The MPM Sea Hawk model was sanded and given the first lower coat of Sky (Xtracolor X607 enamel).  

The upper colour is dark sea grey; I used a slightly lighter grey as to get some "scale effect": to prevent the model looking too dark as it is so small.

          MPM kit with decals (not used)
 

The various smaller antennas were also added, using some thin fuse wire which is stronger and not so sensitive to handling.

The nose leg was given a towing hook, the nose door was given two small rods to keep it into position and the cable hook below the fuselage was replaced by a thinner part. I also replaced the arrestor tail hook with a thinner finer part made from sprue.

The model was finally painted with decals being used from the older Dutch Decal set 72015. As the set is old, some colours were missing on the smaller markings. These were adding with some paint applied with a tooth pick. The rear fuselage marking "KON.MARINE" was slightly to large in length (2 mm), so some cutting was needed here between the lettering that have that fit.
This older decal sheet gives you some extra panel outlines of gun and maintenance areas which were used to add interesting detail to the little model.


 
The Dutch Navy Airforce MLD Sea Hawk FGA-50 , no. "131" , 860 squadron based at Valkenburg naval air base, the Netherlands. 

The Sea Hawk could be flown from the Dutch carrier Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman from 1958. The ex-British carrier HMS Venerable (of the Colossus Class) was transferred in 1948 to the Royal Netherlands Navy "Koninklijke Marine"  and it was the "second" Hr.Ms Karel Doorman, coded R81. The Dutch Naval Flying Service (MLD) flew from the carrier with primarily Hawker Sea furies and Fairey Fireflies. In 1958 the ship was modernized and got a steam catapult and angled flight deck and now was capable to operate Sea Hawk jets and Grumman Avengers. (April 1968 there was a large fire on board and it was decided not to put it back into service but to sell the ship to Argentina where it became the "25 de Mayo". It there also operated A-4Q Skyhawks). 

..
the painted cockpit, still without seat.

  ..... the lower area, most of it decals with some hand painting; the unports were drilled open although it can hardly be seen on this photo.

...and well again a model completed... The MPM kit is very nice and with some work on detailing will give a fine result.

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