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I remember my first trip to the Australian National Aviation Museum in Moorabbin well, I was and still am awed by the collection of aircraft there. The Mirage, Sabre, Beaufighter and other aircraft from Australia's great aviation past, but surprisingly, or maybe not so much, one of the aircraft there stole my attention the moment I first saw it. It's big, ugly and at the same time ruggedly charming, The Fairey Gannet. I looked at it with its 8 bladed counter rotating props, massive tale and wings and wondered how the hell it got off the deck of an Aircraft Carrier. I knew I had to build one. I put the word out that I wanted one, and once again Wally came to the rescue for a reasonable price.

After finally getting the Commissioned Herc, the dollhouse for my niece and the Bushmaster PMV of my desk it was time to crack open and start the kit.



I started off over a few nights, razor saw and wet n dry sand paper in hand, removing the moulding blocks from the sharp detailed cockpit, undercarriage and nose pieces, and last night after dinner I begun assembly. Now I just cant wait for this work day to be over and to get back into it tonight.





Work has been a bit quiet this week, so I have been able to spend a good deal of time searching the internet for references and build threads, so I'm aware that the nose fit will need a little work and the lack of locating pins on the fuselage halves can be a challenge, but I'm up to it and I think I may even head out to the museum again tomorrow morning for another look.

Nice work Troy, quite a detailed kit there

I was always fascinated that the Gannet was is one of the few aircraft that is built from the outside inwards, the reasoning behind this is that it eliminates little errors and makes them more aerodynamically efficient, why they though that would be needed on an ASW aircraft I never could understand.

I could hardly wait to get home from work yesterday. I haven't been this keen to work on a kit for a while. Made some great progress last night too.

I got the cockpit tubs painted up and ready for installation.


There is a known problem with this kit, where the resin nose does not match the shape of the two fuselage halves. Following the advice of others, I made a fillet piece for the two sections that will make blending the two pieces together easier.


Wings and tails assembled and some cushions for the seats scratched up and painted.

About to head back in now, so lets see what I get up to today.

I stuck a heap of lead sinkers in the nose. The thing weighs tonne. I did not want a tail sitter.


I then proceeded to button it up. All went well. I even used some brass rod to reinforce the landing gear and attached the tail.


She still wants to sit on her fat ass. But it looks good. If the need be, i'll prop it up with the tail hook.

Coming along nicely Troy. damn ugly aircraft but nice build

After a bit of fun getting the canopies to fit, assembly was finished and I got it in undercoat. Not a bad way to spend ANZAC day.

Sky is down...



...and props are painted.


More tomorrow night.

Nice work man. Big bit of gear that

Groovy Troy!

Out of interest, what is that hole in the bottom of the drivers seat - some special "relief discharge chute" for long distance missions?

Cheers

Adam

Adam the Akrodude wrote:Groovy Troy!

Out of interest, what is that hole in the bottom of the drivers seat - some special "relief discharge chute" for long distance missions?

Cheers

Adam

No idea mate. It was just there. I may have sanded to much of the resin from underneath off as its probably not meant to be open like that, but as I was putting the cushion in, it didn't bother me too much.