Geoff White

Hi Mick,

No I am not going to be at Bickley.

That fix is the sort of thing I am trying to avoid as it is yet more work but more importantly time which is at a premium at the moment.

Thing that really annoys me is that for a kit that is meant to be top class I shouldn't have to do this sort of crap but that seems to be the case through the whole of the build.

Geoff.

mick15

ouch! that should up your credability with airworld, dg keeps pointing out things that are wrong with scale, can't wait to get into mine.

m

schroedm

My Feedback: (1)

For the cost of this kit I don't think anybody could argue it was market leading value for money. There are models as large, if not larger than this that are, out of the box, virtually ready to go for a lot less money! Nobody should consider this model ARTF just because it is all composite. There is a LOT of building and messing about required.

I know that the amount of tweaking, changing and fiddling that is required is the main reason for my Hawk slipping behind other projects which is a shame as it really is a stunning model when finished. That day just seems so far away though and that's why it is so hard to knuckle down and get on with it!

At least we all know and agree that this model looks and flies the business and I'm sure we'll all get there in the end!!

Now then, back to working out how to do something that should have been simple ........

Rgds,
Mark

PS Anyone know if any Hawks will be at Bickley?

mick15

my mb339, well its nearly a hawk!

Geoff White

Couldn't have put it better myself Mark.

David Gladwin

DG also points out a lot of things which ARE scale on this magnificent model ! Just waiting to put the red on mine now ( need zero wind). Yes the windscreen frame is flush on the real machine (the noise would otherwise be dreadful) difficult to know how to correct that. Happens on many kits including my BVM F4, clear canopy inside a glass frame.

Picked up great book last week just called "Reds" by Airlife . Its written by John Rands on his time with the team and contains some superb in flight photos including top and undersurfaces which I could not do at Scampton. ISBN: 1-84037 121-8.

Relates in detail the grim year of '88 when they lost three aircraft and one pilot and there was also the Ramstein disaster.

I hope to visit Scampton and Leeming (home of the Black Hawks of 100Sqn) in July and get lots more Hawk close up photos. Will advise.

Model no 1 in painting, no 2 well advanced. Spedbrakes on both models distorted, can be rectified by splitting the moulding and reglueing.

Large bubbles on the intake splitter on left side of both models. Check before glueing intakes on.
Its a pig to fix afterwards, Dont ask. !

Regards,

David Gladwin.

David Gladwin

A walk on the beach gave me time to work out a flush windscreen !
Line the inside of the recess with thin Poly ply to form a ledge about 1mm wide. Cut the windscreen so that it sits on the ledge, flush with the fuselage frame and canopy arch. Its scale, too, as there is a thin black ledge inside the real Hawk windscreen and a thin ridge of sealant to seal the gap. I'll try it and see how I get on, report back.
regards, David G.

Geoff White

Hi David,

Was working on it again last night and came to the same conclusion. I am just deciding whether I am happy to go with the standard canopy fit or do I want to go to the hassle of making it fit flush?

On another matter, I am fitting the retracts and have found a minor problem. You are meant to use festo 3 MM tube for the lines but the problem is that this tube is very loose on the nipples(ooeerr) on the retract units and although I haven't carried out a test I suspect operating at 100 psi will blow the tube right off. The main problem is that the barbs on the nipples are rounded so are not very effective. The only solution I can come up with is to wire lock it on. As an alternative I tried BVM tube to see how tight that would be. Although the BVM tube is better it will still need wire locking onto the retracts. I would prefer to use the festo tube as it has a larger bore. As the retracts are made by some OEM(my guess is Hawe or Behotec as they are both German) and, I assume, the same as the big L39, how have people plumbed the retracts up to now?


Geoff.

Tim Edwards

Geoff
Told you you should have bought a Mick Reeves kit ,you could have had loads more things that didnt fit and loads less instructionns for your money!!!!
Just out of interest canopy perspex on real Hawks always seemed subflush to me
Regards
Tim

mick15

tim its not check post 200

m

David Gladwin

Solid progress on Hawk 2 (with scale flap vanes) whilst waiting for the rain to pass so I can finish painting Hawk 1 !

Hydraulic landing gear:

I have an FC Mig 29 and with the Omega system I have got the gear working perfectly EXCEPT it takes too long for a cycle, over 25 seconds. I have looked at the spec of the new Hausl system, a near constant pressure system, 10 bar with an excellent volume rate of 800ml/min. which should greatly improve the Migs transit time. I have ordered the Hausl pump system for the Mig retrofit but it occurrs to me that this very small light hyd. system would be ideal for the Hawk too for both the gear and speedbrake, leaving the doors servo operated. The result would be a wondefully smooth and steady gear travel but the cylinders would need to be specially made for hyd. operation. Uncomplicated too, unlike the Mig, as the gear units have down and up locks built in.

Door/ gear sequencing could be by a simple sequencer such as the Jetronics unit.

Power source for the pump (needs 7.2 volts) could be the ECU battery but I will need to take some power consumption (total current use , peak amperage) measurements with the Mig before committing to that.

Any comment, and if I can get new cylinders made anyone want to share the set up cost by ordering a set ?

The nosewheel could be more scale. If Glennis will make a scale wheel is anyone intersted in ordering one , again to share set up costs ?

