Very hungry and very flashy (not in a good way) - Revell Gannet

[jackroadkill]

Not content with having two seemingly never-ending builds on the go (well, one on the go and the other on the Shelf of Eternal Damnation) and despite only recently finishing what was going to be my last Revell dog's breakfast -sorry, kit- for a long time due to the trauma it caused me, I seem to be building another Revell kit.  Given that my knowledge of Cold War naval types is pretty limited, it makes perfect sense to build a 1/72 Gannet.  This is the kit:

 

 

I must have been feeling charitable towards it as I bought it some AM, proof that I will insist on rolling these things in glitter in an attempt to enjoy building them.

 

So far (and I'm only a couple of steps in) these are my impressions:

 

• For a 2008 tooling there's a shedload of flash decorating the sprues, so that's fun;
• Some of the detail is good, some / most (especially the interior) is very bad.
• Things don't fit very well

 

All in all it's a Revell kit, so I know what I'm letting myself in for.  I'll be showing it in the FAA scheme, assuming I don't lose my mind before then.

 

 

Here's what I've done so far.  Like I said, not much but it's a start.  Now I've finished working out the positively unhinged paint calls I might actually get some colour on it soon.

 

 

In this picture you can see both the generous amounts of flash I'll have to crave my way through and the general shonkiness of the moulding.  Happy days!  In my stash I have some really nice kits.  One day I might build one.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[flashlight]

I will follow this build, I have a kind of a soft spot for this ugly plane, but never got around to build one.

[Eric Mc]

When it came out it was a million times better than the old FROG Gannet - which had also appeared in Revell boxes.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Eric Mc

[jackroadkill]

14 hours ago, flashlight said:

I will follow this build, I have a kind of a soft spot for this ugly plane, but never got around to build one.

 

It had many plus points, but its looks weren't one!

 

7 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

When it came out it was a million times better than the old FROG Gannet - which had also appeared in Revell boxes.

 

I'm hoping that under the flash it'll be okay.  Hoping.

[825]

 

23 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

Now I've finished working out the positively unhinged paint calls I might actually get some colour on it soon.

Don’t worry, despite Revell’s best attempts to confuse with colours, it’s actually quite straightforward. Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, black (although anthracite or another very, very dark grey may be better) for the cockpits and check the walk rounds for the undercarriage. 
 

Good luck, the Gannet is one of those ugly but beautiful FAA planes of the 50s. A word of warning you’ll need loads of weight to prevent it being a tail sitter. I put loads in my Trumpeter kit and it still sat back on its tail. Same with my Sword AEW version. 

[jackroadkill]

37 minutes ago, 825 said:

Don’t worry, despite Revell’s best attempts to confuse with colours, it’s actually quite straightforward. Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, black (although anthracite or another very, very dark grey may be better) for the cockpits and check the walk rounds for the undercarriage. 

 

Yes, considering Revell make such a dog's breakfast of the paint calls, once you get to the bottom of things it actually gets much simpler!   As for the weight, thanks for reminding me - I'd forgotten the need for it in this build but will make a note to add plenty.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[Procopius]

Oho! Gannets have been on the brain for me lately. I'll let you go first and see if you suffer overmuch.

[Bigdave22014]

I built this a few years ago. I seem to remember its a tail-sitter and it was a pain to get enough weight in the front. 

Seem to recall I had an issue with the canopies fitting properly as well.

[jackroadkill]

9 hours ago, Procopius said:

Oho! Gannets have been on the brain for me lately. I'll let you go first and see if you suffer overmuch.

 

Suffer?  I'm bound to.  I'm beginning to feel that I might like kit-ruining because it allows me to indulge my masochistic streak.  I'd like a nice, new-tooled Eduard or Tamiya Gannet kit in 1/48, but in the meantime a shonky old Revell will have to suffice.  I'll let you know how I get on and at which point I first decide that it's going in the bin.

 

4 hours ago, Bigdave22014 said:

I built this a few years ago. I seem to remember its a tail-sitter and it was a pain to get enough weight in the front. 

Seem to recall I had an issue with the canopies fitting properly as well.

 

I think I'm going to have the weapons bay closed, so I might be able to get a bit of lead in the front end of that, plus some in the nose section.  Otherwise I'll have to improvise as I go, I suppose.

[jackroadkill]

A little progress to report.  I've built up the interior and rather than douse it in the blackest black I could find I gave it a couple of light coats of Humbrol 32.  As you'll see below it's still as dark as a Goth's pyjamas, so there's a very slim chance of being able to see much in the way of detail in the very enclosed and very gloomy cockpits.  I'm hoping that with a bit of drybushing and highlighting the main details will be visible, though.  One thing that was annoying is that the instructions call for you to put the cockpit sides onto the floor before inserting the bulkheads; I'd reverse the steps here were I to build the kit again as the bulkheads were a sod to get into position after the cement holding the cockpit sides in was dry.

 

 

Sorry this is a bit blurry; a cruddy iPhone camera and shaky hands coupled with a very dark colour don't make for ideal bedfellows, but hey...

 

 

I've chucked a bit of H32 around the interior, too, just to ensure that nobody can see anything.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[Thom216]

...not even the pilot!😄

Quite the beautiful butt ugly design. Pulling up a stool.

[mark.au]

I shall follow along on this too, a Gannet is on my to-do list one day.

[jackroadkill]

26 minutes ago, Thom216 said:

...not even the pilot!😄

Quite the beautiful butt ugly design. Pulling up a stool.

