Gallery/Peter Goldsmith’s BAE Hawk 100
Peter Goldsmith’s
Peter Goldsmith’s impressive BAE Hawk 100 turns heads even when it’s sitting on the flightline at the most recent Top Gun Scale Invitational, where it earned a nearly perfect 99 points from the static judges— the highest in the Expert class! We wanted to take a closer look at this incredible RC jet, and also talk to the man who detailed and flew it to win the coveted Mr. Top Gun title for the second time.
Model Airplane News: How did you get started in scale competition?
Peter Goldsmith: My very first scale competition was actually in Australia, at an event south of Sydney. I flew a Sig Skybolt. I had no idea what I was doing; it was a disaster, in fact, a very humbling experience. My first Top Gun experience was in 2005. It was the first time Frank Tiano had offered up the Pro-Am class with no static judging. I flew a Don Smith B-17. Again, I was humbled by the experience. Flying a B-17 off a hard runway in a 20 to 25 mile per hour wind blowing straight out was character-building, to say the least. The clear takeaway in 2005 for me was the quality of the models—truly inspirational. As a side note, I am a product of Top Gun’s Pro-Am class, because there was no way I would have attempted a Top Gun entry otherwise. It’s a fantastic way to get involved in scale competition.
MAN: Tell us about the full-size jet you chose to replicate.
PG: The aircraft is modeled after the Australian Airforce version of the Hawk 100. The commemorative scheme celebrated 76 years of the Black Panther Squadron. The aircraft, Mud Guard, was nicknamed by the base commander as it was shiny on top and dirty underneath. It was used to promote the RAAF [Royal Australian Air Force] at many airshows throughout Australia.
MAN: Your 1/3.5-scale rendition of the Australian BAE Hawk 100 earned a nearly perfect score of 99 points from the static judges at Top Gun. What, exactly, did this beauty get marked down on?
PG: The wonderful thing about Top Gun is, if you put yourself in a teachable posture, the judges will actually give guidance and advice on how to improve your model. I lost the points in “Color and Markings.” I was so focused on positioning the graphics, color matching, etcetera, that I had a small but significant error on the roundels. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I had the kangaroo too large in the circle.
MAN: How did you create the markings, and what products did you use?
PG: I drew the markings for all the paint masks, and I use Tailor Made decals for the smaller nomenclature.
MAN: How long did it take you to build the plane from the Tomahawk Aviation composite kit?
PG: It took about six months in its entirety: one-third on assembling the structure, one-third paint and markings, and one-third details. I didn’t keep a super accurate hourly amount, but it was somewhere between 700 and 800 hours.
MAN: Did you need to modify anything for scale competition, or to fit your equipment?
PG: Yes, however the kit itself was superb; I just added more details. I added many raised panels, external gauges, rear parachute hatch plate, and lots of small intricate parts like defogger vents, window heaters, and so on.
I also upgraded the main door cylinders to higher-power industrial cylinders. The Hawk main doors are very large and require a lot of power to close under pressure. The fun part about scale modeling is it’s like a history lesson; you learn all kinds of things when you start researching a model.
MAN: What special features does your Hawk have?
PG: As far as Jets go, the Hawk is pretty basic. It has retracts, functioning Fowler flaps, and full light system and brakes.
MAN: You use a KingTech 210 turbine in the Hawk. Can you share how easy or challenging the installation was?
PG: All of my jets have the KingTech 210 G2. It’s a very easy turbine to set up. Just follow the instructions and it will work perfectly. The only adjustment I have to
make is to increase the start pump voltage. The engines are set for diesel and I use kerosene, which needs a slightly higher pump voltage in the start parameters.
MAN: Any challenges getting the model equipment to work properly?
