Aussie Gannet, 2020 Christmas gift (Classic Airframes1/48)

[SteveMc]

Nice job printing those parts.

[bigbadbadge]

Oh wow they look great, congratulations on a printing job well done.

Great work 

Chris

[Christer A]

Thanks a bunch Guys!

 

The printer used is an Anycubic Photon I think?

I haven't seen it in person, since its a fellow IPMS Gothenburg buddy who owns the printer...

Still, we'd like to tweak the two small shelves a bit since they're kind of wobbly now.

[Gatesy64]

Brilliant build, very inspiring.

[Antti_K]

Lovely work Christer, especially those 3D printed details. Bra jobbat🙂

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Christer A]

Kiitos @Antti_K and @Gatesy64!

 

I received the printed parts this Friday so I started doing some prep work on them.

It seems that in order to get everything nice and snug for the sonar operator one needs to focus a bit on the  resin tub.

If I were to fit the tub after where it approximately fits then it would be here:

That looks way too low using the headrest as the reference point. Also, the entire tub looks too long as well.
Some remedial grinding, sanding and scraping later  I managed to get the sides up to a more decent level.

 

After that little chore, I decided to cut up the resin tub a bit.

It certainly is a very narrow little box to reside  in! The poor guy must've suffered a lot sitting back there  with no possibility to stretch out any leg.
The 3D-printed part would've fit perfectly in the original position, but not anymore since I shortened the tub. I need to change the two top shelves a little bit so that they clear the sides a little .

That didn't stop me from laying down a coat of  primer, just to see  how it will look.

Nice!

Some added cables to that and it will look suitable busy I think especially for a black cockpit!

[SteveMc]

Hi Christer

 

I was visiting my Dad in Nowra, NSW this week and took him out to the Australian Fleet Air Arm Museum at the local Naval Air Station where he used to work. It was closed for most of last year due to Covid and has been completely updated. It re opened in December. It was my first time there for a few years. My Dad volunteered there as a guide for many years after he retired from the Navy.

Anyway, I wanted a few photos for an ex RAN Dakota I'm going to build and photographed that and everything else on display.  I recalled your Gannet build and hoped you might find these photos useful. Unfortunately. there was no chance of getting any cockpit shots.

 

Cheers

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Christer A]

Thanks for those pictures Steve!

I'm far from working on the outside bits yet, but it's interesting to see the silver/aluminium painted torpedo and the various red inlets on the fuselage.

In other news, I've laid down a coat of NATO black in the cockpit and detailed painting should commence soon.

The last print of the rear cockpit shelf turned out excellent.

 

I should probably also add a WIP for one of these too:

[NAVY870]

On 3/12/2021 at 5:06 PM, SteveMc said:

Hi Christer

 

I was visiting my Dad in Nowra, NSW this week and took him out to the Australian Fleet Air Arm Museum at the local Naval Air Station where he used to work. It was closed for most of last year due to Covid and has been completely updated. It re opened in December. It was my first time there for a few years. My Dad volunteered there as a guide for many years after he retired from the Navy.

Anyway, I wanted a few photos for an ex RAN Dakota I'm going to build and photographed that and everything else on display.  I recalled your Gannet build and hoped you might find these photos useful. Unfortunately. there was no chance of getting any cockpit shots.

 

Cheers

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's very likely still some of my blood on that thing

We attempted to get in running many years ago but the electrics were completely shot

[Christer A]

With some of the distractions now safely tucked away, it's time to look into the cockpit.

It was about time that some paint actually went onto the model, and I started with an even coat of Tamiya XF-69, NATO Black. Its slightly grey, but  once a clear coat comes on, it will darken considerably.

Using the Aussie Gannet walkaround here on BM as a guide, the pilots seat was painted red brown, similar to other pilot seat of roughly the same vintage (like the Sea Hornet, Vampire and so on). The leather appears to be brown so that's what I aimed for.
Then I started to pick out a few details in silver, white and yellow, and sprinkled a few cockpit placards here and there to liven up the place:

The rear cockpit for the sonar operator was given the  latest batch of 3D printed rear shelf. The radar cannot go in until  the fuselage halves are in place, so that will be a tricky thing to solve.

I could've added more wires off course, but than that would've to  be replicated in the front office too, and I didn't want to bother with that.

