Sword 1:72nd Fairey Gannet AEW.3

[alhenderson]

Been fancying a Gannet for a while, wasn't sure whether to go for a Revell AS machine or the Sword AEW, have read that both have their issues.  Not that I'm likely to notice, mind, as long as the end result looks and smells like a Gannet I'll be happy 🙂  Due to a birthday list mishap I actually have two of these, which may well be fortuitous!  This is my first attempt at a 'short run' kit, as well as my first use of PE and resin for the interior.  Its going to be an education!  From what I've read the decals can be very thin and awful - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Have found a couple of YouTube videos covering building this with a few useful hints - if anyone has any others to offer please feel free to do so!

 

The obligatory box and sprue shots:

 

 

I think I'm going to go with the yellow and black markings for my first attempt..  Those PE seat belts are *tiny* - I can see the carpet monster working up an appetite here..  Also there's a 'film' sheet which goes under the PE - not entirely sure what to do with that?

 

 

The resin for the operators interior (not the cockpit).  Assuming I don't make a complete hash of assembling this, I'll be doing the side hatches open so its at least partially visible

 

 

And that's about it.  Not sure I'll get much done this side of Christmas with the impending chaos, and there's a chance I might be redecorating the modelling spare room in the new year which may cause some disruptions, so no holding of breath please!  

 

Apologies to my pair of Lightnings (and the rest!) that have been in the stash for months and were promptly overtaken by the Gannet almost as soon as it arrived 🙂

 

Al.

 

 

 

[AliGauld]

Picked this up in Wonderland last week so I'll tag along if I may.

I must admit I'm itching to start it.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[bigbadbadge]

Oh no it will be even harder to resist if another one is being built. Must resist!!!

Looking forward to seeing this one too.

Chris

[James G]

4 hours ago, alhenderson said:

Been fancying a Gannet for a while, wasn't sure whether to go for a Revell AS machine or the Sword AEW, have read that both have their issues.  Not that I'm likely to notice, mind, as long as the end result looks and smells like a Gannet I'll be happy 🙂  Due to a birthday list mishap I actually have two of these, which may well be fortuitous!  This is my first attempt at a 'short run' kit, as well as my first use of PE and resin for the interior.  Its going to be an education!  From what I've read the decals can be very thin and awful - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Have found a couple of YouTube videos covering building this with a few useful hints - if anyone has any others to offer please feel free to do so!

 

The obligatory box and sprue shots:

 

 

I think I'm going to go with the yellow and black markings for my first attempt..  Those PE seat belts are *tiny* - I can see the carpet monster working up an appetite here..  Also there's a 'film' sheet which goes under the PE - not entirely sure what to do with that?

 

 

The resin for the operators interior (not the cockpit).  Assuming I don't make a complete hash of assembling this, I'll be doing the side hatches open so its at least partially visible

 

 

And that's about it.  Not sure I'll get much done this side of Christmas with the impending chaos, and there's a chance I might be redecorating the modelling spare room in the new year which may cause some disruptions, so no holding of breath please!  

 

Apologies to my pair of Lightnings (and the rest!) that have been in the stash for months and were promptly overtaken by the Gannet almost as soon as it arrived 🙂

 

Al.

 

 

 

Apologies if you'd worked this out already, but you need to paint the reverse of the film with white paint and sandwich it between the photo- etch and kit parts. 

[alhenderson]

19 hours ago, James G said:

Apologies if you'd worked this out already, but you need to paint the reverse of the film with white paint and sandwich it between the photo- etch and kit parts. 

Thanks for that - I hadn't worked it out, and I don't think the instructions are particularly clear in that minor detail! Do I just glue the film onto the plastic as normal?

 

Al

[alhenderson]

21 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Picked this up in Wonderland last week so I'll tag along if I may.

I must admit I'm itching to start it.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

I'd be more than happy to let you take the lead! I'm a little nervous about this one as there are a lot of unknowns for me. Maybe that's why it's come to the top of the pile..

