Aires

1/48 Hawker Sea Hawk Mk.101 Cockpit For the Trumpeter kit

Stock Number: 4393

Reviewed By  Paul Bradley, IPMS# 35554

MSRP: €12.50 (Approx. $18) Website: www.aires.cz Here's a resin and PE replacement cockpit for your Trumpeter 1/48 Hawker Sea Hawk kit and lovely it is too. Consisting of 6 resin parts with a small PE fret and film instrument panel, the set is a drop-in replacement for the rather under-detailed Trumpeter parts - a disappointment in this scale and Aires are to be thanked for stepping up here. Aires has previously released a cockpit set for the British FGA.6 kit; see Chris Durden's review . This set is intended for the Mk.100/101 kit, for export versions. The major difference is the instrument panel part, which includes a fine representation of the radar display hood that was so prominent in those machines. The other prominent feature in the cockpit is the ejection seat, a Martin-Baker Mk.2, and the Aires seat blows away the Trumpeter effort, looking much more realistic when compared to photos of the real thing. Aires include a full harness in etched brass, and this too is a vast improvement on the kit item. I also have the Classic Airframes kit and with a bit of fettling this set could also be used to enhance that kit. This is a very worthwhile set that will make major improvements to your Sea Hawk model. Highly recommended. My thanks to the good folks at Aires for the review sample; please visit their website at www.aires.cz for full details of this and other products. Aires products are available directly from the Modelchoice.net website and from all good hobby retailers in the US and overseas.