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Gloster Javelin FAW.9/9R, Airfix 1/48th


nasosrr

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Good day all. Nice to be here again. I hope you're all well, as much as possible unaffected by the pandemic.

It's the 22nd today, so I thought it would be appropriate to begin this thread with one of my favourite Christmas songs of all time:

 

 

And now we can go on.

The new kit that I am going to tackle here is Airfix's Javelin, in 1/48th.

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I've already started putting the pieces together and I am impressed by the quality of the kit and the overall fit, in conjunction with the price. I got it for less than 1/2 the price of Tamiya's Tomcat and it's an equally big bird, perhaps with more pieces (haven't really checked) and with almost as good engineering as the Japanese. I understand many might think this is a blaspheme, but this really is a very nice kit!!! Apart from two areas (so far), the drop tanks and the missiles. I don't know what went wrong there, but these two details are inferior to the rest of the kit.

 

Other than that, the kit goes together like it's meant to. The quality of the material is also superb, hard enough to handle without easily damaging the smaller parts and soft enough to not struggle when sanding of filing. I truly like it and I don't understand why it's so underrepresented on the internet, I haven't been able to find too many builds of it.

 

And now we've reached the point where I'd like your help.

Airfix's representation of the two MB Mk.3JS is quite ok, but they totally lack harnesses. I've searched on the internet for photos of the real seats and unfortunately I haven't been able to find any good ones that I can use as guide to add my own harnesses. The best I've encountered is photos of resin parts. I have no problem trying to copy resin parts, they are very detailed and they've already made the simplifications that are necessary for the scale, so I skip wondering what I need to show and what I can omit, but if I could see some good photos of the real one, I'd be pleased, as I am a bit unsure about the colours, among other things.

The situation is slightly better when it comes to the landing gear. I have found a couple of walkarounds that cover these areas, but again, if you happen to have any good references, I won't complain if you share them with me. :)

 

Thank you all in advance.

 

Until the next post, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

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Hi there Houston!

 

Wow, what a response! Thank you so much!

I had seen the resin set, but I've decided to try to build this one out of the box and improve the bang seats myself. I hope I won't destroy them. Haha!

The diagram is dreamy, very detailed, absolutely brilliant.

 

seatejectcolor.com doesn't contain any data, unfortunately. But your other links are absolutely priceless! I will study them in detail later tonight, as the Alclad primer is drying.

Thank you, again! :)

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Yes that ejection seats link is most probably not helpful.

 

I am pretty pleased that you found the other links helpful.

For your information Julien who is a member on here has a LOTS of threads on walkarounds  on all sorts of aircrafts with great photos if you ever want any other help on other jets etc..

 

I look forward to your build.

please post photos  if you can of your iconic aircraft build.

:thumbsup:

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Hello nasosrr,

 

this really is a lovely kit to build. Be careful when joining the nose part into the center fuselage. I noticed also that the missiles and tanks are pretty "basic" and the pylon for tank is wrong; it's far too high.

 

See here for my WIP; there is one solution for the harnesses and it is completely free😉

 

 

Cheers,

Antti

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@Antti_K Wow, man! That was a Christmas present!!! Your WIP is a "how to" actually. Fantastic information, awesomely presented!!! And your idea about the harnesses... what can I say, you're a talented artist my friend!!!

 

I've started creating harnesses with tamiya tape and copper wire, but I kind of like yours better. I'll take a photo of the harnesses and the seats when I've done and then I'll decide which method I'll use.

 

And then I will continue studying your build in detail. It's really brilliant!!!

 

Thanks a lot man!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hello there!

It's been more than a month since I opened this thread and yet, in my regular fashion, I haven't updated you on the build.

But here I am today, doing just that! :) And I hope you consider it was worth waiting.

 

First of all, I want to apologise to Antti, because I didn't (aka "couldn't") follow his impeccable detailing of the kit. It is beyond my skills. That being said, I think I've done my best.

All the photos are clickable, I insert them like this to save space and help the page load faster.

 

I started by improving the bang seats. Once again Antti, your solution was brilliant, but I decided to try my luck with tamiya tape instead.

IMG-20210106-150548.jpg

which then got some paint on and now look like this:

IMG-20210118-134651.jpg

They will be "attacked" with wash and dry brush in order to look a bit worn.

