Greetings, all!
I finished another one (finally!), this being the new tool Airfix 1/72 scale kit of the Folland Gnat T.1. Behold…
The kit goes together fairly well–if you are patient. There are some gotchas, notably the inlets, but if you test fit and take your time all will be well. I've read all the reviews online–it is a putty monster, the panel lines are too deep (or wide), yada, yada, yada. Boys and girls, this is a Six Dollar (American, at least) kit from Airfix–remember when Airfix were aimed at the "pocket money" demographic? You guessed it. This is what used to be called a "pocket money" kit, and as such it hits the mark. The only place where the kit could use some sprucing up is in the cockpit–I added some seat belts made from masking tape. Other than that, what you see came in the box–well, except the base.
The only color scheme provided in the kit is what you see–Central Flying School circa 1964 (they've sinced reissued the kit with different markings). It is one of those "Run Away!" paint schemes, too–Day-Glo and metal. In this case, the metal is Hi-Speed Silver lacquer, but silver nonetheless. It is easy to do if you let it be that way. Here's how:
1. You need a white base color. No ifs, ands, or buts. There are about a gazillion ways you could get there, but I take the lazy man's approach and use Tamiya's Fine White Primer in the spray can. Sure, you can decant it and thin it and airbrush it, but the stuff goes on just fine from the spray can–why make extra work? A few thin coats, left to dry overnight (I said it worked like a charm, I didn't say it was fast!), and you're ready to rock…
(Oh, I assembled everything except the nose light lens, gear doors, and the wheels before I painted the model. The wheels and doors got the primer treatment, too, only they were stuck to some cardboard instead of held by a paintbrush handle in the tailpipe. Obviously, the lens was not painted…)
2. You need to mask off everything on the airplane that won't be orange. I used Tamiya tape. The orange is actually Testor Acryl Flourescent Red with Chevy Engine Red added–the flourescent red is too pink, adding the Chevy Engine Red (actually, a deep red-orange) adds the orange tone and kills some of the eye-grabbing pink of the flourescent red. I simply mixed the two until the color matched the box art–I can't tell you how much of each paint I used, I just went for it. I thinned it with Acryl thinner, and sprayed on a few coats until I had even coverage of the white base. Let it dry overnight, but unmask it after about 20 minutes. Be patient…
3. Now, you need to mask off the orange areas. Tamiya tape again to the rescue. The silver is Tamiya's X-32 Titanium Silver, thinned about 80/20 with Tamiya X-20A thinner. Again, apply a few thin coats until you have complete coverage of the white. Another overnight drying period is required, but again, you'll want to remove the tape in about 20 minutes. If this sounds familiar to you, you probably read my "Thundering Jets" post from a few years ago. The only difference between then and now is that then we wanted an oxidized bare metal look, this time we want a uniform silver lacquer look.
4. You can do one of two things the next day–you can apply a coat of clear gloss for the decals (I like Future thinned with 91% Isopropyl, but whatever floats your boat is fine by me) or you can mask the anti-glare panel and paint it flat black. If you don't do the anti-glare now, wait until the decals are done, and add the black area last.
5. As always, I spread the decals out over a few nights to let gravity work for me. I wiped off the decal residue the next day. Once all the decals were on, a thin coat of gloss to seal them, some detail painting, a few final parts to add, and there you have it.
As for the base, I've started to make bases for my models. Previously, I had only done them when I was building a presentation model, but that AMPS membership is screwing with my head. Our AMPS Chapter Contact (and founder, and all-around great modeler and good guy) Mike Roof gave a seminar on bases and groundwork at the AMPS International Show a few months ago. Basically, the reasons for bases are many. They:
1. Give you a convenient handle by which you can hold/view the model
2. Show the subject in context with "what it does"
3. Place the model in a particular place at a particular time
In this case, it is a combination of the first two. The base you see is a hobby/craft store wood plaque that I sanded and stained with some Minwax stain and polyurethane. The dispersal ramp is mat board, cut to shape and glued onto the plaque after the stain had dried. The color isn't as gray as I'd like it, but I'll let this one go. The grassy area is Woodland Scenics' ground foam "Turf" and "Grass" mixed and locke in with Scenic Cement. I then applied little dabs of white glue and sprinkled some static grass on the glue. I cobbled up a set of wheel chocks, and I called this one done.
If you'd like more information on bases and groundwork Mike has kindly posted them here.
So, there you have it. Another one for the display case…
Thanks for reading. As always, be good to one another. I bid you Peace.
(And Smokey says "Let me fix that camera, feeble human…")