 

Al

[James G]

8 hours ago, alhenderson said:

Thanks for that - I hadn't worked it out, and I don't think the instructions are particularly clear in that minor detail! Do I just glue the film onto the plastic as normal?

 

Al

Yes, I like to use Loctite '60 second' CA glue that gives you a little time to position the film on the the instrument panel (obviously remove any raised detail first) and then add your painted photo etch over the top, using the same glue, and lining up the instrument dial faces with the holes in the PE. Hope that makes sense? There are probably some good visual 'how to' guides on YouTube I imagine, if more info is needed.

[825]

For the film you can also use any PVA based glue. I use Krystal Kleer which is usually used for canopies. It dries clear as the name suggests, gives time for adjustment and excess can be wiped away with a damp cotton bud. 

 

I made one a few years ago an dit does go together not too bad IIRC. One thing that needs done isn't there are a number of strengthening plates on the wings which are a bit overdone. I gently sanded them down so the were thinner and it made a difference. There's some on the fuselage but they're not so prominent. You also need some patience masking the props. Just put some music on, take a deep breath and apply slivers of masking tape sliced up with a sharp scalpel. Here's how mine turned out. 

 

 

All the best with your build. 

[Bobby No Mac]

Really keen to see this being built as I'm quite tempted to get one, or two... Likewise, I've yet to dip my toe into the world of Sword and PE (still summoning up the courage to build their Harrier T4N), so I'll be following along with interest   

[AMB]

Looks like you'll need an awful lot of weight in the nose, or it'll be a tail sitter?

[alhenderson]

9 minutes ago, AMB said:

Looks like you'll need an awful lot of weight in the nose, or it'll be a tail sitter?

Yes, I have plans to pat a visit to the fishing tackle shop round the corner 👍

[alhenderson]

6 hours ago, 825 said:

For the film you can also use any PVA based glue. I use Krystal Kleer which is usually used for canopies. It dries clear as the name suggests, gives time for adjustment and excess can be wiped away with a damp cotton bud. 

 

I made one a few years ago an dit does go together not too bad IIRC. One thing that needs done isn't there are a number of strengthening plates on the wings which are a bit overdone. I gently sanded them down so the were thinner and it made a difference. There's some on the fuselage but they're not so prominent. You also need some patience masking the props. Just put some music on, take a deep breath and apply slivers of masking tape sliced up with a sharp scalpel. Here's how mine turned out. 

 

 

All the best with your build. 

I saw about those strengthening plates on the youtube video I watched, will be doing some sanding there.  My main concern regarding masking is the spinners, have struggled with that before.. 😞

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Finally got some time this afternoon to sit down and make a start. Started by dry fitting the fuselage and seeing what it was like. To my delight it wasn't half bad. I did some sanding of the joints (and in the process sanded off the locating pins 😡) but she doesn't fit together too badly..

 

 

There's a big old gap on the radome underneath, though. Nothing a bit of filler won't sort, hopefully..

 

 

Also added some plastic card to help better locate the cockpit, the ridges on the kit weren't up to much.

 

 

 

Aside from some interior painting, that's it for now. Hoping to get some more time in the coming days.

 

Al

 

 

 

[alhenderson]

With the end of the Christmas break fast approaching, not a great deal of progress to report 😞 Have been wrestling with the PE for the cockpit.  Got the seatbelts on, very fiddly things but not too bad for a first attempt.  Not sure the instrument panel was really worth the effort - it looks pretty good close up, I can see the dials and have painted some yellow and red in there to give it some colour - but not sure its going to be visible..

 

 

 

 

Also paid a visit to the local fishing shop to source some weight for the nose.  Was looking for lead weights but they were all too big.  Did, however, come away with some Dark Matter - certainly sounds cool, and I'm hoping it does the job!

 

 

More significantly, I have now joined the airbrush gang.  Found myself with some Christmas cash and splashed out on a kit from Amazon.  Just a basic one to get me started but looking forward to playing with this. 

