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Oscar EW-5894 from Hot Shots! (Folland Gnat)


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I love it when I get the opportunity to do something a little goofy with a model. Anyway, I wanted to build the brand new Airfix 1/72 Gnat, but didn't entirely feel like doing it in the same striking HSS and orange colorscheme that every other one I've seen had been done in. So I opted to do something a bit sillier. This was originally started for a GB over at Britmodeler, but I didn't finish it in time. I just got it to this point today. I may tweak it a bit more, but for now I am declaring it done. There are some markings that I scrounged from scrap decal sheets (such as the Danger, Rescue and the Navy marking on the wings). But the rest of the markings, such as the "The Navy" titles for the fuselage, the rocket pod markings and the stars and bars are all ALPS printed.

So without further adeau (Part deaux), I present the Oscar EW-5894 attack jet (sans rearview mirror, radio antenna and window sticker). I may still try my hand at making a tiny suction cup Garfield for the canopy. ;)

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Except for the decals, the kit otherwise is an out of the box build (which is why I haven't put a cover over the back seat. I did add some tape seatbelts for the interior. I must say, Airfix did a cracking good little kit and the quality of it is excellent for a model that only costs $9.00 or so. Some of the parts (such as the retraction strut on the nose gear) were really delicate though. Except for some minor caressing of the fit in spots, this kit fit together almost like a dream.

Paint-wise, the work was pretty easy. I used light ghost gray for the main color. masking and painting the intakes in red was tricky work, which I am not exactly keen on trying to duplicate anytime soon. She may not be 100% perfect, but she'll look good in my display case.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Thanks Holmes. I wouldn't exactly call it "flawless" (the camera hides a few tiny sins), but I did manage to disguise some of the more offending bits. Still, this little cracker of a model kit fit together REALLY nice, which helps the resulting model to look pretty dang good.

I still love how well the rocket pods turned out.

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"Alpha Velveeta Knuckle Underwear, you are cleared for take-off. When you hit that nuclear weapons plant... drop a bomb for me!"

"Uh, Sphincter Mucus Niner Ringworm, roger!"

Love that movie.

Awesome idea and great result.

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what scale is the airfix kit...I have the older matchbox 1/72 kit that im doing the exact same thing. I would love to see this in 1/48th

The new Airfix kit is 1/72. Part of me is hoping that Airfix considers doing a 1/48 Gnat since this new kit is a pretty good seller for them.

BTW, I've also put up a review video for the Airfix Gnat up on Youtube (with some Hot Shots reference photos at the end):

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Excellent work ! great subject, unique and a bit of humour! awesome welldone Jay !

only thing i dont like are those airfix trench like panel lines - reminds me of one of the corgi metal toys. but thats not a reflection on the quality of the modelling.

cheers

Mark

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