TeeELL

That’s true! Good luck…..

You should have no issues with the cannons as all marks carried 4.

Duncan, in my trawls through t’interweb, I’ve found photos of 29(F) Sqn FAW6s and T3s - even in colour, one of each. I have also found photos of their FAW9s in the UK - I’ve 6 photos, possibly more.

There are a few photos of the FAW7 in the soft cover publication ‘Flying Flatiron Gloster Javelin’ by Alex Crawford. Whilst non are clear as might be hoped, what is certain is that the photos of the 1:72 parts very greatly exaggerate the very slight indent there appears to be. Indeed, flat would be more accurate!

I’ve just looked in my 1:48 kit and I see that the intakes are separate units. If you are interested, I could have a go at designing and printing smaller intakes. A few other things to remember - the turbines of the Airfix kit have the reheat petals - if they fit the aftermarket part then don’t fit the ‘petals’. On the ground the Javelin ailerons both rest ‘up’ ie the trailing edges of the ailerons sit a width above the adjacent wing trailing edge, It is very, very unusual for the flaps to be ‘down’ or the airbrakes to be extended when the aircraft is parked. The tailplane at rest generally sits at a ‘nose up’ attitude - not level, and the elevators sit trailing edge down. Wing vortex generators, the FAW2 doesn’t appear to have been fitted with them - just read that the vortex generators were retrofitted. Pitot tube - only one fitted on the port side. You queried the way the radar option is fitted on the kit - the fuselage isn’t circular at the forward end of the cockpit it is a rectangle with very rounded corners. It is one reason why I’ve not yet plucked up the courage to cut the front off a 1:72 Airfix Javelin in order to create the replacement AI-22 nose.

Mikey, you should also be advised that the diameter of the intake ‘hole’ on the Sapphire 6 powered versions (ie any mark prior to the FAW7) was only 22.5”.

The following photos are of an ‘after market’ product in 1:72. They show a distinct trough between the jet pipes. However, when viewed from similar angles as seen in the photos it looks very much as though the ‘trough’ is a figment of the model designer’s imagination. Hopefully Selwyn will have a definitive answer.

I’ve found this a bit too late! The FAW2 was equipped with the AI-22 (USA supplied ‘track while scan’ radar), the navigators display and equipment was very, very different to that supplied in the Airfix FAW9 kit. It is quite difficult to find suitable photos of the AI-22 fit. This is a photo of the AI-22 display (FAW2, 6 & 8 ) I have designed for the 1:72 Airfix Javelin: The radar display is the large ‘box’ set low with the 2 circles (the 2 displays), above it is the GEE navigation set. This is the equivalent AI-17 (FAW 1, 4, 5, 7 & 9) set: As you will see, there is a very significant difference (the AI-17 is on the left with the GEE on the right and the radar controller down where the AI-22 unit would otherwise sit).

What a fine job you have done on an aircraft that is woefully underrated. there are a couple of points that may be of consideration (with my apologies): 1. When the controls were locked the ailerons sat such that BOTH trailing edges were just above the those of the adjacent mainplanes 2. Until yesterday I would have said that I’ve never seen a photo of a parked Javelin with the flaps down (probably a round of drinks in the Officers’ Mess bar!) - but I have now! I will build one of mine so configured! 3. Canopy- like you I would have painted the rear sections of the front and rear canopies - but, again yesterday, I was looking at some ‘walk-around’ photos which showed the rear of the canopies to be unpainted clear. Sorry, sorry, sorry - I just noticed that you have transfers for the ‘ladder attachment point’ on the starboard side! The ladders wouldn’t fit that side. I do hope you will not be offended by my comments? I sourced a part-started 1:48 Airfix Javelin to use as a reference piece for parts I am printing and correcting on my 1:72 build, it have proven most useful. It will have to go when I’ve finished with it, I don’t have the space or inclination to build it (the 1:72 T3, FAW6 and FAW9(R) full about the same space!). I am going to be spending the 27th at The Jet Age Museum and will compile a list of things I need to check/measure/photograph.

I have written to my contact at TJAM to see if they possess the original copy of the photo. There is a poor quality version on eBay but I cannot see the detail off that.

Whilst it was clearly a trials aircraft it was a FAW7 with a refuelling mod, can’t see any reason why Glosters would do anything to change the rear end?

