Antti_K

Photos of the finished model can bee seen here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235007111-borneo-escort-60-squadron-javelin-faw9r/ BR, Antti

Here is my Javelin FAW.9R XH766 of No. 60 Squadron. I hope You enjoy reading the short aircraft history and watching the photos. "Echo" was originally built by Gloster and upgraded to a FAW.9 in November 1959. From August 1960 XH766 served with No. 64 Squadron as "Echo" until a further modification to FAW.9R standard started in September 1962. She returned to RAF Duxford during November the same year and continued serving with No. 64 Squadron still carrying the letter "E". XH766 was then "shipped" (dates and method are not known) to the Far East and transferred to No. 60 Squadron. The exact dates are maybe lost forever; according to the "Movement Card" she was transferred to 60 Squadron in October 1964 as "Tango". However she was photographed at RAF Kuching (Borneo) during May 1964 already in the colours of 60 Squadron. As "Tango" She saw some action near Lundu when on 16 May 1964 crewed by Plt Off B. Todd and Flt Lt G.T. Hall an Indonesian launch was made to obey the Halt command given by a Royal Navy vessel. Records mention "An impressive low level beat-up". When No. 64 Squadron took over the responsibility of the Kuching and Labuan detachments 60 Squadron gave all their FAW.9Rs to the new "owner". "Tango" was transferred to 64 Squadron 28 May 1965 becoming "Echo" once more. No. 64 Squadron finally disbanded at RAF Tengah and on 16 June 1967 "Echo" was transferred to 60 Squadron for the last time. Before this on 10 June 1967 a massive 16 Javelin formation (both 60 and 64 Squadron) flew around Singapore Island for HM Queen Elisabeth's birth day. XH766 was the lead aircraft crewed by the both Commanding Officers (M.H. Miller and B.E de Iongh). The "new" FAW.9Rs of 60 Squadron were put in alert almost immediately; HQ FEAF instructed the squadron to deploy four Javelins to RAF Kai Tak. On 22 June 1967 M.H. Miller led four aircraft to Hong Kong. Did "Echo" participate in these detachments (called "Gas Iron")? I don't know. Finally in the morning of 1 May 1968 XH766 took the short transit to RAF Seletar and was SOC the same day and eventually scrapped. "Mind your head I'm bringing the hood backward..." Here are the drop tanks I have been talking about. They look...striking won't you say Some photos together with the real thing. Finally few photos that were essential to this build There are three(!) more photos in 60 Squadrons archive that show the decorated drop tanks. The photos seem to be extremely rare. And then there is this; pay close attention at 0:42 Best Regards, Antti

Thank You CJP Here are the harness pictures as promised. I share them in the original size. At first print them out in "Full Page" mode (one picture per sheet) and then measure the kit parts. Calculate the correct reduction percent required. When you have the scaled down belts printed out cover both sides with Scotch Magic tape to protect the harness, to ease up cutting and to give a better surface for CA glue. Cut with small scissors and a knife. Touch up the edges with paint or oil based crayon. Then prepare the kit parts G33 and H21. Open the recess below parachute pack (the horse shoe shaped part) on part G33, otherwise you won't be able to pull the shoulder harness through this opening. Check photos from a previous post. As the fit is pretty tight you should also carve a "slot" for the lap belt on part G33 (port lower edge). Also sand down the sides of the seat pack to get room for the crotch belts. Then proceed as follows: - Attach the parachute harness belts (number 1) to the part G33. Use photos as guide - Pull the upper ends of shoulder straps through the opening in part G33 and attach it to the back side with CA - Attach shoulder straps to the parachute straps using CA on the front side - Attach the head rest cushion and belts to part G33; do not glue the straps at this point - Attach the lap belt to part G33; it protrudes from lower port side - Attach the crotch belts (blue ones) to the kit part H21 - Paint the parachute pack and seat pack using a small brush - Paint the seat frame and attach parts G33 and H21; touch up paint work if required I hope You find these useful and that the instructions are clear enough; if not do not hesitate to ask I also hope that the picture quality is also high enough. If not then I must find out a better way to share the harness pictures. Have fun Antti

Thank You All I'm glad that I could give You something and that You find this useful and interesting. BR, Antti

Hello DennisTheBear, this is very interesting. I just looked at some photos of "Jason" from David Taylor's book "Seletar - A Crowning Glory". Such a beautiful place and fascinating era. I noticed that you have a Tamiya lacquer spray can and a tin of Humbrol enamel on your desk. Because of the TS marking on the spray cans you must paint with those first. You cannot use Tamiya TS paints on Humbrol enamels. Just wanted to give a helpful hint Best Regards, Antti

