Airfix Folland Gnat build - Red Arrows 1978

That's another one done. Sticking with the S&M Silk decals I painted my third Gnat in the Red Arrows scheme of 1978 which I believe was the last one before they changed to flying the Hawk.

I used Humbrol Signal Red for the base colour. Everything was stock out of the box this time. Weathering was achieved using Flory Dark wash.

Here are the two display Gnats flying together.

 

 

Having looked at some more photographs of the actual machines I see that neither of them were fitted with the fuel tanks at the time they were performing. Something to remember should I decide to do more of these in the future as my skills develop. For now I'm pretty happy with these and look forward to completing my Red Arrows Hawk to display along side them.

 

Right now though it's time to finish my EE Lightning!

 

As always comments, feedback always welcome.

 

Cheers!

Airfix Folland Gnat build - Yellowjack colour scheme

I really enjoyed building the Gnat (see my earlier blogs). Shortly after completing it I read about a decal set from S&M Silk that includes a bunch of Gnat schemes, including earlier Red Arrow schemes. I obtained my set from Hannants,

The 1964 Yellowjack scheme was the instant choice for me and I guess Airfix would agree since they are releasing a kit in this scheme later this year.

As this was my second go at this model it went together a little faster. The only aftermarket parts I used were Pavla ejection seats.

I used Humbrol #154 for the "Golden Yellow" scheme and Flory Dark Wash to highlight the detail.

My plan is to do one more Gnat in a1978 Red Arrows scheme and then display these two models with the new Airfix Red Arrows Hawk kit.

As always comments, feedback are appreciated from fellow modellers.

Enjoy the pictures.

Airfix Folland Gnat build - Final pictures

I cant thank Airfix Customer Service enough for sending me a replacement cockpit. Of course I managed to crack it again but that's another story.

The Promodeller Clay wash arrived too so I got stuck in to using that first. The model has a couple of coats of Tamiya Clear on it. The wash goes on straight from the bottle.

The picture here shows the model with wash applied.

After allowing the wash to dry for 20 minutes+ I rubbed off the excess with a damp paper towel. The clay stayed in the detail giving the model some real depth. It also gave a more weathered look too.

A final coat of Lacquer sealed everything in.

It only remained to paint the cockpit up and give it a dip in Future before fixing it on and finally finishing the model. Here's how it looks. I learnt a lot on this one not least of which is how good Alclad products are.

For anyone remotely interested I decided to make a start on my Airfix Lancaster. I have a massive etch to detail it with so this one will take some time. But that is for another post.

As always feedback, comments are appreciated.

Airfix FollandGnat build - Part Six

Good news. Customer Service at Airfix are sending me a replacement canopy! Thank you Airfix.

So having got over my depression from wrecking the original canopy I forged ahead and completed the painting and decal fixing. There are numerous small decals on the provided sheet some of which almost disappear against the metallic finish but the Red, White and Blues really contrast great with the orange. Micro Set and Micro Sol were used to attach the decals and everything is locked in with Tamiya Clear.

So now I am waiting for the post to deliver the replacement canopy and then I'll finish it off.

I'm going to try one more new product on this model. I have a bottle of ProModeller Dark Wash coming from Flory Models in the UK. These guys have a good support web site for their store with some valuable resources.

Here's how the model looks so far.

Once I have the canopy in hand and have applied the dark wash I'll post some final images. For now its time to consider the next project.

I will spend a few days finsihing off my Scots Greys and some of my sons Warhammer Space Marines. After that I have to figure out do I build another model or hit my figure stash.

Possibilities include:

Airfix Vulcan
Airfix Angel Interceptor
Airfix Chipmunk
Airfix HMS Fearless

Perry Confederate Infantry
Perry Zouaves
Indian War Party - Muskets & Tomahawks
Scots - SAGA

Anyone care to make a suggestion?

Airfix Folland Gnat Build - Part Five

Mixed feelings today as I will explain.

Firstly I was able to use the amazing Alclad II paint system to put a very realistic looking coating on the aircraft. I purchased Aircraft Aluminum which needs a gloss primer before application.

