by [b]Darius Aibara[/b]
This is the Aeroclub 1:48 vac-formed kit of the Folland Gnat Mk 1 built as a Hindustan Aircraft Limited built aircraft as operated by an Indian Air Force operational conversion unit. The single seat Gnat was evaluated by the RAF, however they procured the two seat trainer version, which was also used for aerobatic displays by the "Yellowjacks" and later the "Red Arrows" before it was replaced by the BAe Hawk. The single seat Mark 1 was sold to Finland and India, the latter country using it in combat with the North American Sabres of the Pakistan Air Force.
The kit is your basic vac form with fuselage halves, jet pipe, upper and lower wing and tailplane halves gear well walls and underwing tanks formed on a single plastic sheet. The undercarriage and ejection seat are nicely moulded in white metal and a single clear vac-formed canopy is provided. Decals are included for a Finnish Air Force Gnat but it was the side view of the IAF aircraft with tiger stripes shown in the instructions that caught my attention.
The vac form pieces were removed from the backing sheet and sanded down in time honoured way. I scratch built a cockpit to fit the ejection seat and added generic instrument dials to suit the aircraft's 1950's gestation. Filler was required on the lower fuselage joint and the wing to fuselage join but overall the fit was OK for a kit of this vintage. I sprayed the completed fuselage with grey auto primer and then sprayed the black nose and tail areas before masking and spraying the aluminium. SNJ powder was used to polish the natural metal areas before the spine and tail were further masked and yellow Humbrol enamel was applied from a spray can. I painted the orange tiger stripes by hand. The IAF roundels were spares from an OEZ Su7 kit and the serials came from the spares box.
A straightforward kit of a neglected subject, I look forward to the 1:48 forthcoming Aeroclub RAF Gnat T2.
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