1:48 HAWK SPAD C-13 (705-69),1956?
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AN EARLY BIRD
History has not uncovered the exact year that Hawk released their pioneering 1:48 plastic SPAD and Nieuport models but it was around the early to mid 1950s and almost certainly predating the first Aurora releases. Considering its age, the SPAD is surprisingly good with pin-sharp wing and tail trailing edges; mostly accurate outlines and bearing reasonable surface detail-etched decals placement guides notwithstanding. Hawk's SPAD represents an early version with rounded wing tips and despite overcooked cut-outs, the wing treatment is a lot better than average with finely-raised rib lines that can be softly sanded to create taping. Fuselage is slightly over-length but tail-plane parts are exact and razor sharp although the struts are two-dimensional with flat edges-a carry over from Hawk's previous balsa wood days Likewise the airscrew is secured with a pin that's looking a little rusty now1 Our kit has remained in good condition even the decals-from a later kit-look viable and all original 28 parts are present and correct. The cut-out-and-keep box art, whilst certainly dramatic, is a little mixed-up with the SPAD depicted more akin to the earlier S.VII in its overall clear-doped and Ecru finish with French roundels that don't sit right with Eddie Rickenbacker's signature fuselage markings!
POSSIBLY pre-dating Aurora as the first US model company to produce 1:48 scale plastic WWI aircraft kits, the Hawk Model Company of Chicago, Illinois enjoys a long pedigree. They began b-y producing solid balsa wood scale models and their pioneering plastics-the Nieuport 17 and SPAD XIII circa 1953-1956-exhibited some familiar traits. Initial boxings reflected early wooden kit designs and like their predecessors, airscrews were retained by a simple dressmakers' pin! Moulded in bright yellow, Hawk's SPAD contains 28 parts, sharply-moulded with acceptable surface detail relatively thin-sectioned-though blunt-struts,with sharp trailing edges and tail-plane sections. Wing ribs are moulded on both sides represented by finely-raised lines with no deep valleys in between! Etched markings' positions are present on wings and fuselage but thankfully they are not too prominent.Unusually the fuselage halves a incorporate the nose cowling and both exhaust pipes rather than being separate as most other SPAD kits.
Our kit is in VGC other than having had the rudder stripes and wheel disc markings carefully pre-painted gloss white-still it will help with decal adhesion. These provide incomplete markings for Eddie Rickenbacker's 'Old No.1' and look to be of more recent vintage than the rest of the kit so could be made usable. Hawk's SPAD is bereft of cockpit detail, supplying only a vertical half former on which the brown-moulded pilot perches precariously. This particular kit comes in the alternative early boxing bearing a somewhat confused painting (uncredited) to be cut, trimmed and mounted as part of Hawk's 'Picture Gallery Selection' series. Hawk re-issued their SPAD and Nieuport kits several times before both toolings ended up with Testors and being released by them in 1978 with all-new decals, excellent packaging and expanded,well-illustrated, instruction booklets.