Post War 1/72 FAA - Part 1 - Sword Fairey Gannet AEW.3

[Dave Ward]

Joined the fuselage, and added the wings...................

Was pretty good fit, but, as is normal, there was a lot of dry fitting & sanding before any cement was applied, the worst being the width of the cockpit floor - keeping the fuselage halves apart.
No filler used ( yet ), and the only part that may need it may be the nose - I haven't even taken that off the sprue so far...............
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Despite having visitors, I managed to get some benchtime. The nose went on - just a little sanding - no filler. Primed! I've left off the tailplanes, to make masking the top/bottom easier.
Not too bad - I've been looking at my choices for the undersides - I have 4 candidates, so I've painted swatches, and when they're dry I'll decide which seems best.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

One of those days........... I realised that I had missed off the prominent exhaust shields. They come in halves, and are a poor fit - so out comes the putty! Overnight drying, then sanding sticks. The putty just fell off! I tried another application, left it for about 6 hours - same result! It's Perfect Plastic Putty, I've never had this happen before. I'm going dig out some AK putty, and see if I have the same problem - maybe its teflon plastic..................
Dave

[colin m]

I caught a documentary on the Gannet a while back. It was amusing to watch the jets land first, with all their speed and noise, then the Gannet landed. Well I say landed, it sort of eventually 'rested' on the deck, not in a real hurry.

[Dave Ward]

There's a YouTube video of one starting up - odd to see one propellor turning, and the other stopped - the Double Mamba engine was effectively two engines - each driving it's own prop. One engine could be shut down in flight, to increase endurance.
I used AK putty on the exhaust shields - they needed a bit of fettling to get a good fit ( they're the bits between the radome & the wing ). Basecoated with Vallejo Air 'Sky'

Props painted, and the spinners painted overall red, so I can mask for the black portions. Despite the instructions showing axles on the main undercarriage, and holes in the wheels, neither existed, so holes were drilled, and copper wire CA'ed in place

I'm going to leave the Sky basecoat to dry overnight, then I'm going to mask for the dark grey uppersurfaces - fiddly, but nothing too taxing
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I tried masking the propeller bosses, but gave up as too fiddly, and hand painted instead

A little retouching needed. The props are fixed - I've no problem with that...............

The rest of the airframe is masked up for the upper dark grey. It's more complicated, because, the upper colour wraps around the leading edges. ( The yellow tape is the good stuff, the blue is real cheap! )

I've gone round, and sealed any tiny gaps with masking fluid, I'll wait for that to dry before getting the compressor on line.
Dave

[Lee Drennen]

Looking the part Dave I’m enjoying this build

[Dave Ward]

Sprayed with Mig Medium Gunship Grey - at first, I thought it was too light, but it darkened as it dried, and with a topcoat of varnish it should appear even darker

The masking worked well, with no paint lifted, and bleed only in one place ( above the mid porthole ) . I do need to go round, and blend in all the straight angles to curves - I find it easier to do it by eye, rather than attempting to do this with a mask. There are missing patches on the tail, where the stabilisers fit - I used masking fluid, rather than scrape off paint.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

All tidied up and the tailplanes added. Sprayed overall gloss varnish.

Now ready for decals & a few small odds & ends - then, a light wash. Very little weathering, FAA embarked aircraft were kept pretty clean
Dave

[yak face]

Looking great dave , looking forward to seeing the decals go on , cheers tony

[Dave Ward]

Decals are super thin, but luckily tough......................

All the major decals are on, but the stencil data...................... I'll add the larger ones, but the smaller ones?

I can't really see them, so they will be not be apparent on the model - at least that is my excuse!
Dave

[yak face]

Come on dave youve got to put them all on and dont get them upside down !! I did a modern jet a while back ( chengdu j10s) and the hundreds of tiny stencils were a light purple colour , once id applied them all and given it a sealing coat you could hardly see them! If i were you id put a few on where they will be apparent ( ie on the lighter colour ) but im sure no one will notice if there are a few nissing!

[stillp]

Go on Dave, you know you want to!
Pete

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Looking good. The paint job really brings out the distinctive shape of the Gannet. As for those decals - miniature madness. I agree with Tony - perhaps the most obvious and forget the rest.
Jim

[Guest]

Tell yourself they aren't decals, they are just markers for where decal #29 should have gone if they'd remembered to print it on the sheet.