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Operation Focus - Six Days War - 50th anniversary build.


Marlin

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Hi.

It's high time to start my 2017 mega build.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Six Days War between Israel and the arab countries.
And I can't lets that pass unnoticed.

So this will be my build for this year.


And since it worked last year with my Suez build I'll repeat myself with just one WIP thread for the entire build.

The Six Day War started with a suprise attack by Israel at 0745 june 5 '67
And after four attack waves the Egyptian air force had ceased  to exists.
The Syrian and Jordanian air forces was also destroyed at the same time.
And by that Irasel had got air supremacy over the battlefield.

 

On youtube there are several documentaries on the subject, and on wikipedia you can read some more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Focus

I'm not going to have my mega build done by 0745 june 5th, so I'm going to give myself the rest of the year to complete this.

 

So what have I cooked up?

This build must of course inclued a Mirage III.
7_zpseqs5ltvt.jpg
I'm going to use Hellers old kit because it's the only two seater avaliable.
I've got enough one seaters already to start another one this time.

But Israel had other aircraft than just the Mirage.

 

An attack aircraft in form of a Super Mystere SMB2 will also be built.
10_zpsovcp5svt.jpg
The kit is from FM kits and from what I've read nothing fits and it's horrible.
But I'll give my best.

 

Even the trainers did some fighting.
Wingman/Kinetic will contribute with a Fouga Magister.
12_zps07xh31oe.jpg

 

A small helicopter in the form of an Alouette II from Heller also has a place in this campaign.
9_zpsn9ywwzkb.jpg

 

Egypt will be represented in the form of an MiG-21 PFM from Eduard.
8_zpsqvzkpdv7.jpg
Egypt had just got these delivered from the Soviets prior to the war.

 

A Hawker Hunter from Academy will represent Jordan.
11_zps2qlu2qap.jpg

 

Syria will be represented by either a MiG-17 or a MiG-19.
I don't have one in the stash, but when my bankaccount has recovered I'll order one or both. :D 

 

All builds will include PE and resin in some degree. 
Exactly what will be clear when we come to that.

 

I guess the Super Mystere will be the toughest nut to crack, so lets start with that one.
This is what I've got to work with.
13_zpssgzrll73.jpg
14_zpsfcrieppg.jpg15_zpsxvydxuwt.jpg

 

The decals looks a bit old, so lets replace them with a decalsheet from Isradecals.
16_zps40qkfx9d.jpg

And with that the board is set, let the game begin. :D
To be continued.....

/Bosse 

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Hi.

I've now officially started my project.
1_zpswepnml1m.jpg
I've glued the wings together on the S.M. and started to sand and polish one of them.
All parts have a rather coarse texture and must be polished before any painting can start.
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, the rather deep panel line will look much better after sanding.
The plastic is a bit soft, and I've got some flaking on the wing.
I've brushed that generously with Tamiya Extra Thin to try and bond it to the wing.

To be continued.....

/Bosse

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Thanks guys. :D

I know that Special Hobby are comning out with a new SMB2.

I've had this FM kit in the stash for I think 10 years. 

So I guess it was now or never to build it. 

 

/Bosse 

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cool project!

 

you definitely need to add an Ouragan....

which decals do you plan to use on your Hunter? as far as I know, hardly anything is available apart from cutting edge long oop ones.....

 

I built an Smer MiG-17 last year. cheaply available....and depending on boxing even with the right decals!

 

not sure at the moment if Syria operated MiG-19s... Egypt definitely did

 

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Thanks Werner :D

I'd love to add an Ouragan, but I really can't afford the Isra resin one right now.

Perhaps later in the build. :pray:

As for the decals I got the jordanian ones from a mate who had the Cutting Edge sheet.

For the MiG-17/19 I was thinking of getting the Hobby Boss kit(s)

 

/Bosse

 

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3 hours ago, Marlin said:

Thanks Werner :D

I'd love to add an Ouragan, but I really can't afford the Isra resin one right now.

Perhaps later in the build. :pray:

As for the decals I got the jordanian ones from a mate who had the Cutting Edge sheet.

For the MiG-17/19 I was thinking of getting the Hobby Boss kit(s)

 

/Bosse

 

yeah , the Ouragan is a bit expensive!, but so is the Super Mystere if you happen to find one at all!!

great that you got decals for the Hunter, I am still searching ;)!

 

I have the Trumpeter MiG-19 kit and Print Scale decals... some day....

 

I built both MiG-17 kits here, maybe the thread is of some help:

 

 

looking forward to your progress!!!!

Edited by exdraken
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Hi.

My build continues.
As I've already said, everything has to be sanded and puttied.
1_zpslac1xgx3.jpg
Droptanks and inlet.

On the wings there are plenty of things that needs to be taken care of.
2_zpsnpoomffa.jpg
3_zpswhw4fuc6.jpg
Huge inlets thats need to be sanded off.
And the wing halves isn't the same size.
On top of that I've got to sand and polish the whole wings to get rid of the pebbly surface texture.
It'll take some time before I can start to glue the aircraft together.

