Sea Vixen FAW. 1
Cockpit & Nose Sets

Pavla, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

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The set and replacement parts reviewed here are intended to compliment the recent Cyber Hobby Sea Vixen FAW 1. As it happens I’m in the middle of building one (but too far along to use the cockpit set!). Generally it’s a nice kit. that looks as if it should have great fit, but doesn’t always deliver 100% in this respect, plus it has some outline issues.

The most glaring of these it the nose cone, so Pavla’s simple replacement fix is extremely welcome by offering an immediate improvement. My advice if you have a Cyber Hobby Sea Vixen is to be sure to at least buy the nose correction. Regrettably it seems unlikely that an upper fuselage fix will be forthcoming for the kit’s overly raised contour along the spine.

The kit‘s miniature ejection seats are suitable only for 1/72-scale garden gnomes (funnily enough the MPM/Xtrakit Sea Vixen had the same problem). At a guess they look to be about 1/100-scale. So small are they that the pilot’s headrest cannot be seen above the cockpit coaming! Fortunately again Pavla has come to the rescue with individual pilot’s and observer’s seats.

A new pilot’s seat is essential, but the observer’s is only needed if you plan to model his hatch open in my opinion, because if modelled closed the seat won’t be seen. Interestingly the observer’s seat is almost 2mm shorter than the pilot’s. I believe that this is to fit within the slightly under-scale confines of the fuselage due to the thickness of the plastic.

If you want additional and more correct cockpit detail than the kit’s rather mediocre efforts then Pavla provide a very nice cockpit set. Unlike the previous items which are bagged with a card header, this set comes in a plastic bubble-pack with small items further protected in their own plastic bag.  You also get good instructions complete with generic colour call-outs. The set is very nicely done and captures the Sea Vixen cockpit’s rather antiquated and cluttered look very well. The accompanying images really tell the story here. As you would expect the set includes the two seats described above. There is a replacement instrument binnacle and the option to open two avionics bays in the nose, resin hatches being provided to replace these plastic areas cut open to reveal the detail. A replacement observer’s hatch is provided and this is larger than the kit item, presumably to correct a dimensional error by Cyber Hobby. Some care will be needed enlarging the kit’s opening, and the instructions advise that the hatch’s small window will need to be scratch-built. Unfortunately this set does not include a replacement vac-form canopy as is often found in other Pavla cockpit sets.

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All of the resin items are cast to high standards, with some fine detail evident. The instructions with paint call-outs are a welcome feature of Pavla cockpit sets, but I’d suggest enlarging these if your eyes are getting old like mine. Given the generic paint colours most will seek other references to guide finishing of seats and cockpit detail, and these are not too hard to find.

Produced to Pavla’s usual high standard, all of these items are recommended. In fact I’d go so far as to say the nose cone is an almost essential and very cost-effective improvement to the Cyber Model kit. Equally essential is a replacement pilot’s seat, but in this scale most replacement MB Mk.4 seats will do an adequate job of this, although Pavla’s claims to be the correct DSA version of Mk.4. The cockpit set is very good, and has good instructions. It would be even better with a vac-form canopy as found in many Pavla cockpit sets.

I should think that these sets would also suit the Frog/Revell and MPM/Xtrakit Sea Vixens, possibly with some adaption needed.  All four items are recommended subject to individual detailing and correction preferences.

Thanks to Pavla Models for the review samples.

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2012 by Mark Davies
Page Created 13 March, 2012
Last updated 13 March, 2012

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