Sea Vixen FAW.1x2

[perdu]

Absolutely trembobulatingly stonking Sea Vixen rises out of the mists of time. 

 

I joined in along this build hoping to pick finer brains than mine in the matter of achieving an FAW1 Sea Vixen from the bits in a Froglet.

 

Long gone by the wayside that has become IT

The ultimate accurate 1/72 scale Sea Vixen.

 

Can you tell I love it?

 

I do...

[bigbadbadge]

Congratulations on completing this beauty Tony really great work,  to think you have made all the components then the model too  wicked stuff.

Chris

[Pete in Lincs]

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

dashed-line yellow maintenance markings around the observer's window

Usually used for 'cut here' outlines. 

And who knew that yer Sea Vixen slept on it's back in captivity?

Lovely update. 

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Weirdly anti-climactic sometimes this game isn't it?

You've got that right. There comes a moment when you go, 'Oh'. Hopefully it doesn't last long and the next victim gets hauled into position.

[giemme]

Impressive till the very last bit, Tony    Very much looking forward to the RFI pics

 

Ciao 

[Iceman 29]

9 hours ago, TheBaron said:

A quick public service announcement to commence with today. Finding myself too knackered in the evenings at present to do much in the manner of meaningful reading, I stumbled across Drachinifel's naval history channel and am finding it absolutely addictive. To somebody such as myself who's fascination with matters naval/maritime is engulfed by my ignorance of this vast area it makes for a fascinating set of insights: just thought I'd pass it on (though if you know your onions you'll doubtless be aware of him already).

 

Some quick responses first before today's episode:

Gracious of you Ian, especially given your bravura skills at wood effects - and now 3d printing cars!

Thanks G. Final few parts added earlier today - possibly the most nervous part of the build as you're trying not to knock anything of at this stage!

Given the cost of MoD projects James aren't Fabergé already a military contractor?

Quite a memorable bit of design weren't they Chris? It always seemed to be somebody's flush aunt or uncle would have one, along with a heavy onyx lighter on the coffee table that nobody ever used.....

Too kind Adrian.

I bumble slowly around in a semi-meaningful manner until Dame Fortune fetches me a kick in the ribs with something that works!

Them's dem fine words sir and much appreciated by this ciotóg.

Thank you as always Simon.

 

Right. Into it then.

 

This week saw the last few jobs finally crossed off the snag list for XJ481. I decided in the end that I couldn't live without the demisting channel that sits on the centre frame of the windscreen, so having lost both of my PE versions I cranked out a one by hammering some brass rod flat on the anvil, and in fact improving on the PE by hand-shaping the curved section that runs back over the windshield and onto the canopy:

An absolute swine to fit as you're basically balancing a thin strip of brass onto a curved transparency and holding it in place until the Gator's Grip starts, well, gripping:

After a coat of Mr.Metal primer followed by some Vallejo rubber black to blend it in to the existing framework, that part is nicely invisible and you wonder why you obsess so terribly about such things in the first place....

 

Other detailing completed on the other side of the nose were the dashed-line yellow maintenance markings around the observer's window (hand-painted with tempera as per previous such markings), followed by adding glasswork  to that window and the one in his door above using Kristal Klear:

Also tidied up was the damage to the white decal directly  in front of the obs. window.

 

I then carried on with remaining bits of glassware, adding both the optical flat to the front of the nose:

 - then moving onto the stores and ('finally!' says @Terry1954) trimming the plunge mould down to fit over the nose camera in the Martel:

Paradoxically I often find that using a big tool (here a Stanley instead of a scalpel) gives more direct control over cuts of this nature than a smaller one would. A couple of swipes with a sanding stick and then stuck on with GG:

Hope it was worth the wait Terry.... 😁

 

Then on to the kind of job that  - along with working with transparencies - I hate the most, sticking on the stores. If ever there was a combination of having to get a thing positioned correctly in three axes on top of another thing so thin that you're terrified of breaking it at the merest touch, this would be it. Eventually the things went on the things and Jesus held them in place whilst the glue dried and no thing was broken:

To fix the Martel and drop tanks I used some Rocket Max on the brass locating lugs and holes drilled in the pylons, along with a liberal buttering of GG along the mating surface of the pylon surfaces themselves - the idea being that the CA would cook off quickly and hold the stores in places whilst the GG took a little longer. Once that had all dried I went wicking around the seams with some diluted GG.

 

I'll tidy up the studio tomorrow morning and do a proper RFI as - much to my consternation - I've run out of bits to stick on and colour-in.

Weirdly anti-climactic sometimes this game isn't it?

 

A quick snapshot of Subject & Muse to finish today off:

Being a late convert to the idea of remote shooting for stills I'm looking forward to sticking the DSLR on a tripod and controlling the exposures from the laptop - having a bigger preview image of the photo that you're about to take will hopefully improve my eye for things like lighting and depth-of-field when photographing at 1/72 - we'll see.

