Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Well my buddy Dantely was the lucky winner of a Comp ARF BAe Hawk at the California Jets banquet auction and I have been commissioned to build it for him. I thought I would throw a build thread up here as I have not seen one of these go together yet but so far my first impressions of the kit are very good. It was packed very well and all parts look to be safe and sound.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian, that color scheme looks awesome! Can't wait to see it done!

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Yes, the color scheme is pretty cool. It should look nice in the air and should take not time to build. I will take some more pics tonight as I am building.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Great plane. You will love it.

Mine is same scheme; extremely visible in the air. Have Wren 160 in mine at 25lbs. What a hoot!

Here's a pic taken by a good friend just breaking ground.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian, I have one to build for a customer of mine. I found out that Der Jet makes a cockpit for a hawk that is almost a drop in fit the the Comp Arf Hawk.
I have attached a couple of photos of the cockpit straight out of the box.
Any one interested in this cockpit can contact Eric Clapp at Jet Central.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Thanks Bill, I think that's the one that Dantely is looking into buying. I do have a question for you though. I seem to be missing the aileron servo mounts in my kit. I put together the mounts for the stabs and such but I don't see the mounts for the ailerons servos anywhere. I think they were left out possibly.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian

It's possible, there were some kits with those miss packed. Also check you have the rudder hinge rod.
Contact Andy, I'm sure he can sort you. The aileron wood is std CARF mount type that fits on the cover plate. If you are cracking on you could cut them from 1/8th ply easily.

Dave

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Yeah, I am missing the rudder hinge rod as well Dave. Well I have more pics to post, some good and some bad. I will let you know in the next post.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ok, got some work done last night. I have both good and bad things to post so I hope Comp ARF lovers don't string me up cause I really do like the quality of their stuff.

First off I got the aileron servos mounted and set. The problem was that Comp ARF forgot the aileron mounts all together in the kit. Luckily I had some Tam servo mounts lying around so I used those, worked great!! I also bolted the stab to its pivot plate however Comp ARF states they use 25mm M4 bolts to do this and all they gave me wer 20mm M4 bolts. Once again I am a prepared builder and have some 25mm bolts so I used those. The stab servo plate went together well and bolted right in, I just need to go over the joints with some epoxy and milled fibers and it will be good to go.

I also got the main gear doors hinged and ready for cylinders. Took a little bit of fiddling but overall not a bad process.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Now for the not so great news. A couple of cosmetic issues and then one bad functional issue. First off the cosmetic. I noticed that when fitting the vertical the fit between the stab cover hatch and the vertical is not so great. There is a sizable gap between the two. I would have expected a little tighter fit.

Second and a little more of an issue is the intakes. The front of the intakes have huge gaps between parts. They used a three piece mold and it looks like one of the parts was laid up a little too small so these gaps are pretty obvious. My thinking is to tape off the front and poor in some epoxy and micro balloons to fill and then have Comp ARF send some touch up paint to pretty it up later.

Thirdly, it looks like the pipe is just a bit too small for the carbon bell mouth. I tried sanding down the bell mouth as much as I could but it is still too tight to fit. My next idea was to cut a little slit in the pipe to allow it to expand enough to fit the bell mouth, anybody done this?

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian

OK, this is an earlier kit. The later tailpipes don't have the flare on the tail pipe. This flare creates a reduction where the crease is. You can work the metal with a 1/2" or bigger round bar and it will open.
The glass work is not common, I've sold around 20 Hawks and none have had this issue.

Dave

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ok, Thanks Dave. Yeah, the QC tags were labeled in the 2009 range so I am sure it is older. The rudder hinge pin will be easy, just some 2mm piano wire will do it. I hammered out the flare a little but I will try the 1/2 round idea. I have some 1/2" brass stock so I will see what i can do. Thanks Dave!

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian

I put a bit of timber approx 1 1/2 sq in a large vice and held the pipe on that while working with the bar.
All the recent kits have been fine.
Your kit will probably have the flap linkage horn/spar hole misalignment, easy to fix but one to look out for

Dave

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

I was able to hammer the flare out with a piece of 2" aluminum stock I had lying around and got the bell mouth to fit, so thats one less thing [sm=thumbs_up.gif]:D

Dave, for the Flap linkage do you recommend just enlarging the hole?

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ian

Yep!

Main thing is if the flap control horns are out of line. Some were. I cracked them back in line with bull nose pliers and aeropoxied the crack.

Dave

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Look good Ian! Dave, thanks for the input!

I've asked Marc from CARF to replace the inlets. Hopefully CARF will come through.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Nice, that would save us a little time.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Ok, I have been pretty busy this week getting ready to go out of town for the weekend but I got some time last night to start working on the nose gear doors. Dantley has decided to go with the 2 piece door setup so I cut the main door apart. When I was looking at the door in one piece I saw that the panel lines separated the door into its scale 3 pieces and if I cut it down the length the third door thats small would be cut in half. I decided to go the extra mile and cut the third door loose and hinge it. It wasn't too hard, I used some Nelson piano hinge to hinge the small door and then fastened it to the nose bulkhead. Works great and is solid!

Also Dantley dropped off some goodies such as the DerJer cockpit kit which is amazing looking, the JetCat 120 going in this baby and some other goodies!!

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Looks great Ian! How will you get the 3rd door on the nose to close? Is it in the front, therefor air will close it?

CARF shipped new inlets. Should be there next week!

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Dantley, Here are a couple of photos of a Blue Box pilot in the hawk. The size will be OK. I am going to have to set him on a phone book like a grandma on a Cadillac but I think he is a good size. If you go with a bigger Pilot you will need to cut his legs off above the knee or have his legs stick out the cockpit front. I will need to do that even with the Blue Box guys.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

I'm finishing mine up at the moment and today fitted the Derjet cockpit with a 12" tall F117 Dragon figure (I think). I lifted him off the seat a bit and it looks ok. I think these figures are the same size as the bluebox ones.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Bill, thanks for posting the pictures. I'm glad my G W pilot will work out after all.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Dantley, my first idea is to actuate the small door with linkage straight to the nose strut so as soon as I get the gear. If the does not work out then I will use a small cylinder.

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

looking good .......:D I'm building my self an airworld hawk , I hope i have it done by Best of the west Have fun.

Henry

RE: Comp ARF BAe Hawk Build Thread
 

Henry, looking forward to seeing your AW Hawk!