Miles in Her Majesty’s Service
Miles M.2H Hawk Major, RAF trainer; 1:72 Plastic Passion (by SBS)
You may remember my last airplane creation in the "gentlemen's scale" - the scratch Miles M2F – so I may don’t have to tell the whole story again - if so just please take a look at this link: http://imodeler.com/2017/06/miles-m-2f-hawk-major-172-strachbuilt/. Things escalated since, again because of the folks at Hungarian modelmaker company SBS saw some fantasy in my model despite it's made by standards of the „good old times” instead of the high tech 3D world trend (means I scarved and sanded the thing by hand into form measured mostly by the rule of the thumb). In short they wanted it and I can’t resist their professional support in my project. I planned the RAF version anyway but things entered another level when they contacted the Heritage Center and the guys at the RAF museum were kind enough to send us detailed photos of the plane and share us their knowledge. Some words about the original airplane:
Miles M.2H Hawk Major in WWII - DG590/ G-ADMW
At the beginning of WWII large numbers of civilian Hawk Majors were found their ways or pressed into military service. This particular airplane originally delivered to Mr. W.R, Norman at Heston as G-ADMW in August 1935. It went on to fly with the Portsmouth Aero Club before impressed into RAF service in 1939 as DG590 at Broxbourne airfield in Hertfordshire to use as a trainer aircraft (http://hamg.co.uk/). After the war in 1946 the aircraft went back to Miles Aircraft at Woodley, Readind repainted in its pre-war colour scheme and used by the Reading Aero Club. In october 1952 the plane was purchased by J.P. Gunner and based it at Sleap. In 1965 the machine was withdrawn from use and joined into the RAF Museum collection where it was repainted again in its impressment Dark Green, Dark Earth, Trainer Yellow camouflage however the impressed serial number DG590 reflects only a minor portion of the airplane’s active life. This airplane is one of the only two known surviving original M2H Hawk Majors exist in England today. The aircraft is currently being under full restoration at the Montrose Air Station Centre in Angus, Scotland with help of enthusiasts (see more: http://rafmontrose.org.uk).
As the basics were at hand this project didn’t take so long this time. I had to make some new parts (wheel trousers, headrest, wheels, windscreen – now I had original photos which is a great thing) and altered the wings a little bit (flaps – which means only some new panel lines to tell the truth) and here I have an M.2H version. SBS made the decal set which were just as great as usual. A fellow modeler suggested that I had to tone down the red aswell a bit but You don’t have to be too serious here anyway as this source suggests: "In 1938, with the threat of war looming, new markings colours were introduced along with camouflage. The Blue was darker, becoming similar to FS 595 25050 while the Red became a slightly brownish brick-red, about FS 595 20109. The Trainer Yellow stayed the same shade but all colours were now matt. These colours remained standard for another eight years. To further complicate matters, old stocks continued to be used up - a series of colour photos of a Miles Master show wing and fuselage roundels (C & C1) in dull colours, while the fin flash remains in the bright pre-war colours, albeit with the later proportions. Other colour photos show a mixture of bright and dull colours being used on the same insignia - though all instances found have been of trainers." The whole build lasted less thank two weeks - I'm a slow modeler - and went on without any issues. SBS' resin behaves nearly as good as any plastic so work with the parts was easy and convenient. I used Gunze Mr.colors for the upper surfaces with some tonal variations and Revell enamel for the lower yellow. I kept weathering subtle as these planes were quite well maintained. If You like the little Miles You can find the kit now on the SBS homepage under the Plastic Passion stuffs.
What’s the next? Maybe the Portuguese volunteer Dr. Rebello’s airplane? Hope You like it and as usual all C&C are welcome! Cheers! 🙂
Damn pretty little thing! Think you got the colours all right.
Thanks Stellan! I had a lot of pics about the original thing this time - thanks to the folks at at SBS and the Montrose Heritage Center.
Beautiful work on an aircraft not often seen built. Great job!
Thanks Craig! It's not a big surprise because the only kit of the Hawk existed before was the Alliance Model's quite... err... simple stuff in a very very limited edition in the 90's.
Looks bigger than 1/72 Excellent work.
Thank You! Maybe the macro ... 🙂
Very nice result.
Thank You Tom! 🙂
Fantastic work in 1/72 scale. A type of aircraft not often seen in model. Great to see this in the 100 years jubilee year of the RAF.
This is utterly charming. Made me smile, and the artistry is top notch. Thank you very much for sharing, Gabor.
Great work as always, Gabor.
Excellent job! And a nice bit of history, thanks for sharing.
Thank You Gentlemen! 🙂
Beautiful model, Gábor! I like the result very much, good job!
Ga'bor,
Some strong work on this build. Another Goldilocks build with some great photographs and a paint job that is easy on the eyes. Also, the article is interesting and informative and adds to the interest of the model. A strong candidate for model of the month in my book.
Two thumbs up.
Excellent Gábor! Love your work, and this is no exception.
A very neat model of this attractive plane, I can understand how something like this actually flies, but when I look at a modern jet fighter it seems to defy physics. By the way, I think maybe it should be His Majesty's Service, but I'm not sure, you could play safe and put O.H.M.S. Thanks for sharing this with us.