Is there an accurate de Havilland Sea Vixen in 1:72?

[Simon]

Just saw the thread on the WWII section about the existence of an accurate 1/48 DH Hornet, and wondered the same about a 1/72 Sea Vixen. I seem to have developed a hankering to build one, for some reason. 

 

Reading through quite a few reviews, it seems the Dragon/CyberHobby/recent Revell* kit is pretty iffy, and the Frog/older Revell one is not exactly state of the art. Is the Xtrakit the most accurate (or least worst) option in 1/72? Or have I missed one?

 

*(they are the same kit, aren't they?)

 

I'm thinking the best option for an accurate Sea Vixen is the Airfix 1/48 kit...would that be right?

 

Simon

[Julien]

The Revell reboxing of the CH kit looked OK to me.

[fatalbert]

I have heard good things about the Highplanes kit,but getting hold of  one is a whole different kettle of fish.

[tempestfan]

If I‘m not mistaken, Dynavector also had one in 1/48, and he had a reputation for getting things pretty right, but then it is probably harder to get than the Airfix was (it had a recent re-release, had it?), and it’s a vacform. 

[Paul Thompson]

2 hours ago, tempestfan said:

If I‘m not mistaken, Dynavector also had one in 1/48, and he had a reputation for getting things pretty right, but then it is probably harder to get than the Airfix was (it had a recent re-release, had it?), and it’s a vacform. 

Not going to help a lot in 1/72nd, is it. (I assume you were derailed by the mention of 1/48th in the first sentence).

While I'm being unhelpful, there's also Magna resin and Contrail vac kits available in 1/72nd. Both are found washed up on the shores of a certain bay quite often, but TBH improving the Frog kit would take less work (based on old memories of a Magna FAW2 and Contrail 1 - the Magna kit was cast in the very porous white resin they sometimes used and was much harder to work with than their usual kits).

 

I saw the High Planes kit once but didn't get it at the time so never found out how accurate it was, but I do remember thinking it was rougher than their usual productions. May just have been that example, of course.

 

Paul.

 

 

[Fukuryu]

7 hours ago, Simon said:

Just saw the thread on the WWII section about the existence of an accurate 1/48 DH Hornet, and wondered the same about a 1/72 Sea Vixen. I seem to have developed a hankering to build one, for some reason. 

 

Reading through quite a few reviews, it seems the Dragon/CyberHobby/recent Revell* kit is pretty iffy, and the Frog/older Revell one is not exactly state of the art. Is the Xtrakit the most accurate (or least worst) option in 1/72? Or have I missed one?

 

*(they are the same kit, aren't they?)

 

I'm thinking the best option for an accurate Sea Vixen is the Airfix 1/48 kit...would that be right?

 

Simon

 

Have a look at this thread and decide for yourself...

[Simon]

14 hours ago, Fukuryu said:

 

Have a look at this thread and decide for yourself...

Blimey

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. So the best option shape-wise seems to be the High Planes kit, followed by the Frog/Revell. Such a shame the Dragon/CH/Revell kit has some shape issues, as it looks like it would be the easiest.

 

Think I might save up for the Airfix kit, after all...

 

Simon

[petetasker]

My vote would be for the 1/48 Airfix (appreciate its not 1/72). Takes a bit of work but builds up into a nice replica. Was due for a relaunch but that seemed to get pulled for whatever reason. Wouldn't be surprised to see it out again in the not too distant future.

[Simon]

38 minutes ago, petetasker said:

My vote would be for the 1/48 Airfix (appreciate its not 1/72). Takes a bit of work but builds up into a nice replica. Was due for a relaunch but that seemed to get pulled for whatever reason. Wouldn't be surprised to see it out again in the not too distant future.

 

Weren't the 1/48 Javelin and Sea Vixen both slated to be re-released some time this year, and only the Javelin appeared?

 

Simon

[petetasker]

3 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

Weren't the 1/48 Javelin and Sea Vixen both slated to be re-released some time this year, and only the Javelin appeared?

 

Simon

They were. The Javelin came out but for whatever reason the Sea Vixens re-release was cancelled. 

[tempestfan]

21 hours ago, Paul Thompson said:

Not going to help a lot in 1/72nd, is it. (I assume you were derailed by the mention of 1/48th in the first sentence).

 

Paul.

 

 

Basically correct, but as @Simon himself brought 48th into the game, I thought a mention may not go amiss - especially when the re-release of the Airfix I had in mind didn’t actually happen. The Dynavector - which exists, as I found one in the stash without having to look hard for once - may even be an economical alternative, as the last time I saw Airfix kits for sale the price was in the „ouch“ range, and prices for even high-end vacs tend to plunge when a good IM kit is released.

