Sea Vixen FAW.1 - 1:72 Cyber-Hobby

[Guest]

Hi Ian, any space for a late comer. I want to make it clear that this model choice is your fauilt. I was in Modelzone on Saturday with no intention of buying a kit, and then this one screamed out at me to buy it after seeing your postings.

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To be honest I did start the Xtrakit Sea Vixen some time ago before joining the forum, but it was such a bad fit I gave up on it.

Oddly enough I was in WH Smith the same day and saw the the current issue of 'Model Airplane International' which features this kit. It gives it a bit of a mixed review. The website modellingmadness and cybermodeler both give it a good review.

Will open a thread in a day or two with some sprue shots.

Cheers Derek

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[papa 695]

Hi Derek nice choise this Ian doesn't mind it being a late starter still plenty of time left

[Ian M]

No problems from this Ian either Derek. As Ian said, (I can see this can get confusing) still plenty of time left.

No need to start a new thread, you just carry on in this one Derek, it's in the right place and it is started. I look forward to the sprue shots. I have read that this is a good little kit. I to trust modellingmadness as they are not in any manufactures pocket and buy 99% of the review kits themselves.

I could be tempted to do a FAW 1 as well so it will be nice to see one before I splash out on a conversion for the Airfix one.

Ian M

[Guest]

Here are the sprue shots as promised. First impressions are that of a fairly empty box, having said that I was surprised how big the box was for a 1:72 when I bought it.

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Kit comprises of 4-Plastic Sprues and 1-Clear; instructions are on 1-folded sheet, decals are by Cartograph, here are the sprue shots, notice the tail boom is a single moulding with just an infill panel at the fin. The whole kit has nice recessed panel lines and rivets.

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This will be an out of OOB build. Kit includes folded wing options.

On a more serious note, it is not generally known that this aircraft had a bad record of reliability. At the 1952 Farnborough airshow, the DH110 prototype broke up in mid-air killing the crew and 29 spectators, a faulty leading edge design was at fauilt, the wings fell off, then the engines which ploughed into the spectators causing the most fatalities. Of the 145 Sea Vixens built there were 38% lossed and a 54% crew mortality.

Derek

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[Ian M]

That looks like a nice little kit.

Dont forget to fill the nose cone with lead.!!!

Ian M

[yak face]

Nice kit Derek, you cant have too many Vixens! I was reading a book a while ago about the British aircraft industry just after the war (empire of the clouds) and the Sea Vixen accident was recounted, very nasty business. As you say, not the best safety record but a very charismatic machine nonetheless, cheers tony

[colin m]

I didn't realise the Vixen was that bad. These things used to fly over me frequently when I was on holiday in Barmouth. They were involved in some sort of research (drones I think) back in those days and painted some brilliant colour schemes.

[Guest]

FSM did a review of this kit a few issues ago and gave it good marks. The article makes note of a few mislabeled parts,namely wheel wells should read 'B3(B4)'. The review also noted adding shims between A16 & A5 to make them flush.The article is in the may issue if you want to give it a look on line.Looking forward to seeing this build,cheers Trey

[Guest]

Thanks for your comments Lads. Thanks Trey, the kit is also 'built' in the October Issue of the 'Model Airplane International', being a sceptical sod, I always treat these magazine builds with some reservation, as I have made models that magazines have built, and wonder if it is the same kit.

Not much to report really at the moment, been cutting parts off the sprues and dressing up, must say flash is virtually none existent. Inside the intakes had some very shallow ejector pin marks which were easy to remove. The dry fitting that I have done looks very good.

One disappointment is the cockpit instrument panels, having seen these I have invested in the Eduard cockpit interior kit, see below. Derek

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[Guest]

Painted the air intakes before assembly.

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A couple of shots of the cockpit using the Eduard photoetch, they are supposed to be self adhesive; apart from the larger panels which were semi-self adhesive, the rest were not. Had to use C.A. on a cocktail stick to fix them.

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A couple of shots of the ejector seats; removed the embossed harnesses before adding the Photoetch.

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Finally a couple of shots of the fuselage showing the cockpit, air intakes, exhaust and undercarriage bays added. Its important to fit each of these seperately and glue them to the bottom half of the fuselage only, then dry fit the top half to ensure the are in the correct position before the glue sets. I removed the locating tabs on the air intakes to have a snugger fit. The top half of the fuselage has not been glued yet

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The kit is lacking in any painting instructions for small parts such as ejector seats, weapons etc. The kit has some excellent fits, but for the price is disappointing. Cheers Derek

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[Dave W]

Looking good derek.The Edaurd cockpit sets are a huge improvement on most kit parts.Ive got some for the 1/48 Lancaster and B24D in my stash.Ive looked at them and as you say,they are not very sticky.Perhaps 'self adhesive ' means youhave to glue them yourself?!.Mind you,they look the business.No way could i make the kit parts look anything like as good.

[Ian M]

Looks pretty good to me. ¨

I was going to SK ask about the self adhesive PE but I think that's a bit redundent now. lol

Ian M

[Guest]

Thanks Lads, I like your definition of 'self adhesive' Dave you are bang on the button.

The tail boom fitted well; after a dry fit I was confident enough to fix one of the booms then the taileron and then the the second boom.

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In the photo below, I filled in the rectangular hole at the right of the picture as it was for a fuel dumping nozzle, which I understand was not fitted to the FAW1.

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A general shot showing the air intakes etc.

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And finaly a few shots prior to priming and painting.

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You will see that I have chosen to close the airbrakes, arrestor hook etc., this is because there are no bays inside, only gaping holes which is a pitty as the underside of the airbrakes etc are well detailed. Part 'C18' I understand are cameras which were only fitted to research aircraft so have left then off. There are a few parts on the instructions which are numbered wrongly, but the error is so obvious it would not be a problem for anyone to correct.

The sprues contain a refuelling probe which was not fitted to the FAW 1, so looks as if an FAW 2 is on the cards for this kit

When I built my Royal Navy Phantom a couple of years ago I used the instructions - Extra Dark Sea Grey, which I felt after was too dark, so this time I am going to use Dark Sea Grey instead. Cheers Derek

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[Guest]

Primed the gray areas with Tamiya Light Gray Fine Surface Primer aerosol, them applied Mr Hobby H305 semi-gloss gray FS36118. After masking off the gray areas, primed the white areas with Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer aerosol, then applied Mr Hobby H1 Gloss White. Since these paints are semi-gloss and gloss I will decal directly onto them. Will finish model in a satin finish later. Cheers Derek

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[yak face]

Looking very sharp derek , cant wait to see it decalled , cheers tony