Global Scale Modeller

I saw this 1/72 scale model at my local hobby shop. I was having a difficult time choosing a subject. I was in the shop looking for ideas and it was between this Gannet and an Italeri Sea Harrier.

Most of you probably know about this aircraft. Wikipedia says about the Gannet:

The Fairey Gannet was a British carrier-borne aircraft of the post-Second World War era developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and a crew of three, and a double turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers.

The Gannet was originally developed to meet the FAA's dual-role anti-submarine warfare and strike requirement.[2] It was later adapted for operations as an electronic countermeasures and carrier onboard delivery aircraft. The Gannet AEW was a variant of the aircraft developed as a carrier-based airborne early warning platform.

My build will depict a Gannet AS1 of 796 Sqn RNAS Culdrose 1957. From what I can tell from http://www.ukserials.com, this particular aircraft was decommissioned on 4/10/1955 and sold as scrap on 8/8/1962


url=https://flic.kr/p/TqJWtp]P1010800[/url] by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

To facilitate cockpit detail painting, I will paint the parts while still on the sprues and touch up as necessary. Here you see the parts primed in gray Stynylrez.


P1010814 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010815 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

This build is going to be totally out of box and as such, I am following the Trumpeter paint call outs. It says to paint the cockpit Mr. Color 337 Gray Blue with black details. That translates to Model Master Acrylic FS 35237 Medium Gray. In this photo, I used Tamiya masking tape to isolate the parts that I'll spray black.

It is probably a bit crazy, but I used a magnifier so I could cut strips of tape less than 1mm wide to get between the various boxes.

P1010816 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

SkyPainter303 wrote: Sat Apr 08, 2017 5:03 am
It is probably a bit crazy, but I used a magnifier so I could cut strips of tape less than 1mm wide to get between the various boxes.

P1010816 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Nothing crazy about that - keep up the good work

....and Tamiya Tape sales department loves you!


Tommy

The carpet monster attacked today and took one of the Gannet's headrests; no problem because I made a reasonable facsimile.


P1010817 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


Moving along, I got the cockpit pieces assembled. Typical of Trumpeter kits, the pieces fit together well. There is little detail in the cockpit, but I have vowed not to spend money on PE for 1/72 scale aircraft interiors. Once the fuselage is together, one won't be able to see much as they try to peer thru the canopy.


P1010818 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

I haven't had much time to work on Gannet because I work pretty much all the time. I did have some time to prime and paint the interior fuselage and the under carriage. The interior is Model Master Acryl Medium Gray while the undercarriage is MM Acryl Aluminum


P1010819 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010820 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010821 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

The Gannet is starting to look like an airplane. I got the front and rear cockpits installed along with the front wheel well and wing spars. After I glued the fuselage halves together I noticed that i forgot to attach the tail hook. To fix this, I snipped off the pivot attaching points and simply inserted the tail hook into the fuselage and glued in place.

Once the glue is dry, I will need to clean up the seam and remove an inadvertent finger print. All-in-all, this kit is going together nicely.


P1010822 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010823 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010824 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010826 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

I did some more work on my Gannet. After the fuselage halves were joined, I cleaned up the seam with sanding sticks. Then I noticed a small step on the top and bottom. These were smoothed out with Tamiya White Putty. This will be sanded again tomorrow. I also assembled the horizontal stabilizers with small vertical fins. They didn't fit perfectly and have some small gaps to fill at the joins. This, I will also fix tomorrow.


P1010828 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010827 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010829 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010830 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

You are flying through with this build. I like it a lot so far.

This Trumpeter kit is pretty well engineered although there are some pieces of this kit that probably should have been molded together with other pieces. For instance: the fuselage sides have bulges that run along the sides below the canopies. The rear bulges are molded into the fuselage halves while the forward bulges are separate pieces that don't quite line up with the rears (or the panel lines). I think Trumpeter adds extra assembly steps just to make the kit more involved.


P1010833 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I also attached the hooks to the lower front of the fuselage and the exhaust nozzles to the rear part.


P1010834 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



The fuselage seams and the stabilizer fins gaps were filled and cleaned up. With the fins, I used a toothpick to spread on the Tamiya putty and wiped it smooth with a cotton swap soaked in lacquer thinner.


P1010832 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010831 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I lost part C22 to the carpet monster. They go on the horizontal stabilizers. I'll need to make a matching piece.


P1010835 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Looking good, nice work.

