The Scimitar FB-2, the RAF's heavy hitter

[The Rat]

Anyone built the Xtrakit Scimitar?

I was going to buy one, to 'save' my Skybirds kit for posterity, and then found the Xtrakit ones go for STUPID money on ebay! The Skybirds ones are ASTRONOMOCAL though! 

Said it before, sayin' it again: Airfix, it's long overdue... 

[Gondor]

I was going to buy one, to 'save' my Skybirds kit for posterity, and then found the Xtrakit ones go for STUPID money on ebay! The Skybirds ones are ASTRONOMOCAL though! 

Said it before, sayin' it again: Airfix, it's long overdue... 

Agreed!

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

The die is cast on the FB2's cockpit configuration now, It's going to be a tandem 2-seater with the nose extended about a scale 3 feet to make room for the Wizzo and his techie gear. The extra droopiness of the nose is just not quite noticeable and it should fair into the fuselage quite nicely after a bit scratching and a LOT of PSR of course. I've not decided to fair the canopy into the spine, like a Hunter, yet or leave it with the itty-bitty intake half way along the spine.



The front seat's already glued in place, but the Wizzo's seat, one from my Frieghtdog tandem 2-seat Hunter conversion, is only 'gravity located' at present.

The cockpit assembly has been a real PITA so far, the various casted and etched bits just DON'T fit. The PE panel is far too wide for neither the styrene nose nor the cast cockpit tub, the seat needed to be heavily filed to fit into the tub and then filed some more so as not to foul the canopy, which is higher than the pukka Scimitar F1 canopy!

The instruction diagrams male no sense at all, and the instructions don't even mention the seat anywhere! The airbrake PE set is maybe 2/3 of the size it should be, and no way will it fit the recesses just forward of the exhausts, so I think the FB2 will have a totally different airbrake arrangement.

Quite how this kit got such rave reviews back in the day I have NO idea, I can only assume none of the 'reviewers' actually built the kit!

[kerick]

Well, at least it won't be a tail sitter with all that metal!
I think this will shape up to look very cool. Lots of work but it will be worth it. You do have the wings to look forward too.....

[PR19_Kit]

Well, at least it won't be a tail sitter with all that metal!

THAT'S for sure! I was worried that it might be with the hefty exhaust castings aft of the main wheels, but it never showed a hint of being one. The styrene is pretty thick too so the overall weight of the model is remarkable. OGL may have to beef up the SIG's mezzanine floor for the next show. 

[kerick]

I was taking a third look at the last pic and I thought the Heller two seat Harrier canopy might have worked but no cockpit interior is included so you would still need to build that. Better off this way.

[PR19_Kit]

I was taking a third look at the last pic and I thought the Heller two seat Harrier canopy might have worked but no cockpit interior is included so you would still need to build that. Better off this way.

Yes, that canopy may well suit, but while I have a couple of those Bobcat kits in The Loft, I'm 120 miles away from it at present, and I DO have the tandem 2 seat Hunter kit with me, as luck would have it. 

I'll be scratching up a back seat panel and side consoles later today, and blanking off the big hole at the back too.

[jcf]

The die is cast on the FB2's cockpit configuration now, It's going to be a tandem 2-seater with the nose extended about a scale 3 feet to make room for the Wizzo and his techie gear. The extra droopiness of the nose is just not quite noticeable and it should fair into the fuselage quite nicely after a bit scratching and a LOT of PSR of course. I've not decided to fair the canopy into the spine, like a Hunter, yet or leave it with the itty-bitty intake half way along the spine.



The front seat's already glued in place, but the Wizzo's seat, one from my Frieghtdog tandem 2-seat Hunter conversion, is only 'gravity located' at present.

The cockpit assembly has been a real PITA so far, the various casted and etched bits just DON'T fit. The PE panel is far too wide for neither the styrene nose nor the cast cockpit tub, the seat needed to be heavily filed to fit into the tub and then filed some more so as not to foul the canopy, which is higher than the pukka Scimitar F1 canopy!