Hello All Here is some more details before my Javelin is "Ready for Inspection". Airfix provides the boarding ladder and FOD covers. I "sharpened" their details a little. I added small wheels to the ladder as they are visible in almost every photo. I also scratch built the Service Bay cover plate which was usually stowed between the ladder support rods. It was kept open until both engines were running smoothly (there was a great risk of fire in the Service Bay during engine start up) and only then the "See Off" crew closed the hatch. I also made those yellow warning signs using photos as a guide. It looks like the upper one says: "Danger, ERUs loaded" but then again the photo wasn't that good. I couldn't find any clue about ERUs in the Pilot's Notes or in the Maintenance Manual. Any ideas? Looking at the photos also made me think that the intake covers were made out of plywood. I made new handles from thin wire and painted them with Humbrol 94. Then I used red crayon to weather them (in colour photos they look very weathered). The jet pipe covers were metal so I just painted them with Humbrol Signal Red. I am pleased with the camouflage pattern. Here is a "close" comparison between the model and the actual aircraft. Luckily I was able to use several photos for the paint work. That is something we modellers enjoy only now and then. Here is the navigator's cockpit which you haven't seen yet. The Eduard PE set was wrong about the radar scopes so I didn't use it at all in here. The instructions give a hint that originally Airfix thought movable hood but changed their mind at some point. It is quite easy to build the hood assembly in a way that you can open and close it. Javelin's hood is "a one piece affair"; normally both hoods move together. I inserted pieces of steel wire some 20 mm in length inside the lower frame to make it more stiff. After that it was pretty easy to attach the clear parts on a flat surface and using MEK. I used footage from Youtube to find out how to weather the surface around the cockpit. After all, four men walked over this small area before and after each flight. The rivet lines received a wash with thinned Humbrol 56 and they look nice. Photos also showed that there was a "WALKWAY" marking in many Javelins. Mine came from a surplus Spitfire decals as Airfix doesn't provide these. Here is some more details around the cockpit area. Let's have a look under the nose then. In Javelins from FAW.7 onward there was a black triangle under the port intake. It was clearly painted on because the location varied quite much between individual aircraft. Some Javelin FAW.9Rs carried this marking still at 1968. XH961 had it and XH766 didn't. Is there someone who can tell the meaning of this triangle? Here is a comparison between two 60 Squadron Javelins. Both aircraft date back to late 1967/ early 1968. Note how much the location of the Markhor Head insignia and code letter varied between aircraft although these markings were painted possibly during the same day. Prepare yourselves for "Ready for Inspection" BR, Antti

Beautiful work John This sounds familiar to me also. You study the subject and compare it to the kit parts and then notice that something is not quite as it should be. That's the magical "Point of No-return" and you simply must fix those items. No matter how "small" or "meaningless" they are to the vast majority of modellers. I'm looking forward to see more! BR, Antti

Thank You Leonl "Turning to Finals". All decals are now on and I'm ready for the final matt coat. I believe that some Javelins were re-painted by 64 Squadron before they were transferred to 60 Squadron. I found a photo of XH766 taken in May 1964. It carries the 60 Squadron stripes and letter "T". What makes this photo interesting is the fact that the "wrap around" paint work on the wing leading edge is clearly visible. Also the colour demarcation lines look the same as in photos taken in the summer of 1967. So my theory is that XH766 was re-painted only once during it's service in the Far East and it remained in that camouflage until it was SOC in 1968. This seems probable also with some other 60 Squadron FAW.9Rs (XH893 "V" and XH793 "J"). When you compare photos of these Javelins with others you note that they had "a Dead Matt" finish; not satin but true matt. I will create this with Hu 49 and a 14 mm Leonard brush. So here we are. The Wing Roundels were weathered using crayons using photos as a guide. The Roundels received at first a matt cote and then crayon. In this case I used the crayon as a pencil and also in powder form to get an uneven weathered look. When FAW.9Rs were transferred to 60 Squadron in June 1967 they were quickly re-painted with 60 Squadron markings. The paints gave a glossy finish. I wanted to show this on my model and the tail stripes received a coat of Hu 135. I'm not 100% sure but it looks like "E" had it's radome painted with Dark Green after it was transferred to 60 Squadron (it was brown in June 1967). So also the nose received a coat of Hu 135. The pink masking tape is great for jobs like this. It is just like Tamiya tape but it's glue is much weaker. So it won't peal off the top layer. And it is also much cheaper than Tamiya tape Next time I will show some noteworthy details about the decals and also some final details. BR, Antti

Thank You Dan, giemme and Jay The intakes were quite a challenge indeed. I'm also building a Revell 1/32 scale F-4F using exactly same technique. I like working with Milliput because you can use water to make very smooth surfaces and you can work as long as you like. Just keep the surface wet. BR, Antti

