Karl Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) Hi All, It's been a while since I did a work in progress, but I thought I'd have another go with a kit I have had in the stash for a couple of years. I picked up the 1/48 Aeroclub Folland Gnat F.1 in the kit swap at Scale Model World for £10. It's typical Aeroclub; excellent quality vac form parts sheet with some nicely cast white metal detail components. The canopy and the decal sheet have gone yellow with age so I'll have to do something about that; the canopy I'll probably fix by crash forming a new one. Other than that it's in perfect condition for it's age. I want to do a Gnat F.1 as evaluated by the Ministry of supply so I can dress it in RAF markings, not sure if I'll be able to use the XK741 decals on the supplied decal sheet but I'll give it a go. I'm never very quick with these things so please bear with me! The Box: Box contents: Vac-formed parts sheet: White metal parts and the yellowing canopy: Thanks for looking! Karl Edited August 23, 2014 by Karl 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 That looks nice , even better for a tenner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Karl, Looking forward to your build.. The kit looks good. How is it... you have gotten off to a good clean start. Keep us posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viscount806x Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 You did well getting it for a tenner, they go for 4 times that on e bay. Watching with interest since I have one in the stash as well. Nige B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) I always find Removing the parts from the plastic 'sheet' quite a sad process when building a vac form for some reason. Not sure why; but I always think that there is something magnificent and magical about a vac form kit when it's all there in the box. something an injection moulded kit lacks, and when you cut the parts from the tree it's just like any model kit - a collection of aircraft shaped parts. But they have to come apart if I'm going to build it so here we go. I use a black permanent marker to mark out the parts and then use a new blade in my Swann Morton Supatool. Parts marked out before cutting: Parts cut out and ready to sand down: Sanding next... Karl Edited August 25, 2014 by Karl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 And there we have it - all done. Thanks for looking..... just kidding Back to normality - all of the sanding is done using mostly the traditional method of large flat sheets of sand paper, however due to the arthritise in my fingers it hurts doing all of that sanding manually so I supplemented it with some careful sanding using a low power rotary sanding tool. I taped the fuselage together to check that it all fits where it should. Looks ok Karl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Very nice I will be watching this one. I did not know this kit existed. Great to see a single seat version. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 (edited) Just a brief update; been busy with work and things so not had much model time. Anyway, I've cut out the apertures for the landing gear, the cockpit and intakes. I have also built up the landing gear bays from the vac parts plus a bit of scrap. I'm trying to get my head around why some Gnats I see sit level and others with the tail down relative to the ground. Was there some sort of mechanism that allowed the Gnat to sit up at the back when required? I also think I need to trim quite a bit of the nose u/c bay at it intrudes in to the space for the cockpit. If anyone has any information on his I would really appreciate it. Karl Edited September 13, 2014 by Karl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 I have one of these so will be interested in how things progress. I must admit I'm not looking forward to separating the vac parts from the sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flankerman Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 I'm trying to get my head around why some Gnats I see sit level and others with the tail down relative to the ground. Are you looking at operational Gnats - or museum examples ?? The museum ones may be engineless - hence the stance ?? Just a thought - I don't know for sure. Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Are you looking at operational Gnats - or museum examples ?? The museum ones may be engineless - hence the stance ?? Just a thought - I don't know for sure. Ken Hi Ken, I'm modelling an operational one, however most of the subjects I'm looking at are in museums so it could be that I guess. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 (edited) Had a bit more time recently to work on the Gnat (real work and fatigue keep getting in the way of what I want to do!!) so I've made a bit of progress recently. I have installed the landing gear bays. I found that the front bay was too long and narrow as built, so I ended up modifying it so it was shorter and wider. I did this in conjunction with installing the cockpit so I could get the two to line up and live together better. The rear bays just went in as is. The intakes were installed as prescribed on the instructions, however I added the much longer 'splitter' that gives the impression of the splitter just inside of the intake and than carries along inside the intake to just about where you can't see it any more inside the model. I also added a rear bulkhead and cut a length of brass tube to act as the jet exhaust. The kit has a rather nice white metal ejection seat. I just need to add some foil seat belts to spruce it up. I have scratch built the cockpit with a little detail (bit more still to add) and I have cut out the windows behind the cockpit that were present in the Gnat F.1's purchased by the Ministry of Supply. I've also rounded the nose a bit - might need a bit more rounding still. Karl Edited October 26, 2014 by Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) Sorry, I'm only making slow progress with this at the moment. Assembling the external fuel tanks, I noticed that the cross section was rather oval