1/48 Airways Gloster Javelin FAW1

Gallery Article by Darius Aibara

Gloster Javelin FAW1 
This is the old 1/48 Airways vac-form kit assembled as an FAW1 of No. 46 Squadron at RAF Odiham circa 1956. The kit provides vac-formed top and bottom fuselage halves with spit wings, fin and tailplane. A single vac-formed canopy was provided but it was not very clear and had an unsightly blemish. No other details are provided save for the underside fuel tanks, some vac-formed wheels and what could possibly have been intended as Firestreak missiles. An excellent set of instructions includes detailed 3-view drawings showing all panels and stencils as well as photos of the actual aircraft.  A basic decal sheet completes the kit. This is an old-fashioned vac-form, nothing like the superb Dynavector kits of today!

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The components were separated from the vac-form backing in the usual way and the missing components scratch built as follows:- 

• Complete cockpit interior including sidewalls, consoles and pedals from plastic card stock and Reheat etched brass cockpit details.
• Aeroclub white metal ejection seats with tape belts.
• Jet intake ducts from a suitably sized spares box drop tank cemented, sawn in half, cleaned up and faired into the vac fuselage with plenty of filler.
• Jet exhausts from fibre tip pen tops that were exactly the right diameter.
• Undercarriage struts from the spares box and plastic stock.
• Replacement main wheels - actually 1/72 B52 resin wheels from True-Details - the vac-formed nose wheel was utilised.
• Undercarriage wheel wells and doors from plastic sheet.
• Flaps and speed brakes from plastic sheet.

Initially the Airways vac-formed canopy was used, blemish and all, but I later purchased Dynavector's FAW9 kit and replaced it with the spare canopy from that - much better.

The complete kit was sprayed with Halfords grey primer and the under fuselage sprayed silver.  Humbrol enamel was used for the camouflage - brush applied.  The kit decal roundels were used despite being the wrong shade of blue (no spares of the correct large diameter) but the rest of the markings and stencils came from spares.

The access ladder was scratch built from plastic card and steel wire using the drawings provided with the kit instructions.