Special Hobby 1/48 scale
Miles Hawk Trainer III

by Fabrice Fanton

Here is one of my latest finished kit, a Miles Hawk Trainer III in 1/48th scale from Special Hobby (ex Flashback). The model represents the aircraft flown by W. J. Twitchell in the 1950 Daily Express South Coast air race (September 16th), according with Peter Lewis’ book, British racing and record-breaking aircraft.

Honestly, this kit is one of the worst model I have built.

Here are all the corrections I made :

• Reshape the engine cowling : the bottom front is too square and front air inlets are misplaced, as the carburetor air scoop

• Glue the wings lower and thicken one of the two wings because it was thinner than the other

• Find a trick to glue firmly the wings to the fuselage : a resin cast of the inside of each wing

• Build mass balances under wings and aileron and flap hinges

• Engrave the fuselage flap and other wings and fuselage hatches

• Refine the vertical stabilizer

• Cut 1mm to each landing leg

And, to build the Miles G-AIDF, I close the front opening with resin, make a new pilot hood with a small canopy from the Special Hobby Airspeed Oxford (a teardrop clear plastic part) and, fortunately, no cockpit.

The kit was painted with Tamiya paints. All registrations was made with masks. Decals race numbers. Many thanks to Denis Van Brussel for the supply of masks and decals. Figures are from Denizen Miniatures and paint with Humbrol and oil paints.

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Thumbnail panels:

Best regards from France

Model and Text Copyright © 2022 by Fabrice Fanton
Page Created 18 January, 2023
Last Updated 18 January, 2023

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