1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force, 1975

Dizzyfugu · May 07, 2017, 01:09:24 AM

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
In March 1968, in response to the British announcement that it would withdraw its armed forces from the Persian Gulf, Qatar set up armed forces, creating the Qatar Public Security Forces Air Wing (renamed into the Qatar Emiri Air Force in 1974), equipped with two Westland Whirlwind helicopters. In 1971, it acquired a serious combat capability when it purchased three Hawker Hunter jet fighters and, in 1972, four Folland Gnat trainers. All these aircraft were ex-RAF aircraft, both types remained in use until 1981.

The Gnat trainer, modified to conform with the RAF's requirements of Specification T.185D, which had called for an advanced two-seat trainer aircraft that could transition pilots between the current de Havilland Vampire T 11 and operational fighters, conducted its maiden flight from Chilbolton airfield, Hampshire.
Compared with the initial single seat fighter model the trainer model featured several changes, including the adoption of a new wing with additional fuel capacity, which in turn allowed for more internal space within the fuselage to be allocated for additional equipment. A more powerful variant of the Orpheus engine was also used, while the length of the forward fuselage area was increased, and the tail surfaces were enlarged. The inboard ailerons of the fighter variant were reconfigured to an arrangement of outboard ailerons and conventional flaps.

On 7 January 1958, an initial contract for the RAF was issued. The Ministry did not place a full production order at first, as they were concerned about the size and ability of the company to take on a large order. Following the take-over of Folland by Hawker Siddeley Aviation (becoming the Hamble division), more and more orders for 30, 20 and 41 trainers were placed between February 1960 and March 1962, receiving the designation Gnat T Mk. 1.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The final Gnat T.1 for the RAF was delivered in May 1965, and retirement already started in the mid-Seventies. Most of the retired Gnats were eventually re-grouped at No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton and other training establishments to be used as ground training airframes, but a few aircraft in good condition were set aside and earmarked to be sold to friendly nations - like Qatar.

The revamped Qatari Gnat trainers received slightly more powerful Orpheus 703 turbojets (in order to compensate for the higher ambient temperatures in the Gulf region), updated avionics and improved Martin-Baker GF4 ejection seats.
In order to conduct armed training, these machines were furthermore retrofitted with two extra underwing pylons for light loads (e. g. training bombs, 7.62 mm machine gun pods or light pods with seven unguided air-to-ground missiles), the inner pair of hardpoints remained primarily reserved for the Gnat's characteristic slipper tanks, since the internal fuel capacity remained unchanged and very limited. Additionally, all machines received gun cameras in fairings under the forward fuselage.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The modified machines received the official designation Gnat T.11 and were, after the ferry flight via Luqa, Malta, handed over on 24th of September 1974 and attached to the 1st Fighter Wing at Doha, which also operated Qatar's Hunter fleet.

The Qatari air force began a major expansion in 1979 when it ordered six Alpha Jet trainer/light attack aircraft as replacements for the ageing and rather limited Gnats, and partly also for the Hunters. Delivery and transition was slow, though, and the Gnats soldiered on in their advanced trainer role until 1981.

The Alpha Jets order was soon followed by orders for 14 Mirage F1 supersonic jet fighters in 1980, which were delivered between 1980-84, and considerably improved the small air arm's capabilities. Twelve Gazelle helicopters, armed with HOT anti-tank missiles were received from 1983. Also in 1983, the air force took over the Qatar Police Air Wing.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 9.69 m (31 ft 9 in)
Wingspan: 7.32 m (24 ft)
Height: 2.94 m (9 ft 7.5 in)
Wing area: 16,3 m² (175 ft²)
Empty weight: 2,333 kg (5,140 lbs. lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 3,918 kg (8,630 lb)

Powerplant:
1× Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 703-01 turbojet, rated at 4,850 lbf (21.57 kN)

Performance:
Maximum speed: Advertised with 636 mph (1.023 km/h//Mach 0.95) at 31.000 ft, but the aircraft was actually capable of approximately Mach 1.3
Range: 501 mi.(806 km) on internal fuel only, 1,151 miles (1.853 km) with two 300-liter underwing tanks
Service ceiling: : 48,000 ft. (14,650 m)

Armament:
No internal gun; up to 1985 lb (900 kg) of external stores on four underwing hardpoints

The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Gnat trainer is a bit of a follow-up to the Omani Supermarine Swift I have built some time ago. I had some spare Qatar air force decals in the stash and wondered what to do with them – after all, it's an exotic operator, leaving much room for fantasy creations.