Very sorry to hear about the loss of Tommy's superb machine. Anyone have any firm knowledge of the cause ?

Any news on how to do the small inner MLG door?

regards,

David Gladwin.

Francois

Hi David

I will see if i can convince my friends(the guys who built the mig cylinders to perhaps do the machining for a hawk set)
I will be happy to spread the costs on a new nose wheel from glennis just let me know how you want to move forward on that one.
The small doors are a real problem,as i mentioned earlier on this site i initially hinged them in the front corner by making a hinge with some spare board,this allowed a good solid hinge but the door "moved to far fwd when open and resulted in it not being in a scale position when open.(dont bother with this plan hence no photos yet)I have consequently
redone it hinging it in the same place with a ball joint allowing the door to move to the right position when open and closed and have made a ofset hinge for the back of the door
to add strenght, i have decided to use a bvm gear cylinder to actuate it and to force the correct working of it(everything else i tried seem a little suspect and resulted in sporadic jamming etc)The cylinder can be placed at the rear side of the gear mount(there is some space there)
this has proved to be a very tricky fit but the one seems to be working quit well and i will be starting the other side soon just to be sure al is well and will revert back
if everything works perfectly thereafter

PS Henry i have been trying to get hold of you concerning those parts i ordered,dont know if you are getting my mails as im getting no response,please will yoyu get in touch with me/.

Best regards

Francois

mick15

guys, i don't know whether i have mentioned before on rcu but it would pay to have a look a the eurokits hydraulic system, i intend to use it on my hawk, the only mod will be to replace the cylinder nipples with festo 4mm connectors. i used this system on my 3w bearcat the big bonus is the up and down speed are the same. it will of course not work with air up and spring down systems.

m

Craig B.

Hi David,

I would be interested in the nosewheel and possibly the hydraulic conversion for the gear.

Regards,

Craig.

-JC-

My Feedback: (26)

Hi David,

I think you will be wasting money on converting the gear. The included gear works flawless and is extremely strong. We have 3 Hawks here in LA, and they all have the original gear. No a single issue. In fact, the landing gear is what most people comment on as being extremely impressive.

The included air line works great with the nipples. Remember, there is no need to to use 160 PSI+ with this gear. 100 PSI is whene it is happy, and we get about 4 to 5 cycles on a large Robart air tank.

David Gladwin

Thanks then John, I will see how it goes on air first. Totally agree the gear is absolutely excellent.

Regards, David Gladwin.

jettset99

My Feedback: (7)

[8D]

hvnmodels

Hello Francois

I have send out the parts to you if you have not got them by now let me know asap it up to you I can make you a new set or I can refund you your money.

Henry
Hvnmodels

David Gladwin

The weather has improved and colour is going on. I dreamed up this little rig to allow me to spray the wings without help . The stiff fit of the main wing tube allows the wing to be rotated for the best angle for both top and bottom.The tube is simply taped to a saw horse. the battery is only to add stability, it does not require any power !
This may ease the pain of sparaying the larghe wings.
The dfuselage is being sprayed in sections.
regards, David Gladwin.

Gordon W

Very interesting thread guys and I've read it all. The Hawk is my favourite jet - must save up for a turbine

Regarding speed brake operation, when I was the Ground Eng Officer at No 2 TWU Chivenor (sadly closed of course) I used to study the way the Hawks would join the circuit and land from a run-in and break.

As I recall, when they returned from a sortie, typically going from left to right, the Hawks would run in upwind at about 350kt, then break left spending about 30 seconds in an almost 90deg bank pulling about 4.5g, simultaneously extending the speed brake.

The brake would remain out for the full 180deg turn, and be retracted on the downwind leg when the plane had slowed sufficiently to allow flaps and gear to be lowered. I can't remember whether the initial flap setting on the downwind leg was the take-off setting, or full flap. Full flap would be lowered prior to turning finals and landing.

The speed brake was not left in the lowered position for landing, as it would catch on the runway.

Hope this helps.

Dave, maybe you can pop the question to the Arrows during your next visit in July to confirm the correct procedure for deploying the flaps and speed brake during landing?

Gordon

David Gladwin

I take it that it is Gordon Whitehead, hello Gordon. Pretty sure that the Hawk airbrake "In " line is the gear "down" Line. It would be unacceptable NOT to have some inerconnect to retract the brake. Dont have much experience on the Hawk, only two trips at Valley, didn't do the groundschool, but a lovely aeroplane, Hunter performance but simpler to operate. We would have LOVED these at Manby, School of Refresher Flying ! One can dream !
regards, David Gladwin.

Geoff White

Hi,

Found a nice video of last years RAF Hawk display and thought I would post in case anyone else is interested.

http://www.rafvalley.org/208Display/video/WMVmovie.wmv

FYI its 12.1 Mb

Geoff

David Gladwin

Very nice bit of flying, !

Regards,

David Gladwin

P.S. Got any more like this ?

Geoff White

Haha,

No, that's the only one I could find.

On the same website theres an interesting list of the 2006 display sequence.

Ali

My Feedback: (5)

Nice Video Geoff.
I like the part when the pilot shows us all how easy it is by covering his eyes during the middle of a maneuver
Regards Al