Jean-Luc wrote


Good thing that the first batch of J-29A:s weren't delievered until spring 1951!

I'm happy to join with the "oldest" aircraft. I do hope to find the time to build one of the newest as well, i.e. the JAS-39 Gripen. I have the Italeri kit in 1/72 somewhere in the stash. It is a rather cool looking aircraft, and the Italeri kit comes with some hefty weaponry (see picture below). I haven't built a really modern aircraft before (the most modern was probably the Hasegawa J-35 Draken, and that one dates back to the 50's as well), so it will be interesting to try and accomplish the look of modern low-wiz camo etc...



Cheers!

Hi all!

I said that I would build a UH-60B Seahawk for this Campaign, but I hope I can change my mind (and build)?

This one landed on my doorstep;



It´s "modern" (post-50´s in any way!) and It seems to be a fun build, even though I don´t like the "lawn-dart" at all!

So why did I buy this kit at all?

I got It cheap, and It´s a new TAMIYA kit!
Some kit´s just screams " I´ll be great fun to build, so go ahead and build me NOW" when you look in the box.
That´s exactly what this Campaign Is all about; I´m going to have a great time building this kit!

This kit does not dissapoint as the box Is filled to the brim with parts;





This time Tamiya offers the best decals I have ever seen in a Tamiya box!
I belive I´ll go with the more colorful Tiger Meet scheme!



Cheers!

Stefan E

Thanks for the comments James and Andy!

Started work on the cockpit area in earnest a couple of nights ago.
Later versions of the Cheetah had some of the framework removed from the cockpit windshield (the two vertical parts), presumably to improve visibility.This may be apparent in the photo that I've previously posted. Therefore, they needed to be removed from the kit part as well. I've never attempted to modify clear parts before, so with some trepidation I started scraping , then sanding and buffing the plastic (the link for Heller's spare parts service was close at hand at all times). The result so far has been surprisingly good, time for a paddle in some Klear very soon (another first for me).

Pictures to follow soon guys.

Hi all!

Finally I have an all black Rafale!


The whole model was painted with Tamiya Black and some lighter grey shades including dark red brown color. Unfortunately the post shading effects all disapeared under the Future coats...
Next I think I will apply the decals and then spray a matt coat, maybe tinted with some grey to have the same finish as the real prototype... it was quite heavily weathered for a modern jet.





Before applying the paint, I had to add some more filler on the clear parts where they meet with the fuselage. If you display the model with the canopy in the opened position, there will be no problem. But since I wanted to close the canopy to preserve the clean lines of the C01, I had to do some extra work as you can see...



I plan to put the external stores on the ground like if the plane was displayed at an Air Show. The is quite a lot included in the kit to do so...



Tomorrow I'll apply the decals...

Jean-Luc

P.S. It's nice to have the new Tamiya F-16 kit in this Group Build Stefan...

I actually signed up for this campaign about a week and a half ago but had some problems with getting the pics off the camera. Im building Hasegawa's 1//48 Phantom in the 25th anniversary markings with an aries cockpit set. Hope to get some more done tomorrow and post the pics tomorrow night. Here's what ive done so far.

Jean that Rafale looks like a challenging one to weather, You should be able to pull it off br />
Samantha That phantom is looking good i Love you cockpit detail it looks stunning .

Yesterday i sprayed on my coat of grey to cover up the putty. I am going to do some preshading with a brush, see how that turns out, first time:_|.
I have a problem with the white because it is quite old and is very chunky, so when i put it through my airbrush the cup is left with thick paint on the bottom its going to have to take many coats because the paint that does go in is very light never buying from that store again wasted my money on 4 paints that have all turned out the same thickness

away from all the negatives all is doing well with my model

For a quick update on my entry check it out Here

Stefan, great looking kit. It would be impossible to resist for most modellers. If I were you I would also go for the Tiger meet markings. Looking forward to see this one get underway

Jean-Luc, that Rafale looks good. Very cool colour scheme. Is it black becauseit needs to look cool at an air show or is it a "production" colour scheme of radar waves absorbing paint/coating?

Hi Jesper!

Frankly... I don't know! But it indeed looks rather cool for a jet...

I applied the decals and "weathered" the surface of the plane by applying different grey colors. I will left the surface as it is without spraying any varnish as it looks quite convincing like that...



