Except for a lot of add-on details in the cockpit (punched instrument faces, reworked ejection seats, sawn-open canopy, it’s basically stock. Solid overall detailing, but still before Airfix really hit its stride in the past couple of years. Fitting the wing and intakes to the fuselage was a bit tricky, but manageable. The fit of the wing slipper tanks was pretty poor, but some liberally-applied modeling skill and Milliput took care of that.

Finish is custom-mixed day-glo red from Testors paints and Metallizer Aluminum Plate for the high speed silver finish, all applied over Tamiya White Primer. Decals are from the kit and they are delightful to apply, but be sure to mask a white background for the roundels and fin flash. There’s more stenciling on this sheet than you’d find on a lot of 1/48 jet kits these days – I think the decal count on this model was 85.

I’ve got Airfix’s 1/48 Gnat in the to-do pile, and it’s more than a pantographed 1/72 kit. A lot of the fiddly aspects of the earlier kit do NOT seem to have carried over.

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.