 

 

Don't really want to use the Gannet as a guinea pig so I might try and quickly bash together the Airfix Hurricane that's in the stash to practise on.  Which will probably delay progress on the Gannet.  Needs must.. 🙂

 

Happy New Year to everyone on here - thanks for all the advice and support in 2021 - here's to another good year modelling 🍻

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Been a week or so, but due to the arrival of my airbrush progress has slowed somewhat. I've quickly put together a hurricane to practise on and have spent the last 4 days trying to get the sky on the underside. The finish from the airbrush is lovely, but every time i take the think into the daylight (no natural light in the garage) I find another spot I've missed 🙄

 

Anyway, found some time tonight to try and progress the cockpit. Trying to get the fuselage to close up nicely with the cockpit and front nosewheel bay is a challenge. Finally tonight got the side panels mounted on the cockpit. Realised that the armrests were too low down the seat, leaving they pushed out the side panels..

 

 

Easily the most faff I've had with a cockpit ever. Now debating whether I bother with the control column. What it looks like in the instructions and what is like on the sprue are a fair distance apart:

 

 

I thought maybe the circular bit had been snapped off or something, but the but the parts guide in the instructions that tells you which but is which shows the same shape as on the sprue 🤷 it's going to be dark in there...

 

And that's about it! Hopefully getting close to trying camo on my hurricane with the airbrush shortly, which is exciting but not great news for the gannet. Hey ho...

 

Al.

 

 

 

[GlueDad]

Love it. #follow

[AliGauld]

The picture in the instructions is wrong and the standard control column on the sprue is the correct one.

Hope that helps.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[alhenderson]

18 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

The picture in the instructions is wrong and the standard control column on the sprue is the correct one.

Hope that helps.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Excellent info - thanks v much! Guess I'd better fit it now you've told me that 😁

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Progress is slow, but steady.  Having got the cockpit in a state whereby the fuselage can close around it (although I think some filler will still be needed) attention turned to the resin operator's interior.  Probably wouldn't bother with this if I wasn't opening the hatches because I don't think you'd see anything.  Not really worked with resin before, so the first thing I needed was a razor saw to seperate the parts from the casting blocks.  Having got hold of one of them I could then get the interior assembled - although I needn't have bothered removing the excess from the two bulkheads as I don't think it would have impeded the assembly.  The instructions aren't incredibly helpful regards fitting of the interior:

 

And there's nothing in there to help locate it either!  Having looked for some interior pictures, I think the seat pans are roughly in line with the hatches (as you'd probably expect) so I'm using that as my guide.  Put some plastic strip in to help locate it and keep it in place once done:

 

 

First time working with plastic card as well - so many new skills! 🙂 Also dry fitted the canopy and the nose which were a decent fit, althought the former does seem to sit a little too high, might see if I can do something about that.  Hopefully not too far off closing her up.  That's going to be a challenge as its not the best fit in the world, think I'll do it a section at a time.

 

Meanwhile, its been too cold to do any meaningful practising with my airbrush 😞  Don't think the Gannet's going to be ready for that any time soon, anyway!!

 

Al.

[alhenderson]

Its been a slow couple of weeks in Gannet-land.  I've not achieved a great deal, but have cut out the doors to the operators interior:

 

 

I also raided my daughter's desk for her posca pens and put some colour in there to give me something to look at when its buttoned up.  Unfortunately somewhere along the way I seem to have lost the ability for the fuselage to fit around the cockpit 😞

 

 

 

Spent a frustrating hour or so trying to sort that out by sanding and carving bits out of the interior.  Its almost impossible to work out where the problem lies so just got to do a whole bunch of sanding until it fits.  Was hoping I could put the fuselage together, but not quite ready for that at the moment.

 

Have also been assembling the u/c bay in the wings.  Struggled a bit with the fact that there's only one drawing for both wings leading to getting some bits mixed up, but I think I've got it straight now.