I have tinted the clear parts of the canopy in red with a mix of Future and Tamiya translucent paint (smoke, red and blue). The glazings of the real plane are tinted as well as you can see on the pictures of my previous post.



I still have to add some details and do the panel lines in black. I think the model will be finished in a couple of days... hopefully!

Jean-Luc

That looks great Jean-Luc. Excellent work on the weathering.

Beatiful work, Jean-Luc! I'm quite impressed that you manage to pull off an ultra-modern subjects as well! Hats off!

Looks like this will force me to join with the Jas-39 Gripen after all. Can't have a French aircraft hog all the spotlight! A long time since the Geese hunt, eh... Buddhos current build log of the Grumman Goose brought back some memories.

As usual, I let you have the 1/48 advantage...

Cheers!

WOW JEAN! absolutley brilliant profesional looking model .

Looks great, Jean-Luc. Seems like another outstanding model from you

Bjoern: Good that you put some Scandinavian Air Power in the sky. Especially since I have "defected" to the Mirage 2000 for my second build for this campaign

Hai Jean-Luc,

A very nice build, indeed.

But what amazes me most is that you have pulled this of in less than a month.

Are you doing nothing else but modelling?

I guess not, so what is the secret. How to build such faboulous model in so little time?????

On something completely different. I am in this campaign with an Apache but have hardly started becaasue I want to finalise my entry for another campaign which ends end november first.

I feel a bit lonely in that other campaign because everybody seems to have finished and moved on to other campaigns

A little bit of progress made. I've been removing some of the kit's cockpit details to make way for the replacement resin parts.





The Heller kit is proving to be the weak point of the whole build, it's really starting to show it's age these days.
I've got a Cheetah C conversion in my stash, I'd like to try out a Hobby Boss Mirage III for that one.

Jean-Luc she looks great…really, looks great! Love how the paint turned out as well. So will there be another modern jet in the future

Thanks,
Joe

Hello Samantha,
Glad to have you on. I’m so looking forward to seeing your finished entry. I’m a huge Phantom nut, especially those with colorful markings. Great start on the cockpit, how is the Aires set , any problems fitting into the fuselage.

Thanks,
Joe

Looks good with the cheetah, David. It looks like you the kit and the resin parts merge fine with the help of a little filler

Looking forward to see more

There is a problem fitting the Aries set into the fuselage the floor of the cockpit set had to be sanded paper thin as did the front wheel nose bay which the cockpit sits on. It was still a bit of a squeeze to get it to sit in properly. It fitted fine into the width of the cockpit it was just the hight of it on top of the wheel bay that caused the main problems. After that the rest of the fit was fine. I have noticed a pattern though I had an Aries cockpit for a spitfire and there was quite a few fit issues with that as well . Hoping to get some more done to it this weekend and get some new pics uploaded.

Thanks Jesper.
Yes, I have a feeling filler is going to be my best friend with this build Good job I have a spare tube.

Hi all!

Thanks for the kinds words about the Rafale.

At last I'm finished! It took me one month to finish this build but It seems to me it was longer than that...

I've added the panel lines. For this model I tried a new technique (at least for me). I used a 0,3 thick pen marker (water based but water resistant once dry). It worked quite well and I obtained the result I was looking for. I couldn't use a more common wash technique this time because the surface of the model is flat...



I also painted some panels in burnt iron at the base of the rudder (only on one side). There is an exhaust opening there and the panels are left bare metal on the Rafales.



Here are some pictures of the finished model. The formation lights are not provided as clear parts in the kit so I painted them in silver and added a coat of red and green transparent paint from Tamiya.














Joe, while I enjoyed the build, I must be honest and say that I'm more comfortable in building WW2 subjects. So I think I will stick to models of planes with propellers!

Jean-Luc

Congratulations Jean-Luc, very fine build.

Great build Jean-Luc.




What about a Orion or an Atlantique?

Wiz

Hi all!




Maybe more a Bearcat or a Skyraider. The only "modern" plane I might do in the future could be an A-10 since I often see some flying around my house in pairs for training flights. They come from Spangdahlem in Germany I think...

Thanks for the kind words...

Any progress from other participants?

Jean-Luc

Soon
I want to do a bit more work on the cockpit first.