 

Next was the nose bay:

IMG-20210109-224737.jpg IMG-20210109-224702.jpg

I did nothing more here than painting.

 

The remaining components of the landing system were also painted using a combination of Tamiya and Alclad paints.

IMG-20210124-131602.jpg IMG-20210115-125131.jpg

 

Next step was the cockpit tub. There I got a bit creative and added some very unrealistic throttle levers. And I made it look dirty. Very dirty! Please don't hate me. :P 

IMG-20210118-134611.jpg IMG-20210118-125206.jpg IMG-20210118-125135.jpg IMG-20210115-124657.jpg

 

On to closing the fuselage halves and adding these "tabs" on the inside of the fuselage and wings in order for the parts to align (got the idea from Antti here).

IMG-20210124-131310.jpg IMG-20210124-131245.jpg IMG-20210124-131028.jpg

I am confident that there will not be any need of putty here. Well done Airfix!

 

And for the fun of it, a short clip: 

 

Yeah, I am trying to take my game up a notch. :P

 

What I am going to do next is glue the wings, the refuelling probe, some antennae and other small bits and parts, but not the vertical and horizontal stabilisers and elevators, these will be glued in the end, to make masking and painting easier. I've dry-fitted them and it feels like the natural order of doing things, to avoid too much masking.

 

I hope you're satisfied by the way I am treating a very British subject, so far. I have no idea when the next update will be, but I promise to continue with the same amount of dedication and patience. :)

 

Take care lads.

 

Edited by nasosrr
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Good day lads.

Could I please ask for your opinions/help regarding two small issues I have with my build?

 

1st: Right behind the pilot's seat, there's a raised construction with some instruments. It lies right under the stationary part of the canopy. I was hoping it would be hidden, but it's not, and it looks very empty behind the instruments. Is it really supposed to look like this? I haven't been able to find a photo of the real aircraft.

It looks like @Antti_K has, in his brilliant build, has made some improvements there (seen in this post), but I can't really make out what you've done Antti, I'm afraid. It looks like there's some sort of back behind the seat, which seems to be missing from my model.

 

2nd: What would be the most suitable colour for the undersides? Antti (again) writes that it should be shiny (last photo of this post), but how shiny? I have a couple bottles of Alclad, among which is airframe aluminum, white aluminum, semi-matt aluminium and then I have Tamiya chrome silver, which I don't particularly like to be honest, I find it a bit too coarse. Would any of the Alclad work well or are they too shiny (except for the white aluminium which is very matt)? An option would be white aluminum (Alclad) which is quite dull, and then some glossy varnish on top? My impression is that it looks "painted", instead of bare metal, but I have never seen a Javelin in real life, so I can't know what it really looks like. And photos are often misleading.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

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Hello nasosrr,

 

I saw your questions earlier but didn't have the time for an answer. But here we go.

 

There is a flat shelf below the fixed canopy center part. Those boxes are the A.I. Radar set and a "Gee" navigation set. I removed the "Gee" and replaced it with a scratch built ADF set, as "Gee" wasn't used in the Far East. The reason is simple; there weren't any "Gee" beacons in the Far East. "Gee" was a hyperbolic navigation system like Decca or LORAN.

 

The undersurfaces were always painted with a aluminium coloured paint usually called as "High Speed Silver". In Europe the paint got dull pretty quickly and can easily be misinterpreted as light gray in photos. However it remained clear and shiny in the Far East. I used Humbrol 191 mixed with some Testors "Aluminium Plate" enamel. If you pay a visit to Flygvapenmuseum at Linköping, take a close look at the Tp52 Canberra and Varsity as they are both painted with HSS. Better still, visit Svedinos Bil- och Flygmuseum at Ugglarp as the other Tp52 Canberra is on display there and in better condition than the one at Linköping. You are right about the Tamiya Chrome Silver; it is far too coarse and shiny.

 

Cheers,

Antti

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Wow, @Antti_K, as always, you're a invaluable source of information and knowledge! I can't thank you enough for that.

I live near Linköping, but not near enough for a ride there to just look at the plane. So I will try to recreate the colour you described with the available means to me, right now. It will most likely be the Alclad white aluminium with the addition of something, I don't know what yet. And probably a fine coat of glossy varnish in the end. But certainly not my otherwise favourite Airframe aluminium.