Looking good! I'm interested to see those stencils on as I used Icaros F-4E stencils in mine. I had to do a lot of cutting and re-positioning to get the wings somewhat accurate (for example F-4E don't have panels 111L or 111R). I guess I can't sleep tonight. Hong Kong Models is going to release their 1/32 scale FG.1 sometime next year BR, Antti

Hello Tim! Lovely Whitley! The painting and finishing looks superb. I must get one of these as an old friend of mine flew as a navigator with No. 10 Squadron Whitleys... BR, Antti

Hello Rob! Here is a book about Swedish aerial reconnaissance flights over the Baltic region during early Cold War years: "Bortom horisonten - Svensk flygspaning mot Sovjetunionen 1946 - 1952" by Lennart Andersson and Leif Hellström. There is also an English version but I Can't recall the title. Then off course there is the story of Francis Gary Powers whose U2 was shot down over Sverdlovsk: "Operation Overflight". BR, Antti

Hello RMCS, what a beautiful Buccaneer! Great work with the details and finishing. I built one of these some 20 years ago and the model certainly has some serious issues. Mine is also in the colours of 208 Squadron but in Green/Grey wrap around scheme. I was fascinated to see one these close up when one visited Kauhava AB here in Finland to attend in our Midsummer party and air show in 1990s (can't recall the year or the aircraft's registration). The crew told us that this was to be buccaneer's last appearance outside the UK. The pilot and the navigator were Gulf War veterans. Then Finnish Air Force didn't have a proper equipment to start up the engines but luckily Finnair did. BR, Antti

Great info! Thank You All Some notes I must write down in my "Phantom Notebook". My collection has plenty of room for some more British Phantoms (dreaming about that 1/32 scale HK Models kit...) BR, Antti.

Hello James, as Duncan said: great idea to build an aircraft just after lift-off. I'm waiting to see this "fly". I admire your work on the cockpit. Very beautiful brush work! BR, Antti

Thank You Chris As so many times in modelling this weathering technique was born by accident not because some new technique had to be invented. And it works fine. Best Regards, Antti

Thank You All It's nice to have You around. I have started with the decals. As this kit has been waiting it's turn for two years I was a little nervous about the decals. The longer you wait to more trouble they will give to you. I was very pleased when I noticed that these decals actually behave nicely. My first Javelin back in 2014 required lots and lots of Microset and Microsol so this time I decided to start with Tamiya's "Mark Fit Strong". I also noticed that far more better results can be achieved if you firstly soak the model's surface with Mark Fit and then leave the decal to dry in the right position. Let's see how it goes... In the mean while here are some photos of the progress so far. More to come, stay tuned BR, Antti

Hello At Sea, looking better and better A very interesting paint scheme. As I can't remember seeing any photos of this aircraft I am waiting to see how it looks when you put the decals on. The close up photo of the Doppler may have solved a problem I have. I built a Tp52 (a SIGINT Canberra used by the Swedish Air Force). It's camera hatch looks very much the same as Phantom's Doppler unit. I haven't found a single clue from the original Swedish manuals but this all makes sense. Here is a close up of my Canberra Almost identical. BR, Antti

Hello Troffa, I can't remember where I read about the re-enforcing plates. It could have been a discussion on LSP forums or then it was... Anyway the writer was very convincing when he wrote that these were added just because of the gun pod. Sorry about the confusion BR, Antti

Hello James, here are some pictures I used for my FG. 1 build. Note that if you are building the Hasegawa 1/48 scale kit it is FG.1 with all kind of "goodies" for FGR.2 in the box as well. The easiest way to confirm this is the location of panel 62R (window for the arrester hook hydraulic cauge). The wingman is flying XV411 which was a FGR.2 (c/n 2973). Unfortunately only the outer wing panel leading edge is visible. BR, Antti

