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Airfix Gnat 1/72


Adam Poultney

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Which Airfix 1/72 kit do you have.

 

The first one, from the 1970s (?) was replaced a few years ago by an entirely new kit.  The slam on the old one is usually that it is old, whatever that means.  The new one seems to have engraved panel lines and the slam there is that they are too deep/wide/something.

 

Judging by parts photographs on the 'net, the new one seems (to me, without benefit of having the parts in hand) to be better shaped around the nose.  

Edited by RJP
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I built a 1:72nd Gnat recently which I bought a couple of years ago, presume that's the one you're talking about?  I found it a real challenge, esp fitting the undercarriage and various bits on the underside.

 

Al.

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It is a kit with some tight clearances, so test fitting & adjusting fit can be called for, but then, you'd do that with pretty much every build, right? :unsure: Do take care not to get paint on any mating surface, even where you may not intend to glue, that can compromise the fit in some areas. I did one of the starter sets in the Yellow Jacks scheme & didn't have any issues other than taking care with it.

Steve.

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Two things come to mind:

  1.  You do need to follow the instructions to the letter, esp in the area of the cockpit sidewalls/air intakes.  When the kit came out, some people didn't and had problems getting the parts in afterwards.
  2.  Try as I might, I could not assemble the wing tanks in a way that didn't require quite substantial amounts of filler, which was surprising on a newly tooled kit.

But self-induced problems from not reading the instructions and the need for a bit of filler do not add up to a bad (or "not great") kit to me.

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What they said. I've built one thus far, and yes, it does have some tight tolerances, but since that one was finished I've bought about 6 more (including 3 Yellowjacks boxes at the ALDI in Telford after SMW) - I think that that says something about how much I like the kit.

It's a great wee kit. Take your time, follow the instructions, test fit (as always) and enjoy. I managed to get the wing tanks done with few issues, but did have some small problems with the intakes and wing, possibly because I did it out of order; I cannot now recall either way. However, patient problem solving umm...solved the problems and the build was finished. With a bit of careful modification, the main gear can be made to fit later in the build. From memory I simply rounded off the top peg (I could be wrong there too, but I definitely fitted it later than Airfix proposes).

 

When finished, it captures the Gnat's diminutive size very well indeed. Recommended.

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Hi all,

 

I built this kit when it was new. I remember a  couple of places that needed some work:

- wing rear joint to fuselage needed some filing to get the rear part of the wing-fuselage combination to fit low enough with the rear fuselage,

- intake splitter parts-fuselage interior seams needed some work to get the seam eliminated,

- main gear wells were prone to sit too high.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

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I would second what everyone else has said. It is one of the few kits where you must follow the instructions to avoid problems. Being old and supposedly wise, I did not and had  problems with getting the undercarriage to sit right and my model has a slight list despite my best efforts. It does like nice even so. 

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Much the same here really. My young son built one of the Gnats from Lidl early this year, with me alongside building one too. We both found the tolerances very tight, to the point where my son (10) got rather frustrated. I found I was having similar issues, but we persevered and ended up with two lovely little aeroplanes. 

Having built the original Airfix Gnat a long time ago, almost certainly as my first ever kit, I must say the new offering is light years ahead. With care and attention these modern computer designed kits are quite remarkable, compared to kits of the sixties and seventies that I slapped together on a regular basis.

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I'd go along with the above, the kit is said to have tight tolerances, even the new Airfix mag referred to issues in ensuring that the intakes fitted properly.

 

In addition though, and after seeing several completed examples, I would say that you need to double decal the roundels because if you are doing either the red wings version or the fire orange version it may taint the white in the roundels.

 

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My experiences building two of these is similar to others here. Tolerances are tight, intakes particularly need careful fitting but it is a great kit. Instructions regarding main u/c legs and doors are vague to say the least but go carefully, don't rush it, dry fit again and again and you'll end up with a smashing model. One of mine has a full CMK resin cockpit interior and a vac canopy. Do you know what? I can't tell which model out of the two that is now, which must say something about the kit. 

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