Jump to content

1:72 Gloster Javelin Jambalaya


Recommended Posts

Hello Bill,

 

standard camouflage for all Javelin marks was Dark Sea Gray / Dark Green / High Speed Silver and it remained the same during the whole "Javelin Era". Only change being the wrap-around of upper side colours (wing leading edges only) after 1966 or so. It is true that the under surfaces look gray(ish) in some photos but is due to weathering. I found it interesting that HSS seems to have weathered more in Europe than in the Far-East.

 

I'm not familiar with official Gloster painting produre but 64 Squadron stripped their Javelins into bare metal before a new camouflage was applied. Whether they used a primer, I can't tell. Normally you should as top coat paints don't stick into bare aluminium surface. A "Zinc-chromate" primer is applied first and on top of that a coat of adhesive paint, because camouflage paints don't stick well onto ZCY either. Point here being, you can apply camouflage paint on bare metal but then you should realize that heavy weathering and chipping starts to occur within days. Something you don't see on 60 or 64 Squadron Javelins in the late 1960s.

 

Cheers,

Antti

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 24/09/2019 at 10:55, Terry1954 said:

Looks like this one is coming along fine. I have an old 1/72 Aeroclub Vampire that gets some attention every few months - it's all marked up for scribing at the moment ............ 😟  but I'm getting some good inspiration from you Bill.

 

Thanks Terry. I would never wish scribing on anyone - but good luck with it! Your vacuform plastic probably won't cleave off in tiny thin pieces like this old Airfix/Heller plastic did. It seems the scribing released the surface tension or something, and the the tape removal pulled up these little things. Sanding seems to have smoothed everything out, and hopefully it will stay that way.

 

23 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Matchbox Spit 22/24 as modelled by you would look brilliant.

Just saying........

 

Well, I got all that stuff. Revell boxing of the Matchbox Spitfire 22/24, Grey Matter nose and spinner correction set, Master Casters cockpit set, Master cannon barrels, Barracuda wheels, etc. But I just spent 2 1/2 years on the Mk.IX, I need some time to recover.    :)

 

Thanks for the link to the cutaway. First time I've seen that site. Good stuff.

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I shot a coat of Gunze Medium Sea Grey over the gal, so now I can find all the spots that need fixing. I've already found a few.

 

IMG_4458

 

IMG_4461

 

I added the landing gear but maybe I shouldn't have. She balances OK, but the gear (especially the front) looks awful spindly. I applied a coat of thin superglue over the spindliest parts, hoping that it might reinforce them. I'm not worried about the gear not withstanding the weight of the model, I'm just worried about old fumble thumbs here knocking them off.

 

I overdid some of the scribing, mostly on access panels, and some of them need to be filled with some Mr. Surfacer. I don't want folks to think this is a Matchbox kit!    :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 23
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I overdid some of the scribing, mostly on access panels, and some of them need to be filled with some Mr. Surfacer. I

Nevertheless, she's looking smooth :clap::clap: 

 

Ciao

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brilliant work, Bill! She looks a treat.

 

Regards,

 

Jason (who's upset he couldn't find his Javelin kit during his last foray into his bottomless pit storage room)

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She is looking, as expected Bill, rather wonderful

 

And guess who will not be stash searching in hope of finding one tucked away in an obscure box under a chair in the other room, the stash room

 

Yes me


I could never expect to make one of these look as nice as this so I won't try, mostly sticking with jollychopters nowadays instead

 

Fabulous work Bill

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 03/10/2019 at 04:45, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Excellent scribing work, Bill - your Javelin looks amazing under the coat of primer! 👍

 

Thanks! I think a few coats of Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green will make her look even better.    :)

 

On 03/10/2019 at 11:39, Learstang said:

Brilliant work, Bill! She looks a treat.

Regards,

Jason (who's upset he couldn't find his Javelin kit during his last foray into his bottomless pit storage room)

 

I have a couple of spares if you can't find it! (Assuming you are speaking of the one true scale.)    :)

 

10 hours ago, 71chally said:

That looks absolutely superb Bill!

