WiP +++ D.H. Sea Venom Mk. 23, MFlGr 1, Deutsche Marineflieger; Jagel, 1961

[Rick Lowe]

 

The canopy looks like the inside of my cars' windscreen after being parked in the sun all day...   

[Old Wombat]

Watching this has reminded me that I need a 1/48 DH Sea Venom FAW Mk.53 (Mk.21 in RAN service) for my virtual RAN FAA Museum Flight.

Accordingly, I have advised Airfix that they need to manufacture one a.s.a.p.* 




[*: The Classic Airframes version, although not overly expensive, is relatively difficult to come by.]

[Dizzyfugu]

Painting phase, and the livery is quite simple, the German interpretation of the Sixties NATO standard naval paint scheme (a dark grey over a light grey), in this case RAL 7012 Basaltgrau (which is virtually identical with British Extra Dark Sea Grey) on top and RAL 7035 Lichtgrau underneath (instead of the British rather greenish Sky, or pure white). Deviating from SPINNERS' inspiring profile I gave the German Sea Venom a high waterline on the front fuselage, though, matching the high demarcation line on the tail booms – adapting the layout from the German Marineflieger Seahawks. From these I also copied the straight waterline in front of the cockpit (most RN or RNZAF Sea Venoms had only a rounded "bib" in front of the windscreen), and the dark wing leading edges as well as the air intakes were adopted.
I only used a very soft black ink washing on the model because Luftwaffe aircraft would hardly look weathered, I just used post-panel-shading to bring some virtual surface details back after the raised panel lines had mostly disappeared through all the sanding work.


1:72 de Havilland DH.112 'Sea Venom' FAW.23; 'VA+247' of the MFlGr 1 (1st Naval Fighter Wing), Deutsche Bundesluftwaffe, Fliegerhorst Jagel near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany), 1961 (What-if/FROG Kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 de Havilland DH.112 'Sea Venom' FAW.23; 'VA+247' of the MFlGr 1 (1st Naval Fighter Wing), Deutsche Bundesluftwaffe, Fliegerhorst Jagel near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany), 1961 (What-if/FROG Kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Further details: The cockpit tub became very dark grey, as well as the ejection seats, and to make them more visible under the blurry canopy I provided the crew with bright orange jumpsuits and white "bone domes".
The landing gear struts became a brownish metal (not certain if that's magnesium? I used Humbrol 56 and added a bit of sand brown), based on lengthy WWW research, while the wells became Humbrol 56 and the wheel discs became white – again inspired by the Marineflieger Seahawks. The Sidewinders became all-white, while the drop tanks were painted in RAL 7035 to match the rest of the aircraft.

[PR19_Kit]

Here's a thought, did the Marineflieger Sea Venoms actually keep the arrestor hooks in the fairings over their jet pipes?   

And if so,, why?

[Dizzyfugu]

In my world they retain them, together with other naval details. The German Sea Hawks were also kept "as is", and these went later to India and were deployed on/from Vikrant.

[Dizzyfugu]

Some more painting progress, while I try to solve a markings/decals puzzle...


1:72 de Havilland DH.112 'Sea Venom' FAW.23; 'VA+251' of the MFlGr 1 (1st Naval Fighter Wing), Deutsche Bundesluftwaffe, Fliegerhorst Jagel near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany), 1961 (What-if/FROG Kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 de Havilland DH.112 'Sea Venom' FAW.23; 'VA+251' of the MFlGr 1 (1st Naval Fighter Wing), Deutsche Bundesluftwaffe, Fliegerhorst Jagel near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany), 1961 (What-if/FROG Kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

Currently not much progress here - Germany is caught in a (severe) heat wave... 

[PR19_Kit]

We all are.