Pro Resin 1/72 Gnat F
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Introduction
First, a Google search for pictures of the real thing. One site from
Finland has wonderful close ups of the cockpit and other details.
Construction
 Next
and most daunting is to cut the delicate pieces from their casting tree.
The mold maker has done a good job of making these attachments very thin
but so is the kit piece. So great care is required! There were two places
on the fuselage that were short molded but nothing a little piece of white
plastic and some CNA couldn’t correct! The major parts were washed
with soap to remove any mold release residue. A small mesh strainer from
the kitchen kept little pieces like the tail from disappearing down the
drain!
 Dry
fitting the pieces showed fabulous fit everywhere except the ejection
seat, which is too high so the canopy won’t fit without some serious
sanding. The floor rests on the top of the nose wheel well. So thinning
the floor and sanding some from the nose well wheel solved the problem.
Actually, the bottom of the cockpit floor was sanded until the area under
the seat was gone
 There
are deep holes in the dash and side panels where the instrument would
be located. I filled these and used cut out instruments from a decal sheet
of instrument panels. Or you could just fill the holes with black paint.
My personal preference is to see real instrument faces if possible. A
real shame this all vanishes when the fuselage sides are closed and the
canopy attached. But you can see it with a flashlight! (see picture).
I used Monogram ProModeler World War II U.S.Navy Fighter Instrument
Panels...in1/72. This time I didn’t trim around the instrument too
closely and it worked!
 Place
a fuselage half flat on a large piece of 400 sandpaper and gentle sand
the edges where the halves join, checking frequently against the other
half for roundness at the exhaust and dry fitting the nose and canopy
or you may remove too much material! On mine, there is a 1/32” gap
where the fuselage should join in front of the windscreen but the nose
piece fits. Don’t know if I sanded too much, anyway the gap was
filled after attaching the nose. The fuselage halves lined up perfectly
on the panel lines. There was a little “step” where the halves
joined which was filled with CNA.
 I
deviated from the plan assembly sequence by gluing the wheel wells into
the fuselage without the landing gear attached. Hope that wasn‘t
a mistake, didn’t seem to be and the landing gear was spared all
the handling during construction! After gluing the fuselage together the
molded locators for the gear struts seemed to line up but the main wheel
openings did not or were not symmetrical. Careful carving with a sharp
#11 corrected this.
 Carefully
sanding the fuselage flat where the intakes attach will result in a fit
that requires minimal filler. I used small drops of thick CNA to feather
the inlet sides to the fuselage. I drilled out the gun opening and sanded
off those cylindrical bumps aft of the gun port. On the real plane those
are small round vents to exhaust gun gases. Those vents where drilled
out using a tiny drill bit (#80) in a hand drill.
The solid nose cone was drilled out and packed with lead weight. I thought
the recon nose was attached “straight” but as I was prepping
for paint...oops...it’s rotated off level. That square nose camera
and the side cameras make excellent reference points and the mistake showed
up BIG TIME! The nose was cut off and repositioned!
 The
vertical tail was carefully attached checking for alignment side to side
and vertical. A couple of attempts were required to “get it right”,
but the vertical tail is the basis for ALL alignment. Both the wings and
stabs are butt joints with no tabs, so holes were drilled for brass 20
thou rod. The fuselage was held in a “quickee jig” consisting
of a tube in the exhaust to hold the fuselage and two spacers of 7mm under
the wing tip for correct anhedral. (see picture) The piece of plastic
which held the tube also served as alignment reference for the vertical
tail to be...vertical. The wings were carefully positioned and while the
jig held everything, drops of CNA were placed on the joint. After the
glue was fixed” more filler was needed, especially under the wing,
for a smooth joint.
 The
kit plans show the retraction strut attaching to the oleo scissor. I couldn’t
find any photos or other reference to dispute this. Cutting the oleo scissor
from its casting plug was a very slow and delicate process. They could
easily fly off into that parallel universe or be eaten by the floor monster!
One cracked, but was repaired. The retraction strut’s attachment
bracket must be gently cut wider so the oleo will fit. All very delicate
work but the result is beautiful!
Fitting the two struts into their nicely molded locators, it was obvious
the retraction strut was too long. Cutting off the part that slips into
the aft locator was enough. The cut end of the retract strut was sanded
to fit into the locator. With this modification, the strut assembly matched
the 80 degree angle called for in the plans. (see picture).
 The
wheel mounting post on both the landing gear struts was “short molded”.
To lengthen these, a hole was carefully drilled through the post, a brass
20 thous rod inserted then another plastic rod slid over the brass. The
wheel fits very close to the strut and apparently is parallel to the strut
and tilted at an angle to the ground, like the early Me 109 wheels.
The horizontal stab is also a “butt joint” although there
is a small “plug” at the leading edge that “fits”
into a hole in the fuselage. This “plug" was drilled and a
brass rod was added for additional strength. To avoid damage, the stabs
were not attached until all sanding and other assembly was complete. The
jig was used to assure proper alignment.
 The
canopy fits almost perfectly after careful trimming and much dry fitting.
A small molding bump in the canopy was sanded out with 400 WND followed
by super fine sandpaper from a model car buffing set and ending with polishing
compound. Probably not needed, but after the buffing and a dip in Future,
it was as clear as crystal!
To duplicate the framing at the front of the canopy, a paper pattern
was made of the front clear windscreen and when acceptable, traced onto
masking tape, cut and applied. Then a thin strip...1/8”...of masking
tape was applied to the canopy about 1/16” from the edge of the
pattern/tape.
The Gnat on the website is gray and what looks like OD on top with a
painted aluminum bottom. The kit calls for white in the wheel wells...I’ll
bet they are painted aluminum!
 When
it came time to paint the camo scheme, I made a “Xerox” copy
of the three view drawing on the plans...scaled to the size of the model.
I masked the silver and sprayed the Extra Dark Sea Gray. Then I cut out
the Xerox pattern to mask off the gray, traced it on masking tape, cut
it out and masked off the gray on the “flat surfaces. Scraps were
used to carry that pattern around the fuselage. It worked! Mark references
on the tape, such as leading edges to help locate the mask on the “flat
surfaces”.
The colors used for this model are Extra Dark Sea Gray (probably should
have used Med. Sea Grey) and "faded" OD, both from Model Master.
After spraying a base coat, some white was added to the color and sprayed
in places to break up the monotone of the base coat. The photo shows the
wheels painted light gray on the Finnish Gnat.
 The
decals are by Begemont. There was a slight out of register on the roundels.
The Yugo stars are applied separately and there was no problem getting
proper alignment. The decals release quickly and in a puddle of water
or MicroSet will move around easily. But they sure don’t like MicroSol
or SolvaSet! These make them wrinkle excessively and it takes over 12
hours to lay almost flat. I found the initial MicroSet made them snuggle
into the recesses, well almost! Also be sure to have a glossy base for
the decals, otherwise they will silver!
Trying to attach the main wheel covers is a very difficult process!
Study the plans and the picture listed above to have a visual image of
how they should look when attached. The little drawing in step 7 isn’t
sufficient information. Don’t attach the front wheels to give your
fingers more maneuvering room while doing this. It ain’t easy!
 The
pitot tubes were 20 thous brass rod chucked in a Dremel and spun against
a sanding stick until tapered, then painted aluminum/silver. The drop
tanks are beautiful but I prefer the model “clean”...of course
it don’t fly very far!
Construction
I’ve written much but the kit goes together very easily (written
before the wheel covers!). No alignment or fit problems as experienced
with the other two Pro Resin kits. This kit is a real joy.
 Thanks
to Pro Resin for the review kit.
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