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Hi folks, Here's my first IIAF model (2nd kit I ever built - Still a beginner obviously🙂). I really enjoyed building it and I hope you guys enjoy looking at it. Happy holidays! Model Info: Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) T-33A Shooting Star S/N 2-337 Location: Mehrabad AFB, Tehran, Iran. 1974 Scale: 1:72 by Italeri/Platz Decals: Modeller Paint: AK Interactive / Mr. Color / Gaia / Tamiya / Liquitex Adam P.S. I wanted to photoshoot in a nice sunny day but it's been cloudy up here for the past week. Maybe I post some sunny pics later! Please feel free to check out my first kit ever here (F-22 Raptor)

From what I've read, Iranian pilots really liked the Phantom. It's speed, weapons and durability were put to good use against Iraq especially, conducting bombing, fighter sweep and reconnaissance duties, However when equipped with the Maverick air to ground missile, the Phantom found a new and deadly role; tank killing. Nearly 50 machines are still in service with the IRIAF today. The 1/72 Hasegawa Phantoms are pretty decent kits, although do watch out for the fit of the forward fuselage to the body and the fit of the air intakes, it can be tricky to get right and the better you get the fit the less sanding you will have to do. The instructions give you three machines, but I was not happy with the colour call outs, so I went with matching colours to the box top that I believe look better. I did use their suggested Gunze 44 flesh for the sand colour, but picked RLM 71 over their suggested Gunze 303 for green which I think was too light and I went with Revell SM381 brown. Gunze 311 grey was used for the under surface and RLM 70 for the drop tanks as the green here looks darker than the air frame colour. You will have to source weapons as only three drop tanks are included, but Hasegawa has put the inner pylons along with sidewinder launch rails in the kit. The Mavericks and launch rails come from the Hasegawa weapons set.

It was a choice between this and VF-51 MiG Killer, but the limited edition deserves to be built. As you can see I've already been testing paints to see what I had that was close enough as we have restictions on movement still in Melbourne so the hobby shops are closed. Anyways I think I have paints that are about right, not sure what I will do with loads yet, you can really bomb them up or later in the Iran-Iraq war they became rather deadly tank killers due to the Iranians adapting them to carry Mavericks.

Hi all, here is my entry. I've had this in the stash for a good few years now, might as well build it! When released this new kid on the block just about usurped the Hasegawa kit as the kit to build in 1/48. Of course it has now been bettered by the Tamiya kit. It's been a while since I built a 48 scale jet so be gentle.... Anyway the intention is straight from the box but with aftermarket decals for an Iranian bird in the greyish/blue camo (I've already done the Fujimi kit in 1/72 in the original classic scheme. Will try and post a few more pics of the contents later - work first! Stay safe all 20201123_080331 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20201123_081146 by bryn robinson, on Flickr

This is the ejection seat called out in the 1/48 AFV Club Iranian Saeqeh-80 version of their F-5E kit painted according to the kit instructions. It was on a kit specific sprue with the twin tails unique to this version. The standard F-5E seats are in the kit, but this is the one called out in the instructions. I'd like to replace it with a resin one, but have no idea what it's supposed to represent and I haven't found any clear photos of one of Iran's Saeqeh's to identify what it should be.

My choice is the Hawker Persian Fury. I will be using the Matchbox 1:72 kit )of course!). I have the Kora decal sheet for the Iranian Tiger Moth, which will provide the national markings. I haven't decided yet whether to scratchbuild the Mercury engine, or just nick one from a Lysander kit. Earlier releases were molded in blue and light grey, but the one I have is very low contrast light grey and silver, which should make priming it when the time comes a much simpler task

The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: Forgotten Fronts by E.R. Hooton, Tom Cooper, Farzin Nadimi, published by Helion and Company On 16th January 1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left Iran for good. In doing so, he cemented the revolution that had sought to topple his failing regime and paved the way for foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Fearing that the Iranian Revolution would have a destabilising effect on Iraq, Saddam Hussein made the decision to invade, sparking the longest uninterrupted conventional conflict of the twentieth century. Although not etched on the conscience of the west to the extent of other conflicts of the period, the Iran-Iraq War was nevertheless one of the most important conflicts of the time. Apart from the significant loss of life and impact on civilians in the region, it was also an important stepping stone on the path to fundamentalist Islamic terrorism. This book, the last in a series of four, has been painstakingly compiled by authors with impressive credentials when it comes to defence matters in the Middle East. This volume examines the central and northern fronts, fought over difficult terrain and without either side able to muster numerical superiority. It also covers the Kurdish front and the horrors of the Iranian Air Force's chemical attack on Halabja, an attack which killed far more civilians than combatants. The book sets out the key engagements of the conflict in a clear and engaging way. The text is thoughtful and insightful throughout, leaving the reader with a good understanding of not only the military aspects of the conflict, but also the international political backdrop. While the book is not aimed directly at the modeller, it nevertheless contains a lot of valuable information for those interested in the hardware deployed in the conflict. The pages feature a typically eclectic mix of NATO and Warsaw Pact military hardware, a legacy of the imperial past clashing with the post-war rise of Soviet influence. The book is rich in illustrative material, containing over 140 photographs and 18 illustrations within its 80 pages. Plenty of information about the military inventories of the two sides is provided, alongside photographs and descriptions of locally modified armoured fighting vehicles. Conclusion This book is a valuable addition to the Middle East War series and deserves a place in the collection of anyone interested in the military conflicts of the region. Modellers will be rewarded with a valuable visual reference, as well as an inspiring read which will have you poking around in your stash, looking at your AFV kits in a different light. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all, can an anyone out there confirm for me that the Sabres flown by Iran and Ethiopia (ex Iran) had the slatted short wing and not the 6-3 wing? As far as I can see from photos it was the slatted wing but various artists of profiles show the 6-3. As always, your advice is always gratefully received. Thanks. Martin