PG: Well, like with any model of this complexity, there are always challenges. I try very hard to make sure all systems work properly before flying, and for the first four flights everything worked perfectly— the controls were adjusted and it was ready to get down to some serious practice. Well, somewhere around flight 15, the Hawk developed a problem with the nose gear. It was the strangest thing: it worked perfectly below 50 psi, however at flight pressures of 140 psi, it would just bleed out air on the downwind side of the air cylinder. At first, I thought the O-ring was faulty, however nothing I seemed to do would remove the problem. After two days of troubleshooting I found that the piston drive rod was loose, and at higher pressures it would push the piston off axis causing the O-ring to leak. When I tightened the drive rod, everything worked perfectly.
Another problem showed itself about ten flights later. The starter cable from the turbine kept disconnecting in flight. No matter what I did, it kept disconnecting. I even tried silicon glue to hold it in place! I was getting pretty frustrated, as after each flight I had to quickly reconnect it to allow the turbine to cool. The turbine was also making a whistling sound, which is not normal for KingTechs. After further investigation I discovered a very small nick out of one of the impeller blades that was just enough to set up a harmonic that was causing the starter cable to disconnect. A quick trip back to KingTech to rebalance the fan, and the problem was solved.
MAN: What radio and servos did you use? Do you have any special programming?
PG: The radio I used was my trusty DX20. Although it’s an extension of the famous DX18, I enjoy the additional channels offered with the 20-channel system. No special programming; pretty straightforward setup. I did use the door sequencer for retract sequencing, and it works awesome. I used Spektrum SPM A6300 servos on all flight controls and SPM A7050s on all retract valves.
MAN: How does the Hawk fly? Is it a challenging model to pilot?
PG: The Hawk flies fantastic. In fact, that’s why I chose it. I’ve owned four Hawks of various sizes before getting the Tomahawk kit, and all of them flew well. It’s a very pure flying aircraft. No roll or pitch coupling, with only a slight amount of differential in pitch and roll. Its takeoffs and landings are predictable and it has no bad vices. It reminds me of flying an F3A pattern model.
MAN: How do you transport this nearly 11.5-foot-long monster jet?
PG: Fortunately I have a large Ford XLT Van. If needed, the fuse does break down into two pieces. However, so far that hasn’t been necessary. I do remove the tail group for transport though. Getting it out of the basement is the biggest challenge. The easiest way is to pass it through a window in the basement. This always brings a chuckle from the neighbors.
MAN: What advice would you give to someone who wants to eventually build and fly a big jet like the Hawk 100?
PG: If you’re wanting to build a large jet, please reach out to those who have had a similar model. It’s OK not to know. Don’t be a victim of pride. Ask lots of questions to those that have been there before you. In fact, I asked a bunch of people about the Hawk: setup questions, servo power, turbine suggestions, and flight characteristics. When I was ready to fly there were no surprises. You will find most will be happy to share their experiences.
MAN: Since you retired from your role as director of field marketing at Horizon Hobby in 2016, what have you been doing?
PG: I retired from Horizon after nearly 20 years of service. At the same time, I purchased a small laser cutter that I intended to use for my own personal designs. Well, the first design I did was a standoff scale tow plane called the Chmelak. To my surprise, many others were also interested in the Chmelak, and just like that, I was in the kit business. I’m absolutely loving life. I’m very driven to promote building; it’s my new life passion. Since the creation of ARF [almost-ready-to-fly] and foam products, the RC consumer has been starved from the building experience. My analogy is to think of ARFs as fast food. If you have limited time and are not too fussy, they serve a purpose. Now think of a home-cooked meal. You lovingly prepare the food and often share the experience with friends. Building a model is like a good home-cooked meal: it’s good for the soul and, because you made it yourself, it just tastes better. I’m not anti-ARF or foam; I just feel there needs to be some balance. Three years later I have a small, modest kit manufacturing company, Peter Goldsmith Designs. My main focus is on sailplanes. However, I’m starting to branch out into other segments. My goal is to have products for all segments of radio control aircraft.
MAN: Anything else you’d like to add?
PG: I hope everybody that dreams of attending Top Gun, or any scale competition for that matter, takes a leap and gives it a go. Don’t be apprehensive. The scale model community is full of wonderful people who are very willing to help. Dream, believe, create, succeed.