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Kovozávody Prostějov (KP) is to release 1/72nd Dornier/Dassault-Breguet (DDB) Alpha Jet A/1B/E/MS.1 & MS.2 kits. A new tool kit or an updated, with some new parts, from the vintage Heller kit, like the 1/50th Gazelle (link) or 1/72nd Potez 540 (link)? Today, with KP/AZmodel you never know. Wait and see. Sources: http://www.modelarovo.cz/dassault-dornier-alpha-jet-a-1-72-kp-kovozavody-prostejov/ https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1632027106991132&id=182206638639860 V.P.

Alpha Jet E "In French Service" (KPM0264) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov At the end of the 60s, with the SEPECAT Jaguar transformed from a trainer into an attack aircraft, it left the advanced jet trainer replacement unfulfilled, so France and Germany began a collaboration to design a new trainer that was to become the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, the Breguet part in the collaboration being absorbed by Dassault when they bought the company. It flew late in 1973, and went into service with France in 1979 after extensive trials as the Alpha Jet E, fulfilling a similar role to the BAe Hawk in the RAF. The Germans used the jet as a Light Attack aircraft with the A suffix appended, and limited export success brought the Alpha Jet to Francophile countries in Europe and Africa, with a number of ex-Luftwaffe aircraft finding their way to Thailand and Portugal. One of Britain's defence company QinetiQ bought 6 ex-Luftwaffe aircraft, which occasionally make appearances at airshows. Germany has retired the aircraft now, but many airframes are still in service, with the later MS2 with new avionics, engines, a glass cockpit and improved weapons carrying performance used to train pilots on modern types. The Kit Originally released in 2021, there have been a number of reboxings of the core kit, with various markings options and parts to address the needs and wants of us modellers, which is their stock-in-trade. This boxing offers you the ability to model the A, E or more advanced MS using the parts in the box, but the decals supplied are purely for the A, as stated on the box, opening the door for anyone with aftermarket decals for the other types to use this boxing to apply their own decals. Good to know. The kit arrives in a figure-type end-opening box, with two sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and instruction booklet. The rear of the box has all the profiles for the marking options printed on it in colour. Construction begins with the cockpit, which revolves around the two-seat tub, with the two seats having belt decals, a pair of control columns, additional console parts, and decals for the side consoles. The two instrument panels also have decals, with a choice of decals, depending on which mark you are depicting. The cockpit and rear coaming are inserted into the fuselage along with the nose-gear bay, and in anticipation of adding the underside insert, the main gear bays are built on a single roof part with bulkheads separating them and outfitted with landing gear struts and wheels, then glued into the inside of the insert, which can be fitted into the fuselage, closing up the underside. The wings are simple structures with two main parts each, the undersides smaller than the uppers, to make for a slimmer trailing edge, and attaching to the fuselage by the usual slot-and-tab method, as are the elevators, with a pair of blade antennae fixed near the top of the tail fin. The intakes are also installed at this stage, which each have an inner splitter plate with a C-profile intake trunk joined together and offered up to the fuselage either side of the rear pilot’s cockpit. The mark of your model is determined by the instrument decals within the cockpits and the nose cones, which you have a choice of for all three types of this aircraft. The decals are for the E, which has a rounded nose. A busy diagram shows the installation of the nose gear and all the remaining bay doors, the former being made from three parts with an additional retraction strut added as it is inserted into the bay. Four underwing pylons are included in the kit, which can be left empty or have two extra fuel tanks slung under them, with the option of a central gun pack under the belly. The forward sections of the flap fairings are moulded into the wings, but the aft sections are added from separate parts on the moulded-in flying surfaces. The sensor fit differs between options, with extra steps showing those for French, Canadian and QinetiQ, then the one-piece canopy is glued in place with a small intake on the side of the spine, after which it’s time to paint your model. Markings A separate sheet shows the location of all the stencils, of which there are quite a few, then you refer to the rear of the box for your main markings options. From the box you can build one of the following: Decals are printed without acknowledgment, and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The upper wing stencils are printed on a single decal per wing, so care will be needed to ensure it doesn’t break up, and here the thin carrier film will be a boon once applied, but tricky during fitting. Conclusion I’ve always liked the Alpha Jet, and this is a great little model with lots of detail moulded-in, and some nice decal markings for in service French Jets. