Airfix 1/72 Yellowjacks Gnat T.1

[Tribesman72]

The perils of browsing the internet are many and varied, but I find that my biggest problem is stumbling over a kit that gives you an idea I hadn't planned on having, and that's exactly what happened with this Gnat. I periodically forget about the Yellowjacks, but I think I prefer the colour scheme to the Red Arrows variant, so what better way to stop forgetting than building one? As it turns out, I had enough pain with getting the yellow to somewhat work that I won't be forgetting it in a hurry.

 

No short of 7 coats of yellow went on to get the colour at least close to solid, and a lesson in patience for masking the tail. I'm not sure if XR992 wore this livery as either the original aircraft (pre erroneous fire/ejection shout), or as the current incarnation, but it looked nice, and in my head at least, it might have worn in, even if we haven't got any proof.

 

The kit itself is as to be expected, fairly simple and goes together well, a few minor issues were caused by the box having been slightly squashed by the previous owner and warping the fuselage sides, but were countered by some judicious clothes peg application. For whatever reason, I decided this would be my first attempt at anything with the gear up, and that led me to needing a stand, and again for whatever reason I decided to make one from a little framed mirror and some brass rod that I bent slightly too much at the bottom.

 

It does have the nice side effect of being able to see the underside, seam lines and all, and in the end I realised it could work with the Red Arrows Gnat that my dad built for me when I lacked the patience to finish what was my first ever model years ago, so a happy accident in the end.

 

As usual, not the cleanest build or the smartest finish, but it looks like a Gnat, and that will do for me. Anyway, picture time, thanks for having a look!

 

[Billy54]

It looks pretty good to me, a build that I would be proud of. Which brand of paint did you struggle with? 

[3DStewart]

Photos aren't displaying.

[Tribesman72]

5 hours ago, Billy54 said:

It looks pretty good to me, a build that I would be proud of. Which brand of paint did you struggle with? 

Thanks! I foolishly went with the Humbrol yellow that came bundled in, safe to say I won’t be doing that again!

2 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

Photos aren't displaying.

That’s odd, but not the first time recently, I’ll double check the sharing permissions on OneDrive

[TeenModellerCa]

On 26/01/2025 at 10:40, Tribesman72 said:

Thanks! I foolishly went with the Humbrol yellow that came bundled in, safe to say I won’t be doing that again!

That’s odd, but not the first time recently, I’ll double check the sharing permissions on OneDrive

Seeing this makes me wonder whether I should rethink the scheme for the Gnat I'm building, now that I see the Yellow Jack colour scheme, I feel like it sounds better than the Flight Training School colour

[AMB]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:31 AM, Tribesman72 said:

 

No short of 7 coats of yellow went on to get the colour at least close to solid, and a lesson in patience for masking the tail. I'm not sure if XR992 wore this livery as either the original aircraft (pre erroneous fire/ejection shout), or as the current incarnation, but it looked nice, and in my head at least, it might have worn in, even if we haven't got any proof.

 

On 1/26/2025 at 10:31 AM, Tribesman72 said:

 

There are photos of XR992 wearing this scheme are in  a soft-back book called "Eclat". The black tail was a short-lived experiment and it wasn't overall black, as the rudder was left yellow.

The yellow colour was a unique 'bright lemon yellow' and not the yellow paint recommended by Airfix.  The serials were 'roundel blue' and NOT black.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tribesman72]

On 22/02/2025 at 02:52, TeenModellerCa said:

Seeing this makes me wonder whether I should rethink the scheme for the Gnat I'm building, now that I see the Yellow Jack colour scheme, I feel like it sounds better than the Flight Training School colour

Both of those schemes are nice, but I do like the yellow

 

On 22/02/2025 at 11:49, AMB said:

There are photos of XR992 wearing this scheme are in  a soft-back book called "Eclat". The black tail was a short-lived experiment and it wasn't overall black, as the rudder was left yellow.

The yellow colour was a unique 'bright lemon yellow' and not the yellow paint recommended by Airfix.  The serials were 'roundel blue' and NOT black.

That's a shame it's not the right colour serials, I don't mind about the yellow so much, because it was a right pain regardless, but it really is a shame the serials aren't the right colour, would have been an easy fix if I'd known ahead of applying them

[TallBlondJohn]

Nice build. On mine, I used a mix of Humbrol 69 enamel and err... something else to lighten it up. The paints Airfix package with starter kits are not good.

[Philly1860]

That is a nice build and I do like it in yellow.