Gannets galore

[zenrat]

Great link....lots of info there. Glad I have finally seen how the engines are positioned I has no idea !

Check out the rest of the website.  Some of the entries have a useful guide to available models of the type.

[Captain Canada]

Cheers ! Ya it's a great site that's for sure !

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Made a little progress - life gets in the way!
Have started with Trumpeter kit - just a little detail in the cockpits, though little can be seen through closed cockpits.
Some work in progress - story to follow when finished.

[NARSES2]

Looking good

[Mossie]

Striking paint job.

[KiwiZac]

That red one reminds me of Spencer Flack's G-FIRE and G-FURY....are you telling me he also had G-ANET or G-GANT??!

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Sorry - not Spencer Flack, but now that you mention it, he could have had one as a support aircraft!
Nearly finished. The lining did not look quite right round the nose, so have been playing.

[nighthunter]

Looks vaguely Crimson Skies...

[The Big Gimper]

Beautiful. Reminds of this F8F paint job:



For the fire fighter version, maybe the Lonestar Models F7F conversion kit would work?  Mike has both 800 and 1,000 gallon versions.

[Glenn Gilbertson]

The F.I.G.A.S. Gannets
(RW) In 1953 Argentina, under Peron, offered to buy the Falkland Islands from Britain in order to end the dispute over the sovereignty over the territory. This was dismissed as unthinkable by the British government, but Argentina's claims did not go away.
By the mid-1950s the size of Britain's defence budget was causing concern to Parliament, and post-Peron Argentina was becoming politically more unstable, with the rise of ultra-nationalist and militarist groups. The British government became worried that factions in Argentina would precipitate some military adventure against the Falklands, South Georgia and/or the South Sandwich Islands, so wished to provide some deterrent without provocatively militarising the area. H.M. Treasury had a collective fit of the vapours at the very suggestion of a permanent South Atlantic carrier group.
At the time there was no hard runway in the Falklands; the Falklands Islands Government Air Service operated aircraft that could fly from short grass strips or be fitted with floats. There was no airline connection to the islands.
(Whifworld) It was decided to provide a short runway at Stanley suitable for small airliners such as the Fokker Friendship. This was for two-fold reasons; firstly to foster friendly communications with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay (and incidentally getting the islanders to look away from London and more to their neighbours), and secondly to facilitate reinforcement by the Royal Navy.
The move to anti-submarine helicopters in the Royal Navy (though at the time the Whirlwinds were short ranged and not very reliable) meant that a number of Fairey Gannets, capable maritime patrol and strike aircraft, were becoming available. A goodwill cruise was arranged by a naval squadron headed by the aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark. Four Gannets were flown off to be based at Stanley, but it was announced that they were to be maritime patrol, search-and –rescue aircraft, civil registered and operated by F.I.G.A.S. In the face of Argentinian disquiet, it was explained that for economy reasons the aircraft were not demilitarised in any way, meaning that their radar could search for distressed ships and their Lindholme rescue gear would still be available. Remaining carrier-capable meant that replacements could be shipped out and aircraft retuned to the UK for major servicing. The only trained crews were admittedly from the Fleet Air Arm, but while with F.I.G.A.S. they would be civilians on leave from their service. It was not British policy to discuss the nature of any Royal Naval stores kept at the base.
The treasury was delighted that the funding was not from the defence budget (unpopular) but could be seen as Crown Dependency Development via the Commonwealth Office (more easily approved). The Gannets served well until 1975 when they were withdrawn for age and expense reasons. Anglo-Argentine relations soon took a turn for the worse.
The model
The Trumpeter kit built virtually out-of-the-box; not much to say about fit except for the canopies, which needed some work to blend in. The windows in front of the rearmost canopy were drilled out and filled with Kristal Klear. As originally built the flaps were in the landing position, but all photos of unoccupied aircraft show retracted flaps, so they were cut off and repositioned. Canopy seam lines were removed and clarity restored with Future. Painting was with brushed acrylics, the lettering from 55-year old Yeoman generic sheets – which behaved perfectly, not a hint of the carrier film cracking! Rigging was with EZE—line – the first time that I have used it, and it won't be the last.

[zenrat]

 

[NARSES2]

Nice one mate 

[Weaver]

Excellent, well done! Great to see another F.I.G.A.S. aircraft in the build!

[Captain Canada]

Beautiful. Great job on this one !

[Mossie]

Nice job Glenn.