DamienB Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I seem to be into a naval theme with my builds recently so here's another for this GB. I'll be building the new Revell Gannet AS.1/4 kit, but as a COD.4 as I rather like the overall blue scheme, and the conversion is not a big one (just blank off the radome hole, add wing pylons and baggage pods). As a kit it's beautifully moulded with some impressive cockpit detail, a passable weapons bay (which I'll be having closed anyway), separate control surfaces and flaps and very nice surface detail. The canopies in my kit have had to be replaced by the good peeps at Revell (took about a month from request to arrival) as they have a seam line down the middle and are vulnerable to being cracked in two - as mine were - when the kit is sent through the post. Revell's colour call-outs at various stages are debatable to say the least. Most photos seem to show the nose gear bay has a black roof and dark grey sides for instance, not dark grey roof and sky sides. Also the bomb bay is sky, not dark grey, and the main gear bays more likely to be dark green overall or a mix of greys than a mix of grey and sky. Individual airframes varied so this is a check your refs and/or hope for the best affair anyway. So, galloping through the first 7 or so stages in the instructions, we get this far (and beware, parts 6 and 7 - the exhaust troughs - are reversed in the instructions): 1 - I've carefully cut out the triangular sections in the pilot's bulkhead (part 15) as these should be holes, not solid, and show up quite readily through the canopy. 2 - the COD.4 had none of the radar gubbins of the AS variants so I've removed one of the boxes from the aft bulkhead and cut the others down in size. I don't have any shots of this area on a COD.4 so it's really guesswork. Don't do what I did and glue the side consoles in, then leave it for a day and add the bulkheads - try do it in one sitting as they fit very tightly together and having some play in the consoles available makes life a lot easier! The instrument panels have decals, but also lots of nice raised detail, so I'm going to try and dry brush and pick out some dials etc. with paint rather than use the decals. A look at that bomb bay... which I airbrushed sky anyway despite the fact I'll be sealing it shut! The nose gear bay needs repainting as the airbrush spat a big clog out as I was doing it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seavixenxj494 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Good stuff D.B , looking forward to this one , can we expect a wing fold ????? steve . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Gawd no. Trying to keep the work on this one to a minimum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 This is a lovely kit and I'm really enjoying this build - makes a change from battling the inadequacies of lesser efforts! 3 - the seats have had the top corners rounded off, Revell got it wrong by having them squared. Seat belts from blue painted Tamiya tape. The headrests above have had a blob of PVA put on them to make them a bit more lifelike in shape. 4 - I wondered why Revell had gone to the bother of moulding all the instrument cans on the back of the instrument panel - well they must have based the kit on a museum example that didn't have a cockpit coaming, because the kit doesn't have one and therefore the back of the panel is visible! Will have to fix that. Also the panel lacks the gunsight of the AS.1/4, and looks like the panel in an ECM.6 (or possibly COD.4). 5 - the portholes here seem to be fairly rare on the real thing and sure enough all the decal options in the kit show this area as being solid; Revell supply some transparencies though I found they fitted fairly poorly, so filler will be in use here 6 - I closed the fuselage and forgot to add any nose weight - and it will surely need it despite no mention in the instructions - so I've put some weight behind the spinner inside the nose part - not nearly enough so I think the bomb bay will also be getting some weight. This nose part has holes on the rear that lead to closed off intakes at the front/top - so they've been drilled out 7 - the COD.4 doesn't have the radar dustbin so that part goes in the spares box and some thick plastic card has been used to fill the hole; the edges will be sanded and filled to shape as soon as I wrestle this part away from the hands of the evil carpet monster, who currently has taken a great interest in it 8 - bomb bay doors are moulded as one part; as I'm having the bay closed, that's great but there is no seam on the outside so I had to scribe a line in down the middle. For those building it with an open bomb bay, the interior of these doors is rather basic and could do with some dressing up. To get the closed bomb bay part to fit you really need to get that fuselage tightly together - I put a mega bulldog clip around the front half of the bay and that's just about done the job In general the fit so far has been pretty good - minor fettling to get rid of flash etc. in a few places, nothing troublesome. 9 - wings go together very well too. Beware though, the ailerons are reversed in the instructions - so in stage 12, use part 41 not 36 and part 40 not 37; in stage 13, use part 37 not 40 and 36 not 41! 