"Mark IX Hawk" Attack Ship
from "Space: 1999"

Several different build-ups of this popular ship are shown below.


 This is an accurate replica of the studio scale model of the "Hawk" attack craft as seen in the episode "War Games" .  Except for a few almost imperceptible improvements over the original model, which was quickly built by Martin Bower and therefore, like most film props, was quite crude compared to how we imagine them to be, the model is an accurate duplicate including the kitbashed and "found" parts used on the original studio miniature!


 
Here is a little history of the original model as far as the paint job is concerned. 

You may be wondering why the "anti glare" panels in front of the cockpit windows are painted white when most of the pictures you've probably seen show these panels as black, and some pictures you've seen show the model without the orange areas at all.  

When the model was originally built and finished by Martin Bower, it did not have the orange areas, but it did have the black anti-glare panels, just like the Eagles regularly seen on the show. You can see what the model originally looked like in the update of this page below. After some publicity and test stills had been shot, the director figured the audience would confuse the ship with the Eagles too easily, so he ordered the model to be modified to reduce the possible confusion. Quickly, the crew at Bray Studios hand brushed on the orange panels and repainted the window anti-glare panels white so that it would look more significantly different than the Eagles they were to confront in the episode. The model was placed in front of the cameras with this new and hastily prepared paint job. 

Shortly after filming, however, the anti-glare panels were re-painted with black for some reason, and that's the way the original model exists today.

The model as replicated here on the top portion of this page represents the way it looked as placed before the cameras and as seen on screen in the actual episode.


 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
The model measures  exactly 30-3/4 inches long at 1/24th scale which is the same scale used for the 44" Eagle models seen on the show. Unlike the original model however, this replica has a detailed and lit cockpit complete with astronauts, with a flashing L.E.D. "laser gun" under the nose.

The photo just below shows the model being held by Florence and Adeline Small to give an idea of the size of the miniature.
 

Special thanks to Chris Trice for the information and technical assistance that helped me to recreate this extremely accurate replica.






Update:

 Here is the all white version of the Hawk which I completed the way it was originally built and as seen in some publicity shots. You may recognize one shot as being similar to that seen on card #22 of the famous bubble gum cards set.  I carefully set up and lit the model to closely match the way the original looked, and  I digitally duplicated the "divided" look done by the FX crew for their publicized shot. Other than the prismatic effect and basic colour correction due to tungsten light, the  photo is not retouched.



The next shot duplicates the angle used by the artist who painted the box cover  for the MPC kit, actually a rendered version of a photo of the original model (one of the best box-tops of all the MPC Space: 1999 kits in my opinion), possibly taken by Martin Bower at the time he made the original model. My photo shown here was choreographed to represent the same shot.

st box-tops



This next shot was amazingly taken with my newly acquired cellphone camera (I have resisted cellphones for as long as I could but I had to cave sometime I guess), completely dispelling the idea that cell phone cameras are not capable of decent photography! Some are capable of it it seems. You can click HERE for a 3GPP file of a movie I shot using the cellphone, just for fun (You'll likely need Quicktime to play it). Took all of thirty seconds to set up and shoot! Technology just keeps advancing faster than  I can keep up....






My daughters Adi and Flori once again pose for the camera now showing off this more recent buildup of the model and graphically demonstrating the passage of time between projects!

New:

I have recently finished this little model from the "Warp" kit.  This one is actually a massive re-work of the Airfix Hawk shown below, but is very well mastered. The customer who acquired the kit for me to build got lucky and managed to get a very good casting, as the kits usually supplied by Comet in the UK are generally of poor quality. If you get a good casting, the kit can be done very nicely as shown here. The model measures only  10 inches long. The customer wanted the orange paint job but also with the black anti-glare panels. As described above, the model was never "officially" displayed this way, but many people like it, and it does make more sense from a "realistic" point of view.






The kit was built "box stock" with the only modifications/additions being the three thin pipes on top of the spine made by stretching thin copper wire,  and the little A-frame above the cockpit which was made from bits of brass wire soldered together.

Decals printed by Jbot were used where compatible, derived from the artwork I did for the larger models above.












Also:

A customer had asked me to build a Hawk from  the old Airfix/MPC kit but again with the original all-white paint scheme. I assembled and painted the vintage 10 inch long model with some added details not  included in the box to make it a bit more authentic, but many shapes and details are not strictly accurate.




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