Aeroclub make some great 1:48 kits of RAF aircraft that no-one else will consider. Their limited run injection moulded kits of the Hunting/BAC Jet Provost and Strikemaster are no exception. The Jet Provost T5 kit comprises relatively thickly moulded fuselage and wing parts with white metal undercarriage and cockpit details. Two single piece vac-form canopies are provided along with decals for an RAF 1FTW aircraft.
The mating surfaces of the plastic parts have to be sanded to give a clean connection and give the liquid poly glue something to grab on to. The rest of the construction is as for a regular injection moulded kit and with relatively few parts does not take long to build. Some filler was needed to blend in the separate jet intake parts with the fuselage.
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When assembly was
completed I masked the cockpit tub and sprayed on several coats of Halfords
white auto primer, This served as the upper fuselage colour and made the
red lower colour stand out better than with a darker undercoat. I masked
the demarcation lines and brush applied a Humbrol satin red colour to the wings
and fuselage. The black anti glare nose is Humbrol matt black brush
applied. Several coats of Johnson's' Clear varnish sealed in the paint and
got rid of the matt primer finish (warning - the matt white primer finish
is excellent for picking up dirt and smears, but a coat of Clear will enable any
marks to be wiped away!).