 

 

Meanwhile, I was perusing the box artwork and found an interesting looking badge on the rear fuselage:

 

 

Annoyingly, that badge (above 'Royal') is not on the decal sheet.  Anyone know what it is?  I don't think its the 849 sqn badge, wonder if its a zap of some sort?  Not that it matters, since there's no decal for it 😞 

 

Meanwhile, in airbush school I tried hand painting the green over the brown:

 

 

 

Turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined !  Paint too thick, then paint too thin.  Going to respray the brown and then try again with blu tack snakes for masking, I think.. Live and learn.

 

Al.

 

 

[AliGauld]

You are progressing nicely.

I spotted the badge on the decal placement part of the instructions but as you say not on the sheet.

Watch the decals when you come to them there are some stencils not mentioned including the Rescue arrows and the prop stencils that you'll need to place.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[alhenderson]

2 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

You are progressing nicely.

I spotted the badge on the decal placement part of the instructions but as you say not on the sheet.

Watch the decals when you come to them there are some stencils not mentioned including the Rescue arrows and the prop stencils that you'll need to place.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks for the decal hint, I'm slowly getting used to not relying on the instructions 100% with this kit so will be careful when the time comes 🙂 

[alhenderson]

I've been faffing with this thing for too long, afraid to button her up.  Think I scared myself a bit by reading some stuff online about this being a bad fit so I was incessantly dry fitting and sanding etc.  However, I then saw the same kit build by @AliGauld last week where his seemed to fall together.  That gave me a little bit of enthusiasm back.  Hence last night I went for it and glued the fuselage together:

 

 

Needs a bit of persuasion, but I think I got the panel lines all lined up nicely.  Released her from her bonds this morning and hey presto:

 

 

 

Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but not too bad either.  I can deal with that I reckon, just got to try and avoid removing too much detail when sanding.  Got a fair bit of tungsten putty in there:

 

 

There's room for more, but the Scotsman in me is not too keen on using all £7 worth in one go.  I've balanced her on my finger roughly in line with where the main wheels will be in she nose dives quite convincingly which is a good sign.  I'm going to try and leave the nose open as long as  I can so I have the option of adding more 🙂

 

On first inspection, fitting the wings is going to be a challenge!

 

Al. 

 

[AliGauld]

1 minute ago, alhenderson said:

I've been faffing with this thing for too long, afraid to button her up.  Think I scared myself a bit by reading some stuff online about this being a bad fit so I was incessantly dry fitting and sanding etc.  However, I then saw the same kit build by @AliGauld last week where his seemed to fall together.  That gave me a little bit of enthusiasm back.  Hence last night I went for it and glued the fuselage together:

 

Needs a bit of persuasion, but I think I got the panel lines all lined up nicely.  Released her from her bonds this morning and hey presto:

 

Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but not too bad either.  I can deal with that I reckon, just got to try and avoid removing too much detail when sanding.  Got a fair bit of tungsten putty in there:

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's looking much better.

Looking forward to further updates.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[alhenderson]

Bit more done on my Gannet over the weekend, despite the distractions of the 6 Nations and the slight over consumption of beer whilst watching a famous Scottish victory over the auld enemy 😁

 

Tailplanes have had their finlets fitted and are attached. There's not much in the way of attachment points for these, no slot in the fuselage of anything like that, just a vague indication of where they might go. I was actually surprised at how well they went on, had visions of having to drill holes for little bits of wire to hold them in place. But no, they seem fairly solid.

 

 

Also started tackling the exhausts, which was all very fiddly until I remembered something I read about this kit - the instructions have the exhausts the wrong way round - the bits they say go on the right actually go on the left.  I actually realised there's a small cross marked on the fuselage on one side and a corresponding one on one of the exhaust pieces which gives you the correct way round.

 

Once I made that connection it wasn't too bad. I did attach it to the fuselage straight away to ensure I got the tapering right, though. This means I didn't dry fit the interior exhaust bit - fingers crossed! Also means I have to sand that join whilst it's attached so I'll need to be careful there.

 

She's starting to look very much like a Gannet 😁

 

Al