Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Well... what can I say? It's a Matchbox GB. You've just gotta dive in and let it take you...! Matchbox were always trying to be the first in the market for an aircraft type. Their Jaguar and F-16 kits depicted pre-production machines. Their Hawk and A-10 kits depicted prototypes. So why not go one better? The Matchbox Alpha Jet kit was released in 1972 - a full year before the actual aircraft flew! In fact, the original kit depicts the full size mock up. I have always intended to build an Alpha Jet but have never yet done so. This will be a first for me. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 It's one of very few Matchbox kits where just following the mini paint plan on the instruction sheet will give you a reasonably representative model. I think one other may be the P-12? Can't think of many others. Anyway, going by the box art it seems to be a mock up of the very rare sub-orbital Alpha Jet 🙂 John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Great stuff Enzo, sales of Matchbox related items must be soaring as this GB gathers speed. Best of luck with this one. Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Great to see this Mock Up Alpha Jet being built for the second time within this GB. I'd be keen to get my hands on one as it does say so much for the Matchbox kit designers of the day. I also like the fact that this model was re-tooled once the proper Alpha jet shape was more well known so that's something novel about the original PK-5 kit. You're well and truly entrenched with this GB Enzo, great to see you having a good time. Cheers. welcome aboard and bets of luck.. Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 First, a word about the colour schemes. In a review of this kit elsewhere, it showed that the kit had a choice netween the French trainer version and the German attack version. This kit doesn't. It has both German and French trainer markings. It also has a top opening box, which seems quite strange for such an early kit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 That's definitely how I remember the early Alpha Jet kits. I don't know exactly when the colour scheme of the German option was modified but it must have been fairly early on. I can specifically remember the red and white Luftwaffe option because that's how I finished mine, with jet exhausts picked out in Humbrol Gloss Black. I was very pleased with the finished item, it looked just like the one on the box 🙂 John 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 18 hours ago, John said: That's definitely how I remember the early Alpha Jet kits. I don't know exactly when the colour scheme of the German option was modified but it must have been fairly early on. You are right. According to Scalemates the kit was issued in 1972 and then re-issued with new decals the following year. It was re-issued again with new parts in 1982 so I suppose that is when the retool took place. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/matchbox-pk-5-dornier-dassault-alpha-jet--178492 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 Great to see this one arrive Enzo I well remember building it as a kid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 Well I’ve learned something today! Interesting backstory. Looking forward to the build. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLC1966 Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 19 hours ago, John said: That's definitely how I remember the early Alpha Jet kits. I don't know exactly when the colour scheme of the German option was modified but it must have been fairly early on. I can specifically remember the red and white Luftwaffe option because that's how I finished mine, with jet exhausts picked out in Humbrol Gloss Black. I was very pleased with the finished item, it looked just like the one on the box 🙂 John Did you go for the optional glue on the Canopy version or the somewhat more traditional clear Canopy route ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 58 minutes ago, PLC1966 said: Did you go for the optional glue on the Canopy version or the somewhat more traditional clear Canopy route ? Time will tell... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 That looks great Enzo, I so want one of these early release Alpha Jets and I only came to know about the mid production kit modifications during this GB. I suspect they are getting harder and more expensive to find these days … (sad face emoji). Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 Let's get started on the build. As with all the early Matchbox kits, the cockpit is very sparse indeed; just two pilots and their seats. So assembly is quite quick. The intakes and exhausts are seperate parts, as is the nose. The canopy is a single piece. Which was then masked off. The wings are simply upper and lowersurfaces with the usual Matchbox trenches. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 Main assembly complete. Primed with my usual grey car primer from a rattle can. The white fuselage was the sprayed with white car primer from a rattle can. It is essential to spray light coats to stop the primer from pooling and running. It is also difficult to direst the srpay, especially into the atras under the wing. As you can see, that led to a tide mark of white paint on the uppersurface of the wing. I wonder if that will cause problems later on. SPOILER ALERT: yes, it did! The white areas were then masked off, ready to spray the red. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 Looking great Enzo and building up pretty quickly too. This will look so attractive in that original Red and White scheme. I’m now wondering if the mock-up ever had French roundels on one side and West German crosses on the other, kinka makes sense for one of these bi-laterally designed programs don’t you think? Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Great work again Enzo,I much admire the quick work but high standard finishing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 18 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said: I’m now wondering if the mock-up ever had French roundels on one side and West German crosses on the other, kinka makes sense for one of these bi-laterally designed programs don’t you think? From what I can see, the original German mockup was in overall white. I'm still going with the kit scheme though. I did find a very interesting page, https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/eurotrainer-alphajet-proposals.206/ The original Alpha Jet concept had a low wing and podded engines in a similar configuration to the A-10. Eventually the podded engines were abandoned but the low wings were kept with the resulting aircraft looking very similar to the Hawk. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Good find. Interesting to see the evolution of the design. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Thanks Enzo, some of those design concepts do look rather cool and also similar to the Czech series of L39 trainers at a glance. Cheers.. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 The wings and hotzontal tail were sprayed with red car primer from a rattle can. On my concurrent Hawk build I then sprayed with an Xtracylix red. Using a bit of modellers' licence here, I decided that the Alpha Jet should have a slightly different shade of red, so I oversprayed with car paint from a rattle can using lots of very thin coats. This is Ford Carnival Red. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Enzo, you're doing a bad job of from making me not want one of these kits.... that's looking just brilliant, well done. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 A minor update. I have added the black nose cone and anti-glare panel. All set for decal application. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Your paint masking application seems to be of high standards Enzo. Red over white is never easy, but this looks just perfect. I love it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 Finished! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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