My already built 1/32 Sea Venom

Started by Spiros Pendedekas · 9 · 4 years ago · 1/32, de Havilland, DH100GB, Matchbox, Revell, Sea Venom
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Hi Great DH100GB!

    This big model of this beauty of a plane was built about 12 years ago, upon the rerelease of the Matchbox kit by Revell!

    I decided to take two shots this morning and post them at this lovely GB, hoping to provide some ideas and possibly see it brought up by one of our skilled friends here!

    You might admire the silvered decals and the "less-than-perfect" canopy painting, among others, courtesy of yours truly...

    The white has also turned "antique white-towards-heavy linen" - lol!

    I was impressed that Matchbox originally designed such a big kit, back in the 80's! There have been reported some omisions and simplifications, but it's a solid kit (and it's a Matchbox!).

    Of course, kudos to Revell for the reissue! I love such kind of kits/reissues! And at also lowlow prices back then...how could someone resist?

    Well, I couldn't, and put it together in 2008, my result leaving a lot to be desired, but I had a good time! Those were heroic years!

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    Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Aaahhh de Havilland Sea Venom. Thanks for the inspiration Spiros. The Sea Venom was an inspiration for others early on; The Swiss saw the hook, and were - well - hooked. As they had ordered Vamp's, they decided to trial a wire solution, and used the fuselage of a 109 (I know, some will state they used a 109 for experiments, but the fact remains it was just a fuselage attached to a truck). They abandoned the idea, only to re-visit it in the 90'e when they got F-18's that indeed use the wires in the same manner as RDAF F-16's - to stop at the end of the runway if the brakes have failed.
    At "my" airport we even have some foundations to install such a system for emergency deployment of the F-16's away from the main base if needed (alas not in use since the late 90's)
    Oh - that was way off the beaten track - see what your inspiration can do 🙂

    I hope we see a Sea Venom / Venom build in-progress in this GB too!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Thanks for the nice story, my friend @airbum!

    M2000 gives the option of an arresting hook or drag chute, both having the pros and cons.

    It's true that M2000 lands "hot", and a drag chute comes very handy when landing "hotter" or with specific failures.

    However, should you reach the end of the runway and have no brakes, you wish you had that hook...

    Moreover, the M2OOO drag chute is situated below the exhuast nozzle, meaning it's too low, meaning bye bye aerodynamic braking should you wish to deploy it: you have to put the nose down...

    Restrictions, restrictions...

    But that's the magic of aviation.

    PS: loved that off the beaten track way, and thanks for the slight allowance, Mr Admin!

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    Tom Cleaver said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    This is a kit that can be nicely upgraded. I got some resin MB ejection seats, which made the cockpit 100% improved, and Brengun does decals for Sea Venoms used in Operation Musketeer the late departed "infamous Bondo Phil" took one of these kits and with a lot of scratchbuilding had a fully-detailed cockpit and folding wings. I saw it back at the 1998 IPMS-USA Nats. Very impressive.

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    Colin Gomez said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    That is one beautiful Sea Venom, Spiros. I have never seen the Matchbox kit in the flesh but it must be very large in 1/32nd even though it is a fairly small airframe. You have chosen really vibrant colors for the FAA scheme and paints which also clearly went on very smooth. The decaling also looks flawless, something which follows more easily on top of good paintwork. I would like to see more photos, if you have them.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Hi Colin @coling!

    it is fairly large in 1/32, though it's a small airframe. I loved the sharkmouth Venom once I saw the Revell box art. Combined with the extra dark sea grey over white and the black/red chequered tip tanks, the choice was obvious! I used satin Humbrol enamels and wasn't disappointed: nice, smooth and forgiving (matts tend to"build up", should I be a bit careless during spraying). The only drawback is the white turns "antique white " over the years; maybe it's the satin protective coat to blame...who knows?

    I was a bit worried about the conformance of the tip tanks decals, but, with a bit of selective cutting, all went well.

    As far as I can recall, cockpit details are ok, but nothing exquisite. Tom Cleaver's @tcinla advice on replacing the seats with resin goodies will produce a nice result, allowing you to pose the canopy open (I go "closed canopies"..."to preserve the A/C aerodynamic lines"...translation: I am lazy detailing the cockpit - lol). In fact, Tom did an excellent 1/32 Sea Venom that you can admire in Modelingmadness webzine.

    I will be more than happy to take some more pics tonight and post them here.

    Thanks for liking!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    And a few more pics:


    I did not weather this lovely bird, so you'll see the undersides clean, at their now off-white towards cream shade.
    The last two pics were taken side by side with my 1/32 "LOOK! NO HANDS!" P-47, just to give you an idea of the Sea Venom's size.

    Cheers, my friends!

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    Jeremy Millan said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Beautiful plane and excellent paint job! Also looks cool sitting next to the P-47. I need to build a plane for this group!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 2 months ago:

    Thanks @jmillan!
    It would be really nice to see your entry here!