But it's time to start on the cockpit and nose gear well.
4_zpslaslktru.jpg
At least I don't have a lot of resin to sand off. 
How this fits inside the fuselage remains to be seen though. :D 

To be continued.....

/Bosse 

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Hi.
Another weekend has passed and some more parts have been built here in Upplands Väsby.
1_zps2dqebcvi.jpg
I now got some small sub assemblies that soon can be put together in the form of an aircraft. :D

It took some time to get the wings trailing edges into shape.
2_zps3jmcu0y4.jpg
I did fill the worst gaps with some streched sprue.

I've choosen to build this one with the airbrakes closed.
3_zpshauowopb.jpg
And to avoid any nasty surprises later on it's best to glue some reinforcing strips on the backside.

I've got some more sanding and puttying to do later on.
4_zpsrts3zsio.jpg
The fit better than I expacted.

The ejectorseat consists of plastic-, whitemetal-. PE- and resin parts.
5_zpsd5uqqv22.jpg
The armrest were broken, so I'll have to fix them later.

The plan for the week is to get the cockpit and wheelwells done, so I can start putting all the subassemblies together.
To be continued.....

/Bosse

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Hi. 
My build of the SMB2 continues.
Some small PE parts have been glued in the cockpit.
1_zpsveavy9or.jpg

The exhaust and wheelbays have got some paint.
2_zpshhqjabrs.jpg
It wasn't easy to find out if the wheelbays was silver or zinc chromate. 
But in the end I settled for zinc chromate.
I've used Humbrol 226 if someone whats to know.

And with that it's time to start on No2.
An Alouette II from Heller.
4_zpsimie5zlf.jpg

This kit consists of a lot of subassemblies.
And I've already started on some of them.
5_zps8gbkgywv.jpg
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It's a bit old now this kit and it shows.
There are going to be a lot of cleaning seams and polishing parts.
But atleast I'm having fun. :D 

To be continued.....

/Bosse

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, 
It's time for another small update.
I've concentrated on the helicopter.
The seats and bench are completely bare.
So I took some aluminium tape and tried to make something that atleast looks like some seatbelts.
1_zpsfauvimap.jpg
Maybe not the world best belts, but for a first try it'll do,

The instrument console is missing its sunshade.
2_zpstoylcctg.jpg
3_zpsnteyqbka.jpg
Easy fixed with a thin plastic strip.

I've painted the inside of the glass bubble.
4_zpshdslb24r.jpg
I do this on free hand, but lately I can only do this in daylight.
Thankfully the sun came out long enough on Saturday for me to do this.

And since the sun was out, I also painted the seat belts.
5_zpscbljm552.jpg

The plan for the week is to finish the cockpit-egg. 
To be continued.....

/Bosse

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Hi.

I spent last week in bed with a terrible cold.
But at the end of the week I felt good enough to move from the bed/sofa to the worktable
And I got some result to show for it.

The IP on the Alouette has got some detail painting.
01_zpsyesiaugf.jpg
I'm rather pleased with the result.

The SMB.2 doesn't have any gluepoint for the wings.
02_zpsylogsc9o.jpg
03_zpspqzvbjay.jpg
I solved that by drilling two holes from the inside and inserting some pieces from a paperclip in the holes.
Just to be sure that they stay in place, I also glued some sprue bits over the paper clips.
04_zpsrztqsl7x.jpg

And while this was drying I started on No.3.
A Hawker Hunter from Academy in Jordanian livery.
05_zpsiuaqnuiy.jpg
Unfortunately my kit is missing all the clear parts.
Thankfully I found a vac canopy from Maestro Models.

I started to glue everything into sub assemblies.
06_zpsuvplcqpc.jpg

The ejectionseat got some belts from the Eduard PE sheet.
09_zpsmbwyi658.jpg

Back to the SMB.2
I drilled out the cannons and inserted some round bits to replicate the DEFA cannons.
07_zpsaqgz3ym4.jpg

After that I could start on mounting all internal bits.
First the nose gear well.
08_zps29a714cj.jpg

Followed by the main gear well and the exhaust.
10_zpsjl1rp5lh.jpg

To get the nose gear well to sit correctly I glued some spacers between the cockpit and the well.
12_zpsrte4kyk3.jpg

When this was done I continued with the sub assemblies on the Hunter.
11_zpsf4qqyh4h.jpg

I've also started to paint the Alouette.
13_zpshudq8sh5.jpg
During the Six Days War the Alouette was blue, RAL5008, and I only have this colour in Xtracolor.
I'm a brush painter, and Xtracolor can be brush painted if you take your time.
My method is to paint three thin coats. 
I wait 24 hours between the first and second coat, and 48 hours between the second and third coat.
I've found out that this way I eliminate the risk of lifting the older coat with the newer coat.
And with drying times as long as this it's good to have something else to work on.

Such as a Hunter for example.
I've got the intake and exhaust in place.
14_zps1iveismv.jpg

And with all internal bits in place on the SMB.2 I glued some reinforcing strips to the fuselage.
15_zpsubl2grvh.jpg

And this is where I stand today.

To be continued.....

/Bosse 

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