10 - Gannets were invariably parked with flaps up which simplies the build. Just a bit of ejection pin scraping to get them to fit flush in the retracted position. Beware again though, Revell's left/right confusion pops up in stages 16 and 17 - but only in the retracted versions (for part 55, use 57 and for part 57, use 55) 11 - gear bays are marred by more ejection pin marks, dremelled away easily enough though. The gear bay detail is pretty poor and the bay slightly the wrong shape but I'm living with it The wings have a few minor moulding flaws on the surface in a couple of spots but they all sand away easily enough. On the lower part of the wing root there is a bit that juts out by the curved part of the wheel bays - I've found this needs to be cut back so that there is almost nothing left of it to enable a tight fit against the fuselage, like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Damien, Excellent work!! That's looking very good indeed!! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seavixenxj494 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 thats coming along well nice detail from the basic kit how does it compare to the trumpy one ? keep up the good work buddy steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Steve, all in all I think the Revell kit is the one to go for. I had thought the rear fuselage underside was too squared off but on closer examination of reference material, it's dead on and Trumpeter's is far too rounded - they ignore the flattened area around the radar bin completely; the bulges on the wing uppersurfaces over the flap actuators are a bit over done and extend too far aft (but Trumpeter didn't bother with them at all); the bomb bay interior is basically fictional (but none at all in the Trumpeter kit), the main gear bays are the wrong shape (Trumpeter is significantly better but still a bit off), cockpit is superb but as mentioned the pilot's panel doesn't represent an AS.1 or 4 (much better than Trumpeter regardless which is basically blank surfaces), the radome is missing the strakes at the rear (Trumpeter include them, but the radome is smaller in diameter - not sure which is more accurate), gear door interiors are better on the Trumpeter kit, nose intakes better on Revell, exhaust fairings better on Revell (correct concave section as they meet the fuselage), main wheels are better on one side with Revell but better on the other with Trumpeter... basically both kits have their plus points and minus points but many more plus points on the Revell one. I think the Revell rudder is a better job than the Trumpeter one. The ailerons on the Trumpeter wings are noticeably larger than those on the Revell kit (and span is larger to match) - not sure which is more accurate, though I suspect Revell. Still, both kits are excellent renditions of the Gannet I think and with Revell being cheaper it's a no-brainer. I have two Trumpeter ones in the stash, the AS.1 is now earmarked to donate its wings and gear to an AEW.3 conversion, the T.2 has an A2Zee resin wingfold set and Pavla cockpit to try out. Which leaves me with one more Revell AS.1/4 to build, as an AS.1 I think. Progress today: 12 - the carpet monster has clearly eaten the rear fuselage section, so so some plastic card has been cut and bent to shape. Interior painted black as you can see down from the rear of the aft cockpit. After taking this photo it was tacked in place with superglue and poly cement run around it. The shape isn't perfect but with some filler added and sanded to shape it will be alright I think. 13 - the bomb bay contains a lethal load of lead ball bearings to try and keep this from being a tailsitter. It's a bit on the edge now despite the entire bay forward of the main gear centreline being packed full. May have to add some more weight in the rear of the nose gear bay, or use the arrestor hook to keep it from sitting on its tail. As you can see the rear wings are also on (and what superb little units these are - perfect fit); elevators deflected slightly but glued in place along with the other control surfaces rather than left to move as Revell intended. I've just finished applying some filler - mostly on that rear fuselage section I've concocted, with a few minor bits on the fuselage seam and where the rear wings attach to the tail, next job the pylons and baggage pods I guess. Quite surprised that Xtracrylix don't do the RAF blue/grey colour that these aircraft were painted - and don't fancy using an enamel if I can avoid it, so I guess I'm mixing my own. Any suggestions welcome... I was thinking perhaps PRU blue plus some black to darken it down, but that might not be blue enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Looking good Damien I'm a big fan of the way you set out your WIP threads, which are very informative- I'm taking notes for when I get around to building my AS.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat C Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Damien - regarding the RAF Blue/ Grey, if you have a look at my Wessex posted today in the Ready for Inspection section, I used two parts of Gunze H326 (Blue FS15044) with one part of Gunze H328 (Blue FS15050). Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Looking good Damien I'm a big fan of the way you set out your WIP threads, which are very informative- I'm taking notes for when I get around to building my AS.1 Quite agree. TI'm learning as much if not more from this sort of informed and informative thread as I do from the modelling magazines. Keep it up! