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Joe Caputo
154 articles

1/72 Airfix Hawker Siddley 125 "Dominie" wiffie

September 8, 2016 · in Aviation · · 13 · 2.5K

This started life as an old HS 125 Dominie. I found it in a vendors pile for $3. As I rushed to remove it from his stash, not believing my good fortune, I heard him yell, "there's parts missing"! I slowly slid it back into his pile saying, "what parts"? He said "the engines were all that were missing". I said "I have enough complete kits at home, that I didn't need this one". He said, "$2"...I said "sorry". He said"$1, use it for parts"... I replied, "sold".

After sitting for a couple weeks, I decided to open it just to check it out. Sure enough, all that was missing were the engines. A couple 1/48 fuel tanks would suffice, as everything in the U.S. is bigger, lol. It looked decent in prime, and eventually in it's finished white paint.

It sat, painted, but not decaled, for months while I couldn't decide on a "scheme". At one of our club meetings, someone brought in a small box of old decals, he was getting rid of. I found a bent sheet that said, "ESCI Cessna 172 Seaplane", but I liked the color of the stripes. Surprisingly they went on with no trouble (try that feat with something you really care about). The rest is history... Basically a $1 kit, some "Wal Mart" white, and free decals... A lot of play time for the money, and I liked the way it turned out.

Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.


13 responses

  1. Joe, great result! Great substitution with the engine pods, too. It turned out so well, I'd think (if I didn't know the backstory) it was 'sposed to be like that.
    The more I look at this, the prettier it gets!

  2. For a Dollar Joe, you cannot grumble mate.
    Anyhow, is that why we have the spares box for?
    I like it Joe.

  3. Yep...for a buck it looks great. I wouldn't have known those weren't the kit engines, either. Nice little build, Joe.

  4. delightful scheme

  5. Thanks guys. I would love to see Airfix (or someone) come out with a line of biz jets, but I guess royalties would make that unprofitable.

  6. Joe you have mastered building planes on the cheap. Really looks nice from here, who needs to spend lots for dollars to have some fun. Enjoyed the view.

  7. Nice! fuel tanks you say, great job.

  8. Very neat, Joe, somehow it's got your name written all over it, unmistakenly yours.

  9. Looks good Joe, but it's not a Canberra !

  10. Look great! I don"t see often this kit built, and this one is just beautiful. I have an old very similar Matchbox 1:72 kit somewhere bought for much more money (maybe 5 USD?) this is an inspiration to dig it out. 🙂

  11. It looks even better on the table at the meeting……you sure got your money's worth on this one Joe. Looks great.

  12. Very neat build, and great story. I love those kinds of projects - a few bucks, a little elbow grease and ingenuity, raid the spares box, and voilá!

  13. Looks like a CJ610 powered Hs125. A Hawker with Lear 25 power plants.

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