 

Maybe it'll just make all the flaws more evident and depress me.... 🤦‍♂️😁

 

Catch you tomorrow,

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing work Tony!  TheBaron (Red?).

 

And I really like this plane that I got to touch in Tangmere, UK in 2015 before new painting in 2019.

 

It's very special and very impressive up close.

 

Personal pictures.

 

https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/seavixen/survivor.php?id=75

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[perdu]

Iceman thanks for lending me some of your Vixen photos, they will help me get back on track with mine.

[Fritag]

19 hours ago, Brandy said:

Not much more to say really!

 

What Ian said.

 

I’ve already ordered two new thesauruses of superlatives so I’m suitably equipped for the RFI.  I’m rather lost for words in the interim 

 

19 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Being a late convert to the idea of remote shooting for stills I'm looking forward to sticking the DSLR on a tripod and controlling the exposures from the laptop

 

Now I feel even more inadequate  A somewhat battered iPhone in a grubby mit doing it’s own exposure thing isn’t really pushing the envelope is it……

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Fritag
typo

[71chally]

I've just had a quick catch up of the later stages of your thread and it's just incredible the workmanship and attention to the smallest details that you have shown Tony, the touches with the standard EDSG coloured Obs hatch, stb'd aileron, tailplane and the finesse with the brass and clear parts is outstanding.

I think I actually wept!

 

I will email Tony Kilner (RN Observer on XJ781 Martel trials) with a link to your superb work, I know he provided useful background to the use of these jets.

 

[keefr22]

Amazing Tony. Just that, amazing.....   

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

22 hours ago, Brandy said:

Not much more to say really!

 

21 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Ditto.

Strong and silent types eh? 😁

20 hours ago, hendie said:

The brass stick bendy thing was worth every ounce of effort. 

I know you guys are metric over there,  but every 'gram of effort' doesn't quite have the same oomph behind it.

20 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

At last TheBaron’s modeling secret is revealed: a Crazy Cat pillow!

No modeller should be without one Michael!

Perfect for either resting the model on to avoid breaking bits off, or else getting the head down for a few minutes' kip at the bench whilst waiting for glue to dry...

18 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

My fixation with Martels is a complex, psychological one going back to my younger days . I'm sure Freud could explain it, but I can't 🤩

 

The Vixen is simply stunning, as we all knew would be the case.

'Fetish' 'Freud' and 'Vixen' in the same post Terry.

I think we're all beginning to get the picture... 😁

18 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Let's all hope the cat doesn't come back to reclaim his space while the Vixen is balanced on it 

Had it out  drying in the wind and sun on the windowsill a couple of weeks back Adrian and one of our tomcats nearly sent it spiralling to oblivion...

17 hours ago, perdu said:

Long gone by the wayside that has become IT

The ultimate accurate 1/72 scale Sea Vixen.

 

Can you tell I love it?

😁

17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Congratulations on completing this beauty Tony really great work,  to think you have made all the components then the model too  wicked stuff.

A classic case of:  'If I knew then what I knew now, would I ever have started?' Simon. 😄

12 hours ago, Iceman 29 said:

And I really like this plane that I got to touch in Tangmere, UK in 2015 before new painting in 2019.

 

It's very special and very impressive up close.

 

Personal pictures.

Hi Pascal and thank you for sharing such a fine set of pictures! (I've them bookmarked now).

 

Admiring your superb work on the Hydrograaf last evening has me flirting with the idea of trying a ship myself in the near future: the Gull lightship has recently fascinated me after reading about a predecessor in R.M. Ballantyne's evocative The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands:

3 hours ago, Fritag said:

 I’m rather lost for words in the interim 

From a member of the legal profession this seems on the face of it rather unlikely Steve. 😁

2 hours ago, 71chally said:

I've just had a quick catch up of the later stages of your thread and it's just incredible the workmanship and attention to the smallest details that you have shown Tony, the touches with the standard EDSG coloured Obs hatch, stb'd aileron, tailplane and the finesse with the brass and clear parts is outstanding.

I think I actually wept!

 

I will email Tony Kilner (RN Observer on XJ781 Martel trials) with a link to your superb work, I know he provided useful background to the use of these jets.

 

Deeply touched by your first paragraph James. 🤗

In trepidation at the second as to all the flaws that Mr. Kilner will notice... 

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Amazing Tony. Just that, amazing.....   

Bit dazed myself to be honest Keith in finding that it eventually worked!

 

 

Err. There's an RFI now up over here.

I finished something. Not quite sure how that happened....

[Brandy]

On 10/22/2021 at 8:34 PM, Terry1954 said:

I'm sure Freud could explain it, but I can't 🤩

I think you meant "I Kant"!

