Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Dynavector Systems, 32 Reading Road, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire RG5 3DB, England, phone 44-1734-628550
Price: £29 (about $45) plus shipping
Comments: Mixed media, 67 parts (29 vacuum-formed, 38 white metal), decals.

THE SEA VIXEN was the final development of de Havilland’s twin-boom fighter family, which traced its roots back to the Vampire of the mid-1940s. The two-place, all-weather fighter was the Fleet Air Arm’s first combat aircraft without guns. It was also the largest naval aircraft to operate from British carriers, serving for only a short period (1963-72) before being replaced by the F-4K Phantom.

This is an impressive kit. The crisp recessed panel lines and smooth surfaces of the vacuum-formed parts and the flash-free white-metal castings are the highlights. But it is a complicated project, so study the instructions carefully before you begin. If you wish to add extra detail, buy Scale Aircraft Modelling, Vol. 16, No. 8.

Be careful cutting the main parts from the vacuum-formed sheets. Too much cut or sanded away while preparing the parts will affect the fit. The way the parts break down hides many seams, so follow the assembly sequence.

I built the cockpit, tail booms, wing tanks, horizontal stabilizer, and outer wings as subassemblies. Don’t open the main-gear and nose-gear covers as these are closed except while the gear is retracting.

Closing the horizontally split fuselage traps the cockpit inside. You won’t need extra weight because the white-metal components are enough to keep the model on its nose gear.

I added airflow vanes to the intakes, shaped the exhaust openings, and added thin plastic strips to the inside of wing-joint openings to aid alignment of the wings to the fuselage.

The instructions show how to align the wings to the fuselage. Some filler was required around the intake and trailing edge areas of the wing-fuselage joint. The tail booms fit over the top of the wings and need to be parallel with each other and the center lines of the wings, not the fuselage. I had to use a little filler underneath the horizontal stabilizer.

I attached the windscreen, but left off the canopy, landing gear, and weapons until after painting. Model Master classic white was used on the undersides and Xtracolor extra dark sea grey on all upper surfaces. Xtracolor takes several days to fully cure.

Dynavector’s decals supply markings for three aircraft. However, my sample was printed slightly out of register, lacked sufficient glue, didn’t respond to Solvaset. I substituted War Eagle roundels and tried to trim away the clear film from the rest of the kit decals.

I spent about 50 hours building this long-awaited kit. It is an impressive and interesting subject, but make room on your model shelf for the 12 1/2″ span! If you are a Fleet Air Arm enthusiast as I am, Dynavector’s Sea Vixen will be a required addition to your collection.

Ross Whitaker