23 Sqdn. DH Venom T5

[Knightflyer]

Slight thread kipnap (my apologies Kit  ) but you or some-one reading might know the answer to this question?

The Fighter All Weather (FAW) Sea Venom aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm were as far as I know also capable of ground-attack (rockets and bombs during Suez?) did the Night Fighter (NF) Venoms of the RAF have the 'plumbing' in the wings (and therefor the same potential capability) or were they (and could they) only ever be pure gunfighters?

And if for some reason the RAF took some FAW.Mk.22s onto books  would they be the FAWGA.Mk.5 Venom 

[PR19_Kit]

I can't say I've ever seen a pic of a Land Venom carrying rockets, and almost all of the RAF NF2s and 3s were allocated to night fighter squadrons, so it'd seem unlikely. The FAA, having a limited carrying capacity aboard its carriers, tended to go for more 'universal' types AFAIK.

It'd have been an FAWGA 6, as the '5' no. was used by the trainer......... 

[Knightflyer]

I can't say I've ever seen a pic of a Land Venom carrying rockets, and almost all of the RAF NF2s and 3s were allocated to night fighter squadrons, so it'd seem unlikely. The FAA, having a limited carrying capacity aboard its carriers, tended to go for more 'universal' types AFAIK.

It'd have been an FAWGA 6, as the '5' no. was used by the trainer......... 

Of course it was ....silly me! (my thoughts are to have a 'Sea Venom Mk.22' used by the RAF in my 'Sudan Crisis' scenario as a dual purpose air defence/ground attack aircraft  )

[PR19_Kit]

And why not? This is WhiffWorld after all. 

[TheChronicOne]

Nutty!! I can dig. 

[PR19_Kit]

Now came the difficult bit....... 

Fitting the Sea Venom wings onto the combined Vampire nose and Venom engine took LOTS of accurate measuring, sawing and filing, and it's still not good enough as it is. The FROG styrene is so thick that it won't fit over the Airfix intake ducts, and if I did this again I'd leave the duct moulding out altogether, it's not as if you can see it anyway. I decided not to cut away the Rareplane engine's wing roots as it'd have left a big gap with nothing to glue the FROG wings to. Instead I cut away the inboard edge of the FROG wings, thus negating the 'pliers and file' work I did on the uptilted inboard trailing edge.

You can see the difference between the modified port wing compared to the standard starboard wing below. You can also see the minimal PSR I needed on the fuselage. Not a lot of it but a right pain to sand, that's for sure!



After it's glued together I'll need to sand off lots of the upper surface of the FROG wings to match the lovely Airfix intakes, but there's plenty of material there to do that.

[NARSES2]

From certain angles the fuselage in that photo looks like a face  Or at least one of those giant stone heads you see on Easter Island ?

Mind you it could just be all this sun finally getting to me 

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehe, I see what you mean Chris, yes it does. 

I left the undernose fairing off so far as Vampires/Venoms/Sea Vixens are notorious tail sitters and I want to ensure I've got some access for the lead shot that may be required.

[TheChronicOne]

LOL  you could go one step further and say that he's a wearing an American style western cowboy "10 gallon" hat.     "Howdy, pardner!"

[JayBee]

The trailing edge of the Vampire wing angles forward giving the wing a trapezoidal shape, The Venom has a straight, i.e. non swept, TE.

I am also working on a Venom trainer for this build but using the Cyber Hobby Sea Venom, the problem is that the fuselages of the the two kits, Airfix and Ciber Hobby, do not have the same cross section. The Cyber Hobby kit being narrower and more shallow. *%$+*$ 

OOPS! Didn't read the question properly.
The Cyber Hobby Venom/Sea Venom has that area as part of what you have to cut away to make the Venom, and it gives the correct new parts.

[PR19_Kit]

I'll have to get one of those Jim, I'm quite getting into this 'Venom Thing' now. 

[The Wooksta!]

Don't!  It was slated by someone who worked intimately on the real thing.  Their Sea Vampire is a parcel of cack too - the nose profile is all to cock and the cockpit interior bears no resemblance to any Vampire cockpit I've seen.  The engine upper cover is nice though, incorporating the pen nib fairing and it may well have an accident with some moulding rubber at some stage or other...

[PR19_Kit]

 
The engine upper cover is nice though, incorporating the pen nib fairing and it may well have an accident with some moulding rubber at some stage or other...

Such a pity, it'll have to be more careful in that case....... 

It's been PSR day for the T5, the wing roots and intakes have needed a fair amount of it, and my #1 sanding block is looking distinctly worn by now. Luckily I have a #2 and a #3 as well.

[JayBee]

Don't!  It was slated by someone who worked intimately on the real thing.  Their Sea Vampire is a parcel of cack too - the nose profile is all to cock and the cockpit interior bears no resemblance to any Vampire cockpit I've seen.  The engine upper cover is nice though, incorporating the pen nib fairing and it may well have an accident with some moulding rubber at some stage or other...

Indeed Lee, but it is all that I have so I am just going to have to make the best of it. heck this is WhIf world so who can say what is wrong or right. OK we can but what the heck! 

[PR19_Kit]

The port wing's firmly glued in place and I've filed down the upper surface to match the Airfix intake and carried out three PSR sessions. 

It looks terrible in the pic, but it feels pretty good, but we'll see after the first primer coat. Sadly I managed to file clean through the vacform engine bay at the rear and had to glue in a small strip and re-PSR it.