Gloster Javelin F.A.W. 9/9R

[cph64]

Another 'Classic' or is that 'Drastic Plastic'? This is the 1975 Frog/Rovex kit and shows it's age (don't we all?). Raised panel lines, mold seams and knock out points in the worst place possible, so this will require lots of TLC. I'm not sure about the quality of the decals yet so have started digging through my spares just in case. The pilots and ejector seats are no gos with the latter to be replaced by some white metal MB Mk.3s, courtesy of Col. Tony's spares.
The cockpit has nothing to stop you seeing the bottom half of the kit so I've blanked that off, also there's nothing to stop you seeing the inside of the plane in the cockpit area when the fuselage is joined up so I rooted around for tubing of the desired diameter and ended up using the bulb part of pipettes. These will need blending in once everything has set. The fan blades on the blanking plate are from Ar 234 Jumo engine spares.

[MSea]

Fun Fun Fun hohohho you will enjoy this one Chris

[chriswil42]

That will keep you busy Chris.

[Jonners]

An interesting project, Chris! I recently acquired (for much less than the usual asking price, naturally) a 1/48 Dynavector vacform Javelin FAW9. The FROG kit, mind you, is just masochism!
Jon

[cph64]

With the fuselage joined up the wings and tailplane were fitted. After fitting the metal seats I found that the canopy wouldn't fit into place which was strange as they are smaller than the kit 'deckhairs'. These were trimmed and sanded until they allowed the canopy to fit, which was duely masked. The underside was sprayed with Tamiya Aluminium as this, according to some sources, is actually High Speed Silver. Once dry the upper surfaces were spryed with Tamiya Ocean Grey and RAF Dark Green. The undercarriage fought me all the way with first the nosewheel not staying in place followed by one of the main undercarriage. Lots of superglue and PLasticWeld followed to get them something like, not perfect but near enough. The decals were appled after a coat of Klear and suprisingly for their age didn't crack and went on well, settling down under Micro Sol. The Underwing tanks and missiles were attached and it was time to remove the canopy masking. DISASTER!!!! The canopy had fogged. It was applied using Elmer's Purple which should have been ok so I wonder if their was still some superglue fumes hanging around which caused the problem. With the canopy to clean up further and the white seals to apply I'm calling this one finished for now as there's a lot more to build in the stash.
I definitely didn't make a silk purse from a sow's ear with this one, more like a Tesco carrier bag!!!!

[MSea]

Looks ready to fly       

[Bigkev]

Hi Chris,
That has turned out well, despite the canopy fogging issue which I think the superglue fumes would be the culprit.
You should be proud with the finished article. You have made a great job out of an elderly kit.
Have a house point!
Kevin

[chriswil42]

Yes really good Chris. Nicely finished.

[zak]

Hi Chris,
That has turned out well, despite the canopy fogging issue which I think the superglue fumes would be the culprit.
You should be proud with the finished article. You have made a great job out of an elderly kit.
Have a house point!
Kevin

The dreaded superglue inside a sealed area will cause fogging.

[cph64]

SALVATION (well nearly). I read an online article about the Norfolk and Suffolk Air Museum now having to charge for admission and whilst reading I thought I'd see what aircraft they have. Lo and behold they have a Javelin FAW 9 and due to being outside it's canopies have fogged over with condensation. Therefore I'm claiming that mine is suffering from the same problem. Simples!!!!!