Airfix 1/72 Red Arrows Hawk

My third kit: a 1/72 RAF Red Arrows Hawk

Probably my least favourite build so far, unfortunately! This kit was a weird mix of ups & downs as the build was remarkably simple, but the headaches of painting and decals were a more than a little irksome. I substituted Humbrol 60 for the (in my opinion) far too orange 238 that came in the pot, and struggled quite a bit with the painting of the canopy as my Humbrol 34 had gone bad in the pot (probably from a long stint in some Amazon warehouse!); despite being revived with some water, it proved very gloopy and hard to mix. The decals were, frankly, a bit of a nightmare for a kit that claims to be a 'skill level 1' starter set; some intensely fiddly pieces such as the nose stripes were hard to move around and decal no. 5 ended up ripping despite careful handling. My partner helped me replace it with a facsimile handpainted directly onto the model, and it can be seen in the second picture of the album. Besides this, though, the results were good and two coats of Humbrol 35 gloss varnish helped me fall back in love with the kit's visuals!

MISSING: decal no. 5, nose gear door