Trumpeter's 1/48 scale Hawker Sea Hawk has arrived in modelshops in the UK and first signs look very encouraging.

The kit arrives in a sturdy top openong box with 6 individually packed sprues containing:

104 x pale grey styrene parts
5 x clear styrene parts
2 x etched brass parts
Decals for 3 x colour schemes

The greatest cause for celebration must be that Trumpeter have retired their "Demon Riveter"! The Sea Hawk features neat scribed panel detail throughout (perhaps a little heavy, but it'll work very well for washes) and not a rivet in sight! On the downside, I found one or two shallow sink marks on the exterior where there's heavy moulding on the reverse side of the part, and the cannon ports are very shallow with no detail at all.

The airframe is broken down into front and rear halves; the forward fuselage and wing roots are split horizontally, while the tail is split vertically. The separate tail is on a sprue of its own - a sure sign of further versions to follow.

The kit features a reasonably detailed cockpit and wheelwells, the option for folded wings, dropped flaps and external stores consisting of 8 x rockets and a pair of drop tanks.

The canopy can be posed open and is nice and clear with well-defined frames.

The etched fret contains an instrument panel, complete with a film backing for the instrument faces, and a seat harness - although the later looks rather too thin for this scale.

Trumpeter have included a large, colourful decal sheet. The company's decals have earned a less than glowing reputation in the past, but these appear quite good, being thin and glossy with good registration. Colour schemes include the almost obligatory Suez Crisis schemes:

A. XE365, 171-B, 804 Sqn, HMS Bulwark, 1956
B. WV918, 230-Z-B, 810 Sqn, HMS Albion, 1956
C. WV824, 122-C, 801 Sqn, HMS Centaur, 1959

Watch out for a more detailed review soon.

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