What actually was missing was a back rest that could looks  a  bit more like the real thing. The leftover part from the front cockpit was way too triangular in appearance so a new one was scratchbuilt. See, I can actually scratch build a few things, not only 3D print and order more resin 😇 

Recently I started to practice the dark art of using pencils for weathering, so the interior was  chipped and dinged a bit.
For sure I need to develop my skills here quite a lot, but one  must  start from somewhere, right?
Then I just had to add all the blue belts.


When all of them were in place, the whole lot cot  a coat of semi  matt.

Now I just have to install everything in the fuselage sides,  but while reaching for a  tool I accidentally  knocked over the bottle of TETC 😰

Fortunately, only my cutting mat was damaged, but the quite intensive fumes brought an end to my modelling weekend.

[SteveMc]

Nice work on the cockpits Christer. Looking good.

[CJP]

The cockpit is looking very neat Christer - what brand are the blue seat belts , they look very nice.

 

CJP

[Christer A]

52 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

Nice work on the cockpits Christer. Looking good.

Thanks Steve!

5 minutes ago, CJP said:

The cockpit is looking very neat Christer - what brand are the blue seat belts , they look very nice.

 

CJP

Thanks CJP.

Those belts are Eduard generic RAF belts

https://www.eduard.com/eduard/seatbelts-raf-late-1-48.html?cur=2&listtype=search&searchparam=49007

[Christer A]

Lately I've been beavering away with balancing the not so little bird.

I'd very much like it to stand on the nose wheels, so now the quest is on to really stuff it full of lead.

By hollowing out the resin nose ring like this:

I seem to be able to fit even more lead!

The little compartment under the cockpit floor and above the nose gear bay was filled with fishing weights, flattened BB pellets and Liquid Gravity. 

Since the rear nose gear bay doors will be closed I added some weights there too.

There is still some little space left if needed.

Time to do a test.
With the wings in place the Gannets is really spreading it's large wings:

How to balance this then?

Well, the handle of my razor saw is large enough to be placed under the bomb bay, and by rolling the Gannet back and forth I should be able to see where the Center of Gravity is located.

Yes!

Here the handle is place roughly where the wing spar is, and she is firmly bringing the nose down.

Main gears are still some 10mm rearwards so I do have some margin for the solid tail planes, rear of bomb bay and so on.
Whew. It should be possible to close up the fuselage now.

[Christer A]

It seems that my Gannet has stood down a bit due to that Voodoo and the completed painting of the Tonka.

Well, since I scored some Revell goodies recently and a whole bunch of Eduard stuff to go with them I need to stop fidgeting and get going with the Gannet! I'm very distracted by new shiny things...

That Shack looks amazing in bare plastic though! It'll be a tough fight to put it back in the box, where it belongs...

 

But back to the Gannet. Even if it looks like it, the fuselage halves have not been joined together yet. The weapons bay is really making a mess of things, especially at the rear.

The instructions for them states that they have a different shape than the plastic since it needs to be a bit more square. Well, I can force one side to the correct position but not both at the same time.

Out with some sprue bits to help out then.

Then I started to cement the fuselage, focusing on one stretch at a time.

It does work, but it's very easy to forget to apply TETC evenly so some re-gluing will be needed.
The fit isn't stellar, but brute force solves most of it, but not all.

It looks like I didn't manage to close everything properly here, but I blame the weapons bay!

As clearly can be seen, one shall not dribble the white bottle Tamiya cement on the fuselage sides...

I resisted the urge to wipe it off, and hopefully it will have evaporated with no ill effects..

 

And pigs will fly too!

 

How does the nose look?
Most builds I've seen have had to pack out the nose ring some mm or so, and I expect to do the same. Not an exaggeration to say that it was a but dreadful to approach this area.

What's this?

It actually fits? (*)
Did I do something wrong, or did the Hannants re-issue actually change the molds ?

Well, no matter the reason this looks be good enough for me.

 

Also started to work on the stabilizers. One side had both a nice little sink mark and some suspicious mold damage, but the other one was fine.

They probably needs some kind of reinforcement pin to secure it towards the fin though.

 

I also managed to find some nice masks and a bunch of beautiful resin wheels in some of all shopping sprees that has happened.

 

(*) Fit as in normal Classic Airframes fashion

[Makem666]

Excellent work so far, you can see a lot of love and attention has gone into this build so far and i cant wait to see the finished article! keep up the good work!

[SteveMc]

Nice to see more progress on the Gannet Christer.