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Alpha Jet A ‘Bundesluftwaffe’ (KPM0266) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov At the end of the 60s, with the SEPECAT Jaguar transformed from a trainer into an attack aircraft, it left the advanced jet trainer replacement unfulfilled, so France and Germany began a collaboration to design a new trainer that was to become the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, the Breguet part in the collaboration being absorbed by Dassault when they bought the company. It flew late in 1973, and went into service with France in 1979 after extensive trials as the Alpha Jet E, fulfilling a similar role to the BAe Hawk in the RAF. The Germans used the jet as a Light Attack aircraft with the A suffix appended, and limited export success brought the Alpha Jet to Francophile countries in Europe and Africa, with a number of ex-Luftwaffe aircraft finding their way to Thailand and Portugal. One of Britain's defence company QinetiQ bought 6 ex-Luftwaffe aircraft, which occasionally make appearances at airshows. Germany has retired the aircraft now, but many airframes are still in service, with the later MS2 with new avionics, engines, a glass cockpit and improved weapons carrying performance used to train pilots on modern types. The Kit Originally released in 2021, there have been a number of reboxings of the core kit, with various markings options and parts to address the needs and wants of us modellers, which is their stock-in-trade. This boxing offers you the ability to model the A, E or more advanced MS using the parts in the box, but the decals supplied are purely for the A, as stated on the box, opening the door for anyone with aftermarket decals for the other types to use this boxing to apply their own decals. Good to know. The kit arrives in a figure-type end-opening box, with two sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and instruction booklet. The rear of the box has all the profiles for the marking options printed on it in colour. Construction begins with the cockpit, which revolves around the two-seat tub, with the two seats having belt decals, a pair of control columns, additional console parts, and decals for the side consoles. The two instrument panels also have decals, with a choice of decals, depending on which mark you are depicting. The cockpit and rear coaming are inserted into the fuselage along with the nose-gear bay, and in anticipation of adding the underside insert, the main gear bays are built on a single roof part with bulkheads separating them and outfitted with landing gear struts and wheels, then glued into the inside of the insert, which can be fitted into the fuselage, closing up the underside. The wings are simple structures with two main parts each, the undersides smaller than the uppers, to make for a slimmer trailing edge, and attaching to the fuselage by the usual slot-and-tab method, as are the elevators, with a pair of blade antennae fixed near the top of the tail fin. The intakes are also installed at this stage, which each have an inner splitter plate with a C-profile intake trunk joined together and offered up to the fuselage either side of the rear pilot’s cockpit. The mark of your model is determined by the instrument decals within the cockpits and the nose cones, which you have a choice of for all three types of this aircraft. The decals are for the A, which has a pointed nose and pitot probe, and required the removal of a strake on each side of the nose, which is shown in the diagram. The E has a rounded nose, while the MS has an angled flat tip. A busy diagram shows the installation of the nose gear and all the remaining bay doors, the former being made from three parts with an additional retraction strut added as it is inserted into the bay. Four underwing pylons are included in the kit, which can be left empty or have two extra fuel tanks slung under them, with the option of a central gun pack under the belly. The forward sections of the flap fairings are moulded into the wings, but the aft sections are added from separate parts on the moulded-in flying surfaces. The sensor fit differs between options, with extra steps showing those for French, Canadian and QinetiQ, then the one-piece canopy is glued in place with a small intake on the side of the spine, after which it’s time to paint your model. Markings A separate sheet shows the location of all the stencils, of which there are quite a few, then you refer to the rear of the box for your main markings options. From the box you can build one of the following: Decals are printed without acknowledgment, and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The upper wing stencils are printed on a single decal per wing, so care will be needed to ensure it doesn’t break up, and here the thin carrier film will be a boon once applied, but tricky during fitting. Conclusion I’ve always liked the Alpha Jet, and this is a great little model with lots of detail moulded-in, and some nice decal markings for in service German Jets. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

The Kinetic's future 1/48th AMD-BA/Dornier Alpha Jet E first CAD drawing is here: Source: http://s362974870.on...howtopic=255517 V.P.

I believe I only have 3 kits in the stash that were tooled before 1981.. 2 Sea Kings and an Alpha Jet. The Alpha Jet was first released in 1980, but I have 2008 boxing: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/134749-airfix-a03035-dassault-breguet-dornier-alpha-jet# I remember building this is the mid 80s and think it went together OK.... So this is what we have: and in the box... Decals do not look good, but I have always wanted to build this as a Alpha Jet A of the Portuguese Air Force. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Portugal-Air-Force/Dassault-Dornier-Alpha-Jet-A/1422446 I have the Print Scale Sheet 72-182, which includes the decals for 15202 of 301 Squadron. This was the first set of Print Scale decals I purchased, and I am a little under impressed. The bottom of the wings a stated as being Neutral Grey, but all the photos I have found show the same 3 colour camouflage underneath, plus the is no top view. However, I have found a copy of the Wingman Models instructions that does show the top and bottom camouflage scheme. Looking around the walk around section on this site of the Alpha Jet There appear to be some changes required to make a Portuguese Alpha Jet: 1. Cone arial behind the cockpit - I think I have something in the spares I can use to do this 2. Flare disperser under the tail - I think I can do that. 3. Gunpod...Did the Portuguese use a different version of the gun pod to that used by the Luftwaffe? Or is the Airfix version so wrong? Anyway looking forward to getting started on this.

Hi all Just finished my latest venture which is the QinetiQ Alpha Jet by Kinetic. Cheers Mick

Another build, another Alpha Jet. At some point I'll get sick of these and their awful weak landing gear...but not today! The Asas de Portugal are unfortunately now defunct; I've never got to see them live and I've yet to be able to buy a DVD of an airshow with them in. But I adore the Alpha Jet, and their paint scheme is one of the most imaginative I've seen.They tend to fly as a duo, but often had 4 ship formations too. They originally felw T-37 aircraft, before they had ex-Luftwaffe Alpha Jets. I have chosen to NOT have the smoke system in place on my aircraft for practicality of the decals. I may amend this at a later date (maybe). Here's a video of the Asas in action. I have finished one in it's natural Portuguese camo which you can find here.. I really don't like doing the mainstream markings apparently as so far I've done 2 Belgian and 1 Portuguese aircraft...so here is another Portuguese! I didn't take many pictures during the actual construction - I kind of forgot to to be honest as I literally built about 2 or 3 Alpha jets at one session of my local IPMS model club night to just get them built and out of the way for painting and decals! Below are some pictures of my progress so far...it's looking pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. The decals are from Dekls or Dekl's. I actually suggested these to them as I know they've been in demand for some time as the scheme is fantastically unique and stunning and I've been after it for some time after the Portuguese company that made them ceased to exist a good few years ago. So these were made from scratch by Dek'lz. There's some slight fit issues - but generally they look awesome. They are made for the Airfix iteration of the kit. Please note on the next image a decal folded - this was easily fixed and I will update this when I've done some more work on it. And next to another WIP I've got!

After the reboxing of the Kinetic Kfir C.2/C.7 with a.o. resin parts to build the C.10/C.12 versions (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944648-148th-iai-kfir-c2c7-c10c12-by-wingman-models-kinetic-add-on/) the new German brand Wingman Models http://wingmanmodels.com is to release a Luftwaffe boxing from the new Kinetic Alpha Jet kit (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234927271-148th-amd-badornier-alpha-jet-ea-by-kinetic-released-dedicated-caracal-decals/?hl=%2Balpha+%2Bjet) This reboxing shoud include all the parts to reproduce a German Air Force Alpha Jet A like: seats, ECM pack and armements as well as a P.E. set and new decals. Release is expected in October 2013. http://www.shopofphantoms.com/rhino/Pulsar/de_DE.Shop.displayShop.7673./wmk48005-luftwaffe-alpha-jet - ref. WKM48005 - "Luftwafe Alpha Jet" http://www.shopofphantoms.com/rhino/Pulsar/en_US.Shop.displayShop.7983./wmk48009-anniversary-aloha-jets - ref. WMK48009 - Anniversary Alpha Jet A http://www.shopofphantoms.com/rhino/Pulsar/de_DE.Shop.displayShop.7675./wmk48006 - ref. WKM48006 - "Portuguese Alpha Jets" V.P.

