French Lady

[Pappy]

G'day all,

Here is my Heller 1/48 Etendard IVM that I built a few years back. The kit went together easily enough but there a re a few pitfalls for the unwary. The first area is the tailplane. The Etendard features an all moving type with separate elevator portions. To eliminate the dreaded trailing edge seam and depict a the trailing edge section, Heller moulded the elevtor portion integral with one half. The fit of the two tailplane halves is atrocious however abd will require some filler and possibly a re-scribing.

Additionally, this tailplane droops when hydraulics are removed. The tailplane has "scuff plates" that move with the tailplane. If the modeller chooses to depict any other position, these will need to be sanded off the fin and new items scratch built. This is what I did.

The cockpit is quite bland and the only details provided are the decals. Mine were slightly out of register. The ejection seat would provide a base for the detailers, or better yet replaced with a resin item (there are plenty to choose from), but instead I opted to install a pilot. I also cut open the auxiliary inlet doors (above the main air inlets) and added new doors in the slightly open position to add interest. I hindsight, I probably could have left the tail plane alone since the engine is running, but I will say that the pilot is doing that!

The second pitfall concerns the wing tips. heller have thoughtfully moulded the wingtips separately to depict the folded wings typically seen on a carrier. If the builder wants to show the wind tips unfolded, there is a noticeable difference in thickness between the main wing and win tip sections, which will result in a step. It is not huge, but enough to be noticeable. I chickened out (you could say I 'folded', sorry couldn't resist!) and depicted the wings in the stowed state.

The kit provides some basic stores, and I couldn't resist The buddy re-fueling pod.

I painted the kit with Gunze Sanyo paints. I decided to use Carpena decals since the kit decals were out of register. The Carpena decals performed flawlessy and didn't even require decal setting solutions to settle into panels lines and conform to the curves - result!

I hope you like it,

cheers,

Pappy

[Tony Frey]

Great looking jet, Pappy.

[Graham T]

Pappy, looks excellent! I'm going to be posting my Airfix IVP here over the next couple of days & it'll make an interesting comparison. Agree with what you say about the wing tips but totally missed the matter of the drooping tailplane at rest. Parts beak-down is a little "interesting" but on the whole I found it quite an easy build. Are the Matra pods & buddy refuelling pack in the IVM kit?

[upnorth]

I like it!

I was perusing an article about the Super Etendard in a recent edition of SAMI and am rather tempted to try to model and Etendard of some description myself.

Edited May 1, 2008 by upnorth

[AnonymousDFB1]

Different and nice Pappy. Well done.

[Pappy]

Pappy, looks excellent! I'm going to be posting my Airfix IVP here over the next couple of days & it'll make an interesting comparison. Agree with what you say about the wing tips but totally missed the matter of the drooping tailplane at rest. Parts beak-down is a little "interesting" but on the whole I found it quite an easy build. Are the Matra pods & buddy refuelling pack in the IVM kit?

G'day Graham,

The tailplane is a nuisance, most people don't bother. The buddy pod and matra's are included in the IVM kit. My IVM was a Heller boxing, and I have the airfix IVP in the stash, thougn it has been a while since I peeked in the box. I think I squirrelled away an Extra Tech PE set in there as well.

cheers,

Pappy

I like it!

I was perusing an article about the Super Etendard in a recent edition of SAMI and am rather tempted to try to model and Etendard of some description myself.

Go on, you know you want to.....

Pappy

Great looking jet, Pappy.

Thanks Tony

Different and nice

Sounds a little like me!

Thanks very much Mish,

cheers,

pappy

Edited May 1, 2008 by Pappy

[Seamus]

Thats a great looking build. Its a really good looking aircraft the Etendard/Super E, so its a pity we don't see more knocking about on the forum.

I'm currently working on the 1/72 Heller Etendard IVM; if it looks anything like this when she's done I'll be a pretty happy chappy!

Great build

[Arie]

Sharp looking bird there, I love the serious lines of the Étendard. She one of those girls you hesitate to describe as beautiful but, who you just can't stop staring at! Love the choice of stores...adds a lot of interest

[Gary West]

You've done a great job as usual- is the buddy pack part of the kit or is that an extra?

[Pappy]

You've done a great job as usual- is the buddy pack part of the kit or is that an extra?

G'day Gary,

The pilot was from the spares box, all the ordnance came from the kit. As I said earler, I built the IVM from the Heller boxing. I had a look in my Airfix IVP kit and it provides a belly tank and a recce pod for the centreline but no ordnance.

I also have an Airfix SuE (Super Etendard) and annoyingly, it only provides a single wing drop tank, which is fine if you want to load an Excocet, but for everyone else no so good. If anyone has a spare drop tank they don't want I would gladly take it off their hands!

cheers,

Pappy

[ancient mariner]

First class....a good job on that one. I especially like the refueling load out.