Flashback to late November, 2023. When my most excellent bride heard me discussing the new Airfix Gannet with a friend, she knew I really wanted one. She heard me lamenting the fact that the usual suspects in the US probably wouldn’t get them until Spring or Summer of ‘24 at best. She tracked one down from a hobby shop in the UK as a Christmas gift for me! Needless to say I was really surprised to see this treasure arriving in south Alabama so soon and couldn’t wait to start it. All I can say is, what a kit. Here’s the result of the first two day’s work on it.

16 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I'm green with envy @j-healy. It looks as good as I hoped it would.

I'll definitely be following this to see what develops and what the result is.

Really jealous for your new kit, John (@j-healy). I have always liked this plane and have been waiting for it to show up in the US. Kit looks very nice and looking forward to your build.

Excellent job so far, my friend @j-healy!

The interior looks really impressive, John @j-healy
Never heard about the Liquid Gravity stuff, does it have the same weight as lead.

I was a little surprised to see Airfix call for a black nose wheel well. A little online research confirmed black to be the right color. I also learned more than I thought I’d ever know about Fairey Gannet main wheel wells. Gannet AS models could come from the factory with either Sky or deep green wheel wells. The overall silver painted trainers were delivered with silver wells. Repaints could be Sky or silver for all models. I decided to go with green for mine just to be different. An exhaustive inventory of my paint supply yielded Mr. Color Kawanishi green as an exact match for the photos I saw. Airfix went to great lengths to detail the wheel wells and some careful painting will make it stand out.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

The liquid gravity is actually very small metal balls. It will get into those nooks and crannies that are too small for regular weights. It’s very dense. Not sure exactly what material it’s made from.

Great progress and ditto research, my friend @j-healy!