The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings was a British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, the Hastings was the largest transport plane ever designed for the service.

Development of the Hastings had been initiated during the Second World War in response to Air Staff Specification C.3/44, which sought a new large four-engined transport aircraft for the RAF. Early on, development of a civil-oriented derivative had been prioritised by the company, but this direction was reversed following an accident. On 7 May 1946, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight; testing revealed some unfavourable flight characteristics, which were successfully addressed via tail modifications. The type was rushed into service so that it could participate in the Berlin Airlift; reportedly, the fleet of 32 Hastings to be deployed during the RAF operation delivered a combined total of 55,000 tons (49,900 tonnes) of supplies to the city.

As the RAF's Hastings fleet expanded during the late 1940s and early 1950s, it supplemented and eventually replaced the wartime Avro York, a transport derivative of the famed Avro Lancaster bomber. RAF Transport Command operated the Hastings as the RAF's standard long-range transport; as a logistics platform, it contributed heavily during conflicts such as the Suez Crisis and the Indonesian Confrontation. A handful were also procured by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) to meet its transport needs. Beyond its use as a transport, several Hastings were modified to perform weather forecasting, training, and VIP duties. A civilian version of the Hastings, the Handley Page Hermes, was also produced, which only achieved limited sales. Hastings continued to be heavily used by RAF up until the late 1960s, the fleet being withdrawn in its entirety during 1977. The type was succeeded by various turboprop-powered designs, including the Bristol Britannia and the American-built Lockheed Hercules.

THE KIT

This is a fairly standard short run kit with a lot of smallish sprues that show the size limitations of their molding equipment. There are a lot of sprue attachment points on the parts and on the large parts, they intrude onto the mating surfaces. Though not all 1/144 kits have interiors, this one does with a cockpit that consists of a pair of control columns, a pair of seats, and a center console. There is a rear bulkhead as well.

The kit has a lot of small cabin windows to install, though some may well wish to use a liquid mask or something similar to draw across the openings when the kit is nearly done. Interestingly, one fuselage half includes half the rudder while the other piece is separate. Before closing the fuselage, the instrument panel and cockpit as well as the tailplane insert need to be installed. As this s a tail dragger, no weight is needed.

Each of the four engine nacelles is two halves with an engine face. Separate cowling fronts would have been nice, but you have to deal with the inevitable seam that will be created. On the inner nacelles, the landing gear has to be built up and then trapped between the nacelle halves. Main gear doors have large tabs to ensure a good fit, unlike the tail gear doors that are butt joined. With the nacelles done, tiny exhaust are installed.

Kit instructions want you to add the cockpit clear part and the various antennas at this time. I'd leave the antennas off until later. Then the upper and lower wing halves are joined and the engine nacelles attached. Then the props are installed. These have separate prop hubs (why couldn't these have been molded in place?). I'd leave the props off until after painting. There is a photo etch fret that includes small radar antenna on either side of the nose and a V strut for the main gear assembly. Last items are a pair of underwing fuel tanks, though most period photos show them without the tanks.

Instructions are well drawn and show no color info during constructions. Two markings options are provided, both the same aircraft. One is white over aluminum while the other is white over light grey with da-glo areas as shown on the box art. Decals look to be nicely printed and should be fairly thin.

CONCLUSIONS

Not everyone is going to be highly jazzed over this one as it is a somewhat obscure type outside of the UK and NZ. There is also the somewhat checkered reputation of MikroMir to consider as most of their kits require more than average skill to properly complete. However, I like stuff such as this which is why I forked over the funds and waited for it to be shipped from Ukraine. If you have the skills and are so inclined, add this one to your list.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

KIT #:	144-029
PRICE:	@$42.00 delivered
DECALS:	Two options
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	New tool (2021)