Further to my last. There is a photo of a FAW7 refuelling off a Canberra - it is from the official ‘Gloster Aircraft Company’ files. I believe that TJAM may have a copy so I will ask if I can view the original. The photo is taken from behind and below - so if the original is good quality it should provide a definitive answer. I will ‘reach out’ to my contact there and I am going over on Sat 27th.

I have completely forgotten to look at and photograph the aftermarket product I have but there is a trough between the exhausts on the undersurface. Like you, I’ve been considering designing and printing a version for the FAW7 but 29(F) Sqn flew the FAW6 then the FAW9 so it isn’t a priority. I will try and remember to post a photo tomorrow.

Great work, I am a bit of a fan of Cuban aviation hardware, if there are any serviceable fighters in the current DAFAAR line-up, they are MiG-21s. The ‘29s and ‘23 are ‘retired’ due to the expense of maintaining them. I only work in 1:72, so this is my effort:

Wow, you’ve just reminded me that I, too, have a TD ‘O’ level (my only A-grade pass).

Cheap ‘professional’ software eh? Well Fusion360 has a free ‘hobbyist’ version, it isn’t quite the full blown package and there is a limit of only 10 CAD drawings (but that is 10 ‘editable’ drawings, I’ve over 100 of which almost all are ‘read only’). I went and had 4 ‘face to face’ one hour lessons and learned the very basic use and manipulation of the software. However, I learnt more by getting on with things I wanted to create - I used Youtube and experimentation. Two years on I have a much better idea of how to create ‘stuff’, which is why I can design something like that complex looking wheel in about half an hour.

Lol! No I don’t (in some ways - unfortunately!!!). But it is just as easy to ‘get it right’ as it is to get it ‘sort of nearly right’, it doesn’t take much time at all. I had the tyre done, so saved that as a separate file, and the basic dimensions of the hub were correct. I just had to create a correct the profile using scale measurements, ‘revolve it’ to get the 3D hub, add the holes etc - job done. Import the tyre save and print!

Believe it or not, I’ve printed and scaled that photo of the real wheel and corrected my design.!

Here is the printed article: This is what they are supposed to look like:

The print of the wheels/tyres has completed and I am very happy with the outcome. Photos to follow when there is better light.

Although the original kit main wheels can be made into something fairly respectable, I thought I would have a go at designing my own: I am printing some at the moment, to see how well they come out.

Thanks for that Selwyn, much appreciated. I’ve looked at all the examples of FAW9s at the various museum sites and, as you say, there seem to be no tanks. It is probably one of those items that might be lurking ‘round the back’ or on display at a smaller museum - or might simply have been ‘recycled’ and lost to time. I’ve used the 1:48 Airfix Javelin examples because, if the tanks don’t exist who can say if they are correct or not!? I wonder if TJAM have one ‘out back’, I will ask when I go over on 27th.

No Paul, not really. The most significant part is the rear fuselage plug and associated parts, otherwise everything else is down to me wanting to expand my CAD skills and the easiest way to do that is to create things that will improve or enhance a model. That others benefit as a consequence is a bonus.

This morning was spent at The Jet Age Museum, Staverton. Checked over their FAW9 as always but the museum doesn’t have any underwing tanks so I couldn’t do any measuring unfortunately.

The original kit provides only a pair of missiles for the pylons. I had designed and printed Firestreak missiles with ‘noddy caps’ but planned to use fuel tanks on the inboard pylons (hence the ‘crank’). In the hope that the fuel tanks are correct in my 1:48 Airfix Javelin ‘mule’, I measured and rescaled them in my CAD software; measuring the ‘after market’ set of cast resin tanks seems to indicate that they (the after market) are too short and too fat! Once I was happy with the shape of my tanks, I added the recess and support. I realised that I had ‘solid’ tanks which meant that the resin inside would not harden and eventually affect the whole fuel tank print so I ‘removed’ one end and hollowed both the forward body and tail. This is the ‘slicing’ software view of the original tanks: It was as I looked at these that I realised my mistake. This is a picture of the end result: On the left is a 2-part print of ‘my’ fuel tanks with a completed version next to it. The next tank is the cast resin ‘after market’ tank as supplied and as constructed (this last is painted as it is from my OOB build Javelin.