Airfix 1/48 Gannet

[Scratchbuilder]

Lovely build, pity about the crew, Tamiya were favourite for giving you Zombies as crew members at one time....

 

[Andy T]

Another problem is the radome - only ever deployed in flight!

They've thought of that, with options to have it extended or not and a warning that it won't sit on its wheels when deployed.

These are the bomb bay options:

 

[Waspie]

Weapon load 2 looks like a mix of depth charges and what appear to be DIFAR? buoys. Very heavy sonar buoys!! SK's uses a much smaller, lighter buoy!!

 

[tr1ckey66]

Excellent progress Andy. You really are speeding through the kits. And with such quality too!
The cockpit looks excellent. I’m looking forward to seeing your model of this ‘ugly duckling’ aircraft come together.

ATB
Paul

 

[Andy T]

Cheers Paul.
Up to now all this was done just after Xmas, before starting the Swordfish, so I'm playing catch up with my own updates

Yesterday & today have seen the wings assembled. It does have a folded option with amazing hinge detail, but I'm going for the extended wings.

The main gear bays are similar to the front, with a plain box supplying a framework for the detailed "liners"





At this point the instructions advise you to check the fit of the doors into the slots nearest the camera and file to fit where required. Mine needed the merest swipe.

Once painted they are fitted to the lower wing piece along with two more bracing boxes that stiffen the wing up no end:



The upper portion of the wing is then put on top, the fit being as perfect as one could expect (sorry about the sanding dust where I removed the paint for glueing)



Once dry, sliding the wings into place over the spars proved unbelievably tight! So I rounded the edges of each spar a tad, just knocking off the sharp corners, and voilà



The fit is still tight though. Even with ~70 grammes of weight in the nose, this is just friction

 

[Si Benson]

Coming along very nicely.
That sure is a snug fit

 

[Jakko]

I’d be anxious that I might not be able to get the wings off again with fit that tight

 

[Andy T]

Lovely build, pity about the crew, Tamiya were favourite for giving you Zombies as crew members at one time....

Sorry Mike, I forgot to reply to this!

Thanks, and to be honest the crew isn't the only thing on these new Airfix kits that are reminiscent of Tamiya. I think they've been copying someone's homework...

Coming along very nicely.
That sure is a snug fit

Thanks Si. It bodes well for painting, I should be able to do them separately and slot it together at the end.

Same with the horizontal stabilisers. They fit in a very Tamiya - esque way, going straight through the tail fin and slotting into their opposite number, ensuring idiot proof alignment.

I’d be anxious that I might not be able to get the wings off again with fit that tight

You and me both!

 

[boatman]

HI Andy yes looks a very good fit an good modeling an i have only seen one of these gannets goin up at RAF COLTISALL airshow an it was fasinateting to see how the wings all folded up an then it taxied past where we was standing an the niose the engine made was horendous it was huffin an spittin an bangin an smokey i thought it was gonna blow up lol but loved the two tone green colour she was painted in will yours be Andy ?
chrisb

 

[Andy T]

Chris, I'm going to be following one of the box schemes since it's possible my relative touched this actual aircraft, so Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky



There's also the colours for the ordinance on that sheet which may help identify them.

 

[Andy T]

I've been busy elsewhere of late but some progress has been made.

A chap on the Airfix group passed on a tip about the front landing gear doors. Airfix have modelled them all to be open but in real life the rear doors are closed when the gear is locked down (similar to what I had with the Dragonfly).

There were enough pics to support his claim so I went with it. I took the closed door part and cut off the sections that remain open:



With the front gear assembled I checked it would still fit:



It's nice & sturdy with very positive mounting points. It'll need to be with all of that nose weight!

I'm posing this with the flaps down and Airfix have included these handy tabs on the hinges. Somewhere to hold them whilst painting, and marked with their port & starboard positions so you don't mix the eight very similar parts up. The tabs are removed before fixing the flap assembly to the wing:



There are also similar identification marks on the vertical winglets that fit on the horizontal stabilisers. Might come in handy since the top ones are painted a different colour to the upper surface, so could be added afterwards.

Also note how the upper & lower winglets key into each other, which should help alignment:

 

[Tim Marlow]

That is a great innovation. Saves having to write it on with a sharpie….

 

[Jakko]

That is very good design, if you ask me. And a good, quick fix on the landing gear door

 

[Andy T]

Yes, I'm not sure I could have written that small

When this kit first arrived it was thrown over my gate by the delivery guy. I thought it had survived okay but as I work on the kit I'm finding a few damaged parts. These landing gear struts are an example. One was bent quite badly and the other snapped completely.

I carefully straightened one but I can't find the broken off part from the other so I found a bit of similar diameter rod for a fix. With some sprue goo to build it up a bit we should be right:





It's been far too long since I painted something lol so I've made a start on the props, spinner and a few random items:



I've also started assembly of the ordinance, the tray from our Christmas biscuit selection is coming in handy as an organiser

 

[Ian M]

This looks to be a cracking good kit. Being very well built too!
Mine is taunting me from the shelves..build me....

 

[Andy T]

Thanks Ian, it really is a nice kit and I've seen some very good builds of it, including a few improvements for those capable enough. Opening out the many vents & scoops on the fuselage, replacing the grab handles etc.

Another natty idea is this jig for drilling out a couple of holes needed for certain versions:



I've been working on the ordinance. Basic colours are down, ready for the tiny decals:

 

[Jim R]

Cracking job Andy. A great kit with some really innovative ideas. Very neat alteration of the landing gear doors. Shame about the damaged landing gear struts but easy to replace with rod with the bonus of not having to clean up the seam line

 

[Jakko]

They still used RP-3 rockets on this thing? I wonder how long those were kept in service now …

 

[Waspie]

They still used RP-3 rockets on this thing? I wonder how long those were kept in service now …

They got shot of them in the late 1960's!!!
I believe it was replaced by a smaller 2 inch RP.

 

[Jakko]

They probably figured, “We’ve got them anyway, even if the most recent one left was made 25 years ago, and a ship is a big target so the poor accuracy is not a problem. Stick them on!”