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1:72 Gloster Javelin Jambalaya


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7 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Thanks. It makes me sad to see these once magnificent machines slowly deteriorating in a field someplace, waiting for the inevitable archaeologist's spade in a thousand years or so. If only there were funding for all aircraft like this to be properly cared for in a museum, or better yet returned to flight. But I guess I'm just a dreamer.

 

Cheers,

Bill

I visited that museum last November, and took a few pics of the Javelin; they have another three jets in the pipeline for restoration, so chances are that one day they'll tackle this too. One day...

 

When I saw it, at least they'd mowed the lawn....

 

Ciao

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Superb looking Javelin Bill, really shaping up nicely, keep forgetting it's 1:72nd!

 

Airbrake housings, personally I'm of the opinion that the internals were painted silver, with the surfaces that remain visible in the top camo colours.

However, I wouldn't be at all surprised that as these jets went through repaint in later years that the recesses may have just been painted over in the camo colours, for speed of application.

Edited by 71chally
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On 09/12/2019 at 17:08, 71chally said:

Airbrake housings, personally I'm of the opinion that the internals were painted silver, with the surfaces that remain visible in the top camo colours.

However, I wouldn't be at all surprised that as these jets went through repaint in later years that the recesses may have just been painted over in the camo colours, for speed of application.

 

That makes sense to me, so my model will therefore be representative of the "repaint" condition.    :)

 

If they were painted silver, I understand that they would stick out like a sore thumb against the camo when the air brakes are open. But then there are those two big red, white, and blue bullseyes on the wings...and they kinda stick out all the time!

 

Stickers and stencils are on, and I'm just finishing up the gear doors, tyres, tail planes, elevators, and air brakes. I want to finish all of that, and give her the overall varnish before I show her off again. The overall varnish will be a semi-gloss, leaning towards an egg-shell sheen. I think that's more suited to the scale than a high gloss. Soon!

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Oh, before I forget - here is what I meant when I said the blue in the Print Scale roundels was too light. Here it's compared to an Xtradecal roundel from my spares box. I think this shows the issue. It looked worse when I slid one onto the model. Whoosh! I slid it right back off. The white wasn't very opaque either.

 

IMG_5244

 

For those of you who have the Heller/Airfix T.3 in your stash, or have built the kit in the past, you know that the actuator ram/connector link that's part of the nose gear is moulded as one solid piece. This isn't right, as the real thing has lightening holes in its forging, and resembles a Y. The Airwaves PE set gives you a photoetched replacement piece, but I didn't want to remove the plastic piece in its entirety as the nose gear is spindly enough as it is. So I culled my years of modelling experience and pulled out "Modelling Perception Cheat No. 437." I painted the plastic link flat black, and glued the PE part on top. Voilà! (or is it Violin!?)

 

IMG_5245

 

Works for me, but I'm easy to please.   :)

 

And now for the StickerStorm (thanks for introducing me to a new word @perdu!) The roundels came from the spares box, the fin flash and squadron markings from the PrintScale sheet with the appropriate amounts of sweating and swearing as previously noted (although the underwing codes came from a Model Alliance sheet). The stencils came from a variety of places, using the Airfix 1:48 placement guide. None of the stencils are readable without the help of a microscope, and none of them have any relevance to where they're placed (I suspect), other than the obvious ones that I had to do correctly (like the ejection seat triangles, etc.)

 

The varnish is Floquil Flat, which is my go-to clear for an egg shell sheen. I love the stuff (cue another opportunity to curse Testors). Anyway, here she is at the moment.

 

IMG_5247

 

IMG_5248

 

I elected not to do a panel line wash because old fumble thumbs scribed the lines so deep that they can be seen by @Martian Hale on top of Olympus Mons. There is a lot left to do. Tail planes, elevators, periscopes, simulator pressure heads, canopy seals, rest of the landing gear doors, wing pitot probe, airbrakes, exhaust painting, navigation lights, etc.

 

I'm kinda linking how she looks though.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. And once all that is done, I got another one to build. Yikes.

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Brilliant job on the Javelin, Bill! She is such a petite little thing. A mere slip of an aeroplane. Seriously, though, it's massive enough that MiG could have built and tested one in the 1950s (Ye-150, Ye-152M, Ye-166...).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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5 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I'm kinda liking how she looks though.

