1/72 Gannet AEW.3 wing fold set?

[Smudge]

Is there an aftermarket wing fold set available for the Sword 1/72 Gannet AEW.3?

 

I would like to model this, but the thought of scratch building all that internal 'gubbings' fills me with dread and fear. I can't believe there isn't one available, but I cant find one!

 

Any ideas?

[Dave Swindell]

There's 4 aftermarket wingfold sets that I know of in 1:72, but they're all for the AS1/4/T5

Alleycat did full resin folded wings for both the new revell kit and the trumpeter kit

Wolfpack did full resin folded wings for the new revell kit

Both of these would require surgery to the inner wing to represent the mods to the AEW 3 wing, or surgery to both kit and resin inner sections to graft the fold mechanism to the kit wing stub.

Airwaves did an etched set for folding the wings on the old frog/novo/revell kit, involved chopping up the kit wings and using etched endplates and hinge mechanisms to create the folds. This "may" work with the Sword kit depending on the chord and section of the wing at the hinge points and how closely it matches (or can be made to match) the etch parts. You could also use the wings from an old novo kit with the etch and mod the inner wing stubs and undercarriage bays using the kit parts

Which ever way you look at it you're going to need to perform a bit of surgery.

[Smudge]

@Dave Swindell thanks for the comprehensive reply. I think I might go with trying to use one of resin sets, and altering it to fit. I'll have to check out some photos of the real things.

 

Cheers

[Dave Swindell]

5 minutes ago, Smudge said:

@Dave Swindell thanks for the comprehensive reply. I think I might go with trying to use one of resin sets, and altering it to fit. I'll have to check out some photos of the real things.

 

Cheers

Another source of resin wingfolds is CMK who did a set for their resin Gannet AS1/4 kits, again will need modding to fit your AEW3

 

Stop press - just been on the Alleycat website to check availability (both wingfold sets for the revell and trumpeter kits are listed), I'd forgotten that their full resin AEW 3 kit is available with a wingfold option. Might be worth asking if you could buy the  wing fold option separately?

https://www.alleycatmodels.co.uk/index.asp?function=search

 

[Planebuilder62]

Dear Smudge

I have one of the Alleycat AEW Gannet and it is brilliant. A simple solution to your quandry is to buy a complete Gannet from Alleycat and help one of our homegrown suppliers keep going in these difficult times.

 

regards Toby.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Planebuilder62
typo fixed

[Smudge]

 

@Dave Swindell @Planebuilder62 Thank you guys.

 

I do actually have a Alleyc.at Gannet AEW.3 that I bought at SMW some years ago. It does look lovely and the decal options are very nice. So I am planning on doing two Gannets, one 'folded' and one 'spread'. 

 

Good idea, I will drop Alleycat a email and see if they will let me have a set of folded wings. I should think it would be a good seller as a seperate product. 

 

Cheers.