 

Regarding the cockpit part, since I am building an a/c in Europe, I believe I can leave it as it is. Mainly perhaps because it's already assembled and painted and I don't want to go back and ruin it.

 

Thanks again Antti, I will be referring to you more during this build, among other things to show my appreciation for your help, both through your direct answers and through the information I've gotten from your own build. It's a pity I don't even dare to correct the kit the way you've done, but I know my limits and I'd probably end up ruining it. A complete model with some mistakes is better than a trashed kit, that's how I see it. :)

 

Thanks again mate. :)

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I'm glad that I can be of assistance.

 

Yes, the cockpit is good for an aircraft based in Europe. Here is a picture from the technical handbook showing the cockpit area:

 

spacer.png

 

It is actually an FAW.4, but as it carried the same radar as FAW.9, I think it is relatively "safe" to use as reference.

 

I also have photos of the equipment (Radar set, instrument panel, Gee -set). If you want to have those, send me a PM.

 

Cheers,

Antti

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Hello everyone!

 

Thanks @Antti_K for the very detailed illustration of the cockpit area of the Javelin.

 

I am afraid I am done with the cockpit for this particular build. I still appreciate the offer though, I might decide to build another Javelin some day... probably when I move to a bigger apartment to have more display space, two Javelins are a bit too big, haha.

 

Now back to my -unbearably slow- build:

I've painted the underside, using Alclad semi-matt aluminium.

Now I haven't seen a real aircraft, but from what I can tell by looking at pictures, this paint is quite close. My impression however is that the real aircraft looks a bit more shiny, which is good, I think, because I would in any case need to gloss-coat it to prepare the surface for decals and weathering. Then finding a way to make it look a bit less matt wouldn't be that hard, I guess.

The photos below show the painted surfaces. The last one is with very little manipulation, as an effort to give you a more representative image, but the lighting was bad and it doesn't look exactly right. I'll try to take some better pictures tomorrow.

 

Hope you like it so far. :)

IMG-20210206-222516.jpg IMG-20210206-222253.jpg

 

IMG-20210206-222527.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Hello gents.

 

It's been a long 1,5 month and I have practically not touched the Javelin, with one exception, I tested the colours on the elevator with epically unsuccessful results.

Just have one question here: Are other people also having problems spraying some humbrol enamels or is it just me?

I've tried humbrol's own thinner, nothing. Cellulose thinner, nothing. White spirit? Well, ABSOLUTELY nothing! Doesn't matter how much I thin them down either, unless I go down to the point where it's like a wash. Oh, and with different air-pressure settings.

What happens is that it sprays inconsistently until I open up the nozzle enough, but that "enough", is too much for most of my painting. I can't control my painting with such a flow, it's totally useless.

 

All other brands of paint and most of my old humbrol cans work fine.

Can the paints that are sent to Sweden be different? Maybe because of legislation, Humbrol needs to adjust them and they become that bad? It's very frustrating.

 

Thank you for all your advice.

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On 12/22/2020 at 8:22 AM, nasosrr said:

Airfix's representation of the two MB Mk.3JS is quite ok, but they totally lack harnesses. I've searched on the internet for photos of the real seats and unfortunately I haven't been able to find any good ones that I can use as guide to add my own harnesses. The best I've encountered is photos of resin parts. I have no problem trying to copy resin parts, they are very detailed and they've already made the simplifications that are necessary for the scale, so I skip wondering what I need to show and what I can omit, but if I could see some good photos of the real one, I'd be pleased, as I am a bit unsure about the colours, among other things.

Here is one of the seats from XH903, one of my Javelin's at Jet Age.

101-7004.jpg

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Just spotted your airbrush issues.  Got to say no issues airbrushing Humbrol.

My last 2 models I've thinned it with celulose thinners,  prior to that I used cheap lighter fluid.

Does neat thinner go through your airbrush?

Javelin-FAW9.jpg

XH903 has a grey underside, but that is a preservation thing, metal colour in service.

And if you do build as XH903 - it never had a refuelling probe.

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Wow, thanks for the pic! It's really nice. And it makes it very clear that I've painted the cushions with wrong colour! :(

 

Thinner goes through like a charm, no issues at all.

And I just realised I have same problems with tamiya. I just changed my compressor's pressure regulator and moisture filter. I wonder if it's somehow related. I filmed my endeavours but I can't even keep my eyes open right now. I'll upload it tomorrow.

