Folland Gnat F.1 - Build in Progress

[Weaver]

The 'shelf' behind the pilot looks spot-on: you see exactly that sort of thing in aircraft with big bubble canopies. 

[strobez]

Added some primer and discovered a few more issues, so back to the drawing board in terms of putty and sanding.

[strobez]

Crap. Now you made me take out the Airfix Gnat from storage. As if I didn't have enough models on the desk already..

Hah! I know that feeling. It is a fun little kit though, so you won't regret it.  I think my scratch-built cockpit add-on changed the tight fit ever so slightly that I ended up creating some problems for myself. All relatively easily resolved (or over looked).

[zenrat]

Added some primer and discovered a few more issues, so back to the drawing board in terms of putty and sanding.

This pic shows what (IMO anyway) an attractive aircraft the Gnat is.  It may be small but its proportions seem right to me.

[strobez]

You're right.  It may be small, but it looks fast, quick and deadly... especially when you add some guns and missiles. 


To achieve that, I cut down a leftover missile set from an Academy MiG-21 kit and then scratched up a bit of a gun barrel that's vaguely similar to a real F.1 Gnat.


Still have to drill out the gun barrel a bit, but this should work just fine.

[strobez]

Ok... we now have paint down! I'm planning to have bare metal as the undercoat and a camouflage pattern over top.  Hope it works. 

m

[strobez]

Canopy on... and off... and on... and off again... and then on. Why can't I remember to make sure I check all the parts before I seal the cockpit in.   

[DogfighterZen]

Been there a few times...  But it's looking good!

[Devilfish]

I think something similar for what Mitsubishi did for their F-1 would be a good way to go.  Basically took the F-2 and sheet metaled over the second cockpit. Mitsubishi took the two seat F-2 and turned into a single seat F-1. You could just paint over the rear of the canopy, or better yet keep it clear to give your driver some rearward visibility, and scratch up a fuel tank in place of the rear seat.  Your Gnat will be very payload restricted with guns and missiles/bombs.  No need for the back seater. No real surgery required. 

-Dave

This is what I did with my ZELL Gnat. Left the original canopy (for commonality, cost, as well as rear vision) and filled the read space with Pilots survival pack and electronics.

[strobez]

Wow. Nice work.  I love how you added the missile racks on top. I'm going to put mine underwing (after shortening them to fit), but that looks really cool.

Anyway, for some reason, I let my beach vacation get in the way of my build project, but I'm back at it now.  I decided to try the hairspray weathering technique, so we'll see where this goes.  After a coat of bare metal aluminum, I'm planning a three-colour camouflage scheme. This is the first coat.  Since this is the first time I'm trying the hairspray thing, is it still going to work after all three colour coats are on?  That seems like the most logical thing to do, but is there something else I need to do between colour coats? Or will the hairspray just loosen up all the coats that are applied above it equally?

[zenrat]

On my Cat D9 dozer I applied red oxide primer, hairspray, yellow acrylic, hairspray and then blue acrylic over a few days (allowing each layer to dry before applying the next).  Then when all done and dried I wet it and scrubbed at it with an old electric toothbrush head (scrubbing by hand, not using the toothbrush). It worked pretty well.  I found I could control how much I took off going down through the layers.

I think the trick with this form of weathering is to not use too stiff a brush and to know when to stop.
The first time I tried it on an aircraft I got carried away and it finished up mostly NMF with a few scraps of paint here and there.

[strobez]

So you think the hairspray should be applied between each top coat of paint? I'd think that everything above the unstable hairspray layer would slide right off.

Anyway, I've the second layer masked up and ready to go... so here's hoping!

[zenrat]

That was just the way I did it.  I wanted to have just the blue missing on some places and then have blue and yellow both missing in others.

[strobez]

Ahhh... ok. I'm less enthusiastic.

If this works, I might get more creative, but the thought of doing layer upon meticulous layer only to have the whole thing turn into a gooey mess was less than appealing.

[TheChronicOne]

Looking good, bro!