I went to a local air museum yesyerday and saw a fairey gannet which has got to be one of the most ugly aircraft that I have yet seen…and I must build one!
I did a search on ebay and came up with an 1/72 revel kit and a search at Sqaudron and came up with a 1/72 Chec Resin kit. I am fairly new to modelling and have not had much to do with resin, so am a little bit nervous about part with my hard earned (more worried about what the wife will say!) for a kit that might be beyond me.
I have read a fair bit about resin kits and made a few limited run, pain in the butt fit kits. So I guess I would consider my skills intermediate- I would be grateful if anyone could provide advice regarding the quality of the Chech resin kit, and/or alternative kits (preferably 1/48 scale)
Unfortunately there are no 1/48 scale kits available that I have found. Hopefully Classic Airframes will produce one since they tend to produce unusual British Aircraft. I saw a Gannet fly at Oshkosh a few years ago and thought it was pretty cool. I think it is one of those aircraft that is so ugly it’s neat looking.
There is a 1/48 kit out there, you just have to find it. Unfortunately, it is a vac-form kit by dynavector. If you don’t like resin, then you definitely won’t like vac-form. Here’s a link to a review of it.
The Fairey Gannet is so ugly that any camera pointed at it automatically self destructs.
That thing has GOT to be in the top 5 of the world’s most ugly airplanes. To each his own as far as preference in building. One of the museums in the upper midwest has one of those things in its collection.
KJ200:
You are correct, the Revell kit is the old Frog Gannet. Given their age, Frog kits can be every bit the pain in the butt that some limited run kits can be.
The Czech Master kit should be good, CMK is some of the best resin in the business.
As for the Dynavector kit, I seem to recall a photo of it showing up in an FSM Reader Gallery a few years back, German Navy if I recall correctly and it was built with its wings folded. Very impressive.
On a glimmer of hope, I understand that Trumpeter has announced a 1/72 Westland Wyvern, so who knows what they might be pumping out next.
If you really want it in 1/48, you should go over to Classic Airframes’ site, I think they have a wish list section and the Gannet may be aff the beaten track enough for them to give it serious consideration as a future release.
Sadly ASW aircraft get the short end of the stick no matter what they are in scale model representation. The jets get all the attention.
I’d love a model of the Breguet Alize (did same work for French Navy as Gannet did for British) but the only chances right now are an ANCIENT Heller kit of a really strange scale and a new Founderie Miniature 1/48 kit that costs an arm and a leg to buy and likely costs your sanity to build.
“I don’t like the Gannet…They wet their nests” Five points to those who actually know what I’m talking about there.
There are just too many oddities involved in that bird to not like it. The first picture I ever saw of it had me really scratching my head at the wing folding arrangement though.
The Dynavector Gannet is supposed to be a good bird, and if it’s anything like the Dynavector Wyvern that I’m making, once you cut out the parts & sand them down, it’s pretty much like making an injection moulded kit without locator pins.
Give the Dynavector kit a chance, and it’ll provide you with a challenge VERY unlike a resin kit, and a good kit in 1/48th. Believe me - if you pick your manufacturer carefully, there’s nothing to be scared of with a vacform. The Wyvern was my first vacform, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far [:)]