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Damien- looking good! but now i think i will have to get a revell gannet to do as a Viccy FOAC- isn't it a terrible shame one thing that continues to puzzle me is the amount of rudder deflection both Revell and Trumpy kits show what seems to me to be a small angle before the elevators get in the way i have tried to ascertain via pics and drawings if the trumpy was way out of line- but it seems not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Thanks guys. Pat - noted! The rudder can't have had much more than 10-15 degrees of movement either side but I guess as a contraprop, and given the size of the rudder, that was enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerausfb Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Nice SBS Damien Just in case you've not got there yet; I made one of these a few months ago and had a problem fitting the nosewheel leg assembly. The joint wasn't a particularly tight fit and the assembly kept collapsing. Undoubtedly my fault as I've seen plenty built but I just thought I'd mention it. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Thanks for that Andy - will be careful! Some more slow progress. 14 - Revell had moulded a couple of small intakes on this area of the nose, one each side. No sign of them on the real thing so off they go. 15 - this is the kit's real weakness, those blown canopies - lovely shapes but so vulnerable to damage in shipping, and when cleaning up the seam line on top. Despite great care, each canopy has been marred by a crack at the rear where the sprue attachment was. Just too thin and too much lateral play, and too much stress on them when put in position on the kit. Next time I do one of these I think I will cut off the runners that go behind the canopies, and pack them with blu tack when working on the seams, and hope that helps reduce the stress on them. Anyway all masked up and ready for paint now. 16 - the COD.4 has a couple of aerials on a block here, so I've added the block from thick plastic section, placed in a channel cut in the fuselage top. Holes drilled in the top for the aerials which will be fitted much later! 17 - Revell missed a vent here so added it from plastic rod sanded to shape 18 - and they missed an intake here - and also its partner in a similar position on the starboard side 19 - and they missed the anti collision light up here, base from plastic card, light will be added later 20 - I made the mistake of gluing the catapult strop attachment hooks on too early, and broke both when cleaning up the bomb bay door to fuselage join, so have made replacements from plastic card. You may also just make out a pair of holes drilled in the bomb bay door above the 20, these are for the 'towel rail' aerial positioned here on the COD.4 21 - pylons for the baggage pods constructed by cutting up some 1/32 jet pylon I had in the spares box that was the right thickness, and sanding and cutting to shape using the plans in the excellent 4+ volume on the Gannet. Pods will be made by cutting up some old drop tanks in due course - the thread here on BM about making these will come in very handy! 22 - the covering for the big hole here has worked fairly well. A little more filler needed though, and for the pylon to wing joins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkennerley Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Hi Damien Nice build, I am keen to try one of these someday, thanks for the references Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B (Sc) Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Thanks guys. Pat - noted!The rudder can't have had much more than 10-15 degrees of movement either side but I guess as a contraprop, and given the size of the rudder, that was enough! As you say, being an aircraft with no significant asymmetric engine out issues it didn't need vast amounts of yaw capabilty. The main need for large amounts of rudder will be to deal with assymetric stores loadings I think. That said, around 15 degrees is a a fairly common deflection. Too great a deflection angle just induces flow breakaway - control surface stall if you like, so doesn't help. Also some aircraft with large rudder deflections have had problems caused by rudder lockover - the forces in a full blown sideslip may make it hard or impossible to return rudder to neutral. Not something you need ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 sorry i missed your response to my question Damien thanks also John much apprecitaed chaps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 After a very short filler and sanding session (the fit is really excellent on this kit for the most part), some more undercoating and then an hour spent trying out various blues, settling on Tamiya XF-50 Field Blue as being practically dead-on in my opinion, though this piccy makes it look a little green on my monitor... ...it looks a much cleaner blue/grey, honestly... also tried airbrushing Klear for the first time. Not impressed with the result, I tried various pressures and distances when spraying, and put on multiple light coats, but nothing really worked well and while it is fairly glossy now, the surface feels quite rough. Some light sanding from my finest grit micro-mesh has helped a bit but I think I'll be going over it with brushed-on Klear. 