Revell 1/72 Fairey Gannet T.5 Kit First Look

By Sundiata Cowels

First Look

The Fairey Gannet was created for a United Kingdom late World War Two requirement for a ship based anti-submarine aircraft that would take advantage of the then-new turbo prop engine that had just entered into service. After its first successful flight in 1949 (in which it was the first turbo prop aircraft to successfully launch and land on an aircraft carrier), and entering service with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in 1955, it was the first aircraft in the UK that was capable of combat and search missions. the Gannet had a long career which wound down in 1973 when they were removed from front line service. With a pilot and two radar operators, the Gannet had a maximum speed of 250mph and a maximum endurance, at cruising speed, of five to six hours.

Okay, so the Gannet is not the sleekest looking aircraft design out there but it is certainly interesting. This particular Gannet model is a Trainer, Mark 5 which first flew in 1957 and was withdrawn from service in 1972.

The 129 part kit is molded in light grey styrene plastic on three trees, with one tree for thirteen clear plastic parts. Seven parts are not utilized for this build as per the instructions.

The molding is crisp with a few delicate pieces that will take care and patience to remove without breaking.

Curiously, although the box art and instructions label this kit as having been copyrighted and thus released this year, the date stamped on the inside fuselage interior half is 2007.

Unlike most aircraft models, this one actually begins assembly in the weapons bay (steps 1-2) before moving to the combination cockpit floor/wing spar section (steps 3-7).

After adding some detail pieces to the interior of the fuselage halves (steps 8-9), you then glue the fuselage together around the aforementioned cockpit floor/wing spar section. Revell advises to install a 30 gram piece of weight in the nose area (they have left a convenient spot available to do so- talk about engineering!) and to let the model dry for a few hours before resuming assembly.

Next up are the engine face (step 11), wings with moveable flaps (steps 12-13), tail planes with moveable surfaces (step 14) and then mounting those same units to the then dry fuselage (step15).

The remainder of the assembly allows you to choose having the spoilers, landing gear and weapons bay doors positioned up or down and the necessary steps for each variation (steps 16-26) and the final addition of the clear parts, propellers and antennas.

In all, there are 37 well illustrated steps to complete this kit.

Features

• Rotating propellers
• Boxed in wheel wells
• Moveable flaps
• Poseable spoilers
• Poseable landing gear
• Poseable weapons bay doors
• Poseable cockpit canopies
• Moveable tail fin rudder
• Moveable tail plane surfaces
• Nicely detailed

You have the choice of building one of two versions with the included decals; the T.5 of No. 849 Naval Air Squadron, based at RNAS Culdrose UK in September 1964 or Fairey Gannet T.5 Restoration, based at New Richmond Airport, Wisconsin, USA in January 2013.

Paint color callouts are given with reference to Revell based paints.

The Gannet T.5 may not appear as sleek as a Spitfire, or as exciting as a Lightning, but I think you may be surprised for what's in store if you purchase this kit for your collection.