The kit is the excellent Revell 1/48 Rafale B. Purists may note that I have used the original 'Prototype' version and not the later 'production' version of the kit which is representative of a 2007 airframe. Lets just say major Air Forces of the world are not the only ones suffering budgetary constraints, and besides this was a build for fun and not for the rivet counters!!!
The only item that was not in the box was the excellent "Arctic Tigers Part 3" decal sheet from Model Alliance. And yes I do have an Airfix Super Etendard in the stash for the other markings in the set!!
Paints as usual were Gunze and Tamiya Acrylics, Future and Gunze Flat base for the clear coats, Phil's Dark Dirt for the wash and Gunze smoke for the post shading.
The kit was built out of the box with the removal of the extra light on top of the tail fin as this was on the prototype only and nose of the Mica missile was reshaped to represent an IR one that can be seen in photos of this plane (this version of the kit only has the radar profile Mica's)
The Box Art
This is the original boxing and not the more recent update that has it's own 2006 Tiger Meet decals.
The sprues - all still in the sealed up bag!!
No aftermarket detailing on this one, just a beaut set of decals from Model Alliance
I do have the Super Etendard kit as well; however I will have to mould an extra drop tank out of resin as Airfix only supply one in the kit.
Don't know whether that is more daunting than the decals appear to be - there are two more sheets of just tiger stripes as well!!
So I have decided to take the easier option and build the Rafale first...I also thought it would be nice to build a kit OOB for once too.
A bit of work and the front and rear offices are ready to be installed in the top half of the fuselage. One thing about the Rafale cockpit... there's not much to detail as it is really just a number of display panels all of which are just a slightly different shade of black when they are off!!. I did try to show the depth of the Head level displays by painting black then filling with clear blue paint and then some krystal clear. Also the seats are just various shades of grey, ranging from a charcoal look for the seat itself, a slightly purple hue for the cushions and back to grey for the belts. and as for the rest of the panels, switches and joysticks....just more shades of grey!!
As for the build itself, just a couple of tricky bits around the intakes but in reality it all went together very well.
Well I kinda got carried away and forgot to take photos of the pre shading and the base coat without the lightened sections in the panels, but here she is ready for a coat of Klear and then the decals.
Decals are going on, here is a teaser!!
The decals are on, wash has been applied, postshading complete and ready for the final fit out and clear coat.
The sheer elegance of this plane demanded some unusual shots, so I hope you enjoy the shots that are taken from slightly unusual angles as well as the normal ones.
Thanks
Graham
