Kit: No. 4804
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Dynavector Systems, 32 Reading Rd., Woodley, Reading, Berkshire RG5 3DB, England, fax 44-1734-628551
Price: £28.50 including postage (about $47.50)
Comments: Vacuum formed, 73 parts (38 cast metal), decals.

The Scimitar was the last in a long line of Supermarine fighters dating back to the famous Spitfire. The Scimitar was double the size of any previous Fleet Air Arm jet, and after a prolonged development, only 76 were produced; they served in seven squadrons. Only three have been preserved, one on the USS Intrepid in New York harbor.

Dynavector brings us high-quality .040″ vacuum-formed parts with fine recessed panel lines. The breakdown of the vacuum-formed parts minimizes visible seams and the need for filler. The canopy (a spare is included) is crystal clear and blemish free. Internal detail is adequate for this scale, but some modelers may want to add more to the cockpit.

The instructions include parts maps and eight assembly detail drawings, but overall assembly is up to you. If you have experience with vacuum-formed kits, this one is straightforward.

I opened up the prominent NACA ducts on the top of the fuselage and made louvers for the intake boundary layer air ducts. The fit of the white-metal parts in the cockpit after minor cleanup was excellent. I added a seat harness as the kit didn’t have one.

I reinforced the fuselage seams from the inside using thin strips of scrap plastic. Pay attention to the cross-member support and nose-gear-well layout in Figs. 1 and 4. Some filler was required along the seams. Be careful to get a good symmetrical fit of the intakes. Make sure the tail planes have a bit of anhedral; the support for them is not malformed.
When properly sanded down, the wing parts produce sharp leading and trailing edges. The real Scimitar’s wing was straight across at the bottom surface with the tapering thickness of the wing suggesting anhedral. The wings fit well to the fuselage, but leave enough time for the adhesive to cure.

The paint scheme is gloss white undersides with extra dark sea grey on top. I used Testor and Humbrol enamels, polished with 2,000-grit wet-or-dry sandpaper when cured.
Next I added an overcoat of Future, let it dry, and applied decals. Out of the three marking choices, I used the Scimitar from 807 NAS off of the HMS Centaur. The decals are translucent and my sample was printed slightly off register.

I substituted War Eagle roundels, but used the rest of the kit decals. There’s not much adhesive on the kit decals, so I helped them snuggle down with a mix of Kristal-Kleer and Solvaset. The array of stencils adds a nice touch. Another coat of Future went over the decals and was allowed to cure for a week.

The finished Scimitar does not look like a vac kit due to the fine surface scribing and good fit, shape, and detail. The model measures about 15 scale inches short in span but correct in length. My main reference was Gibbings and Gorman’s Scimitar. I spent approximately 25 hours on my model, but I’d built more than a dozen vacuum-formed kits before this.

Ross Whitaker