I sprayed on Testors Gloss Black for the primer - two coats. I let this dry for 24 hours and then applied two plus light coats of the Alclad II Aircraft Aluminum paint. This product sprays straight from the bottle. Its lacquer based so you need a cleaner  that will handle lacquers afterwards.

The first picture here shows the aircraft after a single coat of the Alclad and then the finished article. The Alclad gives a beautiful finish. I learnt a few things:

1. The better the gloss primer finish the better the Alclad looks. I noticed in some areas of the aircraft where perhaps my primer was not as well sprayed on/dense the appearance of the metal was not as convincing as where I knew I had a good gloss coat such as the wing surfaces.

2. Spray light coats only in a single pass. I noticed where my passes overlapped (or I was a little more heavy handed) the finish was not as smooth as in other areas.

Having said all that it is an incredible product and definitely one I will use on any model requiring a metallic finish on its parts.

 

When I removed the masking tape the aircraft just popped . The metallic finish contrasts terrifically with the Orange. Check this out.

So then came the big issue. I started to clean up spots I had missed, remove over spray etc. One area I had to clean was the cockpit glazing. I had not protected the inside of the glazing and so some spots of spay had got inside. No problem I thought. Out came the Humbrol Enamel thinners and a piece of tissue paper. One swipe with the thinners and the spots were gone but then all of a sudden the plastic started to get crazy lines in it and it actually split at the front where it is thinnest!!

I've never seen that before. Maybe some of you already knew this but there is yet another lesson learnt ... mask the whole canopy inside and out! Problem now is I have a model 80% finished and no canopy.

Airfix Folland Gnat build - Part Four

With the model surface rubbed down with Micro mesh 1200 I proceeded to apply the masking necessary to apply the orange paint. As always I used Tamiya masking tape and then filled in the large gaps with some 3M masking tape.

With the tape in place I sprayed a primer coat of white.

With the primer dry i then mixed the main color for air brushing. I used the Humbrol Color from the kit instructions; Gloss 209, Fluorescent Fire Orange.

I used Humbrol enamel thinners and mixed it a little more than 2  parts paint to one part thinners.

I did about 5 coats to get the depth of color allowing the paint to dry between sprays and rubbing down with Micro Mesh 1200 after the third coat.

The first picture here shows the model ready to receive the primer. The second was taken after the first coat and the last is the finished article. I have a bit of over spray to deal with but you can see how the successive coats gives a very rich deep color to the orange.

Next up will be the bare metal of the airframe. I am going to use Alclad II products for this so stay tuned it's my first time!

Airfix Folland Gnat build - part three

Bit of a delay in working on this model. My son recently got into Warhammer 40K so I have spent the past two weeks painting up Space Marines, Terminators and Hellbrutes for him!

Anyway back to the Gnat. Seams were fixed using Mr Surfacer 500 filler. I love this stuff. It can be applied using a small brush so you have complete control over where it goes. It dries quickly and is easily sanded.

Once that is over with I spray a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000. This shows up any blemishes that need to be dealt with and then polishes up with Micro grit to provide a good surface for painting.

The model fit is quite good. I would recommend fitting the engine intake cowlings to the fuselage halves while they are still on the sprue.

I must have been day dreaming because I installed the undercarriage prior to spraying. Not too smart and not something I would normally do. At this scale the parts are very fragile. Anyway its done so I'll just get on with it.

Next up will be spraying on the orange paint!

Airfix Folland Gnat build - Part Two

Continuing with the build I completed painting the ejection seats and cockpit panel details and then started the process of putting the cockpit together so I could join the fuselage halves.

I was pleased with how a little careful painting picked out the details in the panels and the seats looked good.

I still found I had to file the Pavla parts down in order to get the fuselage halves to mate. In the end I still had a small gap ahead of the nose wheel that I will need to deal with before moving on.

Installing the wheel wells and main undercarriage legs at this point also made handling the model tricky but I didn't see a way around it.

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.