 

Ha ha, yes, he'll be flying this thing via the medium of Braille!  Thanks for joining in - I have a feeling I'll need all the support I can get with this one!

 

11 minutes ago, mark.au said:

I shall follow along on this too, a Gannet is on my to-do list one day.

 

Feel free, Mark.  You've mentored me many times in the past, so if you want to see what disasters befall me engineering solutions I come up with along the way I'd be pleased to have you along for the ride.

[jackroadkill]

Afternoon all, I've spent a couple of hours fiddling with the cockpit and although it's as dark as a very dark thing in there I've applied the IP decals (which look better than I anticipated), slapped some paint on various buttons, levers and dials and have put a wash on.  whether you'll see owt is another thing entirely, but one must try.  To that end I also drybrushed some light grey and steel in the odd area to make it look at least a little lived-in:

 

 

I took this one before I'd put the Decal Fix on, so you can't see how well the decals have conformed.

 

 

Useful pictures of Gannet cockpits don't seem to abound on the interclock, so I made a few small highlights based on what I could find and then made a few up, just to brighten the black hole's event horizon a little.

 

 

No, this isn't the latest Ryan Air narrow-body, it's some very bright-looking crew seats, complete with Extra Tasty Belt Decals (TM), which will be mucked up a bit after fitting.  They look exceptionally bright in the picture but a little less luminous in reality, so hopefully they won't need too much taming.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[flashlight]

Cockpit looks great, shame that you won't see too much of your effort once the fuselage will be closed.

[jackroadkill]

Those of you who follow or look in on my builds will no doubt be aware of my over-use of the phrase "progress has been glacially slow".  I'm pleased to say that, so far at least, this has not been the case with the Gannet.  I'm getting on with it pretty nicely at the moment, and long may that state of affairs continue.

 

Yesterday saw the cockpit fitted firstly to one fuselage half.  Why only one?  Well, the reason may be apparent here:

 

 

 

Using a couple of bits of sprue tab I closed off the bottom half of the space inside the nose with the intention of filling it with ballast.  Following a bit of jiggery-pokery with a shotgun cartridge or two I arrived at this:

 

 

I don't know how much weight I added but it's a significant amount.  She is now properly nose heavy, possibly more than she needs to be.  Anyway, I closed the fuselage up and left everything to dry overnight.

 

Today I came in from work and cracked on, building and fitting the wings and tailplanes:

 

 

 

Apart from fitting the finlets upside down this all went well!  One hasty correction later and we're off to the races.  I test-fitted the bomb bay door section and it looks like it will go on pretty well, so I'm happy about that.  I don't really like having everything open, hanging down or poking out, as I think that generally aircraft on the ground aren't frequently in that pose.  It's a case of each to their own, I suppose, and it gives me an excuse not to show the inaccuracies of the bomb bay and flap construction.

 

The next jobs on the airframe are the tidying of seam lines, the fitting of the flaps, canopies, bomb doors. after that I need to fill the gap in the small thin section between the bomb doors and radome(?) bay. Following this it'll be painting and then building and painting the props and spinner and the undercarriage and doors, which will be fitted last.

 

You never know, I might actually get this done sometime before the mountains are worn down to deserts.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[flashlight]

Very good progress here! I like your solution of the weight problem.

[AdrianMF]

Looking good! I’m feeling a bit guilty now for just painting the pilot heads and shoulderses in the FROG one I built a few years back.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[heloman1]

Ah, who couldn't love a Gannet? The first aircraft type I worked on as a sproggy Naval Air Mechanic back in 1964, at RNAS Culdrose, the Mk 5's of 849 squadron. Lovely aircraft to work on. So far I have two HB kits in the stash, one almost complete. AS yet, I haven't seen the Revell kit, the blisters over the flap mechanism on the TE wings look perfect.

I'll follow your build with interest.

 

Colin

[81-er]

Nice progress so far, Owen! I find Revell kits go one of two ways for me; nice to work on and build up well (my Ar 555 for instance), or such a horror show that I return them without even attempting to build it (1/32 Mosquito)

 

James

[jackroadkill]

9 hours ago, 81-er said:

Nice progress so far, Owen! I find Revell kits go one of two ways for me; nice to work on and build up well (my Ar 555 for instance), or such a horror show that I return them without even attempting to build it (1/32 Mosquito)

 

James

 

Yeah, I've found the same.  I'm usually amazed that I can find the horror shows, but this one's actually been pretty easy so far, and apart from some tidying up being needed, it's been a straightforward build.

[The Spadgent]

Oooh a Gannet. You’re doing a grand job this far. I’ll tag along if I may.

 

 Johnny.

 

ps. I really haven’t had any issues with Revell kits. My next one I think will be real too. 👀🤞

[Ray S]

That is good work on this beauty! I loved seeing Gannets at Changi in Singapore in the late 1960's (if I remember correctly, but I know me...)

 

When I got back into the kit-building lark back in 2008, one of the first models I did was this Revell Gannet, and I am sad to say it defeated me and it ended up in the bin. You are tempting me to have another go with all the, ahem, skills I may have gained since then!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Ray

[jackroadkill]

1 minute ago, Ray S said:

You are tempting me to have another go with all the, ahem, skills I may have gained since then!

 

I reckon you'd have no bother with it now, Ray.  It doesn't have the lovely engineering of a Tamiya or Eduard kit but if you've got a decent hammer in your hand you'll find it can be thrashed into shape pretty well.  Of course, I say this in the full knowledge that the next job is to make the nosewheel door fit, which, if test-fittings are to be believed, will require a steam-driven trip hammer at the very least.

[81-er]

 

James