Edgely Optica

I finished my Edgely Optica model kit. The Optica was a weird 1970s British plane made to replace helicopters (no helicopter licence required), but it was too fast compared to a chopper. Each of the aircraft made was unique, so this particular one was yellow, with white interior, blue floor, and pinstripe seats.

The kit is a 1/72 Sharkit resin kit, and pretty horrible. I had to pin lots of parts, sand and fill everything, and detail and fit was rather poor generally. The vacuform canopy had to be cut roughly to fit; I just clipped it on, and it looks OK like that. I also just stuck the front section into the fan enclosure, no gluing; it makes it easy to transport.

I also made the base, with road, pre-bought grass, hedges, and some airbrushing for colour variation.

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Sea Vixen

Sea Vixen FAW.1

The Sea Vixen was a 1960s Royal Navy all-weather fighter. Pretty, but dangerous to the crews; a lot crashed. The radar operator sat in a "coal hole" with no forward view.

This is a 1/72 MPM kit. The kit had poor fit (butt-joined wings and books, ick), but there were some decent resin parts (including very undersized seats). The best bit was having pre-cut masks for the canopies. The decals on top were a challenge - lots of mostly-clear decals that could not show any silvering or they'd look awful. I got them right, luckily

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