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Vintage Kit: HAWK 1/48 T-33 (1958)


thevid

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HAWK 1/48 T-33  1958

The Hawk 1/48 scale T-33 was issued in 1958 and has been issued in various boxings throughout the years.  It is a product of the times and with care can be built up nicely.  This is an out of the box kit (mostly anyway).   I used Caracal decals for a Langley AFB T-33.  I blanked off the main gear wells which covered up the mounting pegs for the kit landing gear. That made installing the kit parts more work than needed. So  I used a spare set of landing gear from the Monogram F-80.  Most of the work was puttying, sanding and priming, and repeat.  Primer and white paint are from Tamiya and ADC grey is by Mission Models.  There are various versions of this scheme with some having a blue stripe separating the white and grey fuselage colors and some with a black line.  The decals sheet only has the stripes in black as are the codes, national insignia etc.  I like the pilot figures of the kit and included them.  The canopy is separate from the frame and I mounted it with Gorilla clear glue which gives a strong bond without crazing.  So here is built of HAWK's T-33 from a 63 year old mold.

 

HAWK T-33 Finished 003 sm.jpg

HAWK T-33 Finished 004.JPG

HAWK T-33 Finished 007cc.jpg

HAWK T-33 Finished 011sm.jpg

HAWK T-33 Finished 015sm.jpg

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Well done.  My only comment is the cheat line is the wrong color.  It should be blue not black.

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3 hours ago, nmertes said:

Well done.  My only comment is the cheat line is the wrong color.  It should be blue not black.

Yeah the decals are black and there is a photo of a T-33 with similar scheme and a black cheat line.  I don't know if Caracal used that as their source or not, but I don't really care I built it out of the box with the decals I had.  I'm not going to repaint it. 🙂

0324381.jpg

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4 hours ago, ghodges said:

Excellent example of how well applied skills can make an older kit shine like a gem! Looks super! Thanks for sharing!

 

Gil :cool:

Thanks Gil!  I appreciate your comments very well.  

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2 hours ago, Mark Deliduka said:

Wow, that is one sensational model! I commend you on getting a smooth, clean coat on that! Way to go!

Thank you Mark. This was an exercise in puttying, sanding and priming using Tamiya products.  This did not take long to build and I wanted to give it a clean finish.

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Nice work on this classic kit David. Was this an original Hawk boxing with the molded in decal location lines or a later reissue  where those had been removed from the molds?

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I was assigned to the 48FIS at Langley 1985-1986.  We had 2 T-birds.  The cheat line on both was the same blue as the arrow on the wing tip tanks.  I purchased the Caracal sheet & emailed them with a photo of the birds when I noticed the black cheat line.  Their response was too bad.  We’re not correcting it.  I have both the old Testor’s & GWH kits.  The GWH kit has the correct cheat line.  I have never seen a 48th T-33 with a black cheat line.  The squadron admin office had hundreds of slides of their F-106’s, T-33’s, & F-15’s.  There were no black cheat lines on any of them.  

Again, excellent job on the kit.  I wouldn’t repaint it either.

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5 hours ago, nmertes said:

I was assigned to the 48FIS at Langley 1985-1986.  We had 2 T-birds.  The cheat line on both was the same blue as the arrow on the wing tip tanks.  I purchased the Caracal sheet & emailed them with a photo of the birds when I noticed the black cheat line.  Their response was too bad.  We’re not correcting it.  I have both the old Testor’s & GWH kits.  The GWH kit has the correct cheat line.  I have never seen a 48th T-33 with a black cheat line.  The squadron admin office had hundreds of slides of their F-106’s, T-33’s, & F-15’s.  There were no black cheat lines on any of them.  

Again, excellent job on the kit.  I wouldn’t repaint it either.

Yup they are blue.  Caracal pulled a fast one.  The illustration does show it in blue but when I looked for a blue line, nope just black.  I live in Hampton and that's why I wanted to build the kit as a Langley bird.

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5 hours ago, Stikpusher said:

Nice work on this classic kit David. Was this an original Hawk boxing with the molded in decal location lines or a later reissue  where those had been removed from the molds?

Thanks!  This kit is one Testor's re-issues.  I have very early versions but I did not know the decal markings were embossed on the plastic.  I'll have to look again.  

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Most of their 50’s era kits had the markings locations embossed into the plastic. 

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4 hours ago, Stikpusher said:

Most of their 50’s era kits had the markings locations embossed into the plastic. 

No, not this one.  I have a very early issue and it does not have embossed markings like some of their other kits did, i.e. 1/72 T-6, Corsair etc.  

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