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Airfix 1/48 Sea Vixen FAW.2 - COMPLETED 30 Nov 2021.


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This year is in dire need of ending as far as modeling goes. Seeing as my Vindicator hit a massive snag and killed my rather limited patience, need to get something done to boost my mojo 😕 and take with to the show end November. 

 

Anyway, this kit needs no introduction. 

 

 

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Won't bother with a contents picture, by now it's a well known kit around these parts. 

 

Aftermarket consists of some True Details seats, brass pitot tubes and by end next month, a set of Reskit wheels. 

 

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For scheme, I'm probably going with the box art shark mouth Vixen flying off HMS Eagle, but I could decide on the HMS Victorious bird simply because it's not well represented compared to the above. Will decide at decal time. 

 

Going for wings folded, saves space and my personal rule of thumb is to build things with wings folded when the opportunity presents itself. But again, that could change. 

 

Anyway, wish me luck....

Edited by Evil_Toast_RSA
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And got started on the office and other bits and bobs. Some ejector marks, not terribly deep ones though, so Mr Surfacer 500 time. 

 

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And seeing as this is Airfix, some features are included. So far it's been the sprue gates, or should it be sprue ports? 

 

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Nice start, it's a lovely kit.  Built the kit a while ago and used the Alley cat conversion and built a FAW.1, very impressive model when built and more importantly an enjoyable build. 

Good luck with your build  hope this can restore your mojo.

Chris

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1 minute ago, alanbeeb said:

I have one of these waiting to be built.  Does anyone know of any crew figures for it?   I will be building "in flight" once I get round to it.

Have a look at Reedoak, some fantastic figure in all scales.

 

Colin

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2 hours ago, alanbeeb said:

I have one of these waiting to be built.  Does anyone know of any crew figures for it?   I will be building "in flight" once I get round to it.

 

It comes with 2 crew included.  

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On 24/09/2021 at 17:50, Lewis95 said:

I keep looking at this kit in my LHS. Never been too tempted to pull the trigger due to the price but I'll tag along to see how well she builds up :)

 

On 25/09/2021 at 14:01, Bobby No Mac said:

I'll tag along in envy! Hopefully Airfix will get around to reissuing this kit sometime in the near future 🥺

 

@Bobby No Mac, I think there might be a Vixen somewhere in South Wales...

 

Anyway, got the pit and airbrake bay done. Going to pose it slightly open. Also decided to do wings down, think it looks more menacing, plus I've read that assembling the wings folded requires me to quickly grow a third hand somewhere close to my face. 

 

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In other news, I'm saving myself some work and going to make some FOD covers to hide the intakes etc. Long story involving a slight cutting mistake that turned into a repair that looks like something out a Mad Max movie. 

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And assembly proceeds. It's beginning to resemble a flying machine of sorts. 

 

Fuselage joined. Some spots around the coal hole's observation window thing that need some plasticard to fill, but otherwise not too bad. Some pin marks in the flap bays, but not terribly deep so easily sorted. 

 

Booms joined, nothing of note to add.

 

Horizontal stabilizer though, has a defect/warped spot at the one end. Not sure if it got banged around in transport over the years, because this seems to be a unique feature. Some plasticard and sanding needed. Otherwise seems okay. 

 

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It's amazing what daylight reveals. To add to the above, it appears that the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer has been warped by plastic contraction, probably related to the underlying molded tongue for the tongue and groove joint on the leading edge. So some filling work required on the upper surface sink mark too. Nothing major, but some info for anyone wanting to build this. 

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And the part I dread about building planes with boom structures, is finding out how badly they align when the glue hits the plastic.

 

In this case, the fit was damn near perfect! 

 

 

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I'm being my usual self, and ran some Mr Surfacer 1500 around the joints as insurance. Actual visible gap wise I had a few small ones on the bottom front of both booms and the RHS at the inner rear section. The filled sink mark discussed above can be seen too.

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And without warning, a wild Sea Vixen appears! 

 

There was a step between the fuselage and intakes. Got some thin plasticard down and will gently persuade it to neatly conform with 400 grit sandpaper. Lost details (which were pretty soft to start with) will be rescribed later. One more important tip, on the instrument officers side, be sure to paint the inner faces of both pieces black before assembly, it can be seen through the cockpit. 

 

Outer wing fit was interesting. Need to sort out the gaps along the wing folds. Otherwise not to bad. 

 

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At this rate, I'm hoping to have the plane ready for priming sometime this week. 

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