I began my search for a winter project in August ‘23 by asking Brian Harrington if he was willing to sell his Avanti Sports Jet. He said “No!”. However, after months of pestering him, he said “yes” because he was going to purchase the new Avanti Version 2.
I began with my usual process - parts replacement, repair and reinforcing damaged areas, then preparing the surfaces for painting. I decided to paint the model in the Canadian Snow Bird colour scheme, similar to my T-33, with decals from Callie Graphics. I think the Snow Bird scheme looks good on the Avanti and should be sky friendly.
Just before Christmas, Barry Parkinson announced he might sell his Avanti and buy the new Avanti Sports Jet Version 2. I was interested. So now I have another winter project and a third Avanti. It’s my opinion - if you paint the same model with a different paint scheme, it looks like a different model.
I knew Chris Klepsch had painted a BAE Hawk in a Swiss Airforce colour scheme; so after a long chat, we decided the Avanti would look “HAWK LIKE” with the Swiss colours. It would be a more challenging paint job for me. I ordered the decals from Callie, then began my usual repairs and structural reinforcement. During the surface prep, I noticed the foam on the upper wing surface, above the landing gear boxes, was soft and cracked (possibly due to hundreds of Barry’s landings). I reinforced this area with a piece of fiberglass cloth then finished with lots of spackling compound filler and sanding.
I started the hardest part of the paint scheme first — “eyeballing” the fuselage paint line between the red and white then duplicating it on the other side. It was very labour intensive — align the masking tape - measure - lift the masking tape - measure - lift the tape again - measure again, many, many times before the paint brush hits the surface.
I think the Avanti Swiss Hawk paint scheme suits the model. Each model took about 10 weeks to complete and, as is my custom, each model hints to my age. Eric Klepsch will be my test pilot for both models this summer.
Cheers,
Ted Pritlove
