Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.3

[Balsabasher]

Busy scene today on the Jet Provost T.3 assembly line,the models will be used in the classroom role to train new vintage and classic jet pilots,yes they are all spoken for.
All materials are salvaged timber,the wings from old furniture and the fuselages from pine pallet wood,all materials for free.
Lots of carving to do but it is a start.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Nice project. Are those wings made from plywood?

Lou

[Balsabasher]

No Lou they are beautifully close grained wood,I can see why you thought they were,the timber came from some very old  cupboard unit.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

It looks like it would be hard to carve. Just an impression.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

The next step towards carving this little lot has started,a quick sharpen up with my favourite chisel gets it ready for shaping the intakes carefully following the deep recess as it smooths out towards the wing fillet.
I decided to partially slot the wings to fuselage joint in order to make it easier to crank in the dihedral angle later,David Peace kindly pointed out that the Jet Provost prototypes were the only ones to have the leading edge additional inboard panel so I reworked my blanks by cutting across the inboard leading edge,lots of drawings and the Airfix kit show this incorrectly and thanks to Dave for alerting me before the model/s were too advanced.
Various tools are used including traditional spokeshaves,mini plane and a whittling knife from India,lots of patient checking and sanding to get the cross sections which are checked by sliding a rule across the contours,the shadow so produced allows adjustment either side of the fuselage,another method is to use a piece of string wrapped around the nose which is slid backwards and forwards to maintain the necessary shape,good old mark one eyeball and constant reference to photographs and sketches together with a feel for your subject,however there is an old adage 'You can take material off, but not put material on again' equally measure twice and cut once is another one to follow.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Would you provide us with the templates you used?  Looks great.

Lou

A 1/144 T.5 in hand.

[Balsabasher]

Certainly Lou,I will retrieve them from the workshop tomorrow and scan them for you,thats a good idea to share templates.
Thats a dinky little JP you have there.
Barry.

[Balsabasher]

More work in shaping and tapering the wings today,next task is to incorporate the dihedral angle.
Barry.

[Balsabasher]

Some assembly work undertaken today on the Jet Provost T.3,the other two will follow the same sequence as model one,firstly here are the templates for you Lou,the full sized ones have just been added and are on the album page.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Looking great Barry. I like the Training Command colours.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Wings and tail assemblies have been added,after these pictures were taken the wingtip tanks and dorsal fins were fitted.
I have re-worked the canopy profile as the drawing was not quite right,happy with that now,it is good to look at your unfinished models for a few days like paintings to see if anything stands out as not quite right,then you can take action.
Next stage is the putty work and contouring certain areas then a really good final sanding.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Looks fantastic as usual Barry. Looking froward the the completed project.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

A new self levelling filler primer made by Halfords is being tried out on these models,just like Lou with his red primer this is also messy to sand with yellow dust everywhere,but no pain no gain as they say and the initial results look promising,a bit more work with the putty knife and then on with the grey primer.

Barry.

[lastvautour]

Great work Barry. Yes, grey primer is on my shopping list, but alas my allowance for this month is nearly gone.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Primer and paints have now increased in price here,a 250 mil can costs £7.50,paint is my most expensive item to buy and I get through hundreds of cans in a year especially primer.

Barry.