SCALE MODEL AIRCRAFT

The last aircraft designed by Supermarine to reach production, the Scimitar evolved from an undercarriage-less fleet fighter. Trials with a modified Vampire proved this idea impractical and the design was modified to incorporate a conventional undercarriage. After a lenghty gestation period the definitive Scimitar design  finally came to fruition in 1956. However, even at this late stage, the role of the aircraft was changed from fighter to strike aircraft, although it retained its four cannon armament. A wide variety of stores could be carried underwing on 4 pylons including Bullpup missiles, which made it the first Royal Navy aircraft with nuclear capability. An initial order for 100 was placed but in the event only 76 were actually built. Although rather unforgiving and only supersonic in shallow dive, due to thick wing profile and lack of afterburner on its Rolls Royce Avon 202 turbojets, The Scimitar is a magnificent aircraft with both gracious and aggressive lines, and is best remembered for its incredible noise and being the first Royal Navy aircraft to at least rival its contemporary land based aircraft in performance and capability.

The best reference material currently available on the web can be found at Thunder and Lightnings: An excellent website dedicated to postwar British fighters. There are also very interesing completed 1/48 Dynavector Scimitar models to be seen at the FAA SIG website, and at Modeling Madness.

I'm a Scimitar fan from the day in 1978 when my Dad bought me The Encyclopedia of Combat Aircraft by Bill Gunston. A nice black & white profile of the bird was inside, along with specification and performance data. I think that the Frog kit was already a rarity at the time. Shamefully since then, not a single injected plastic manufacturer issued a kit at any scale, to my knowledge! Both Magna Models and Czech Master have issued 1/72 resin kits in addition to the excellent 1/48 Dynavector vacform. The Czech Master 1/72 resin kit has an attractive look with clean parts nicely sealed in a plastic bag, two clear vacuformed canopies, a nice decal sheet for 3 options including stencils, and five A4 comprehensive instructions sheets including black & white pics of one of the preserved aircraft.

   

But although very positive comments have been written by reviewers in internet modeler (inbox), and May 2005 issues of Scale Aircraft Modelling and Scale Aviation Modeller International magazines (full reviews), I found this kit rather tricky to assemble, with inaccuracies. The parts had lots of bubbles to be faced, and I had cold sweats with extremely thin and brittle decals. Nevertheless, we have to thank CzechMaster for providing the 1/72 only game in town at this time.

   

Consequent repair due to bubbles was needed at the engine exhaust and tailplane areas. The dorsal spine and vertical stabilizer were the most tricky part to assemble, so plastic bits and lots of CA glue were needed to get a straight line. The arrestor hook and tail bumber area, a unique design on the Scimitar, have not been really understood by Czech Master (It took me a while too!) and significant rework was also needed there.

   

The Nose was also reshaped to look better like the real one. The moulding process for the wing resulting in a staggered surface of wing fences at the leading edge level (a common problem on resin kits, and more!) made me decide to wipe them off and rebuild them in sheet plastic. I forgot to insert them before the first step of my painting process, a light grey coat as primer.

   

After coating the model with Matt White Tamiya spray (TS-27), then with Ocean Grey (AS-10), which gives a pretty close shade to faded Extra Dark Sea Grey, I realized that the canopy was fairly inaccurate (too small, too narrow), and I couldn't continue that way if I wanted a model looking like the real thing. Fortunately, I had purchased a Magna box for the Scimitar a couple of years ago, and realized their vac canopy was much more accurate (so looks the entire kit, by the way, although without decals, and with much more part cleaning needed). So I managed to replace it without too much damage to my paintwork. A good coat of Humbrol Satin Varnish Spray came upon a sweaty and hairy decalling session. The engine intakes were masked without contact on the inner side, in a way to avoid tape marks upon varnishing. The landing gear was nice and simple to assemble, the dorsal antennas and aft fuel vent were scratchbuilt, as well as the left wingtip probe, the kit's probe being warped.

   

My choice was to represent XD272 of 804 Squadron on HMS Hermes in 1961, one of the 3 similar color options given. According to the Magna instructions sheet, the yellow tiger head on the tail has a grey knife in mouth, but there was not much I could do at this stage and decided too leave it yellow rather than taking the risk of a disaster.

   

Now I'm rather happy with my model despite a bit of inaccuracies. I think I managed to do something that look like the real thing.