 

Oh, and... :( :( :( I was indeed planning on building the XH903, but I've glued the probe already. I can't remove it now.

Why did Airfix make such a horrible mistake?????

So I guess that leaves me no other option than the XH893? Thanks for the tip man, I would have made a very stupid mistake!!! Really thank you!

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I had no idea Dropkick Murphys fame had spread to Sweden.

 

Background:  The name Dropkick Murphys came from the nickname given to Massachusetts-born professional wrestler and sanatorium owner John E. “Dropkick” Murphy. In addition to his work in the ring, Murphy operated the Bellows Farms Sanatorium in Acton, which Casey calls a “primitive detox” center. “When fighters or people would be out drinking, he would give them paraldehyde or horse tranquilizers and help them taper down,” Casey says. “I always heard old guys my grandfather’s age say, ‘Oh, I was in Dropkicks,’ or ‘They took me to Dropkick Murphys.’ We were just like, ‘That’d be a cool name for a band.’”

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8 hours ago, ejboyd5 said:

I had no idea Dropkick Murphys fame had spread to Sweden.

 

Background:  The name Dropkick Murphys came from the nickname given to Massachusetts-born professional wrestler and sanatorium owner John E. “Dropkick” Murphy. In addition to his work in the ring, Murphy operated the Bellows Farms Sanatorium in Acton, which Casey calls a “primitive detox” center. “When fighters or people would be out drinking, he would give them paraldehyde or horse tranquilizers and help them taper down,” Casey says. “I always heard old guys my grandfather’s age say, ‘Oh, I was in Dropkicks,’ or ‘They took me to Dropkick Murphys.’ We were just like, ‘That’d be a cool name for a band.’”

Well, I'm not from Sweden originally (I'm from Greece) and before I moved to Sweden I was thinking a lot about moving to either Scotland or Ireland instead. And I've always been fascinated by the culture and music and colours up there.

A great Irish musician (Ross Daly) lives in Crete, the place where I come from, and he's inspired many of my musical journeys.

 

So, I knew about DM before I moved to Sweden. :) And sure, they are an american band, so maybe some of my references sound a bit unrelated, but the play Celtic music, so... :) So, thanks for the background mate, appreciate it. :)

 

And a bit from Ross:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy7HjOxEgyQ

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And here's the film I promised. I've increased the speed so it won't be entirely boring, but I think you can see what the problem is.

Weirdly enough, I sprayed the exact same paint (brown tamiya) on my Tomcat and it went fine.

No idea what the issue is, I will try to solve it tonight.

Any suggestions are welcome!

 

https://youtu.be/Tv43gbedgGI

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Good morning everyone!

After a bit of a struggle with my paints, I decided that I simply won't be able to spray the Humbrol, no matter how many multimedia kits I promise to sacrifice to the Gods of plastic modelling as an offering. So I went on with the next alternative, that of using GS paints. Luckily I had an H330, which according to many conversion tables is a match for Hu163.

Have I said how much I adore Gunze's paints? Oh, I do!!!

 

So, I drew the camouflage pattern with a pencil on the model, using a properly rescaled copy of Airfix's instructions (I use AutoCAD for this, it's the simplest and most accurate way to resize the pdf using a measurement on the model as reference) and then sprayed H330 on 3 coats, the final one mixed with 50% white and focused on the centres of the panels. When I was happy, I used H330 again and went over the panel lines to restore the darkness and in the end a myst coat over the entire model (unfortunately even the areas that will be sea gray). I think the result looks ok, although I can accept all the critisism about how realistic it is (it is not).

 

IMG-20210424-082822.jpg IMG-20210424-082903.jpg IMG-20210424-082911-edited.jpg

 

The contrast between the faded areas and the darker lines will get toned down a bit after the clear coats etc.

 

Now unfortunately, I have to order an H331 (Gunze) to paint the sea gray areas, I am not even trying to use humbrol. I have three airbruses (an iwata, a H&S and a badger) and the latter is the only one that actually can spray these new humbrol tins, but it's a single-action brush and I can't achieve a similar result with it.

 

Thank you once again for dropping by and checking my progress. :)

 

See you all again soon. Stay safe and healthy!

 

/Nasos

 

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