 

Thanks! It came out better than I expected, especially since scribing is not one of my better virtues.

 

7 hours ago, perdu said:

She is looking, as expected Bill, rather wonderful

 

And guess who will not be stash searching in hope of finding one tucked away in an obscure box under a chair in the other room, the stash room

 

Yes me


I could never expect to make one of these look as nice as this so I won't try, mostly sticking with jollychopters nowadays instead

 

Thanks Bill! If you can't find your Javelin kit, I have a couple of spares if you can't find it! (Assuming you are speaking of the one true scale, and, of course, if Jason doesn't nab one first.)    :)

 

Jollychopters, eh? That gives me an idea...

 

*****

OK, time for a quick pic. All I've managed to accomplish in the last few days, at least related to scale modelling, is to add some brass tube to mount the tailplanes on.

 

 

IMG_4464

 

If you look close, you may even see my lame attempt to replicate the blunt trailing edge of the aileron thingies. At present, I'm debating what to do with the canopy. Normally, I pose these open, but the T.3 kit canopy is one piece and the two sliding portions overlap in the center. If I cut it apart, I'll lose a tiny bit where they overlap, but maybe that won't be noticeable. I have only one photo of a T.3 with the canopies open, and there looks to be some kind of structure (roll hoop?) in-between the front and rear cockpits. Anyone have a better photo of that?

 

I don't like closed canopies, but I may have to settle for that if I can't get a better understanding of what I need to do. I'll think about it some more, perhaps over a nice IPA (and that doesn't mean isopropyl alcohol). That will fix everything, even more so if I have two.

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 8
  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Thanks! I think a few coats of Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green will make her look even better.    :)

That'll be Dark sea grey / Dark green surely?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Andrew Jones said:

That'll be Dark sea grey / Dark green surely?

 

There I go again, actually believing what is printed on the Print Scale decal instruction sheet. First it was "Light Aircraft Grey" that should be High Speed Silver, and now "Medium Sea Grey" which should be "Dark Sea Grey." At least they got the Dark Green part correct.

 

20191004_201727

 

Makes me wonder if any of the markings are correct.

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 5
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, when I speak of my kits, it is always of the One True Scale! All other scales are mentioned derisively, if at all, and I have spent the last 15 years purging myself of those off-scale abominations that are still in my possession (although I am hanging on to my Classic Airframes Wyvern - love the Wyvern!). Thank you very much for the kind offer on the kit, but I believe I know where the beastie is hiding. Next time I gather enough courage to enter again into the Black Hole of Calcutta, A/K/A my store room, I'm confident I'll find it. Nice job on blunting the aileron ends, by the way. As I believe I mentioned earlier in this thread (I'm far too lazy to look back to see if I actually did write this), the Javelin is the only aircraft I know of that had large rivets on the ends of the ailerons. The term 'agricultural' comes to mind in describing the Javelin. It's almost as if Gloster said 'If we give this enough power, does it really need to be that aerodynamic?'.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
Additional peals of wisdom added.
  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I'll think about it some more, perhaps over a nice IPA

A Golden IPA (or two) would be even better :D

 

Ailerons look good from here :clap:

 

Ciao

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mates, I need your help again. In the following photo you can see that there is a structural element (I call it a "roll bar") in-between the front and rear cockpit.

