1/72 Javelin T3 in Flight

[Ian Price1707820036]

Here is my attempt at the old 1/72 Javelin T3.  All the panel lines have been rescribed, I have vacuformed a new canopy, used photo etch for a Mk.9 to add detail in the cockpit, have added pilots and one or two other things.

I hope you have enjoyed the photo's?

Cheers

Ian

[John Symmons]

Hi Ian.

Very nice build especially like your new canopy, you should post how you did that; looks really great and shows off the interior nicely.

You not only do great builds but you're a dab-hand with the camera, especially like the close-ups of the nose, photos 5, 7, 9 & 10 really shows the power of the Javelin. Thanks for sharing your build, more please many more please. Keep the coming your an inspiration to us lesser mortals.

With all these great builds of these early jet I'm slowly being tempted to do one myself, always felt those early jets had a character and asthetic appeal that the modern ones can't quite match.

Remember we do this for fun     John the Pom

[the F-111C dude]

the javelin is one of my favorite jets from that era, realy niceley done

[Rael]

It looks very proffessionally built and finished, well done! By the way, when did Airfix retire the set?

[peebeep]

 By the way, when did Airfix retire the set?

If you mean the History of the RAF set, this had one issue in 2005. Airfix boxed Javelins were issued in the mid nineties and were from the Heller tooling, I would think the tooling is retained by Heller. I'm sure a lot of us are hoping for a new tool in 1/72 to the same quality as the Airfix 1/48 kit.

That looks very nicely done Ian.

[Ian Price1707820036]

Hi Ian.

Very nice build especially like your new canopy, you should post how you did that; looks really great and shows off the interior nicely.

You not only do great builds but you're a dab-hand with the camera, especially like the close-ups of the nose, photos 5, 7, 9 & 10 really shows the power of the Javelin. Thanks for sharing your build, more please many more please. Keep the coming your an inspiration to us lesser mortals.

With all these great builds of these early jet I'm slowly being tempted to do one myself, always felt those early jets had a character and asthetic appeal that the modern ones can't quite match.

Remember we do this for fun     John the Pom

Thanks John.  Because this was old kit the canopy had a few scratches and there were small bubbles in the clear plastic so I decided to vacuform a new one.  As you can see the vacuform one is really clear.  I used the old kit canopy as a template and I filled the scratches is and polished it.  Then I filled it with Plasticine to give the old canopy a bit of strength.  Then I made a mould housing from lego and then I added some Plasticine to the base and added the old canopy.

 

Then using a silicone kit I made up the solution and slowly poured it in the mould to try and prevent bubbles forming covering the kit canopy.  I left it over night to cure and then removed the lego and the canopy from the silicone mould.

Now I had to make the plug from plaster.  I used Crystacal R plaster which is really fine and gives a smooth finish.  So I made the plaster up and slowly poured it in the mould again trying to prevent any bubbles.  Once the mould is full I left it from about an hour to make sure it had gone off and I just popped it out of the mould.

 

I tidied the plug up a touch and I glued a scrap piece of wood to the base.  I then placed the plug in my vacuformer, then clamped in the clear PEG plastic, heated it up, turned on the vacuum when the plastic starts to sag and turned the heater switch off then the vacuum switch off. Believe it or not it took longer to type than to do.

 

I then removed the PEG plastic and cut off the excess plastic.

 

Now I carefully cut the new canopy off the plug trying not to damage the plug or canopy and I trimmed and sanded off the excess plastic which is the longest part of the process.  Then I glued the canopy to the fuselage using CA glue and Roket Card Glue to fill any gaps.

I hope this helps John.  Airfix support for replacement parts is excellent, probably the best but due to the age of the kit I didn't think they could help me with this one thats why I made a replacement.  Also it lets you make a little gem of a kit like this one.