BAe CT-155 Hawk 1/72 scale by Air Fix

Hello everyone,

Sorry about the long delay in a new post. I stopped constructing models for a while for many different reasons that took up a lot of my time, the main one being at Seneca for Travel and Tourism (Flight Services). That's right, I am learning to be a flight attendant.

Anyways, I am home now and will be posting a lot as I have too much free time on my hands and am not huge on drinking haha. So the posting will not lag behind. I have built an unprecedented amount of models over the past month and a half or so and I will be posting updates for as many as I feel like.

I will also be including some techniques I used for painting, constructing and decaling these models as I started this blog because I couldn't find any blogs about how to make models look as realistic as some do. I am not there yet, but I'm getting there. Also, any and all paints are by Tamiya.

CT-155 Hawk 1/72 by Air Fix

My first new post will be of an aircraft I just finished a few hours ago. Namely, the CT-155 Hawk of the RCAF. If you go out looking for this aircraft you will never find it in this scale as I combined a few things to make the model work. The model itself is by Air Fix, a company I don't usually build with as every single model I do build by them has a lot of excess plastic on it. This model didn't and I was happy about that.

I started simply by painting and decalling the interior pieces so I won't have to try and get the paint brush into tight/awkward spots. The rest of assembly went well, really good in fact. This model did not once have me swearing or leaving the table out of frustration. A great build.

I painted the interior Neutral Gray with the seats being Olive Green. The pilot's jumpsuits I painted Olive Green with Neutral Gray Helmets, Black gloves/boots/masks and Flat Black visors. I painted the aircraft overall Sea Blue with the missiles getting J.N. Gray with Blue, Red and Green stripes.

You may be wondering how I was able to make this aircraft Canadian as the kit only comes with RAF/Indian Air Force decals. I simply combined the decals I had left over from a CF-5 Freedom Fighter, plus a few decals from a T33. These decals were printed by a company called Leading Edge Models who print Canadian decals for aircraft that otherwise would not be Canadian. And being Canadian has influenced me wanting to decal the aircraft this way.

 Ok, enough with the assembly, now let's discuss what this plane is and is used for. Well, to put it simply, it is an intermediate jet trainer for Canadian RCAF pilots. The Indian Air Force uses them as light strike fighters as well as the RAF and several other countries utilize them for training as well.


For RCAF pilots these aircraft are usually the last thing they fly before graduating to the CFA-18 Hornet, which is due to be retired as soon as we (Canada) find something to replace it.


So that is basically the CT-155, where the T means trainer and the C means Canadian. If you are ever at a Canadian air show (Waterloo air show for example) you will see two pilots demonstrate this aircraft's capabilities. All of those demonstrators hail from Moose Jaw, which is a small city near Regina, Saskatchewan. A magnificent little trainer, I think it will be around for years to come.



General characteristics

• Crew: 2: student, instructor
• Length: 12.43 m (40 ft 9 in)
• Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in)
• Height: 3.98 m (13 ft 1 in)
• Wing area: 16.70 m² (179.64 ft²)
• Empty weight: 4,480 kg (9,880 lb)
• Useful load: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 9,100 kg (20,000 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Adour Mk. 951 turbofan with FADEC, 29 kN (6,500 lbf) 29 kN

  Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 0.84 (1,028 km/h, 638 mph) at altitude
• Range: 2,520 km (1,360 NM, 1,565 mi)
• Service ceiling: 13,565 m (44,500 ft)
• Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min)
• Thrust/weight: 0.65

Armament

Note: all armament is optional.

• 1× 30 mm ADEN cannon, in centreline pod
• Up to 6,800 lb (3,085 kg) of weapons on five hardpoints, including:
  • 4× AIM-9 Sidewinder or ASRAAM on wing pylons and wingtip rails
• 1,500 lb (680 kg), limited to one centreline and two wing pylons (Hawk T1)

(Information provided by Wikipedia and the Canadian Forces website)