Sea Vixen whatif...

Archibald · September 19, 2006, 08:28:43 AM

Always been impressed by this aircraft (is there a kit available in 1/72 scale??)

First thing : clear the mess. Get ride of the Scimitar, Swift and Javelin.
In real world, the Sea Vixen lost no less than 6 years (it could have been ready in 1953, it entered service in 1959 only!) and as a consequence was slightly outdated.
Back to the whatif world...
the RAF and the RN agree to use the Vixen. The plane is developed in three variants
- all weather fighter for RAF
- fighter-bomber
- naval multirole fighter for the RN.
And foreign countries are interested by the type. Israel receive its first machines in late 1955, just in time for the Suez crisis. Arabs countries are also interested (Iran, Saudi Arabia). Australia of course, USA (after the failure of the Scorpion and the Canberra deal).
More and more powerful Avon variants, new wings push its speed to mach 1.5 - the Vixen II in 1956.

Shasper · September 19, 2006, 08:59:24 AM

The Americans would have to center-up the cockpit and make it tandem-place in liue of the anglocan layout

Shas B)

Archibald · September 19, 2006, 09:17:49 AM

Sure!! Why the British are so original? is it so difficult to make aircrafts in the same way as the rest of the world? I mea, with missiles and drop tanks BELOW the wings, and a canopy in the MIDDLE of the fuselage? ^_^

upnorth · September 19, 2006, 10:53:29 AM

For some reason I can easily see the Sea Vixen in service with India, both in naval and land based variations.

I can also see it in South African service working alongside their Buccaneers.

As for 1/72 Sea Vixens, the pickings are pathetic. You've got the old Frog kit which has been reissued by several outfits and the limited run kit by the Australian firm High Planes.

I've heard the Frog kit isn't worth building and the High Planes kit requires an advanced degree in engineering to get together suitably.

ysi_maniac · September 19, 2006, 11:06:33 AM

The Frog Sea Vixen was reissued by Revell and it is easy to find it. This reissue scarcely has flash or sink holes and with some modeling skills can make a decent model or a wonderful whatif.

kitnut617 · September 19, 2006, 01:42:11 PM

And don't forget this one:

http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=MAG7219

Robert

Martin H · September 19, 2006, 02:10:55 PM

QuoteSure!! Why the British are so original? is it so difficult to make aircrafts in the same way as the rest of the world? I mea, with missiles and drop tanks BELOW the wings, and a canopy in the MIDDLE of the fuselage? ^_^

Hey! some times u just gotta be different.

Ive heard that its something to do with the radar set, the operator needed to be in the dark to see the screen.

Shasper · September 19, 2006, 06:07:23 PM

While I find his taste of verbage a bit crude, I do agree w/Wooks, All you need for an older kit is a little TLC followed by some PSR, maybe a dash of AMA and voila, a masterpiece is made!

Shas B)

The Rat · September 19, 2006, 06:36:35 PM

The Sea Vixen deserves a good model produced of it (even though I tend to agree with Lee) because it's just so damned cool looking!

Beautiful? No.

Different? Decidedly.

Exotic? Quite.

All in all, something that is seriously underrepresented among the myriad of Bf-whatevers.

Maverick · September 19, 2006, 10:28:45 PM

QuotePathetic? You wot? Ye knaa, Aah'm getting really, REALLY pissed off with modellers today slagging older kits because they are so utterly f*cking spoilt now. What, with the latest wonderkit from Hasegawa or Tamiya which has them practically cumming in their pants because all they have to do is put a bit of glue in the box, shake it and out comes finished kit. That's not modelling, it's laziness.

Which is fine if all you're doing is a lineup of identikit grey, dull boring F16s or glorifying the evil of the Third Reich with umpteen different variants of the Bf 109G6/U2/R3 or Fw 190A8/R11. Model owt British apart from a select few and you're treat like scum by the manufacturers.

So yes, you'll have to put up with the Frog/Novo Sea Vixen. You're a modeller aren't you? Have you actually looked in the box of either kit or do you rely on the siren voices of the Joyless Modelling Numpties on The Site I'm Not Allowed To Mention who can't build anything without their wankfest of extra detail bits and their "wealth" of informed knowledge?* "Oh boo hoo, this kit has dimension issues with the radome as it's three scale millimetres too short!"

So what? The Frog Sea Vixen is a 1970s kit - one of the last before they went under - but there's nowt wrong with it that a bit of hard work and a few detail sets can't put right. In fact, apart from a new u/c and bang seat (both from Aeroclub), it looks every inch a Sea Vixen - you can get away with the lack of cockpit as it's black anyway.

*Yes, I know that's a gross simplification, but it remains a fact that The Site I'm Not Allowed To Mention is home to a right bunch of know nothing f*ckwits who slag kits off without actually looking at them.