When I did some legwork concerning the air force's origins, I found reference for the Hunters, but thought that the young air force could also have used some trainers? The neat Airfix Vampire T.11 (recently abused for my Mystery Jet build) would have been an option, but, looking at the model's intended time frame, I deemed the light Gnat T.1 to be the more suitable option – and so I chose the new Airfix Gnat T.1 as basis.

The kit was built OOB, and it has nice details. Fit is basically good, but I wonder why this small and simple aircraft model must have such a complicated mould, and why small and delicate parts have to feature such huge and massive sprue attachment points so that getting them off of the sprue and/or cleaning them bears serious hazards of breaking them?

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Mods were few: some lead in the model's nose had to be added, the pitot was trimmed down considerably, since the OOB part is rather massive and has virtually no taper, and the canopy was cut into two pieces for open display.
The only "personal" addition are two small extra pylons under the outer wings (from a Heller SEPECAT Jaguar), with bright blue training bombs attached (the four pairs that come with the Matchbox Westland Lysander).

Painting and markings:
The more interesting part, even though the scheme and the colors are RAF standard: Light Stone and Dark Earth, coupled with Azure Blue undersides. For the upper tones I referred to the scheme on Finnish Gnat and used Humbrol 94 and 29 while the undersides were painted with Humbrol 89 (Middle Blue); there's an RAF Azure Blue available (Humbrol 157), but I find it pretty dark, esp. for small scales, and much too "red". Real world pictures of the Qatari Hunters suggest a more greenish, deep sky blue tone, and 89 comes IMHO pretty close.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Since the Qatari aircraft were generally kept in excellent condition, only light shading was done after a black ink washing – more for the dramatic effect than for true weathering. The only deviation from the standard camouflage scheme is the light grey dorsal section. I also considered some day-glo orange quick ID markings on wings and fin, but eventually stayed with the basic paint scheme and markings – the aircraft is so small, I did not want visual overkill.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The decals come from several sources: basic markings come from a Qatari alpha Jet from the Carpena "Gulf Air Power" decal set and a Mirage F.1C sheet from FFSMC Productions. The tactical code "QA 25" was created from single decal letters (TL Modellbau), the stencils were mostly taken from the Airfix OOB sheet. Everything pretty "down to earth".

Finally, the kit was sealed with a semi-matt acrylic varnish.

1:72 Folland Gnat T.11; "QA25" of the Qatar Emiri Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing; Doha International Airport, 1975 (Whif/Airfix kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A Gnat in desert colors looks somewhat strange when you are used to the Red Arrows or the RAF's red and white trainers. Anyway, I like the result – also because of the rather exotic Qatari markings, which are raising eyebrows by themselves. But the combo "works", IMHO.

Snowtrooper · May 07, 2017, 01:37:57 AM

Nice

Though I half expected that there would have been some cleverly hidden mods and I just imagined it to be OOB...

comrade harps · May 07, 2017, 02:57:37 AM

Perfect

zenrat · May 07, 2017, 03:18:57 AM

Was it hard?
Building it OOB I mean. Resisting those temptations...

Good job.

Dizzyfugu · May 07, 2017, 04:28:45 AM

Yes, it was tough - almost boring. But then, there must be some travesty whifs. Good therapy, esp. after some tough builds from teh Soviet GB. I even did a real world model (!) in the meantime!

NARSES2 · May 07, 2017, 08:08:47 AM

Suits that scheme Dizzy

JayBee · May 07, 2017, 09:19:45 AM

Terrific job, and I love your sideways opening canopy, a realy good shift from reality.

Dizzyfugu · May 08, 2017, 03:03:15 AM

He he, the different canopy hinge was more or less inspired by the Hawker Hawk's arrangement. Just a weird idea, but does not look out of place.

Glad you like this one - the pics are rather poor, because the light conditions were rather dubious during the shooting sessions. But the desert scheme suits the Gnat surprisingly well, and it would certainly not look out of place next to some RW Hunters from the Gulf region.