I’m currently building an RAN Dakota which was modified in the 1950’s as a flying classroom for Gannet and Sea Venom aircrew.

[bigbadbadge]

Cockpit details looking great and good to see the fuselage going together.  

Shack and Phantom look nice kits.

Great work and haul

Chris

[Vlamgat9]

That 3d printing is just fabulous 

[Christer A]

On 25/05/2021 at 13:10, Makem666 said:

Excellent work so far, you can see a lot of love and attention has gone into this build so far and i cant wait to see the finished article! keep up the good work!

Thanks!

I'm having fun with beating this kit into submission. Let's just hope that I am able to speed up a bit, since during the summer vacation I'm supposed to splash some paint on this

And of course, during the autumn it will be finishing the interior and move house!

On 25/05/2021 at 14:57, SteveMc said:

Nice to see more progress on the Gannet Christer.

I’m currently building an RAN Dakota which was modified in the 1950’s as a flying classroom for Gannet and Sea Venom aircrew.

Thanks Steve!

A Dakota as a classroom? Well, it must've been roomier than either Gannet or Sea Venom at least 🙂

On 25/05/2021 at 15:12, bigbadbadge said:

Cockpit details looking great and good to see the fuselage going together.  

Shack and Phantom look nice kits.

Great work and haul

Chris

Thanks Chris!

That Shack looks absolutely stunning in bare plastic. I can barely constrain myself from starting it...

23 hours ago, Vlamgat9 said:

That 3d printing is just fabulous 

Thanks! There are a couple of spare sets available if needed.... 😉

 

[Makem666]

Hopefully these will be useful to you, we have a Shack here in Manchester at the MOSI...took these a while ago

 

[Christer A]

That's a bunch of nice pictures of the AEW Shack!

One could almost believe that you're actively trying to lure me to start yet another kit...

But I shall resist the siren song! I'm strong-willed and dedicated. 

Oh yes.

🤓

[Makem666]

On 27/05/2021 at 08:55, Christer A said:

That's a bunch of nice pictures of the AEW Shack!

One could almost believe that you're actively trying to lure me to start yet another kit...

But I shall resist the siren song! I'm strong-willed and dedicated. 

Oh yes.

🤓

C'mon! you know you want to....:)

[ian fish]

On 12/29/2020 at 3:48 PM, perdu said:

What a fabulous Christmas gift, if I modelled 48th scale it is one I would have loved.

 

Now as I am sure Colin would attest the 4+ Wessex book is a must when modelling Wessexes and so I would say is the 4+ Gannet book when Ganneteering

 

Here is a scan from a page from the said work of wonder referring to your query Christer I hope

 

Truly is a wealth of information in the book and I can recommend buying it if you have an interest in modelling Gannets of the non-AEW variety.

 

Thats Convinced me.....next order to Hannants this book is on it

[Christer A]

So far I've managed to resist opening up the big box o' Shack, but if I wasn't going to pack everything away for a few months at the end pf the summer due to the new house, who knows what could've happened?

What did happen was a small Hawkeye though...

But it is resting on the Gannet box, so all is well...

 

Actually, I've been doing some stuff on the big bent-winged bird too! 

I've wrestled with the weapon bay sides, not an easy win.

First, this is how it looks 

They are supposed to go in after the bay has clipped into it's proper position claims the Alley Cat instructions. It would've been helpful if they also included some pictures showing how it should look in a cleaned up state, but that is not the case. The way I see it something isn't right here, which is quite obvious when dry-fitting the doors.

 

 

First, the doors are going on top of the front and rear bulkheads of the bay. I've spent a lot of time sanding them down to match the fuselage, but it seems that they should be a bit lower still! Probably the entire bay rides too low in the fuselage? It's too late to do anything about that in either case, so I'll cheat for a bit and shorten the doors instead, while whistling innocently.

Second, the sidewalls that goes in from the top are very T-shaped the the top bar of the T is resting on the fuselage side. When the door is mated to the top here, the little square peg is almost completely hidden. That does not look right. I had made a cut out for it like this

But that was still too high.

Nothing to to but to carve off the outer piece then and make it into an upside down L instead.

That works a bit better!

Except at the rear:

The side ribs aren't matching anything in the bay roof!

They should either go into the slots, or in between but as they are right now it looks crazy.

But I think I could chop them off and replace with some suitable bits of Evergreen plastic.

 

Throwing all caution to the wind, I went ahead and secured the side pieces with some CA:

That could work...