David's entomological build - Gnat T1 **FINISHED**

[DavidWomby]

Fuselage sealed up. The cockpit floor and seats drop in easily through the canopy space so they are not glued in yet. I'll leave them out until the fuselage is cleaned up. The splitter plates are on and there's a piece of plastic card stuck in there that will be the IP.



The wings and drop tanks are glued together and off to the side drying.

David

[IronMan129]

Nice work dwomby.
I have 2 Airfix Gnats in the stash as I really like them!

[DavidWomby]

Yesterday was focussed on the Lightnings so this made only a little progress. I attached the intakes. The port one stood a little high and had to be clamped down to squeeze the lips together a tiny bit. I also started some PSR on the panel lines. Not to eliminate them so much as to make them less prominent.



David

[fredk]

I think you might be beating this one to your will

[Stuart]

That's coming along nicely David!

[DavidWomby]

Wings on and puttied. Tailplanes need putty yet because I thought they were all-moving but they're not.



You can see this would have made a sweet little model for a beginner just left in its bare red and white plastic.

Mbox moulded the nose light and pitot in one piece. I think I'll have to put a clear blob on the nose tip for the light somehow.

I am beginning to feel a tad stressed with the Lightnings underway and this and the Cargo build coming up!!!!!

David

[Stuart]

A natty Gnat!

[DavidWomby]

As we all know, the Gnat is a pretty small aeroplane.

When doing two seaters, I try to use pilots in different poses from each other so I replaced one of the Mbox ones with a spare Afx one. Even after I removed his seat cushion, the poor Afx guy ended up having major surgery to fit: an arm broken and reset, legs gone and a backside sanded down to nothingness.



David

[splash]

I was only looking at a single seat Gnat at the Solent Air museum in Southampton two weeks ago, thinking how small the cockpit was, they had a bang seats on display and it looked tiny compared to the normal BM seats.

[DavidWomby]

Tiny is right but thanks for that really useful pic showing the seat colours


The Gnat was going to be primed today but I do that outdoor using a rattle can. It's really windy here today so it will have to be postponed.

David

[DavidWomby]

Clearly one dose of Tamiya rattle can primer wasn't enough to hide Mbox's red plastic..............



David

[DavidWomby]

Minute progress here (well, it is a tiny kit after all). Seats and pilots are in.



IPs are decals from a sheet I have of P-38, P-39 and P-51 decals but they look OK.



That red plastic is a bear to cover with white!

David

[splash]

How does this kit compare to the new Airfix kit?

I know when I built the new and old Airfix kits at the same time, the new kit was better designed and easier to build, but when completed it was difficult to tell them apart, untill you looked close at the wheels and cockpit.

[DavidWomby]

How does this kit compare to the new Airfix kit?

I know when I built the new and old Airfix kits at the same time, the new kit was better designed and easier to build, but when completed it was difficult to tell them apart, untill you looked close at the wheels and cockpit.

I'm afraid I can't really answer that, Splash. I have the new and old Airfix kits but haven't built either (well, I built the old one about 1966). Obviously the detail and part count of the new Afx is much superior but it looks a bit fiddly to me. I will say the fit on this little Mbox one is excellent - how was the new Afx in that regard?

As to this build: the canopy is on. Next is masking.

David

[JamesPerrin]

The MB kit was far superior to the old Airfix one, but the new Airfix kit is a quantum leap again, though not perfect as there are some fit issues around the intakes. For simple pleasures the MB kit is still worth building and make a good clothes horse if you are interested in doing lots of different markings.