Looking good and really working at a pace I have the Sword 1/72 kit sort of 3/4 done then lost interest in it seeing your lovely build may rekindle the mojo to finish it.
Good luck with the rest of the build

RossiM1 wrote: Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:48 pm Looking good and really working at a pace I have the Sword 1/72 kit sort of 3/4 done then lost interest in it seeing your lovely build may rekindle the mojo to finish it.
Good luck with the rest of the build

This kit is coming along pretty well. Compared to Martin's Revell build, the Trumpeter kit is simpler. There is no bomb bay and the flaps and gear can only be positioned down. In my next post, I will show some fit issues with an aileron.

Yesterday, i got the wings assembled. I also attached the actuators to the flaps. At this point, the instructions say to attach the flaps to the wings, but I am going to put that off for later. I am afraid if i glue on the flaps now, I'd just break them.

The ailerons are separate pieces, but one wing is thicker than the other. As a result, one wing transitions into the aileron smoothly, while the other has a pronounced step. Even the hinges stick out from the upper and lower surfaces of the aileron.


P1010836 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010836 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Coming along great guns.
You are right about the flaps I will be leaving mine of till the last part .
I have already broke the hook once.

I glued on the horizontal stabilizers, but to set them in the correct horizontal plane, large gaps were created. I filled the gaps with Tamiya white putty wiped clean with lacquer thinner. I also attached the wings. They fit a little better. Finally, I got the propellers and spinners ready for primer, except the rear spinner part needs to be smoothed out with putty.


P1010839 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010840 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010838 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010841 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Loving the build so far
She sure is an interesting looking bird. There is one at a museum near me, well with 80kms.
Might have to go have a close up look at it

I put some more time in at the bench this evening. I cleaned up the prop spinner and installed the radome on the underside. The faring around the radome needed some blending into the fuselage. Sanding sticks worked well for that. I also masked the canopies which is always a tedious chore. Before the masking, it was necessary to sand off a seam that ran down the middle of the bubble canopies. Fine and extra fine sanding sticks were used and then some Novus compound and polish.


P1010844 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010847 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010848 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010850 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Fun one to watch, love the odd looking planes.

never liked the aircraft, BUT you are doing a great job in making me want to build one nice work

I have a small update today. I installed the canopies which did not fit all that well. After I glued them on, I sprayed the canopy frames with the interior color. That revealed a large gap where the canopy met the fuselage. I will fill that with Testors Clear Parts Cement.


P1010852 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010853 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


I also made a replacement piece that goes under the horizontal stabilizer. I used a small styrene rod.


P1010851 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Clear parts cement a little like CA glue when it dries?

Great progress Michael and nice to see how you get round the issues great explanations good luck with the paint stage look forward to seeing the next stage.

Lysus wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:07 am Clear parts cement a little like CA glue when it dries?

A Testors product - for making windows. It dries super clear.

Moving on to the painting stage, I airbrushed on white Stynylrez. I then did my crude preshading. I'm still trying to learn my equipment and correct paint to thinner ratio.


P1030869 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1030870 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

This looks like it has been a tricky build, but looking great now.

nice work, like the preshading.

I haven't worked on this one in a while. I am trying to keep with Model Master acrylic paints and haven't found the right shade of blue-gray in that range of paints.

I'm back on with the Gannet. Because I wasn't satisfied with the locally available paints for Dark Sea Gray, I mixed my own. Tamiya and Model Master acrylic paints lack the blue hue present in the Trumpeter color call-outs and box art. I started with Gunship Gray mixing in a little Insignia Blue. My little bit was too blue. I neutralized the blue using some Insignia Red. Still too dark I added some Flat White. Finally, I think I came up with a color I like. As usual, I thinned the paint with Testors Universal Acrylic Thinner.


P1030889 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1030890 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Continuing painting I masked off the topside so I could spray the sky color. Then I sprayed Model Master Acrylic RAF Sky Type S.


P1030891 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1030893 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Here is my Gannet with the masking removed. There were a few places that required some touch up work. I used a small brush and thinned paint to fix those areas. I also have primed the small parts that will be added at the end of the build.


P1030899 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1030898 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Great progress, it looks amazing !


Tommy

It is time to wrap this one up. I gloss coated and applied the decals. At a distance, the colors look good, but up close the finish is as rough as sandpaper. I apparently had some chemistry problems - I probably had the paint to thinner ratio wrong and it may have been too hot to paint.


P1040012 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040013 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I also painted the propeller pieces readying them for installation.


P1040014 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I still need to attached the flaps and landing gear.

The deadline is here and I think I'll just finish. Today, I've been working on the last minute details adding the landing gear, probes, and propellers. Later on in the morning I'll spray on the flat coat, glue on the wing lights, do some final detail touch-ups, and shoot the final reveal photos.


P1040015 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040020 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040021 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040018 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040016 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040019 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040022 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1040023 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Yay! I finished. Posting the final reveal now.