 I also love the "Foxbat" chalked in Cyrillic on the nose of XJ580. Someone had a warped sense of humour!

 

Ian

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Miles late for Charlie time, but I’m still here. 
 

The best 1/72 Vixen ever, without any doubt.  Staggeringly, ridiculously good.
 

I have always believed that piece of angle iron down the central strut of the windscreen was at least partly designed to cut any barrier strands that were in danger of decapitating Destiny Angel (which autocorrect seems to want to render as Density Angel - has the poor girl let the end go that much in middle age?)… but with the amount and quality of your research, I’ll go with your version; besides, part of the demisting system seems more plausible.  Glad you did it, though; that odd angular windscreen is an integral part of the sheer de Havillandanity of the entire beast.

 

In the idle moments of my too-long period of enforced inability to model, I too have been experimenting with pencils.  Your results have inspired me to stick with it.  

[71chally]

It's definitely part of the demist and windscreen deice system, it's a pipe covered by a 'V' section light alloy strip, wouldn't want to rely on that cutting anything.

One thing I always found fascinating is that when you're sat in the pilot's seat you don't really notice that central windscreen strut, which you would think would be right in the way, your eyes just look right passed it.

 

The whole Sea Vixen windscreen is an interesting feature, and unique on a British type. 

The original DH110s featured a very unusual windscreen arrangement where no framework was used ahead of the main canopy arch, being made of a single blown perspex assembly incorporating a flat panel in front of the pilot's field of view.

I'm not sure if that flat part was thick enough to be considered armoured, but I'm guessing not.  Armoured glass flat screens were a requirement for production combat aircraft.

Very early in the flight-test schedule DH110 WG236 operated with two USAF F-86A Sabres, sent to DH Hatfield from Shepards Grove, mainly for air to air combat comparison.  The F-86As featured a 'V' shaped armoured glass windscreen arrangement, and I can't help thinking that de Havilland were strongly influenced by that layout and took it up on the third DH110 prototype and all subsequent production aircraft.

 

[TheBaron]

21 hours ago, Brandy said:

I think you meant "I Kant"!

Sounds (purely) reasonable....

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

The best 1/72 Vixen ever, without any doubt.  Staggeringly, ridiculously good.

From one with your background and knowledge Crisp, humbling praise. My thanks to you.

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I have always believed that piece of angle iron down the central strut of the windscreen was at least partly designed to cut any barrier strands that were in danger of decapitating Destiny Angel (which autocorrect seems to want to render as Density Angel - has the poor girl let the end go that much in middle age?)… but with the amount and quality of your research, I’ll go with your version; besides, part of the demisting system seems more plausible.

😁

Given that the front windscreen of the SV reminds me of nothing so much as a knight's helm Crisp, a defensive function would not be entirely inappropriate! Although it could well have been a by-product of having this this fitting in such a place, on the FAW.1 I've only ever seen this referred to in the technical literature in terms such as 'inter-layer demisting air' fixture, with its companion being that pipe-like demisting duct which pokes up behind the pilot's seat just in front of the rear canopy bulkhead.

 

Aeroplane of April 4th, 1958 has a evocative pen-and-ink of said region:

Flight of 5th Feb, 1960 has a more detailed inventory and visual breakdown of such features on the FAW.1 - along with an invaluable earlier article which they published in the 5th April, 1957 issue -  discussing in detail the initial engineering development of the aircraft for service subsequent to WG240. Thankfully I downloaded both in full before the (heart-breaking in terms of aviation history) demise of the FlightGlobal online archive...

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I too have been experimenting with pencils.  Your results have inspired me to stick with it.  

Plenty of scope for innovation with this technique Crisp - looking forward to seeing you results.

 

As this thread now swings away from XJ481 and begins to focus on XN708, without wishing to stir up controversy I'm going to call this:

 

Pt.2

 

I tidied up the studio last evening and the benches haven't been this clear since early Spring:

Judging by the clattering of the hoover whilst vacuuming the carpet I found all those missing bits of brass. It's a pity brass isn't magnetic as it would be a relaxing activity for the frustrated modeller to be able to go fishing for missing etch à la:

I intend taking a few days off before launching into the next phase of the build but did spend a little time this morning over coffee sorting out where to begin. Along with the cockpit, some of the smaller fittings for this aircraft such as the radar were previously primed when I had the stuff out doing '481:

Having spent a lot of time in recent months dealing with larger bits of the previous airframe I think I need to take a break from the bigger stuff and spend some therapeutic time painting and detailing smaller sub-assemblies like the undercarriage:

I found it hard painting the white undersides over Alclad's black primer on '481, so this time around have invested in some of their grey version instead.

After @hendie's recent complaints about the stuff though it seems pretty harsh that they've started trolling him on their labelling....

You watch.

When I use it now  I'll get my comeuppance as wings and fuselage peel like damp wallpaper in an 80s student bedsit.....

