Beautifully molded with fine, recessed detail, Xtrakit's Sea Vixen includes resin detail parts plus a set of masks for the clear parts and the drone version's paint scheme. Xtradecal's companion release of its new Sea Vixen sheet X72077 features markings for five FAW.1s and 14 FAW.2s with five squadron markings, plus an FAW.2 of the Royal Navy Air Yard. Though not advertised, parts for an FAW.1 are in the kit.
The instructions show part numbers reversed for the outer halves of each tail boom and for some clear parts - minor technicalities - but Part C24, the fuel dump nozzle, should be on the right wing, not the left as shown. The kit is easily assembled, and fit of all parts was generally good.
The kit's interior tub features basic cockpits for the pilot and radar operator, and two resin Martin-Baker ejection seats. The D.3 conversion of the aircraft had drone equipment "black boxes" installed in the
R/O's position in place of the ejection seat. They're not provided in the kit but easily fabricated.
The fuselage is split into upper and lower halves, into which the cockpit module, wheel wells, intake trunks, and engine faces fit before assembly. The left intake trunk didn't match up well with the fuselage. I fixed that by gluing a small piece of sheet styrene into the intakes - this also nicely represents the boundary layer splitters absent from the kit. The intake airflow vanes aren't provided in the kit, either.
The tail booms and outer wing panels abut the fuselage center section with no pins or tabs provided. For strength, I used tube cement to attach them. Filler was needed on the aft seams of the external pinion fuel tanks.
The landing-gear parts are nicely done, with a resin nose gear and injection-molded mains. However, minimal detail is present in the main wheel wells.
The kit subject is the last flying Sea Vixen. Three markings options are given: Fleet Air Arm service with 899 Squadron; converted to D.3 drone configuration; and - by adding the civil registration G-CVIX - as the Red Bull-sponsored flying example. The Aviprint decals are superb and need no setting solution, but they're extra thin and tend to fold back on themselves, requiring extra care in handling and application.
The clear parts are nice, with a separate canopy and windscreen provided. The R/O's hatch didn't fit the opening in its fairing very well, so I posed it open with a "hinge" made from a piece of scrap aluminum.
Xtrakit's Sea Vixen gets kudos from me. It rates as a perfect model for my tastes - a few easily-rectified fit issues to satisfy my modeling urges, with lots of possibilities for detailing the interior, wingfolds, antennae, etc. Despite its size and relative complexity, I spent only 20 hours building this kit. Its ease of construction makes it a great kit for someone's first mixed-media project.
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