Thank You Leonl It's time for an update. Actually here should read something like "The Incredible Adventures of The Spray Gun Man" Before I started to paint the camouflage there was still some detailing to do. That means: the Tail Plane center section. Take a look at this photo. It is easy to make with a knife and sanding stick. After that I painted the "Tiger Stripes" of 60 Squadron using a brush and Tamiya tape. Judging from photos it seems that the black band is twice as wide as the silver one. This is also confirmed in some of the books. I had a problem however. Some four years ago I found a "new" Humbrol shade labeled as 191 in a Finnish hobby shop. It was wonderful stuff. Very easy to apply with a brush and highly opaque. It also gave a beautiful silver surface AND you could brush a Humbrol Gloss (Hu 35) on top of it; absolutely no problem (Try that with Hu 11!). I purchased some new tins some time ago and noticed the Union Jack on them. This can only be even better I thought. It wasn't. It was absolutely rubbish! The new paint is more like gloss varnish with some silver flakes in it. Something that teenage girls would love to put on to their nails. It also takes ages to dry. I painted an Airfix Canberra with it and it took five layers until I was somewhat happy with the result. But back to the Javelin. I decided to make a mix. Half a tin of this new Hu 191 and half a tin of old Hu 56. It worked very well although it is not as shiny as the "old" Hu 191 or High Speed Silver. And HSS didn't fade in the Far East like it did here in Europe (weird would you say). I have had also some nasty moments wit decals with large white areas in them. Nothing is more frustrating than a camouflage pattern that is visible through a white decal. So here is the remedy I now use for all such decals. Off course the same goes for the wing Roundels as well. In this photo you see the correct Roundel size and placement for a "late" 60 or 64 Squadron Javelin. If you want to model let's say XH846 "JF" (Wing Commander Fraser's personal mount) from the "Heights of Confrontation" then you should use a smaller Roundel and place it further back on the wing. Before I started with the "Spray Gun" I attached the wind shield and the center glazing using MEK (Also known as Butanone; a very strong solvent and excellent glue for a modeller). NOTE that if you choose to use MEK you must not touch the clear parts with it! They are ruined instantly. I use MEK always for the clear parts because it gives an "unbreakable" joint. Another word of warning If you use MEK with clear parts: do not apply any "Clear Coats" before gluing. It will cause a "Frost glass effect". I also masked the hood rails not to get any extra paint on them to make sure that the hood will move easily. Using the masks I made together with Blu Tack worms I then applied the camouflage. And I wasn't happy with the result. Luckily I have been painting soft colour demarcation lines with a brush so I started again. Here's the trick. You need a new small brush. For example Italeri number 0 or 1. Soak it in water and then cut the bristles with a sharp blade to get a "blunt" tip. Then polish the first camouflaged surface (in this case Dark Sea Grey) with a grade 1200 paper until it feels smooth. Do not use water. Finally blow the surface to clean it up. Then dip your brush in the paint and wipe off excessive paint and start slowly painting. Simply just touch the surface with the brush perpendicular to the surface. This technique is very slow but with practice (and patience) gives beautiful results. When the camouflage was complete I started to make "Post Shading" using my own simple technique. I studied the photographs of XH766 to find out the visible stains and panels. My weathering technique gives a nice effect to the surface but it is not too visible. If you are looking a 1/48 scale model from a distance of one foot it should look like the real thing seen 48 feet away. So I follow the rule "Less is best". Here is my weathering technique. You need some oil based crayons, a piece of "Wet and Dry" paper and some cotton swabs. I use Caran d'Ache crayons exclusively. I have tried other branches also like the British Derwent Studio Line but these Swiss made crayons are the best for modelling purposes and Derwents for drawing (surprise, surprise ). You can apply a gloss cote on top of it and Caran d'Ache will not get mixed with the enamel lacquer. Then simply erase the the crayon with "Wet and Dry" to get coloured powder and ... ... apply the powder with a cotton swab. When happy with the looks apply a gloss cote to seal your weathering. Here is an example; the under surfaces of my Tarangus SAAB J32E Lansen. The basic colour was Hu 145 and I applied crayon "powder" directly to the painted surface before any gloss coats were applied. I used this technique also on my Phantom FG.1. Take a close look on the underside http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235006098-the-north-sea-gt-sports-model-phantom-fg-mk-1/ Then it was time to mask the model and get ready for the under surfaces. I decided to go on with my air brush. Once again I studied the photographs and made an interesting finding. The colour demarcation line was painted a little higher in the Far East than it was here in Europe. In Tengah painted Javelins the colour demarcation line runs above the ladder handle in the rear fuselage not under it. I know, some two millimeters on the model but.... Here is the result. The HSS is not "shiny" as it should be but I am pleased with it. Only one coat was required using this paint mix. I have already applied gloss coats (brush work again). I am using a mixture of decals: Airfix, Xtra Decal maybe Alley Cat. Let's see. Thank You and hope to see You all again soon BR, Antti

Thank You RMCS and Duncan I am painting and weathering with crayons. Pictures coming soon. Please, feel free to start your next Javelin Duncan . Your first one is impressive and I would love to see what You make out of the camouflaged version. I considered painting those walkway lines with yellow, then I also thought using Xtradecal's yellow stripes but here I am. Still without yellow stencils and painting on the way. I'm going to use the kit decals. They worked quite nicely with my first Javelin. That black triangle is still a mystery to me. XH766 didn't carry it but She had some of the underside panels in other colour than HSS. BR, Antti

Hello italian intruder and terve Kari and Troy Here is link to high resolution picture of a Russian Hurricane that was shot down during March 1942: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pudonnuthurricane.jpg It is the well known "42" Best Regards, Antti

Hello Vitor, this is absolutely beautiful! Stunning build and I also admire Your attention to details I noticed some techniques I use myself and also some new I will try in the near future. Thank You for sharing this. Best Regards, Antti

Thank You Frankie. Antti