23 - Gannets have a number of handholds (not included in the kit) along the decking here, which reside in indents (which are in the kit), however Revell added an indent that doesn't exist below the observer's canopy - so that's been filled 24 - just above the tip of the '4', a small intake that Revell missed, added from plastic card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 you may find that buffing up with the micromesh will be enough Damien. it seems to produce a gloss surface i've just noticed some rectangular blisters on the wings that i don't remember seeing on the trumpy kit- i'm guessing they cover the flap actuaters looking mighty fine- if a tad too green Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the in depth build thread Damien Youve just brought mine up a few notches in this years build list Especially as Ive already built the Trumpy effort, and boy that was a laugh a minute Nice to see you work on a simple kit for a change B Edited March 5, 2009 by bexwh773 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 Well, the decals are done, and the gear is on... 25 - the nose gear consists of some rather thin and fragile bits of plastic, with vague instructions for placement. Study of photos of the real thing helped here! I can only be thankful that most of the weight will be on the mainwheels though. Part 62 came off the sprue in 3 bits - 64 nearly so! The main gear assembly is somewhat fiddly too, with no obvious place to attach it all to the bay (I butted the top of the main leg against the first rib in the bay roof, not in the corner the instructions want you to put it in - seems to be the right spot compared with photos). The part of the main leg that juts forward actually attaches on to the wing undersurface at the corner of the bay, so needs to be bent outward a bit. Parts 69 & 74 do a good job of bracing the leg but again are fragile and one broke when being detached from the sprue. Parts 70 and 75 need about 1/4 of their length trimmed away where it meets the main leg - and don't try and get them into the small hole at the base of the leg, that's too high up and they need to go lower down the leg. I have left the main gear doors off for the time being, I can't see how the doors would fit given how close the pylon and pod is to the gear leg... and I have at least one photo showing a COD.4 with pods but no main gear doors. Every other pic is inconclusive as they're taken at eye level on the ground and the bottom of the pod is so close to the level of the gear door I can't be sure if the door is there or not. Help welcome! 26 - on to decals... I've used Modelart set 72/057. Unlike earlier Modelart sets these decals are nice and thin and glossy. Unfortunately they are rather disappointing. The roundels are unuseable, with french blue used instead of roundel blue, so I've used the kit ones. Some white strip is provided for various white framed areas, but not enough - so this bit on the wing has had to be finished off with some spare white decals I had, cut into thin strips. The HMS Victorious badge on the tail is slightly out of register with a white edge showing that will need retouching. 27 - no stencils are provided at all on the Modelart set (nor on the Xtradecal set covering COD Gannets) - which is ridiculous as you can only use a tiny number of the kit ones due to the totally different colours used on the COD.4s - you don't even get the big obvious rescue arrows, which I had to cannibalise from the spares box, and nicking one from a Sea King sheet. All the tiny white stencils are from a Fujimi F-4K kit, cut into the right size where needed. I should also note that the instructions for the Modelart set are pretty poor. Every single profile drawing is wrong, as it shows an AS.1/4 e.g. each shows radome as being there - it wasn't present on any of the aircraft on the sheet. The aerial wire configuration is wrong on each drawing; no towel rail aerial under the bomb bay doors; etc. No mention is made of the various non-blue bits of the scheme (mostly red scoops etc. on the fuselage sides); the upperwing illustration shows the roundels as being outboard of the outermost wingfold - they should be inboard of the fold. Every arrestor hook is shown as white, but these were generally striped with colour like the spinners or plain black or blue. Anyway, what's left to do... spray the props and spinners, attach them to the nose (at which point it no longer sits on its tail - woohoo!), attach the exhausts (at which point it sits on its tail again - dammit), all the little aerials and some rigging plus the nose gear doors (and mains if I find out it needs them). Shouldn't take me longer than another 2 weeks eh...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Nice to see you work on a simple kit for a change B Me and my big mouth Shes loking mighty fine and dandy now Damien Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Lovely work Damien, looks great. The blue seems to look better in these last photos too, what a smashing colour scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davec_24 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Looking good, I've always though the Gannet looks excellent in COD colours, I think I'll have to do one for myself one day - maybe an Ark Royal one to go with my Phantom! Thanks for the "walk-through" article you've done here, it will no doubt help when I come to do it for myself. That's a bummer about it sitting on its tail just because you added the exhausts - shows you how difficult it is to get it right - I'm going to have to cram mine full of leadshot, I think. I don't suppose there's any room inside the prop spinner (or anywhere else you can still reach without cutting stuff open) just to cram some milliput or something? If the balance is as fine as that, then it may actually make a difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 The nose gear bay will hold some more weight - hopefully should be enough. The larger doors were normally closed on the ground so I can hide the weights. Now the gear is on I think the sit of the aircraft is all wrong - the main oleos don't look to be depressed enough, and I think the legs may be too long too. Not looking forward to chopping them and getting the length right, it will badly weaken the whole assembly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts