Cummulus

DASSSAULT RAFALE B ECE 5/330 Cote d'Argent, Armée de l'Air, NATO Tiger Meet, Kleine Brogel 2009 kit: Hobbyboss 1/72 Builld thread:

Deadline is here, and I can say that Rafale is finished. Last days were frantic, I cut some corners (eagle eye get the cent for every grey on grey stencil omitted), and I wish I would do some things better. But, looking back, I can say that was enjoyable build. So, here she is: Dassault Rafale B, EC 5/330, Tiger Meet 2009, Kleine Brogel. I wish to thank fellow modellers for great support during the build. Thanks for watching, Frank

Simply stunning! Great scheme and beautiful work!

Hataka Haze Grey was sprayed first, followed with AK Real Maize Yellow on areas ''in flames''. I've been prety confidant that I will be able to finish thir kit before deadline. My confidance was seriously shaken last week, when I had been struggling with paint masks. Numerous tries and repeats were neccesary to get the look I wanted. MRP Black was sprayed last, Catwoman got almost final look. She is ready for gloss varnish. And dozens of stencils... Thanks for looking.

Hi, I am slowly moving forward. Catwoman got a coat of MRP grey primer and preshading in areas covered with gray base paint. My freehand airbrushing sucks... I was afraid of Dreammodel decals and I was right. First I scanned them if something went wrong. Tail was primed with white primer and sprayed with MRP clear gloss. I made a mask with outline of decal. Rest of the tail was airbrushed Hataka Orange line FS36293 and black color. Then I applied the decals which needed plenty of Micro Sol to stick to the surface. Some sanding and polishing was needed to remove wrinkles of carrier film on the edges. In the end I am satisfied with the result. Luckily Syhart decals for antennas and NVG lights are much easier to use. Thanks for watching.

Hi, Some new progress from this weekend. I glued cockpit tub to the fuselage and added few bits and pieces, like screen on WSO station and HUD frame. I am fairly satisfied... I painted landing gear and wheel wells with MrPaint Aluminium. I added wires to simulate piping. I have to apply wash. Res-Kit engine nozzles are beautifuly detailed, but complicated. Every nozzle have 6 pieces. I sprayed MrPaint black primer and steel. Outer nozzle is sprayed with Revell Antracit. I will try to simulate soot deposits inside afterburner can, according to photos. Trial fitting showed that afterburner cans is to large to fit in holes at the rear of the fuselage. Openings were sanded for smooth fit. At the outer end of afterburners Res-Kit made five slight teeth to assure the right position rotation wise. I cut notches in the fuselage as can be seen on pictures (sorry for my english). https://flic.kr/p/2muvVP5 I reprofiled wingtip lauch rails, corresponding to article found on http://aviapassionmaquette.free.fr/Aviapassion Maquette montage RAFALE B.html I carefully cut flaperons to glue them in dropped position as is often on the ground. Dreammodel PE flare cartridges were added to rear fuselage and and wings to fuselage join cut at the rear. ECM antennas will be fitted there, provided with Res-Kit engine nozzles. Thanks for watching, all comments are welcome.

Hi, Pat. Summer hollidays are over, time for modelling again! And deadline is creeping in. I've been working on multiple components, cockpit, undercarriage, engines and intakes. So far ejection seats and cokpit tub with ip panels are ready to glue into fuselage. Sorry for the pictures, I am using my phone camera and it's showing its age. More progress pics will follow on weekend. Cheers, Frank

Very nice progress, Jason! Thank you for cockpit photos useful. I am thinking about sculpting contol sticks in cockpit, since they are missing in the kit. I guess blobs on side panels are ment to represent control sticks... But they can be hardly seen anyway.

I'll be watching this build closely. Do you have any picture of WSO station? I haven't found any... Does WSO have contol sticks like pilot?

Few pictures of update I made this weekend. I started with cockpit. I managed to add PE to the seats and IPs. Dreammodel PE is not Eduard quality, but I'll have to live with that. Wrong numbers in instruction sheet gave me a lot of guesswork. Fit of the cockpit is not great, some adjustment will be needed. Hobbyboss did not provide control sticks, just featureless blobs. I'll have to made them. One question: does WSO have control sticks, like pilot? I haven't found any useful pictures of WSO station. PE were used to create vents on dorsal hump behind cockpit. Kit parts are on the thick side. They messed up these parts on PE fret. They are labeled wrong in istruction sheet and they created two left hand sets. I had to modify starboard vent. After I had assembled them and tried to fit them in place of course... I hope cockpit will be ready for primer and paint by end of the week. Cheers, Franc

Hi, I would like to join this group bild. I chose HobbyBoss 1/72 Rafale B from the stash. I will add few bits and pieces, Dreammodel PE and Res-Kit exhaust nozzles and wheels. Here is the customary box content picture: I fell in love with the ''Catwoman'' the moment I saw the picture of 2009 Tigermeet livery of ECE 5/330 Cote d'Argent. Dreammodel did decal set. I haven't used Dreammodels decals before, so I have to keep my fingers crossed. I plan to start with the cockpit this weekend. Cheers!

DP Casper did a very nice 1/72 decals sheet for operation Musketeer/Kadesh.

Can somebody enlighten me about external differences between Marauder II and III? I know about increased wing incidence and different tail guns turret, but sometimes it is hard to determine the model from wartime pictures. This picture from ''Squadrons of the SAAF and their aircraft'' book is intriguing to me: This plane belonged to 24 squadron SAAF, picture was taken on march 21st 1945, en route to their target to St. Veit, but due to bad weather alternative target at Zalog in former Yugoslavia was bombed. Serial number can not be seen. Wing incidence and tail turret is hard to judge due to angle. Two antenna masts can be seen. I checked Hasegawa intructions, B-26B/C kits have one mast and B-26F/G two masts. Your opinion about this and any info about G-George or ''Jacqueline'' is much apreciated.

You are most probably right. And thank you all for your ideas.

My Mustang III kit is waiting for a paintjob, and I still haven't choose the markings. I would like to do a machine which operated in my home skies. I am leaning to do a 112 squadron machine. FB290 GA B cought my eye. It even met it's fate over Slovenia, but in No. 3 squadron RAAF markings. I noticed a patch of different color between letters G and A, with a X within. Does anyone have a clue what this could be? Thanks!