this has a 60 year old origin of the mold so I am allowing it. Hope that goes well with everyone.

All the best.

Greg

Thanks Greg. You just had to mention the 60 year part. I think I built this the first time in 1958 however.

So will be pressing on.

For those of us in 60 yr. bracket I will concur. Knock off the dust and go for it. I seem to remember this going for a whooping 50 cents.

I feel so young as I was only four when that kit came out

The grey and white colours looked so much better than the all over dark blue.

The construction is going very well on the few parts provided. A kit of this age has it's issues. First I found that the locator pins did not line up with the holes provided so they all were cut off. Back in the day we wouldn't care would we.This made the mating of parts go much better. Still there was much filing and sanding to do; Like James says. "Better to fettle than fill." The Banshee was also known as the "Flying Banjo".

This is the pilot figure. Hawk got a lot of mileage put of this one. Featured also in the F-104 and U-2 kits. I might play around with this one outside the build.





Some idea of the flash on most parts.






Test fit of the main pieces shows a bit of an issue with the wing to fuselage fit.






And here is the state of play. Seam lines need sanding and some primer shot on.






Feels a little like a Blitzbau.

That airframe has the classic and very fetching first gen look about it.

Looking good!

Excellent progress Jeff.

After getting the best wing to fuselage fit I could, there was a huge gap along the entire seam. So...........I laid in plastic strip to insure a good gluing surface. Than a touch up of filler. It is curing now. Later today I will sand that smooth and get ready for paint.
All of the decal locators have been sanded off. They did not line up with the markings I am using any way.

No pictures on this update but the under surfaces received a coat of white this morning.

This is going to look sweet. Nice work on this oldie.

All the best.

Greg