Revell 1/72nd Fairey GANNET.

[Tamiyasnob]

This will be my first entry into the Cold War group build,

A bit of background on the subject,
The pilot is seated well forward, conferring a good view over the nose for carrier operations,[2] and sits over the Double Mamba engine, directly behind the gearbox and propellers. The second crew member, an aerial observer, is seated under a separate canopy directly behind the pilot. After the prototype, a second observer was included, in his own cockpit over the wing trailing edge. This addition disturbed the airflow over the horizontal stabiliser, requiring small finlets on either side.[6] The Gannet has a large internal weapons bay in the fuselage and a retractable radome under the rear fuselage.
The Gannet's wing folds in two places to form a distinctive Z-shape on each side. The first fold is at about a third of the wing length where the inboard anhedral (down-sweep) changes to the outboard dihedral (up-sweep) of the wing (described as a gull wing). The second wing fold is at about two-thirds of the wing length.[7] The length of the nose wheel shock absorber causes the Gannet to have a distinctive nose-high attitude, a common characteristic of carrier aircraft.
In FAA service, the Gannet generally wore the standard camouflage scheme of a Sky (duck-egg blue) underside and fuselage sides, with Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces, the fuselage demarcation line running from the nose behind the propeller spinner in a straight line to then curve and join the line of the fin. Code numbers were typically painted on the side of the fuselage ahead of the wing; roundel and serial markings were behind the wing. The T.2 and T.5 trainers were finished in silver overall, with a yellow "Trainer band" on rear fuselage and wings.[citation needed]
Operational history[edit source | editbeta]

The prototype first flew on 19 September 1949 and made the first deck landing by a turboprop aircraft, on HMS Illustrious on 19 June 1950, by pilot Lieutenant Commander G. Callingham. After a further change in operational requirements, with the addition of a radar and extra crew member, the type entered production in 1953 and initial deliveries were made of the variant designated AS.1 at RNAS Ford in April 1954. A trainer variant (T.2) WN365 first flew in August 1954. The RN's first operational Gannet squadron (826 NAS) was embarked on HMS Eagle. The initial order was for 100 AS.1 aircraft. A total of 348 Gannets were built, of which 44 were the heavily modified AEW.3. Production was shared between Fairey's factories at Hayes, Middlesex and Heaton Chapel, Stockport / Manchester (Ringway) Airport.


An Australian Gannet AS.1 on the USS Philippine Sea in 1958.
By the mid-1960s, the AS.1s and AS.4s had been replaced by the Westland Whirlwind HAS.7 helicopters. Gannets continued as Electronic countermeasures aircraft: the ECM.6. Some AS.4s were converted to COD.4s for Carrier onboard delivery—the aerial supply of mail and light cargo to the fleet.
The Royal Australian Navy purchased the Gannet AS.1 (36 aircraft). It operated from the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne and the shore base HMAS Albatross near Nowra, New South Wales. Indonesia bought a number of AS.4 and T.5s (re-modelled from RN AS.1s and T.2s) in 1959. Some Gannets were later acquired by various other countries.
West Germany bought 15 Gannet AS.4s and one T.5 in 1958. They operated as the anti-submarine squadron of Marinefliegergeschwader 2 (2nd Naval Fighter Wing) from Jagel and Sylt. In 1963 the squadron was re-assigned to MFG 3 at Nordholz Naval Airbase until the Gannets were replaced by the Breguet Br.1150 Atlantique in 1966. During its operations the German Navy lost one AS.4, on 12 May 1966, when a Gannet crashed shortly after take-off from Kaufbeuren, killing all three crew members.
Here are the sprue shot,s




Instuction sheet is an A4 booklet

The Xtradecal sheet,there are no stencil,s with this set so I will use the kit supplied one,s

This is the version I have chosen

Next some shot,s of the BIG ED set
Landing flap,s

External set[wheel well,s bomb bay,exhaust nacelle,s and other fitting,s

Remove before flight tag,s

Pre painted cockpit set, this is awesome,

Canopy mask,s

Hope to start this sometime this week, cheer,s Dave

[UKscalemodeller]

Oooh pretty

[Lee]

Looking forward to this one

[ModelingMatt]

Ugly is the new Kool. Not the prettiest subject but an A+ in the interesting category.

[Paul]

Great looking plane, look forward to seeing it come together

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

jeez.... That's a lot of PE there mate!
I'm kinda jealous now!

Looks like a amazing kit too build!
Great choice

[DC87]

These aircraft are awesome, can't wait to see the chunky bird come together.

[Emilliano]

undoubtedly looks like an impressive kit...All the best mate looking forward to this build

[longlance67]

Oh cool subject mate, this should be something different will be watching this one






Shane.

[bullgill67]

good luck with your build Dave

michael

[good2us1]

Cool looking aircraft!!! She'll nice when done.

[T3hGuppy]

Nice choice dude.

This one really appeals to me an unusual looking girl .

[Tamiyasnob]

Managed to make a start this week, firstly I must state that this kit is awful. All the part,s have flash in varying amount,s so I think going with the PE is a must. Anyway some build shot,s

The bomb bay and forward wheel well, notice the PE floor in the wheel well.

Here is another shot with XF 50 field blue all over

The cockpit floor, the seat,s are dry fitted to ease painting later on

Sidewall,s added having had all the surface detail removed ready for the colour PE


Taking a break from the cockpit ,the awful fit of part,s drew my curiosity to try the wing,s, happily not to bad a fit after all.
Anyway that,s it for now, cheer,s Dave.

[Lysion]

As I said in another thread, do not forget to add enough weight into the nose. Otherwise it will be sitting on its tail.

I built this a year ago, and to me it was a frustrating build, but I was beginner back then. I will be sure to follow your thread, will be interesting to see how this turns out. Especially with the added PE.

Maybe I will buy it again together with the PE, if your birdie turns out good.

[Tamiyasnob]

Progress has been made on the build {albeit slow} but progress never the less, so hre are some shot,s

Cockpit primed and sprayed a mix of 70% XF 50 Field blue and X18 semi gloss black to try and match the Eduard part,s

Inner fuselage side,s sprayed in the same mix

PE fitted to the cockpit and offered up to the fuselage to check the fit


All buttoned up so now to check the seam,s

Putty applied to the spine leading up to the tail fin

Wing,s dry fitted to check

Surprise, surprise. Oh well out with the styrene plug,s and putty. That,s it for now, I,m of to do a little bit more {to another kit}, cheer,s Dave

[UKscalemodeller]

Nicely done there.

[T3hGuppy]

Hows it going on this one buddy.

Any updates or has this been shelved?

[Tamiyasnob]

Hi Guppy, actually I PM,d Lee and asked him to move it to the WIP section so in a nut shell no it won't be finished. All the exterior photo etch was badly warped and other thing,s got in the way so I am sticking with the Vulcan for this GB, cheer,s Dave

[chief5437]

Boo! I was looking forward to this. It's an expensive kit for 1/72, the ones I've seen have been anyway. That's why I haven't got one! Hope you get it finished eventually!

[Tamiyasnob]

Your welcome to finish it for me

[chief5437]

Your welcome to finish it for me

Lol! Is it that bad?

[Tamiyasnob]

Worse, it,s probably the worst kit Revell have made, what with that and the warped PE I just can,t find the time . Plus ISM keep coming up with such good GB,s and sig,s one after the other

[T3hGuppy]

Shame your having problems with this kit.

Such a nice looking aircraft.

[Lee]

Moved

[Tamiyasnob]

Cheer,s Lee