Wooksta,

I whole heartedly agree with your sentiments. I have read ad infinitum in 'respected magazines' and 'knowledge websites' about how wonderful the latest P-51/Bf-109 is... I mean these peope think nothing of buying a 72nd scale fighter for equivalent prices to a fleet of B-52s.... combine that with their disdain for anything non-mainstream and their anally-retentive desire for rivet counting & voila, a wankfest to be had. I think the funniest thing i ever heard was some whacker going on about this one kit (can't remember the type) tell all & sundry how it was one degree off this way & .5 microns off that way and then blurbing on about the 'history' of the type only to start parrotting some load of crap that anyone with even a hint of references would know was complete poo-poo (with an english accent). Something along the lines of this sqn using this type blah blah which was a myth from the 50s. Add to that another article about some tosser who thought that the paint supplied by one of the more reputable firms wasn't right because it was a 'scale tone' of the colour and you have the AGM of the JMN/Rivetcounters of the world. Instead of bleating about a given subject, here's a thought, build something that looks similar to the original, it's a model at the end of the day not a 1:1 replica.

Rant Off

Maverick

Archibald · September 20, 2006, 02:27:14 AM

aparently most of you are fed by ARC...don't know this forum, but I just hate Key Publishing aviation forum. How boring!!! 83 pages of nationalistic statements, insults, stupid debate... as you always says here about ARC, something funny would be asking "can a MiG-25 intercept a SR-71?" Wait for some minuts, and enjoy the fireworks.
This forum is crap, I hate it so much!! God damn Key publishing AF!!

GeorgeC · September 20, 2006, 03:36:52 AM

QuotePathetic? You wot? Ye knaa, Aah'm getting really, REALLY pissed off with modellers today slagging older kits because they are so utterly f*cking spoilt now.

Get off the fence, Wooksta mate! We don't need words we need actions. Over at the Fabricating Real Oldies but Goodies (FROG) direct action group

we are preparing to seed Hannant's stock with some 'special' kits. Imagine the JMN's faces as they open their next Hasegamia 1/48th Fw190A9-14/a3-bis (the one with less manganese in the rivets) and find a block of balsa and a blunt pen knife!

Nurse? Nurse....

GeorgeC

Gervasius · September 20, 2006, 06:45:43 AM

Quote"can a MiG-25 intercept a SR-71?" Wait for some minuts, and enjoy the fireworks.

So that was you posting that question recently at Keypublishing? I absolutly LOVE that place, reading most posts there makes me feel more important than I really am.

Now, let's wait for evidence of YF-12 radome melting above Mach 2.8 :dum:

Marko

upnorth · September 20, 2006, 07:10:39 AM

Quote
QuotePathetic? You wot? Ye knaa, Aah'm getting really, REALLY pissed off with modellers today slagging older kits because they are so utterly f*cking spoilt now.
Get off the fence, Wooksta mate! We don't need words we need actions. Over at the Fabricating Real Oldies but Goodies (FROG) direct action group we are preparing to seed Hannant's stock with some 'special' kits. Imagine the JMN's faces as they open their next Hasegamia 1/48th Fw190A9-14/a3-bis (the one with less manganese in the rivets) and find a block of balsa and a blunt pen knife!

Nurse? Nurse....

GeorgeC

Alright, it was not me personally who said the Frog Sea Vixen was not worth building; I've heard it from several sources on and off the web yet not been fortunate enough myself to handle one.

Rest assured, if I got the chance to take a gander at the sprues myself and liked what I saw I'd snap one up. Old Frog kits don't scare me, I'm working on and off on their old Gannet and continuing on it in spite of Trumpeter's announcement of new Gannet kits, which knowing Trumpeter will hit the shelves sometime between when hell freezes over and a point in time even farther out than that.

I'm not a JMN or rivet counter, but I do like the kit to have within it the potential to come close to the real deal.

Sorry Wooksta, didn't mean to pet the cat backward there. If you say the Frog Sea Vixen comes close and have seen the real deal up close enough times to say so, thats good enough for me.

jcf · September 20, 2006, 08:45:18 AM

QuoteThe Sea Vixen deserves a good model produced of it (even though I tend to agree with Lee) because it's just so damned cool looking!

Beautiful? No.

Different? Decidedly.

Exotic? Quite.

All in all, something that is seriously underrepresented among the myriad of Bf-whatevers.

The 1/48th Dynavector vac is a lovely kit and Vancouver IPMS member Wayne Holmes took major gongs at the US Nats in 2004 with his jaw-dropping rendition. Wayne is definitely a joyfull modeller, he's a jeweler by profession and very willing to share his techniques.

Cheers, Jon