Pavla Models have released an excellent cockpit upgrade for Hobby Boss's 1:72 Sea Hawk.

The 7 grey resin parts arrived safe and sound in a bubble-pack, and the casting in the review sample is basically perfect, with no bubbles or flash to worry about, leaving only the casting blocks to take care of. Preparation before you can use the set requires any detail to be scraped off the inside of the fuselage, and the area under the windscreen to be removed entirely.

The detail on the new parts is very good indeed – in fact it wouldn't look out of place on a larger scale model. The set totally replaces the kit's "office", with a new one-piece tub into which fit rudder pedals and control column, plus highly detailed sidewalls to fit under the cockpit sills. The new instrument panel should look great with careful painting, and comes complete with a detailed gunsight and mounting (the instructions suggest using the reflector from the Trumpeter kit, but I'm almost sure this will look overscale, so a thin piece of film would be better). Lastly, there's the ejector seat – always one of Pavla's strong points. This one is no exception, boasting very fine details and a moulded-on harness.

(Note: For anyone seeking a simple and cheap boost for the standard kit cockpit, Pavla also sell the ejector seat separately as Item # 72069.)

The instructions are spread over two small sheets and are very well illustrated, the clear diagrams including colour notes for each part.

conclusion

Pavla's Sea Hawk cockpit should look a real cracker when painted carefully. The level of detail is superb for this scale, and it doesn't look complicated to install. Highly recommended.

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