So to go with my Asas de Portugal Alpha Jet I'm doing a Patrouille de France one too! The kit is the standard Revell one - I've got a lot of these floating around and they make a decent Alpha. The decals come from Caracal which I believe gives enough for 2 complete aircraft. But I have 3 Alpha Jets and some other decals in a Heller anniversary box I got when I was a kid in France on holiday, so I may well do 3 in the end! Most of you are probably fully aware of the Patrouille de France. They're one of the best display teams (and my joint favourite) in the world. They've flown the Alpha Jet for since 1981 now and their paint scheme hasn't changed much bar their tails which have changed over time to reflect anniversaries of the Armee de l'Air or of France. As per my other builds, I didn't take any photos of the before and after...so it's mainly pictures during painting and decals that I'll have to offer. When I do my next Alpha Jet I'll actually take construction pictures (though it normally only takes me half an hour)! So far I've painted the wings and some of the fuselage...not much else! More to come soon! Wings and some centre complete. Alongside it's colleagues.

Hello! So my obsession of Alpha Jets has become quite large. I've got 3 in progress, alongside this (click here) which was one of the first models I'd done in a very long time. This time I decided to do a 'normal' military scheme of Portugal (as I'm working on an Asas de Portugal one too). The build was very simple, as is the norm of an Alpha Jet kit. I think the final look is pretty nice and I'm quite happy with the result - perhaps with the exception of the canopy but I guess I can fix that at a later date. So here's just some nice shots. Please note I didn't have enough decals for the left hand side, so there is one missing. Bar the Portuguese specific markings the decals were also were pretty old and fell apart - but I'll sort that at some point. And here's a shot from a model show it went to.

Last summer was the first time the "Tag der Bundeswehr" (German Army Day) was celebrated. The Luftwaffe invited the public to Manching AFB, near the Eurofighter Manufacturing Line from Cassidian. I took the opportunity and made a few pictures .. More pictures can be found here: http://petesmancave.blogspot.de/ Cheers Pete

Hi again Folks, Here's my latest effort, this has taken me nearly six weeks on and off and to be frank it was a bit of a dog(but it's an old kit I suppose) Poor fit in places Awful, awful decals raised panel lines It started life as a Belgian air force example, but because the crappy, brown paper backed decals disntegrated I shifted to the qinetic version. I have tried to capture the shabby, patchy finish on these jets when they first 'came over' from Luftwaffe service. Excuse the awful wing joints....I'm rubbish at filling. PS: I know that qinetic AJ's have not been seen with aux tanks(I think) but I could not resist hanging something there Comments welcome

New Heller Kits Due In To Stock In August. HEL49893G - Heller 1:72 Gift Set - Tiger I (Late) £12.99 HEL79893 - Heller 1:72 - Tiger I Late £9.99 HEL80257 - Heller 1:72 - Alpha Jet £9.99 Click on the link below or click on the pictures www.creativemodels.co.uk

I digged deep down in my stash and found these. Airfix, and reboxed Airfix to the left and pure Heller to the right. They all represent prototypes and according to Alpha Jidé, the Airfix kit is spot on in measurements. But of course you can't build an english kit in a fancy french GB I'll go for the Heller kit with day-glo decals from ModelArt and Groupe Ecole 314 decals from ModelDecal if they're still usable, otherwise I'll grab set from FFSMC Productions. Airfix (top) vs Heller (bottom) Canopies, the frames on the Airfix bottom looks a bit softer. //SAU

Portuguese Air Force Alpha Jet A (Formally a Luftwaffe Aircraft). Pics thanks to Vitor Sousa.