{"id":7629,"date":"2016-04-03T21:59:21","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T19:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=7629"},"modified":"2019-08-01T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T14:02:32","slug":"folland-gnat-t-1-airfix-172-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=7629","title":{"rendered":"Folland Gnat T.1, AIRFIX, 1\/72"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"icon-1\"
\n<\/a>Folland Gnat T.1<\/span><\/h1>\n

by Marcel Meres<\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Introductory Notes<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

First, why the\u00a0AIRFIX Folland Gnat? It was something like …\u00a0how could I say it? CURIOSITY!\u00a0Seeing its\u00a0very nice boxart, even with a\u00a0small Cartograph\u00a0logo on it, made me look inside\u00a0of the kit. Precisely molded styrene\u00a0parts with\u00a0many interesting details is what I found.\u00a0Combination of what I saw with\u00a0surprisingly\u00a0low cost led to my “must have” feeling. I simply wanted to try a quick and easy build with no extra accessories, no complications – just nearly<\/em> straight out of the box. I write\u00a0nearly\u00a0–<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>because fully<\/em> can somehow never be kept \ud83d\ude00 .<\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Construction<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you consider its cost, the oververall quality of the kit is surprisingly good, I’d say. Nearly all parts came together well. Only a minimum of overall sanding and filling was needed.\u00a0The only\u00a0minor\u00a0issue I noticed was with the main undercarriage doors installation. It was due to a slight inaccuracy of\u00a0the connecting surfaces. Removing thin stripes of material solved the problem in a minute.\u00a0This kit belongs into skill\u00a0level\u00a0No1 and\u00a0I fully agree with it being suitable for kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

3. Improvements made<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

As was written I\u00a0intended not to use any\u00a0aftermarket resin or photoetched parts for\u00a0this build. Small selfmade upgrades were allowed though.\u00a0I simply wanted to change some details I cannot live with\u00a0– to add\u00a0the missing\u00a0position lights and to add at least some of the interior details.<\/p>\n

Position lights
\n<\/strong>The wing tips with no position lights looked quite odd to me. I decided to cut out gaps\u00a0for\u00a0the lights –\u00a0according to photographs and existing panelling lines.\u00a0Then both the \u00a0“dents” were filled using a\u00a02-component transparent adhesive (or 5 minutes epoxy).\u00a0Finally the lamps were coated with TAMIYA transparent tints\u00a0using a tiny\u00a0brush.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> This is a good way how to make small “lamps”\u00a0quick and easy. You will probably not want to use it with larger scales where the filled gap is significantly larger too. Inset and polished transparent styrene\u00a0would be better there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/p>\n

Pitot Tube
\n<\/strong>Pitot tube from the kit looked somehow thick and overall unrealistic. Nothing for the real gnat at all! \ud83d\ude00 A brand new tube was made using thin hypodermic needles. Here is how: The base of the Pitot tube was cut off from the rest of its length. A small hole was drilled into this base then. Then, a short and tiny steel wire was glued into the hole to better keep the rest of the tube in place. Finally everything was glued together with an adjustable or “slow” cyanoacrylate adhesive. Here is a drawing showing the process:<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

Cockpit<\/strong>
\n<\/b><\/span> The Gnats interior was made directly as it comes with the kit plus my\u00a0addition of the pilot harness onto the pilot seats. The harnesses were made of thin and soft metal sheets and cigarette papers according to photo reference. Own yellow and black jettison handles made of thin wire were\u00a0added too.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>Please keep in mind – If you make the canopy glass closed, nearly nothing will be seen inside. And by the way: AIRFIX Folland kit in this (1:72) scale has only one option for the canopy which is CLOSED.<\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

4. Colors and Painting<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Choosing the livery
\n<\/strong>Model comes with the classic and notorious silver plus red color training scheme. I wanted to try out something different and\u00a0less colourful. Many other liveries can by found \u00a0using Google:\u00a0from the so-called yellow jackets through various Red Arrows variants\u00a0to private crazy camouflaged ones\u00a0– so many it’s\u00a0hard to choose one.<\/p>\n

Finally I found the photographs of a former RAF bird now in possession of\u00a0a private owner which was definitely my cup of tea. A silver plane\u00a0with older type of “T” scheme sporting the\u00a0yellow bars. Airplane is painted similarly to the older machine with the same code – probably the prototype with shorter nose and\u00a0sans\u00a0the black antiglare panel<\/span>. Also the aerials differ slightly from those on RAF birds.<\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Photographs from airshows and exhibitions show this plane\u00a0obviously well serviced and clean. All the surfaces look like alluminium laquer with a high sheen. Frankly it looks so new I hadn’t the guts to make it weathered in any way (what I like so much).<\/p>\n

The color finish started with the yellow stripes. They are\u00a0the Mr. Color 4 Gloss<\/span> Yellow sprayed onto the Mr. Color 156\u00a0G<\/span>loss Super White. The same\u00a0white was used onto a thin canopy framing line and inside surfaces of both air intakes too.<\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/p>\n

After masking out the yellow bars and canopy the metal finish came in play.\u00a0The Alclad\u00a02\u00a0Polished\u00a0Aluminium ALC-105 was\u00a0airbrushed\u00a0onto the gloss coat of Mr. Color 2 Gloss Black.\u00a0<\/span>Newly –\u00a0and surprisingly to me\u00a0–\u00a0the Alclad 2 laquers need to be sealed. They may come off\u00a0<\/span>otherwise. And indeed they came\u00a0off,\u00a0mostly on edges.\u00a0<\/span>The Alclad\u00a02 Aqua Gloss ALC 600 was used as the sealer. Applying this finishing coat in several light layers resulted in a high\u00a0gloss surface – although with no such true\u00a0metallic look\u00a0as the bare Polished Aluminium had.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Decals<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The British national insignia and stenciling were used as included\u00a0in\u00a0the boxing. The code letters were drawn using Adobe Illustrator according to the photographs and was printed onto transparent\u00a0decal paper then. Black and white home laser printer was used.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Folland<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

6. The Pros and Cons of the Kit (as I see it)<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pros:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Precisely injected parts (minimum of sanding and filling needed), no molding flash, minimum of sink marks – thus absolutely no problem with a metal finish.<\/li>\n
  2. Comprehensible instructions + simplicity of building.<\/li>\n
  3. Relatively high overall quality \/ surprisigly low price.<\/li>\n
  4. Decal sheet with perfect register.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Cons:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Some of the parts too\u00a0thick i.e.\u00a0out of scale\u00a0–\u00a0the Pitot tube and partly the undercarriage covers, mainly the front one.<\/li>\n
    2. Absence of wing position lights.<\/li>\n
    3. Overpronounced panel lines for some modelers.<\/li>\n
    4. Decals not as soft as you probably wish them to be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"Folland<\/a><\/span>7. Conclusion<\/span>
      \n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

      I was told that newly made AIRFIX kits\u00a0– those made using their new tooling\u00a0–\u00a0are\u00a0much better than the older ones.\u00a0This kit has a lot of nice surface details\u00a0and\u00a0comparing it\u00a0to\u00a0the photographs it looks like the real thing. I have made no\u00a0measurements\u00a0and used no tools or\u00a0scale drawings\u00a0for\u00a0precise judging though.\u00a0It was\u00a0built\u00a0for fun and it fully satisfied me in this\u00a0sense.<\/p>\n

      \"Folland<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      8. My special thanks to:<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n