High Planes Sea Vixen?

[Jackman]

Hi there,

are there any online reviews of the HiPlanes Sea Vixen? Did a goolgle and all I came up with was this excellent review of the various kits:

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/seavixen/models.php

However, I'm looking for pictures of the kit parts, decal sheet, resin parts (if any), etc.

I've read the forum threads and the build reports both here and at the Unofficial Airfix forum and it seems not many are happy with the MPM/Xtrakit one. I'm contemplating either Hiplanes kit or the Xtrakit one and was wondering which is the lesser of the two evils. Both kit seem like a lot of work but I'd like to see the Hiplane parts/decals before I decide. My intention (in the far future) is to make a Drone bird, a Red Bulls bird as well as the FAW2 that was left in Sentosa Island, Singapore for many years:

http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/sea-vixen/XJ490.htm

Thanks for any info/pics of the kit.

[Miggers]

Well Jackman,with what Damien has written in his Thunder and Lightning pages and on the build threads for his models, you'll find that he's not very far off the mark.

After all,he can get his hands on a real one for comparisons.

Me personally,well I was raring to get an Xtrakit one to do a D.3 with but after reading all the reviews and build threads on the monster I'm glad that I didn't

and will go with my Revell(Frog)incarnation to do a D.3 from.

I have the Aeroclub set for it(worth it for the u/c alone)and using Damien's build thread for some of his scratch builds and modifications coupled

with the ideas found on this site:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~designer/models/faa/faa-seavixen.htm

I reckon I can have a fair stab at it and produce a pretty fair D.3.

Mark

[Gmat]

Can't post pictures, but can say that the kit has resin parts for the main and nose landing gears. The tire is molded with the nose gear. It also has a resin ejection seat and jet exhaust area. They look pretty good. It has a vacu-form canopy. The decal sheet is by Fantasy Printshop and are very nice. The film is very thin. Comparing it with the Model Art sheet, the yellow tends to be more lemon yellow rather than the darker yellow in the Model Art and Revell sheets. The center of the yellow daisy is blue rather than the grey used in the Model Art and Revell sheets.

The sheet has markings for FAW.1, XJ476, overall gloss white, used at Woomera for missile tests, FAW.2, XS578, 893 SQ., HMS Hermes, FAW.2, XP923, 890 SQ., Yeovilton, D.3, XS577, FAW.2, XJ580, 899 SQ., HMS Eagle, and FAW.2, XS577, 899 SQ., HMS Eagle. Some of the lesser stencilling is lacking, compared with the Model Art and Revell sheets, but you could probably scratch up the missing parts.. A complete aircraft might be done by using parts from all three sheets.

If you've ever had a High Planes kit, you will know what to expect. The join areas have not improved much, although the detailing is quite good.

Hope that this is useful.

Grant

[Jackman]

Thanks very much for the detailed info, gents!

Actually, after I started this post, a fellow Britmodeller (upnorth) contacted me and offered a trade for his Xtrakit. I didn't really want to pay the price that Hannants (or rather MPM/Xtrakit) was asking for a kit of that standard. So upnorth's trade seemed like a good deal, especially since he's also throwing in a couple of resin replacement seats. I'll wait for the kit to arrive and see how it goes from there. Since I'm planning to make 3 different birds, I'll eventually end up getting either the Hiplanes kit or use the Frog/Revell + Aeroclub bits and use the tips from that excellent Dutch modeler from Mark's link.

Either way, all three molds (Xtrakit, Hiplane, Frog/Revell) seem to require equal amounts of elbow grease to make them presentable

Cheers, friends!

[DamienB]

I have the High Planes kit but it had been started by the previous owner (Steve - seavixenXJ494 on here) and doesn't have the original decals, so I can't take pics of those. These are pics of the kit as I have it, just bear in mind most bits separate from sprues already and I've left out a few bits and pieces. Instructions first:

There are another couple of pages showing profiles for what were presumably the decal options (FAW.1 XJ476 in white, FAW.2 XS578/244/H of 893 NAS, FAW.2 XP923/751 of 890 NAS, D.3 XS577, FAW.2 XJ580/131/E of 899 NAS with skull and cross bones on nose, and FAW.2 XS577/137/E of 899 NAS with sharkmouth and flowers on tail).

As you can see no open main gear bays, airbrake or arrestor hook. Nose bay shallow and one door closed. Excellent surface detailing and the only accurate nose shape in town - and the only kit to get the length of the aircon/rain clearance ducting on the upper fuselage correct. Lengths of two halves look different because of the angle here, they match in real life!