in shape (not sure it that's me taking too much plastic away when sanding or what) so I installed a thick shim between the two halves and blended this in with some sanding to make it a much more round profile. I also formed the pylons out of scrap plastic as the instructions suggested using the provided template and added some brass pins for guides. Before closing the fuselage halves, I planted as much lead shot and Milliput as I could cram in and then glued the fuselage together, taping them up to hold it together. After this was set I attached the wings and aligned them with the vertical tail (quite a good picture on the plans to do this by) to give them the required anhedral. However, as everything was just about cured I kept looking at it thinking something wasn't quite right - then I noticed that the vertical tail wasn't aligned with the fuselage split, it had twisted to one side. This had the affect of putting the anhedral of the wings right out... The cure was to razor saw the side of the vertical tail and add some shims of plastic to bring it back in to the proper vertical and then razor saw the wings at the joint and bend and shim them in to their new angles. I actually only needed to do the port wing as I had overcooked the anhedral on the starboard wing this brought it back in to line with how it should be. I've just started to fill and sand all of the gaps now. Karl Edited November 23, 2014 by Karl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzH Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Very interesting build. I have one that i started about 5 tears ago almost at the same stage as you are now... Maybe this is the inspiration to get it out and finish her off.. Great work, keep the updates coming (however small)... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Very interesting build. I have one that i started about 5 tears ago almost at the same stage as you are now... Maybe this is the inspiration to get it out and finish her off.. Great work, keep the updates coming (however small)... Cheers OzH, Yea, get yours out and get the her finished, would be nice to see another one done! Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 A little update - never seem to have any time (or spare energy) for modelling at the moment so I only get bits done here and there. I hope this will improve in 2015... Anyway, after spraying my usual undercoat of Halfords grey primer and filling in any blemishes that brings up, I'm brush painting the grey/green RAF camouflage by applying several thin coats. In this picture I've just started to apply the green... When this is done. I'll mask off the upper surface and spray the underside and tanks in silver. Karl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 YOU HAVE ENERGY! if not you would not do a vacform Gant! :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 My goodness this was the forth kit I did and has got to be over thirty years old and very early on the learning curve. You're making a superb job of it If you haven't fitted them yet I might be able to find some of the metal parts for the later Gnat T.1 which are much nicer cast and in a better metal. PM me. John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I have never done a vac form so am finding this thread fascinating and I'm quite sure you are making it look easier that the process really is. I don't know about the single seater (although I'd take a guess it was the same) however T1 Gnats sat very tail down when the engines were fitted. give the engine a good prod though and the nose would soon level out (and if chained down for engine runs the end of the pitot tube would be pointing at the ground). Duncan B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 YOU HAVE ENERGY! if not you would not do a vacform Gant! :) Thank you!! - I'll keep plodding along Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beekeeper Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Gnat F.1 are so rare . Why not make it with Indian markings ? Some are really Nice ! A Very good project . Thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 My goodness this was the forth kit I did and has got to be over thirty years old and very early on the learning curve. You're making a superb job of it If you haven't fitted them yet I might be able to find some of the metal parts for the later Gnat T.1 which are much nicer cast and in a better metal. PM me. John Hi John, Thank you for your kind words - I've sent you a PM. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Gnat F.1 are so rare . Why not make it with Indian markings ? Some are really Nice ! A Very good project . Thank you. Hi, I particularly wanted to do an RAF (or at least ministry of Supply) variant, however if I had another (!!!) I would do it as a Hal Ajeet - there is a nice overall silver scheme with tiger-meet stripes along the spine, tail and drop tanks that looks really good. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Hi All, Resurrecting my old thread - it's all completed now, but I just need to do the pictures so I'll complete the WIP first. After painting, the next step was the decals. The only thing I needed from the original decal sheet were the aircraft serial numbers 'XK741'; a good job as the 30+ year old decal sheet was going a bit yellow: I carefully cut out the numbers I needed; I was confident I could use them as I did a test on one of the roundels and it didn't break up when put in water. I applied the serial numbers using 'Klear' to keep them glued down. All of the other RAF decals are form the spares box. After I had applied all of the decals it was back to the spray table and apply a couple of coats of Humbrol Clear-Cote Satin. After that, it was just a matter of final assembly of the wing tanks and landing gear. The canopy was installed using Micro Kristal Klear. I'll post up some completed pictures shortly Karl 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Excellent build Karl. Nice to see one of these built after so long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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