This time, I will try to make a British trainer plane Folland Gnat T1, which is quite rare. This kit is an airplane of the Red Arrows, an acrobatic team of the British Air Force. When I opened the box, I was surprised that the airframe was relatively small. Is this a 1/48 scale? Suspecting that, I rechecked the scale of the package. Maybe 1/72 is too small for some people.
I am assembling the cockpit first, as usual. It is good that the mold of the cockpit panel is sharp. The mold of the seat belt was carved from the beginning, so I don’t think I need to do additional work this time.
As it is a training aircraft, it is not good unless it is a multi-seat.
I always think this is a unique shaving feeling that other manufacturers don’t have. The plastic is relatively soft than the kit of Airfix. It will be shaved pretty soon.
It feels good to put a decal on. I’m blowing a matte clear to protect the decal.
It is challenging to paint seatbelts because the mold is dull.
(2021/04/16)
I don’t know how deep I can see the inside, so I airbrushed the interior color of the airplane quite widely.
Parts are made to show the internal structure of the air intake. Amazingly, the parts are prepared so well.
I tried using a clear resin to glue the canopy. If you harden it with ultraviolet light for nail art, it will harden after leaving it for a few minutes.
I thought so, but the resin is resin, so I can’t expect much adhesive strength. It came off crisply with a little force. It got a little dirty. In the end, it was firmly bonded with Mr. Cement of Creos.
The Pitot tube is long. It is easy to break, so I want to change it to metal, but it doesn’t seem easy to make it by myself.
(2021/04/18)
This time, the landing gear was installed on the aircraft first. In this case, the inside of the landing gear compartment is first airbrushed and masked or painted with a brush. Fine angle alignment, flat tire contact surface, is difficult to position after painting.
First, I tried to blow pink to increase the color of red. The paint guide of the Airfix shows the color number of the Humbrol. Usually, if it’s a color of a fighter plane or a tank, it’s about the same color, but this time, the Humbrol 238 is gross arrow-red. Usually, I don’t care about the colors red, yellow, or orange, so I don’t understand the slight color difference.
There seems to be an arrow-red called Red Arrows Red BS537 with the color specified by RAF. There’s also a bright red color called signal red BS537, similar to the color used on F1 machines. This kit of Red Arrows may be OK with signal red. There is a signal red from Gaia color to the F1 model. This one is easy to buy in Japan and looks similar in color. I didn’t think I would get lost this much in the red.
I’m putting decals on it. I thought the white was a little thin. Overall, this decal is very beautiful and easy to attach.
(2021/04/21)
The Folland Gnat training plane is completed. This airplane was used from 1965 to 1979. The aircraft belongs to the Red Arrows, an acrobatic team of the British Air Force.
Because the aircraft is quite tiny, the number of person-hours and manufacturing costs were significantly reduced compared to existing fighters. However, because of its small size, its cruising range, and the military equipment it could carry were limited, its fighting power was limited.
However, India imported dozens of the Folland Gnat aircraft and licensed 175 were manufactured domestically and deployed under Ajit. In the India-Pakistan War, it achieved the result of shooting down the F-86 saber of the opponent.
According to the instruction manual, the angle between the vertical fin and the horizontal fin is 90 degrees, and the angle between the left and right landing gears is 10 degrees to the outside. If it is written correctly, I can easily decide the position of the parts, so I appreciate it.
Marking was the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrow Acrobatic Team in 1979. So it’s the last year of the Folland Gnut used.
I don’t know if the plastic was too soft and shaved too much, but there was a gap between the main wing and the fuselage. I couldn’t do the surface treatment well. At first, I filled it with light-curing putty, but maybe because it was a bit too soft to shave, I fixed it with a clear resin.
If you don’t open the nose panel, you had better put a little weight inside the nose. If you open and assemble it, you had better put a little weight behind the cockpit panel. The balance is rather delicate, so the rear part of the aircraft touches the ground. I prepared a finely chopped fishing weight.
I made the aircraft about 80% glossy. In addition, I thought it would be better to put ink in the panel line to make it look less like a toy. I guess it depends on personal preference.
According to the manual, the landing gear legs should be slightly open like this.
These small airplanes are more maneuverable and easier to handle for acrobatic flights. It’s a small kit, so it’s pretty easy to complete. I liked it very much when it was completed. I recently bought a PlayStation 5, so I was always playing games so that I couldn’t finish them quickly…
(2021/04/23)
