Airfix 1/48 Folland Gnat

[Dave W]

I had a look at some builds of this kit online Dave. I have come to the conclusion from looking at your bulkhead and then the others, that yours is in back to front. The step under the very top rounded piece should face the front of the aeroplane. You had it facing rearwards. The slots in the face of it are to position the seats up against.

Joe,I think you've solved it.Your right.Looks like I've fitted the bulkhead the wrong way round!.What an idiot I am!.Thats entirely my fault then.Just the other problems to solve now.

[flyjoe180]

Well, soldier on Dave, because we are all keen to see this wonderful Gnat in service soon

[Dave W]

Well, soldier on Dave, because we are all keen to see this wonderful Gnat in service soon

Knowing its my fault and not the kit has changed my attitude.So it's on with the build.Actually ,I put some filler on some of the many joins that need attention this afternoon.Thinking back to when I assembled the cockpit,I think alcohol was involved !.When will I learn?!.Good job I don't drink when I'm working on real aeroplanes!.

[Snowman]

Dang!!

I bet that is not the first time any of us misread the instructions or stuck something the wrong way around or simlar!!

Progressive resistance, bub!!

[Dave W]

Dang!!I bet that is not the first time any of us misread the instructions or stuck something the wrong way around or simlar!!

Progressive resistance, bub!!

Many years ago a friend glued the wings of a Stuka on upside down.Mind you,that was after he had been smoking 'something' !.

[john i am]

Well Dave glad to see your back on track after your minor mistake with the cockpit being clued back to front and upside down Lol I can put this back on my wish list now then.so come on then on with the build and some more pictures please......good luck with the rest of it and no more beer!!!!!!!

[Dave W]

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I've done some filling and sanding this evening.Ive filled the gap in the fuselage behind the nose gear bay with superglue gel.And I've filled in my cockup In the cockpit rear bulkhead.The fit of this kit looks bad.But I think it's just very precise with no leeway for clumsy fools like me!.

[Guest]

!.Good job I don't drink when I'm working on real aeroplanes!.

Wow glad you get that round the right way. Dave

Looks OK to me Dave. I like a tussle every now and then. Good for the soul. Nice panel line markings.

Laurie

[rickoshea52]

Do you think the gaps in the fuselage and rear wing join might be because you got that bulkhead back to front and it has just thrown out any tolerances in the parts?

[Dave W]

Do you think the gaps in the fuselage and rear wing join might be because you got that bulkhead back to front and it has just thrown out any tolerances in the parts?

No.I don't think the bulkhead position would have any affect on the join at the back of the wing .Because the top section of the bulkhead locates under the front of the wing and I've cut that bit off.Maybe at the front its lifted the wing slightly.If I was to build another one I would approach it like a limited run kit.Test fitting and sanding before committing to glueing.I expected this to be better and treated it as a quick build.Obviously that was a mistake.

[Wendall]

I opened up my one to have a look after reading this Dave. It looks beautiful and the detail is very nicely done. I was doing a bit of dry fitting and it seems well engineered in my opinion but some of the tolerances are very tight, especially around the cockpit, nose wheel and intakes I think even a coat of paint could leave the builder with fit issues. I'm committing mine back to the stash for now. Good luck with the rest of the build buddy.

[Dave W]

I've had another filling and sanding session.Thats enough untill I see what it's like with a coat of primer on.Then I glued on the tailplanes,wing flaps,Ailerons and rudder.Infact, the rudder and ailerons are designed to be moveable.I then turned my attention back to the cockpit.As you can see in the photo,quite a bit has to be removed from the base of the ejection seats so that the canopy can be fitted in the closed position.Im grateful to Mike (Migrant) for informing me of this problem.Otherwise I would have just glued the seats in,then at a later stage found that the canopy wouldn't fit properly!.Last thing I did tonight was glue some lead in the nose.Dont think this one would be a tail sitter but I want to be sure it isn't.

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[Dave W]

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Almost ready for primer now.The canopy is very thin and quite delicate.So I've glued it to the model with Gators Grip before masking it.when the glue has dried I will mask it then spray a coat of primer on.

[The Migrant]

I wonder if Airfix actually build one of their new kits before putting them on sale to make sure they go together as intended?.

It does make you wonder when it's something as basic as the seats not fitting - surely that would have shown up in a test build? Despite that your Gnat is looking really good, and I'm actually looking forward to building mine now I've been forewarned of some of the issues.

[Dave W]

It does make you wonder when it's something as basic as the seats not fitting - surely that would have shown up in a test build? Despite that your Gnat is looking really good, and I'm actually looking forward to building mine now I've been forewarned of some of the issues.

Mike.I believe most of the fit issues are of my own making.I build a lot of old kits that require filler and sanding no matter how carefully you put them together.So should have taken more care with this one.The seats do need their bases thinning so that the canopy will fit though.And on my kit the rear of the wing centre section was slightly higher than the fuselage.Other than that it's a very nice kit.