Airfix Folland Gnat build - Part One

I have a very dim memory of seeing my first Gnat on the Island of Anglesey back in the mid 60's. Since then the Gnat was a prime steed for the Red Arrows until the Hawk took its place. I'm not sure of it was that early memory or the fact that this is a newly tooled model from Airfix but I felt compelled to build this one.

As usual I looked around for any after market parts and found that Pavla have a resin cockpit detailing set available. After the parts arrived in the mail this past week I dove into things.

First up was to remove some of the moulded detail in the cockpit area in order to accommodate some of the Pavla parts. Not too much to do here. I then glued the new cockpit side walls in place followed by air brushing on some light grey.

I then used a black ink wash to highlight details followed by a dry brush with more light grey.

The pictures here tell the story so far. I did find I had to lightly sand the sides of the replacement cockpit floor in order to ensure the fuselage halves joined together without a gap. Nothing serious though.

You can also see the two lovely ejection seats. I have already base coated black in preparation for final colors.