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1/48th De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW2 (Airfix)


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Thanks for letting me join in.

Picked this up yesterday as a treat after a grueling week debugging a flight display.

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I had a quick start last night but I had to un-stick a few things as I hadn't read the instructions as usual.

The damage so far.

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First impressions - perfect fit, fine detail - lots of bits seem made to be movable and judging by the fit of the airbrake this may be a feature I'll try and keep at least until painting.

This will be OOB (I''m too cheap for AM) with maybe the odd scrap of extra detailing if I'm feeling brave. Haven't picked the scheme yet but will be doing the wings folded.

Hopefully I can keep focused long enough to actually finish this or it'll be one more for the shelf of shame.

I don't have any background on this though I did sit next to a guy who was working out the best way to crash one

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slamming it together old school - a really good fit overall with some parts needing a little extra attention to close up. I did struggle with fitting the inboard flaps in the closed position with the booms on. In the end I took them off, fitted the flap and did a bit of scraping on the join until the booms fitted on properly again.

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Cockpit had just a bit of dry brushing and, being all black, is very hard to see I hope the seats will slide in near the end.

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The side-window not unexpectedly fell inside whilst smoothing the minor join in the fuselage sides. Again I hope I can re-attach that at the end.

Edited by Plastic Bonsai
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This is a great kit, and you are doing a fine job on her. :popcorn::popcorn:

When I did mine some time back I thought that fit of parts was a bit too good in places. If you know what I mean.

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When I did mine some time back I thought that fit of parts was a bit too good in places. If you know what I mean.

Well sometimes the fit has the tiniest of gaps - I am going to refresh my Tipex supply next week - and sometimes it's so tight I don't think I can get the glue in - but it's a nice problem to have.

I've just attached the nosecone filled with plastacine and the tailplane had to be glued in as the front spigot on one side broke off with the handling. The hook is stuck down and I expect that will break off eventually as well.

There isn't any big bit left to do - maybe detail the bays a bit, finish the cockpit areas , mask and spray - ulp - have far too many near that point on my shelf of shame.

Great progress keep it up! Wish I'd built the one on of these I have stashed rather than the Bucc!!

I have several of those stalled in many ways - I know what you mean.

It's a nice model but the subject doesn't have the looks of the Bucc. If Airfix could revisit it with their latest standards my wallet would have a coronary.

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  • 2 months later...

Not feeling good about this.

It's my own fault I got a bit distracted by some of Airfix's Series 1 & 2 recent releases and time slipped by.

Last week picked up from above and started spraying - Humbrol 34/130 underneath which went on after a few goes, doing the HU123 on the top disaster struck when the paint started to craze. I'm a more than a bit lazy and regularly use cellulose thinners when spraying enamels and normally I get away with it but not this time. The outer-panels were really bad but I thought I may as well just finish and be done with it.

In all this time the concrete monster snaffled a few bits and I broke off several bits as well in the spraying and masking - the hook finally snapped whilst masking.

The canopy frame broke early on and I lost that bit too.

Putting the wings on I realized the inner wing join sections were upside down and fitting the outer panels was tricky as a result.

And at the end it's a tail sitter.

Mea culpa in spades.

There's nothing wrong with the kit as many fine builds on here attests - I would say a few of the fit instructions could be a little clearer but the decal sheet is laid out excellently ( I didn't do them all in the end).

I won't let the side down and put anything in the finish gallery but I'm putting a few photos up here - at least with the wings folded you can't see the crazed paint easily.

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Now I'm going to go away, get my sh*t together and work up my modelling skills to a more passable level with practice and I will take on this model again

Edited by Plastic Bonsai
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Thank you one and all.

Very nice finished model .. I'm building this one at the moment, hope it turns out as good as yours :)

Trust me that shouldn't be difficult - a bit of poor focus is hiding a lot.

It is a nice kit. I had a bit of trouble fitting the booms because the fit is very tight and look carefully at how I've fitting the wing join ribs - they should be the other way up.

I have had a dry spell of finishing - OK more like a drought - but a few Series 1 starter kits have almost cured me but I have to work on the masking and spraying bit as that really seems to be a hang up for me, and adding stuff like harnesses and making enough notes about what needs doing when and colour details and reading the instructions and working out the options and taking photos and... well I know from this site what can be done and I really want to get to a happy place with this.

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