Jet Provost Project

Back in the distant past, 2019, I created a project on Scalemates, simply called ‘Jet Provost‘.

The little Jet Provost has been used by a host of different Air Forces, so it lends itself to lots of different schemes. In addition, the RAF used it for many years and had many different schemes.

Also around that time, Aldi Supermarket was having an offer on the Airfix 1/72 Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.4 (A68219), which I picked up a few of, and also a few more during other Aldi offers. In total, I have had 5 Jet Provost T.4s. Added to these 5, I also have 3 Airfix 1/72 Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.3s (A02103) in my stash.

So, you can see how this would become a project of building up a collection of 1/72 Jet Provosts.

The builds

Build 1 – Jet Provost T.4 in the markings of the Royal Air Force ‘Red Pelicans’. This was also the first kit that I airbrushed, being a simple red scheme, which was a good one to start with.

You can read about this build in the following blog post: Airfix 1/72 Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.4

Build 2 – Jet Provost T.4 in the markings of the South Arabian Air Force, so technically this is a T.52, and was based at Khormaksar, Aden, in 1967. This one was a little more involved with the painting, as it features a two-brown camouflage scheme on the upper surfaces and Light Aircraft Grey on the lower surfaces.

The build was documented in the following blog post: Airfix 1:72 Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.4 (A68219)

Build 3 – Jet Provost T.4 in the markings of Royal Air Force 79(R) Squadron, based at RAF Brawdy, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1984. This scheme is typical of the Cold War RAF schemes of the time, Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces and Light Aircraft Grey on the lower surfaces.

Another build that has been documented as a blog post: Another Airfix 1/72 Jet Provost T.4

A quick mention here that, for Projects 2 and 3, I used decals from the excellent Xtradecal Sheet X72291, which I purchased from www.hannants.co.uk.

The following projects are ideas of what I would like to build, based on the Xtradecal sheet.

Planned Build 4 – This one will be a Jet Provost T.3 XP629 of Manby College of Air Warfare, ‘The Macaws’ Display Team, Royal Air Force. It was based at RAF Manby, Lincolnshire, in July 1968. The scheme is a combination of Light Aircraft Grey and red, and should look quite striking.

Planned Build 5 – Moving to more exotic climes for this one, a Jet Provost T.52 (basically a T.4) from the Venezuelan Air Force, based at Palo Negro, Maracay, Venezuela, in 1964. This will be another eye-catching scheme, of silver airframe with red-orange panels and colourful national markings.

Planned Build 6 – Another foreign scheme, this time a Jet Provost T.52 (T.4) in Kuwait Air Force finish, circa 1960. This will be another silver-finished Jet Provost, with a blue tail and tailplanes, plus a black nose and wing-tip tanks.

Planned Build 7 – Back with a Royal Air Force build of a Jet Provost T.3 of the Royal Air Force College, RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, circa 1960s. More silver and red-orange!

Planned Build 8 – Another exotic build in the form of a Jet Provost T.51 (T.3) in the markings of the Royal Ceylon Air Force/Sri Lankan Air Force in 1971. Again, more silver, red and orange!

Planned Build 9 – My final build, unless I pick up another kit, will be a Jet Provost T.4 in the Royal Air Force markings for 79(R) Squadron. But unlike Build 3, this scheme is Medium Sea Grey on the upper surfaces with Barley Grey on the lower surfaces, a yellow fuselage band and yellow wing-tip tanks. So, it will be quite a contrast to the camouflage version from Build 3.

Once all the builds are complete, I’ll have quite an interesting collection of Jet Provosts, all based on two Airfix kits. The kits are quite nice to build and certainly not difficult, so in theory, these should not take too long. But care will be needed with some of the schemes.