Amodel 1/72 Hawker Osprey Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Hawker Osprey was navalized variant of the Hawker Hart. The Hard was designed in the 1920s and entered RAF service in 1930. The Osprey was developed for the Fleet Air Arm and entered service in 1932. The Osprey was powered by the Kestrel II and had a maximum speed of 168 mph.

The Osprey was a two-place aircraft that served in the fighter and reconnaissance roles. While many were equiped with conventional landing gear for land and carrier-based operations, the aircraft could also be configured with floats for water-based operations. In addition to British service, the Osprey was also provided to Spain, Portugal, and Sweden.

Amodel has produced another variant in the Hawker Hart family - the Osprey. The kit is molded in light gray styrene, and is presented on five parts trees.

The kit features some nice interior detailing with the tubular framework molded into the fuselage sides. The pilot's seat and flight controls as well as the observer's 'stool' are nicely replicated. The rear observer's cockpit opening is also equipped with a gun ring complete with a Lewis gun.

The lower wings butt-fit against the lower fuselage sides - there aren't any locating tabs to provide stength or to set the dihedral angle. Once the lower wings are in position, the interplane struts will help to seat the upper wing as the cabane struts will need to go on last as they are individual rods in this kit. The instructions don't provide any insight to how to rig this model should the modeler care to do some thread-work.

The kit does provide two types of optional bomb loads should you want to bomb up your Osprey

Markings are provided for one example:

• Osprey Mk.I, K2782, 286, 803 Sqn, HMS Eagle, April 1933

This is a nice little kit that will build into a unique subject with a little patience and skill.

This kit is recommended for experienced biplane modelers.

My sincere thanks to HobbyTerra for this review sample!