[Paul Thompson]

5 minutes ago, tempestfan said:

Basically correct, but as @Simon himself brought 48th into the game, I thought a mention may not go amiss - especially when the re-release of the Airfix I had in mind didn’t actually happen. The Dynavector - which exists, as I found one in the stash without having to look hard for once - may even be an economical alternative, as the last time I saw Airfix kits for sale the price was in the „ouch“ range, and prices for even high-end vacs tend to plunge when a good IM kit is released.

I have the Dynavector kit, and it does look very good, but I also have the Airfix kit. Usually in such cases, where I have two very good kits of one subject, and the media are sufficiently different, I end up building them together. I'd already cut out and started cleaning up the Dynavector bits when the Airfix kit turned up, with the result that both are now stalled until I've cleared the bench, which I never quite seem to manage. Also put off a bit by the size. Once done, storage will be a problem. Perhaps by the time I do get around to it there will be an all singing and dancing new 1/72nd kit. I doubt it though................

 

Paul.

[Simon]

5 minutes ago, Paul Thompson said:

Also put off a bit by the size. Once done, storage will be a problem. Perhaps by the time I do get around to it there will be an all singing and dancing new 1/72nd kit. I doubt it though................

 

Paul.

Paul

 

The size of a finished 1/48 Sea Vixen is a potential problem for me too, hence my query about a smaller one as an option. You never know, maybe Airfix will 'downsize' their kit and release it in 1/72...and doing the same for their Javelin too would be nice.

 

Simon

[Admiral Puff]

I've built the High Planes kit. Whilst it's no walk in the park, it's not impossible (subject to the usual caveats about limited run kits, and the old High Planes ones in particular), and the end product looks like the real thing. Getting one might be a bit difficult these days, but it's certainly streets ahead of the Frog one. There are others, but I haven't crossed swords with them, and the reviews I've read don't prompt me to try.

[Paul Thompson]

13 minutes ago, Admiral Puff said:

I've built the High Planes kit. Whilst it's no walk in the park, it's not impossible (subject to the usual caveats about limited run kits, and the old High Planes ones in particular), and the end product looks like the real thing. Getting one might be a bit difficult these days, but it's certainly streets ahead of the Frog one. There are others, but I haven't crossed swords with them, and the reviews I've read don't prompt me to try.

The High Planes kit is listed on their website for £18.64, on sale, as a bare bones kit without decals, but you're asked to contact them to find out about availability.

 

Paul.

[J.C. Bahr]

Right now, if you don't want to do a lot of work... then the Airfix 1/48 kit is the only way to go.  But if you want to do the work, "FrankenVixen" is the only answer in 1/72! 😆

 

It's a mish-mash of parts of the center section of the High planes kit, rest of the airframe of the Cyberhobby kit and pinion tanks from the Xtrakit (of which Cyberhobby has now released it with the pinions that are no doubt copies of the Xtrakit).  And even with the conglomeration of parts, there was still nothing close to right... other than the wings, literally every inch of everything else had to be built up, filed down or re-shaped somehow it seemed!

 

 

[John B (Sc)]

After looking at that other tread - wow.  Head spinning (though I had some difficulty sorting through all the banter to get at the meat ! ).

 

I think I may continue building my 1/18th Airfix Sea Vixen and at the same time build one of the 1/72nd Frog and Frog  knock-offs I have 'in store'. That way I can use the excellent 1/48th kit as a guide to help me adjust & improve the 1/72nd one.   I am not too bothered about 'total' accuracy - which sounds almost impossible with what is available in 1/72nd. Something that looks and feels to me like a Sea Vixen is sufficient. 

 

 

John B

[Harry_the_Spider]

No conclusive answer then...

 

Thinking of doing my Dragon 1:72 FAW2 next. Got a Pavla nose and some bigger seats. Other than that it will be OOB.

 

The kit looks very nicely engineered even if it isn't 100% true to the original. 

[Navy Bird]

21 hours ago, Paul Thompson said:

The High Planes kit is listed on their website for £18.64, on sale, as a bare bones kit without decals, but you're asked to contact them to find out about availability.

 

I bought one from them a couple of weeks ago, so they had some inventory then. It's the very definition of a short run kit.

 

*****

 

I built the MPM 1:72 kit back in the day:

 

 

Sure, many issues. But if I had never seen it and someone asked me what it was, I'd say it's a Sea Vixen. I've also seen several copies of the Cyberhobby kit built up, and they look like Sea Vixens to me too. I guess it all depends on how concerned you are with the shape issues. Horse for courses.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[CJP]

I built the High Planes Sea Vixen as a FAW1 a couple of years ago and was happy with the end result 

CJP