Shallow main gear bays, crude fuel dump pipe, but again excellent surface detailing and accuracy.

Resin seat and landing gear is good stuff, canopy is perfect (again the only kit to get it right), resin tailpipes a bit basic. Other bits here are to make up cockpit and FAW.2 bulged hatch.

Basic pylons, usual level of details on tailbooms. The wing fences can be cut from plastic card using the stencil part as a template.

Various other bits including splitter plates at bottom left, drop tank, wheel halves, pinion tanks (a bit thick I think). I would appear to be missing the entire tailplane! Oi Steve...

[DamienB]

While I'm at it, these are the metal parts that make up the Aeroclub V144 set:

As you can see nicely detailed and will look good once the flash is cleaned up.

The High Planes parts are fine I think so I will be using the Aeroclub set on an ex-Frog Sea Vixen.

[DamienB]

And to finish off here's the Magna Models FAW.2. A strange mix of different types of resin, some flexible, some not. Basically somebody's built the Frog kit, sanded off the raised detail, rescribed most of it (crudely), chopped the kit into bite sized chunks and made a resin clone.

Metal bits. Crude to say the least. Vacform transparencies - one has gone yellow. All lacking in detail.

Fuselage sections. Some attempt at an instrument panel visible here.

Drop tank and assorted small parts - which you may as well cut from plastic card as this resin wafer is badly warped.

Tail area. Shallow jet pipes to say the least.

Pinion tanks/inner wings. Deeper bay than the High Planes kit but that's the only plus point here.

Wings, radome, extreme tip of rear fuselage. As with the rest of the kit, lacking in surface detail and what's there is crude.

[Jackman]

Damien,

I really must thank you for taking the time & effort to take these pictures & post them here. Most informative & I like the detailed explanations of the various flaws in each kit. I think the mods should 'sticky' this thread so that others can benefit from your reviews too.

Looking at the Hiplanes top & bottom fuselage shots, I'm wondering if (should I chose to purchase the kit,) I could cut the nose halves off carefully & create vacform copies for the Frog/Revell kits and even the MPM/Xtrakit.

And to finish off here's the Magna Models FAW.2. A strange mix of different types of resin, some flexible, some not. Basically somebody's built the Frog kit, sanded off the raised detail, rescribed most of it (crudely), chopped the kit into bite sized chunks and made a resin clone.

Haha! Actually that's precisely the technique I thought of using for my Pegasus Models EAP kit. After a long search, I finally managed to get one through the forums. The plastic is SO crude and SO thick that nothing fits anything!. Of course, I fully knew what I was in for, having read the various comments about this kit. But I still love the shape of the EAP & am trying to get my hands on another Pegasus Models kit. One will be built gear up & inflight and the other will be gear down, slats, flaps dropped and fully armed. Copious amounts of aftermarket stuff meant for Tornado (eg the airbrakes and engines) as well as for the EF-2000 (cockpit, etc) will be used

If I can't find another kit, I'm seriously considering using the technique you described: Build the Pegasus model kit, sand off/add the the details, rescribe most of it, chop the kit into bite sized chunks and make a resin clone or vacform another one (much easier as I have a Mattel Vacform machine but have no experience in casting resin). Bad thing about the Mattel machine is that the plate size is small, only about 8 cm by 7cm. Hence the 'chopping' of the kit into pieces.

Sorry to digress: back to the Sea Vixen....

[Miggers]

The Highplanes nose looks spot on,miles better than the Frog or Xtrakits as does the windscreen/hood.

Jackman if you do a vac-form nose I'd be up for one for my Frog/Revell version alright.

That Dutchman has some good articles on his site,that one on his 'Vixen is a corker and he produces a pretty decent model from the old Froggie.

Mark

[Jackman]

Jackman if you do a vac-form nose I'd be up for one for my Frog/Revell version alright.

No problem Mark. But I'd have to get my hands on the kit first

Currently, the Sea Vixen is lower down on my list of to-do kits. Right now, I'm on a X-plane, Prototype and Post-War Brit aircraft kick. For the Post-War Brit part, the Javelin, Supermarine Scimitar & the Swift are ranking higher than the Sea Vixen. Not particularly interested in the Sea Vixen but I'd like to build the 3 versions I mentioned in my first post simply for nostalgic reasons. As a boy, I had visited Sentosa Island, Singapore and had seen the F.A.W. MK 2 serial no: XJ490 abandoned in some run down area. The drone? Well, I like unusual schemes. The Red Bull? My favourite drink!

But will keep you in mind if I get the Hiplanes kit. Cheers!