Dh Sea Vixen 1/32 Panther Models Constructions

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Dh Sea Vixen 1/32 Panther Models Constructions, Vac formed , resin, white metal and four months of work.

 

Was not sure how the end of the story will look , so, photographed whole build story and show it here now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For a such complex and pricey kit there is unusual lack of instructions included, just A4 plans and nothing more.

 

Internet search for walkarounds and two books, for drawings and details, used for this build .

 

Warpaint Series No. 11 - De Havilland Sea Vixen

 

 

and Barracuda Studios de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.1 and FAW.2. Flightline Series 1.

 

 

 

Cleaned and sorted resin parts,

 

 

Vac formed parts sanded on flat sandpaper,

 

 

Initial gluework, wings and tail booms, scaled up Warpaint drawings used as assembly and scribing guide.

 

 

Cockpit parts assembly

 

 

Tight fit, looks resin parts are oversized, not fit within vacformed nose area.

 

 

Nose wheel bay area,

 

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Some lead weight epoxied within radome and fuselage assembled,

 

 

Few depressions on the wings filled with polyester car putty and sprue sticks glued to tailbooms .

 

 

Now looks like Vixen,

 

 

Sanded and polished,

 

 

Tail and fuel tanks, glued.

 

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Surface preparation, putty, sand, polish, and again,

 

 

 

 

 

 

And gray primer paint,

 

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Wheel bays opened,

 

 

Another sanding/polishing session,

 

 

 

 

 

Priming again,

 

 

Panel lines engraving started,

 

 

 

Clipping the wing halves, on the "wing fold" line,

 

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Wing panels scribing,

 

 

Wing fences readied,

 

 

and superglued,

 

 

3mm dia steel wire used for wing joint,

 

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Wing joint test fit,

 

 

 

 

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Panels scribing,

 

 

200 gal wing tanks scratchbuild, rolled ( 5-6layers) paper, glued with white glue, after drying, soaked with superglue,

 

 

Wing pylons for tank and Firestreak rockets borrowed from Trumpeterg EE Lightning kit, scratchbuildes from 1mm styrene sheet .

 

Front and rear tank cone, made of car putty,

 

 

 

 

Sanded and soaked with superglue, again,

 

 

And sprayed with spray putty( something like Mr.Surfacer)

 

 

Panels scribed, topsides

 

 

undersides,

 

[Out2gtcha]

Wow, what a cool and unusual subject. Great follow through on the process and great tie in with all the pics. Lots of effort and time put in sanding and filling on this bird it looks like. "You a are tenacious like bull...." (some stupid credit card commercial on today that made me laugh). Its really turning out great.

 

I personally have not had the fortitude to tackle a vac yet.

Maybe one of these days if I find a nicely done vac of something they really arent making otherwise, such at this beautiful Vixen you have here.....

 

 

Keep the pics coming and well done!

 

Cheers,

Brian

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Arester hook glued,

 

 

Intake details,

 

 

Nose wheel scratched, original one was badly casted and was unusable, nose wheel is too small, also, replaced with one from spare box.

 

 

Canopy cuted, looks nice but also, looks too small, according the Warpaint drawings

 

 

Ready for paintwork,

 

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And before the paintwork, i need to solve the canopy problem.

 

It could not sat on its place due the high ejection seat and low canopy profile,

 

 

Saw the seat and shortened it for 3mm

 

 

Cockpit rear resin part, behind the seat was also "lowered" to fit within canopy,

 

 

Now all is fitted in cockpit, but canopy is still small,

 

 

 

Well, i use this small canopy, filled with car putty, as a master for thermoforming an new one,

 

 

 

New canopy on the master plug,

 

 

and on the place, now, everything is covered, 5mm higher and longer, 1,5mm wider, if Warpaints drawings are OK.

 

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Cockpit sprayed in black and drybrushed , detailed and completed prior the canopy was glued,

 

 

New canopy epoxied, i use epoxy glue for vacformed canopies, its easy to sand and does not need for additional putty application,

 

 

 

And now to tackle with canopy framing, brainstormed by Mr.J.P. "Phill" Smith,

God bless him!

 

Complex shape and design, hard to replicate, even in 1/32 scale,

 

 

Only DeHavilland could produce something like this, extreme metalwork.

 

Use 0,5 and 0,8 mm styrene sheets, and lot of "try and fail" attempts,

 

 

 

 

During the canopy framing work, while waiting for glue to cure, i mannaged to paint and prepare undercarriage for assembly,

 

 

Takes one whole day of work to complete just the windshield,

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And now with the easy part, airbrushing, topsides, EDSG/Revell 79(close match for 1/32)

 

 

Outer wing panels sprayed with one coat of gloss lacquer, Revell 1, giving real shade of EDSG , just for comparation .

 

 

Masking with masking film, for white undersides,

 

 

Revell SM 301 semi gloss white, whole can was used for this big bird,

 

 

And just few touches with brush, to correct some spots on paintwork,

 

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Next-decalling, first preparing surface with PRONTO ( European substitute for Future)

 

 

Decals ready for applying, good print, but really thin film, easy to break,

 

 

First break, underwing serial,

 

 

Second break, winged fist on the vertical tail,

 

 

Bunch of red stripes, walkways on the fuselage spine,

 

 

Looks there is not enough stripes for complete even half of the walkways,

 

 

Rest of lines i cut from some spare decals, not an easy work, cutting straight 0,5mm wide decal stripe, lot of stripes was not usable,

 

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And finished, sealed with coat of PRONTO,

 

 

Topside view,

 

 

Underside one,

 

 

Since this plane is museum sample, will not do lot of weathering,

 

Tangmere aviation museum

http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/flash_pa...rcraft&id=6