 

T3 flightline

 

If I decide to cut open the canopy, I'll need to scratchbuild this structure and I'll need more than just this photo to go by. Does anyone have any better photos or drawings that show this in better detail? I can't guarantee that I'll open the canopy, as that will also involve re-working the rails along the bottom, part of which Heller/Airfix have moulded onto the turtle deck. Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is the centre supporting arch, personally I would make up a simple hoop but I know that your standards are way higher Bill,

These may help,

e28cb07f2b078c1bbf7703c8f4b11e38.jpgmev-11952839.jpgg

 

 

Given how much bigger the centre arch is than the front arch, you can see why the canopy doesn't go all the way back.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi mates,

 

After considering all my options, I decided to leave the canopy closed. I think the only other models in my display case with closed canopies are the F-111B and aircraft like the Beaufort and Anson. As I thought about it, though, I realised that I still need to add the roll hoop, er, I mean arch, as it's visible even when the canopy is closed. Having no idea what it actually looks like I made up this little guy:

 

IMG_4467

 

This is made from two pieces of card stock, the u-shaped arch is 0.010" thick, and the wrap-around piece is 0.005" thick. It has a bit of an I-beam cross section. I assume there might be greeblies on this arch, along with perhaps a mirror or two. If I can't find any better references, I'll just wing it and make something up. What do you guys and gals think? Use it or not?

 

The canopy, which by the way seems to fit very nicely indeed, has been dutifully bathed in floor wax. I'll finish up the pit, adding the ejection seats and control columns, mask off the canopy, and add that prior to painting. That's the plan for today anyway.

 

I also started working on the tailplanes. Whose idea was this, to pose these guys and have the elevators drooping? Oh, right, me. Well then. The elevator hinges are rather prominent, and I couldn't think of a way to cut around them, so I just hacked right through them. I used some needle files to make the notches in the elevator, and then found some old bits of resin to use for the hinges, superglued those to the tailplane, and gave them a bit of a shaping.

 

IMG_4465

 

Surprisingly, they actually fit into the notches, Things need to be cleaned up, and of course I still need to scribe these parts. Overall, though, I think it will work. Thoughts?

 

I stuck on the kit main wheels so I could judge how well she sits. The model definitely is slightly nose-high, so that's good. I like how she looks, and with a few more coats of paint I may even like my lousy scribing. Oh, right - I still need to add those thingamabobs on the side of the forward fuselage just in front of the intakes. What are those? Cameras perhaps? I only see those on T.3 marks. There are also those four pitot tube like sensors on top of the rear fuselage, but I'll leave them off until the end so my fumble thumbs don't knock them off. I read somewhere that they are pressure sensors of some kind.

 

Back to the bench...

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Oh, we have an addition to the family:

 

20191004_185321

 

No, the Bernese Mountain Dog ("Koda") didn't give birth to a Golden Retriever ("Ella"). My daughter's friends dog had a litter of puppies, and, well, who can refuse a puppy? Luckily for me, both dogs reside with my daughter. But now I get to baby-sit the dogs as well as the grandkids. I should charge a fee...

  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

I should charge a fee...

Definitely :rofl: They are cute, though ... :) 

 

More excellent scratchbuilding :worthy:  I shall copy that arch+wrap around thing :thumbsup2: 

 

Ciao

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, giemme said:

Definitely :rofl: They are cute, though ... :)

More excellent scratchbuilding :worthy:  I shall copy that arch+wrap around thing :thumbsup2:

 

Koda, the Bernese Mountain dog, is only 7 months old, and she already weighs 60 lb. She's a big gal.

 

I gotta tell another story though. My daughter's first dog was a Labrador Retriever, but she passed away a few weeks ago. She and Koda were together for several months. My son-in-law buried the Labrador in the back yard, and now Koda always goes out and lays down on the spot. She'll lay there for hours. I think she knows.

 

46 minutes ago, CedB said:

Nice work Bill :) As for the arch thingy… no idea sorry.

 

Cute dogs though and, like you, I can't resist a puppy either!

 

Thanks Ced. I think I'll paint the arch black and stick a mirror on it, then close up the canopy. In some of my photos it looks like there are gubbins of some kind on the arch, but I can't discern what they might be. Probably canopy locking mechanisms. Oh well, this is 1:72 scale for crying out loud. It doesn't need all that extra detail like a range extender (aka "relief tube"). No, wait, I already did that once...

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...