Search the Community

I foolishly mentioned beginning the Gannet I had in my stashlet (It is a very small stash that I am desperately trying not to add to!) and was almost immediately responded to by 71chally I feel he has access to most of the unscrapped Gannets in captivity anyway so if he is willing to be an accessory both sides of the fact, here we go With this essential rider, the Buccaneer build already begun will be getting most of my attention until I finish it This year has been designated Bill's year of naviation so let's get it on! This old Novo pressing of Frog's lovely little Gannet has been in cold store for thirty five years or so, bag open and with no transparent parts, the transfer sheet has been in my transfer folder being kept... Safe? Well kept anyway Most of us know that Frog didn't give this kit any cockpit details, just these And whipping them off safely was task one Task two entailed opening an opening, I have the Pavla cockpit set destined originally for a kit by Trumpeter which I intend fitting into here My kit had had its wing halves glued together which makes part three a bit of a problem Aha, razor saw time Much severe hackery resulted Hack off the bottom inner wing section to the flaps so the insides can be fitted up/out The wheel wells are simply moulded on as raised lines and the u/c legs are part of the wheel door that has an axle for the wheel to glue to which pops into that slot that is moulded blind for cutting out No, on second thoughts, don't ask, we'll skirt over that OK no we won't The doors and imitation wheel blanks need extracting quickly, so they were my Expo tool with its dinky little slitting saw Whizz And carefully wheee The round part of the hole was made with the circle cutter, it really is important not to cut with the sharpest edge of its blade That makes the cut line wander as the cutter slices into the plastic It is more precise to use the flat back of the cutter which will act like a machine tool cutting tool and cut away a groove that stays on centre all the way down into the plastic Be careful with this tool, it may be small but that thing on the sliding cutter bar is a KNIFE knives can bite, look at my hands And from the days I wore short grey flannels there is still a definite track across my knee from my early days getting acquainted with Messrs Swann & Morton You can see I downloaded a picture of a well known set of Gannet enhancement stuff to compare with photos of wheel well interiors it didn't compare really so I haven't got one I do have their cockpit enhancement set though and may use it some day (I have another Gannet which we may discuss later... may not too, neither) Ah look, there's the etch stuff If I didn't have the Pavla set I would give this a go, the straps are likely to get a gig on this one, at least Oh look in the hole in the cutaway fuselage, stuff that looks resinous... This stuff apologies for the low light imagery let's try this Hmm, lighter but no ceegar mister With the wing panels opened its time to get the interior cleaned up for the detail sessions Which begins... With the holes ready up top it is time to get into the nose bay Started but not finished, 'til then here's a freebie of the upper holes filled up I drilled the holes into the rock hard plastic with my Expo drill using a big burr tool It wandered and I have work to do to get it nice This does show how nice and FULL the Pavla stuff makes the 'pit Well that is about it for a start, I am building the nose wheel bay for now More to come in a day or so