Me took, that is a real neat dodge with the nose wheel strut. It had me fooled till you explained it. 👍

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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On 13/12/2019 at 01:08, stevehnz said:

Me took, that is a real neat dodge with the nose wheel strut. It had me fooled till you explained it. 👍

 

Thanks Steve. I think a big part of modelling is illusion.    :)

 

On 13/12/2019 at 02:50, giemme said:

She looks glorious with stickers on :clap:

 

Thanks Giorgio. Putting the transfers on is one of my favourite parts of building the model. Even the stencils. It really transforms it.

 

On 13/12/2019 at 02:57, Fritag said:

Immaculate Bill, just immaculate :)

 

Thanks. Immaculate, eh? I suspect if the Virgin was watching while I was building, she was covering her ears when I was working with those Print Scale decals.   :)

 

On 13/12/2019 at 06:38, 71chally said:

Superb work, I think avoiding panel wash is very wise in the case of the Javelin anyway.

 

Agreed. The photo that I posted of this exact aircraft hardly shows any panel lines at all. I know why washes are so popular, but I think it has be subtle. I'm guilty of some real bad examples!

 

On 13/12/2019 at 13:46, woody37 said:

Superb Bill, amazing how well this kit scrubs up in good hands :)

 

Thanks. Some of the old kits are diamonds in the rough. Often, their shapes are more accurate than modern tooling. And this kit went together quite well - no fit problems, etc. She looks good. Now if I can refine my scribing technique beyond that of the Matchbox Mad Trench Digger, the next one will look better!

 

On 13/12/2019 at 14:23, Terry1954 said:

Looking very nice indeed Bill. To my eyes you have captured the green/grey upper surface colours spot on and the overall aircraft looks so like a Javelin should.

 

Thanks Terry. Nothing special here, just Gunze H73 Dark Green and H75 Dark Sea Grey. I didn't modulate the paint at all, as I wanted her to look nice and clean - right out of the paint shop.

 

Now H73 and H74 are Gunze's "WWII" versions of these colours. They also make H330 Dark Green BS381C/641 and H331 Dark Sea Grey BS381C/638 which are supposed to be the "modern" versions of these colours. I don't know if there even was a difference between these time frames, maybe @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies does. Anyway, I prefer H73 and H74 and use these for both time frames. H331 in particular is a weird grey with a purple tinge, whereas I think Dark Sea Grey was fairly neutral. (Although e-paint.co.uk shows the RGB equivalent as 104, 108, 113, but I don't know if that extra bit of blue is enough to make it look purple.) Your mileage may vary.

 

****

OK, how about some air brakes? I found some leftover photoetch in the spares box that I decided to use for actuators. I think they were originally intended as straps for some thing. Anyway, they fit nicely, like so:

 

IMG_5250

 

And a view from the top:

 

IMG_5249

 

These aren't strong enough by themselves, as a hinge action is possible, and if I move them too much they could break. Plus, the real thing seems to have a gusset-like support as well, so I used some old True Details 1950s USAF antennae to act as a surrogate (these are the gold-coloured parts in the photos). Then I added the air brakes.

 

IMG_5253

 

IMG_5251

 

IMG_5252

 

I'll take it. Not sure it was worth all the effort, but it adds some interest. I'm tempted to leave the gussets gold - I can make believe they were some fancy alodining or anodising. They look more interesting this way. Or maybe I'll paint them aluminum.

 

Next up will be the canopy seals. I know they were off-white in real life, but I don't have any off-white decal stripes, so mine will be white. But they're old decal stripes, so maybe they won't be bright white.    :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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On 12/13/2019 at 7:08 PM, stevehnz said:

Me took, that is a real neat dodge

Note to self, sharpen up your proof reading sunshine! :( 

Those airbrakes look superb Bill, for me, the piece de resistance crowning glory. :) 

Steve.

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Very nice Bill, those brakes certainly add to the mastery :) 

 

p.s. I'd paint the 'gussets' aluminium avoid getting some members over-excited. Oops, too late :D 

p.p.s. Count those vortex generators - superb!

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