MATCHBOX 1:72 HUNTER   T.MK 7/F.MK 58

Reviewer: Derrick Winters  (rec.models.scale)
Boxart and comments at the bottom of this page with alternative boxart supplied by Robert Allen with my thanks.

The T.Mk 7 variant is for all intents and purposes the Advanced Trainer version of the Hunter.  It has a longer slender nose and spine that broadens out and encloses behind the cockpit rather than the appearance of almost a bubble canopy on single-seater Hunter variants.  The Hunter is one of Britain's most successful post-war aircraft and comes in a variety of colours and variants for the alternative-minded modeller.

This is a Matchbox kit, and yes I am really going to make it!  As those of you who know me will attest to, I stay clear of Matchbox kits unless it's a must buy!  In this case it is, because at the moment this Matchbox kit is all you can get as far as a two-seat Hunter is concerned in 1/72 scale.  Knowing full well what I was probably in for, I also did some looking to find some conversion sets and was pleased to find several available - I settled on a correction/conversion kit for this Matchbox kit made by Aeroclub.  At the same time I also grabbed a replacement decal sheet because Matchbox kits rarely have good ones - another thing that proved to be 20/20 "foresight".

I was not suprised when I opened the box at home with what was in it.  A typical Matchbox engineered kit with enscribed trench-lines....er...panel-lines and thick colourful plastic.  There is basically no interior to speak of with only seats and crew figures to play with.  I also couldn't find a cockpit detail set so I knew I was in for a bit of scratchbuilding practice. The Aeroclub kit really is a correction kit for wheels, nose, seats and so forth and conversion parts to spice it up.  Nothing really for the cockpit as far as panels etc were concerned.  I later noticed on the decal sheet a console for the instrument panel but this wasn't pointed out in the instructions.

The fuselage halves are split into front and rear sections to enable obviously the single-seater or double-seater variant.  I found that the fit wasn't up to scratch and spent some time fiddling around with the fuselage halves to get them to align correctly.  Remember also to weigh down the nose or you will be in for a tail sitting model.  Matchbox kits are a bit of an unknown quantity in this regard, you either get an easy kit that literally takes minutes to build or an easy kit with frustratingly poor fits.  Not surprisingly, the kit I had to get had to come under the second rule of thumb - Poor fits!

The wings were also subject to poor manufacturing as far as fitting was concerned and the whole area needed to be sanded down and prepared.  A word of caution, if you're building a wheels-down model make sure you plug the inside of the intakes or you will be able to see out through the wheel wells.  The nose is quite blatently incorrectly shaped, luckily Aeroclub's correction kit came to the rescue although again it was a poor fit.  The air brake can be positioned open but with the hydraulic strut that open/closes it absent, you will either need to employ your skills at stretched sprue, put up with an inaccurate extension of the airbrake or simply have it closed.  I opted for the latter as I have found many photos of the T.Mk 7 taxiing without air brakes extended.

Underwing stores are provided in the form of wingtanks and rocket pods, although these are really for the F.Mk 58 version that comes in the kit.  For some reason the undercarriage presented no real problems and gives a reasonable replication of accuracy.   The kit provides decals and colour schemes for two versions a Swiss F.Mk 58 and an RAF T.Mk 7.  Interestingly Matchbox calls for the same colour schemes for the two different versions - dark green and ocean grey with natural metal undersides.  My reference sources show a different shade of grey between the RAF & Swiss versions - the latter representing more of a medium to dark grey - so it might pay to double check this.  The decals didn't look too bad in the box but as mentioned above I had actually purchased an aftermarket set, which happened to be an aged out of print Propagatem set that included markings for the T.7 Advanced Trainer of No.4 flying school for the RAF.  So this called for a bright red and white colour scheme.  I was a bit undecided whether I now thought that Matchbox's decals were inferior to the Propagatem's given the age, but used the latter in any case since they were bought.   Very thin, a bit brittle but otherwise quite workable and with a bit of Clearfix ensured that it looked nice on the model. 

Overall, this isn't a bad replication of the T.Mk 7 and it's the only one that you are going to get in this scale so you have to take it all with a pinch of salt.  You definitely need to invest in one of the aftermarket (or should that be "beforemarket"?!) conversion and correction kits to make this replication more accurate.  Be prepared to put effort into this model and to also have your handy "enhance the fit" tools nearby (like putty, sandpaper, file etc).  If it's a Hunter variant that you desparately want then it's worth the getting, otherwise let's hope that a better engineered version is on its way.

Related Reviews:  Academy 1/48 Hunter F.6   :  Academy 1/48 Hunter F.6 - another viewpoint
        Academy 1/48 Hunter FGA.9

Related In-the-box Reviews:  Airfix 1/72 Hunter FGA.9 

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Kit Review Index:    1/72      1/48

It's pretty hard to tell in this picture whether it's a T.7 or T.8. There is really very little differencebetween them, just a couple of aerials in different places, so it still gives you a good example of what the two seat T.7 looks like.

These are the two boxes (including the boxart at top of the page) for the Matchbox 1/72nd Hawker Hunter T.Mk.7 & F.Mk.6. Both versions of the Hunter were included in each kit (PK-117). Both of these are labelled 1983, though it seems unlikely that both were issued at the same time. The "Blue Diamonds" special issue includes decals for a 92 Squadron aerobatic T.Mk.7 in place of the 45 Squadron aircraft included in the "regular" kit; the decals for the F.Mk.6 version are identical in both kits - Robert Allen