This one was just completed for the Eye in the sky GB. It is a Kinetics 1/48 E-2C Hawkeye from the mid 1990’s. The kit is not hard to build but will take you some time due to its complexity and all the little things that you have to do that slow you down. It is well detailed and the fit overall is quite good. However, there are two exceptions to the fit that I ran into that other reviews also noted. One was the two halves of the fuselage can be grossly warped and will require significant effort to correct in clamping and heating of the plastic to get it to relax back into the correct alignment. And the second issue is similar in the fit of the upper wing section to the fuselage, which also took significant clamping and heat to correct. Once this was done the kit builds with very little effort and its nicely detailed with panel lines and rivits.
I painted it with primarily Gunge Mr Color and some Model Masters paints. I weathered it with oils and pastels. It is built OOB with only the addition of antenna wires.
The kit calls for 100 grams nose weight; I added over 120 grams and it is balanced. It will tail sit if a just barely touch it. It rests on the gear, but just barely. This too was also mentioned in the other reviews.
FYI, this kit is nearly the size of the B-17, just a tad smaller.
Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoy something different.
Outstanding! Interesting aircraft and yes, a challenging build. I’m working thru the same kit, and finding that I need to be very deliberate about fit and alignment, although I don’t have the warpage that you and others have mentioned.
A question…how did you decide which of the engine nacelle side panels were correct? There are two versions in the kit, and I can’t find any good reference to tell me which ones are appropriate. A big thanks for the nose weight info!
Good photos of a very nice build - appreciate your taking the time to post it outside the GB.
I looked at as many pics as I could and I didn’t see any that looked much like the others and I took a leap of faith and used the ones I did as I “felt” they looked the best. I had the same issues, no references to which one is right. Thanks for the kind words.
That’s really beautiful work, BrandonK! The folded wings look they were a tricky job.
Hasegawa made a nice 1/72 model of this, which I built a few years back. The fit and design of the kit was excellent, and I had no trouble with it. The results were really nice, and to this day it remains one of my favorite models.
Nah, the eagle is decal, but all the stripes (the tail has tons) and the de-icers are all painted. Masking and painting was about 8 trips to the booth just for the tail and de-icers. Working around that tail is a huge pain for painting as is painting around the engines on the inside as the angles don’t allow for good AB usage. It was a challenge to paint that’s for sure.
Thanks man. The wing fold method they use works very well and is well set up. It is delicate and you can’t handle them once installed. All built up the kit is rather difficult to handle without getting in trouble with all the fiddly bits. Thanks for the kind words. Good luck on yours, I look forward to seeing it.
Thanks Nick. If I had a Tomcat with it, it would be perfect. Perhaps a Zero in the background. That’s actually a great idea for a GB. It would allow for AC carrier, Zero’s and other early 80’s AC. Hmm. Hey, thanks for stopping by and the kind words.
Thanks Bish. I folded those wings for two reasons, the look is pretty cool, but I also considered the shelf space it would save. It is still quite a big bird. Thanks for stopping in and the kind words.