The instruction diagrams male no sense at all, and the instructions don't even mention the seat anywhere! The airbrake PE set is maybe 2/3 of the size it should be, and no way will it fit the recesses just forward of the exhausts, so I think the FB2 will have a totally different airbrake arrangement.

Quite how this kit got such rave reviews back in the day I have NO idea, I can only assume none of the 'reviewers' actually built the kit!



Quite how this

A very large proportion of "reviews" in the heyday of print and into the current age are best described as "in box", or as is the current rage on youtube "unboxings".
🙄
The honest reviewers always made it clear that they were just relating first impressions, but many others weren't so upfront. Of course, very often when there was a full build review done and the builder wrote up a true honest critique pointing out the bad with the good they got slated for being over critical. The common cry being that they were "too negative" and would somehow destroy the hobby and they then lumped any honest reviewers in with the nitpicking "rivet counters". A truly idiotic mindset.

[PR19_Kit]

I WAS a 'reviewer' in the 70s-80s, and always said it like it was, no matter what various magazine editors said.

My comments after building the M'Box F-104 Starfighter were the reason I now build Whiffs almost entirely, as the late Ron Moulton, then the editor of Scale Models Magazine, said I'd have to give it some positive points, and I said there weren't any (!) so that review never did get printed.

I converted the F-104 into an RAF Starfighter F3, my first ever Whiff, and the rest is history etc. 

Editors were always sensitive about their advertising revenue, sometimes over sensitive..................

[PR19_Kit]

I've filled in the panels under the exhausts with carefully cut styrene blanks, and there'll be LOTS of PSR later on I can assure you! The RAF Scimitars retained the arrestor hook, but only for use with runway arrestors systems as they had no folding wings, thus the hook is just about visible right at the aft end of the fuselage.



And now I've done the majority of the PSR too, or the 'P' bit of it anyway! For some reason this kit has quite a few extra 'lumps and bumps' on the wings and fuselage that don't seem to be there in the many pics I've seen, now that I have a good book on the aircraft.

They've now gone, thanks to the file and wet & dry paper.....

[PR19_Kit]

The cockpit's finished having its greeblies added now and is ready for some paint.



You may also notice evidence of a considerable amount of PSR work too, and I've spent AGES lashing on tons of putty and sanding it off again. Not just the bits in this pic but pretty much all over the airframe. A big pity as all the fine panel lines are destined to be sanded off, and I'm really not in the mood to scribe them all back on again. I may do some, but not all of them

[PR19_Kit]

The interminable PSR goes on and on and ON with the Scimitar FB2! I think I'm on the 4th or 5th session by now, and soon  it won't have ANY panel lines left at all.
The worst bit of the PSR is sanding the wing roots in the area ruled 'waist'. Trying to get rid of excess putty deep in the root needs a file rather than wet & dry!

It's looking a bit more as it should do now though, which is positive.

[PR19_Kit]

The Scimitar FB2's airframe is pretty well complete now, all of the main bits anyway.



The extensions for the wing are in place with the tips sawn down and fitted as well, but will need substantial filing and PSR later of course. That's if they actually dry out properly............

So far the styrene tip extensions have snapped off twice on each side and I'm starting to think that they need supergluing really. The very ancient Skybirds plastic does not glue well to more modern styrene, at least using my standard Revell Contacta Pro and De Luxe Plastic Magic mixture. I recall I had the same problem when I built the MB5 PR3 from one of their first kits, neither the extended wing tips nor the belly intake wanted to stay attached to the airframe.

Trying to get the tailplane and fin in place was a PITA too, the tailplane being about 2 x too thick to fit in the gap allowed, and needed a LOT of heavy duty filing to thin it down enough to fit.

But it's all together now hopefully, and I can think about the weapons load and the landing gear next. Or maybe some paint, who knows?

[PR19_Kit]

When I did built the MB5 PR3 in 2017 I said '....The Scimitar would seem to be a much more complex task though..............  )

Was I ever right! 

[Gondor]

Looking good kit.   

Wing extensions, who would have thought...... 

Gondor