 

Tony

 

Addenda:

James - our posts must have just overlapped in the ether - yours the more learned explanation as always.

 

 

[Spookytooth]

I have no real problems with the Alcad Primers , grey or Black, although I did find the white primer slightly fragile.

But that could be down to inadequate prep work.

 

Anyhow, you relax with some hairy stick work mate.

 

Simon. 

[hendie]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

though it seems pretty harsh that they've started trolling him on their labelling....

 

 

I love that shot of your work area - very 50's-esque

[giemme]

3 hours ago, hendie said:

 

I love that shot of your work area - very 50's-esque

Same thought!

 

Ciao 

[Pete in Lincs]

3 hours ago, hendie said:

I love that shot of your work area - very 50's-esque

Well he's just built a black and white jet. The next picture should surely therefore be in grey and white. 

[71chally]

On 10/24/2021 at 1:14 PM, TheBaron said:

 

Love the printed in parts labelling, perfection!  Every kit should do this.

[The Spadgent]

Beautiful Tony. Simply bloody beautiful. Enough to lure me into the wonderful world of 3D printing. Looking forward to part 2 and the RFI.  It doesn’t surprise me at all that you’re thinking of a floating project. After reading quite a lot of @Iceman 29’s build WIPs while down here near the lizard I have been taking some pics of a little fishing boat in Mullion Cove.

Quite taken by it.  Headed over to the RFI. Can’t wait.

btw did I mention how beautiful that little vixen is? 😀👏👏👏👏

 

Johnny

[bigbadbadge]

Oooooo some prep for the 2nd one enjoy your days off . Looking forward to this one developing.

Chris 

[TheBaron]

On 24/10/2021 at 13:21, Spookytooth said:

I have no real problems with the Alcad Primers , grey or Black, although I did find the white primer slightly fragile.

That's good to know Simon - appreciate that info as it gives me a little more confidence now in using both types.

On 24/10/2021 at 16:00, hendie said:

I love that shot of your work area - very 50's-esque

On 24/10/2021 at 19:22, giemme said:

Same thought!

Often looks like it hasn't been cleaned since the 1950's too! 😁

 

On 24/10/2021 at 19:31, Pete in Lincs said:

The next picture should surely therefore be in grey and white. 

 - and shuts down at midnight after the National Anthem...

22 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

I have been taking some pics of a little fishing boat in Mullion Cove.

Nice tranquil pic. Johnny.

18 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oooooo some prep for the 2nd one enjoy your days off . Looking forward to this one developing.

😁

It's that bittersweet thing where you're too knackered to do anything sensitive on the aircraft during the week, followed by ta weird hesitancy about doing anything to it at the weekend after not having touched it for several days...

 

Beautiful Autumn dawn here this morning ahead of the rain:

On the opposite horizon the storm cells over the Atlantic were on fire:

On 29/10/2021 at 14:02, 71chally said:

Love the printed in parts labelling, perfection!  Every kit should do this.

Indeed James.

And with the amount of trouble I could get into over the coming months mixing these parts up, I've taken the precaution of using tea tin lids to house the parts for each side separately:

I spent part of this morning removing most of those components from their support pillars and began the tedious process of cleaning them up:

As well as the snips, I find that a more robust craft knife blade rather than scalpel is required here for trimming pieces.

 

Being slow process I didn't get more done than cleaning up the wheels, joining both the halves together, and sticking the rear section onto the Avons:

Due to the fine tolerances on the actual aircraft, it's going to be a tight fit here once the engines are ready to go in:

I'll be continuing this cleanup process  over the next fortnight or so so I'm afraid the updates are likely to be few, and less than exciting as a consequence....

 

Off to see Dune in an hour followed by a late night kebab.

#highroller

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

38 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

- and shuts down at midnight after the National Anthem...

For which a starched shirt and regimental tie are de rigueur!

 

Those engines look delicious.

I did wonder how easy it is to cut off all those supports. Looks like the answer is, it isn't.

Take your time, no rush, the end result will benefit from it.

[Spookytooth]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

followed by a late night kebab.

Chilli sauce on mine Tony, onions and lettuce.

 

A slow process ahead but hopefully no problems.

 

Simon.

[Fritag]

 

14 hours ago, TheBaron said:

And with the amount of trouble I could get into over the coming months mixing these parts up, I've taken the precaution of using tea tin lids to house the parts for each side separately:

 

What a fabulous box (and two tea tin lids) of bits…..

 

The photo has made me realise what a sad psychological case I am though - made me twitchy to have the ‘port’ tin lid to the right and the ‘stbd’ to the left. P’raps it’s a head-on shot….

 

It’s great to see those engines again.  Fancy making some Adours?  They’re only little - barely noticeable (according to Lightning/Phantom jocks ) knock em up in no time