Hi all, Here are some pics of my recently finished Airfix 1/72 CH-53 built and painted as an IRIN RH-53 using decals from Print Scale. For an old kit it went together very well and has lots of nice raised rivets, just like the real thing. More pics can be found on the build log here :- http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234997643-airfix-172-ch-53s-65-double-build-iran-and-israel/ And if you haven't visited the Helicopter GB then go and have a look, there are some fantastic builds on there and it's well worth a visit. There are more piccies on the build log. Thanks for looking, and all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

Time to state my intentions with regard to this Group Build. The plan is to build two of the good old Airfix CH-53 kits at the same time, the reasoning being that they are both the same colour on the inside and should build up the same hopefully meaning that it won't take much more time than building one (and it helps to thin the stash a bit!). Anyway here are pictures of the two different boxings I will be using for the build. And the insides of the box to prove that they have not been started yet. As you can see the parts are still safely wrapped up in their plastic bags. I have another one of these in the stash (I know I know) which has been opened and I must say it is my prefered option for an early twin engined CH-53 as it is accurate in outline and in good old Airfix fashion is festooned with raised (but not too prominent) rivets, and guess what? So is the real thing! These beauties are not exactly built for speed and, like most helicopters, have lots of raised rivets (in my mind a real issue with Airfix's new Sea King/Commando kits as the real things are covered with them as depicted beautifully by Revell on their kits). We will have a closer look at these during the build process, which will be pretty much OOTB as there is a time limit and the ramps will be shut, therefore limiting what is visible. On to the colour schemes and decals. I will be using Print Scales two new sheets for the aircraft, which look superb, and I will be building one aircraft from each sheet, here is a picture of the decal sheets. As you can see there are plenty of other very nice options on these sheets (at least one UK based HH-53 will be built later) but as I said I am going to build the Iranian Navy one and the Israeli one, here is a picture of the Iranian aircraft from the instruction sheet. As I said the other option I'm going to build is going to be Israeli and this comes in the older attractive 3 tone (cafe-au-lait) colour scheme. I would like to build one of the 2 aircraft which were used for Operation Rooster 53 (whoever chose the operation name must have been smoking something "unusual") when they were used to "borrow" a complete Egyptian P-12 radar system to uncover it's secrets. I am not sure of the serial numbers of the 2 aircraft involved but here is the decal sheets option. Well that's it! It might take me a couple of weeks to get started as I have the small matter of a couple of 1/48 P-47's to complete for another GB. Thanks for looking in and I look forward to all of your inputs during my build, as well as watching yours! Craig.

Hello gentlemen, I am starting a new project which I had planned a long time ago. I am going to build an IIAF F-4D which took part in the Iranian military intervention during the Dhofar Rebellion. And, as this is a quite unusual subject, I'll give you a brief summary about this conflict. Historical summary of the situation in Oman in the 1970s The year is 1952, the country is the Sultanate of Oman. An armed rebellion, which will last until the late 1970s begins. On the rebel side, radical left armed groups, mainly supported by South Yemen, the USSR, China and other Eastern bloc countries. They fight against the Omani government, which receives help from the United Kingdom, and later, Persia, who was at this time, an important ally of the United-States. The Shah's intervention will take place in the late 70s, with sources claiming the exact date to be around January 1978, and will include more than 4000s troops, including an important air support, consisting of Helicopters (Hueys, Cobras, Kiowas, Chinooks) and aircrafts (F-4s, C-130s). The province of Dhofar (read "Zofar") in the Sultanate of Oman British troops searching for mines in Oman About the Airway in Oman ​At the beginning of the conflict, Oman's military isn't really advanced, and lacks of airpower. Britain will help them by providing them with Hunters and Strikemasters, which will show useful in anti-guerilla fight, but will later be no match compared to the weapon capacity and range of the F-4s. On the Iranian side, the Shah being a strongly "anti-communist leader" and his nation being in a period of trouble, with leftists groups taking importance in Iran in the late 70s, he sees as crucial to extermine any communist threat in the Middle-East which could propage to his country and thus when he will send his troops in Oman, will he make a very intensive fight to eliminate the menace as quickly as possible. When the Iranian Revolution starts in 1979, the "Red Threat" in Oman will indeed have been wiped out. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in his military uniform ​Iran didn't publish a lot of informations about their part in this conflict, the Islamic Government didn't appreciate to telle the "exploits" of the government they overthrew, but here are some things we know: C-130E, F-4D, RF-4C and F-4E models aircrafts took part in the task force, with alternating squadrons, keeping always at least a dozen aircrafts on Omani soil. By the way, a dozen aircrafts might seem like a low number, but it already had a bigger fighting power than the whole omani Strikemaster air fleet combined. My aircraft will be a F-4D with the markings 3-616 For the weapon load they carried it would usually consist of: ​23mm SUU-16 canon, extremely useful against low armored targets and cheaper than missiles or bombs 2x AIM-7E-2 missiles as a security measure Mk. 82 Bombs, 12 on high value targets, 6 against lower value targets. About my model kit. I chose Academy's new tool F-4D, which seems quite nice for the moment, crisp details and easy adjustments, I don't think I'll need a lot of putty. It is the ROKAF model because I couldn't find any other versions at my local model store, but since I won't be using its decals, if anyone is looking for a Korean F-4, I'll gladly give them to him! I'll also add some detailing and, of course, the IIAF decals, which are from Hi-Decal, a brand that I highly recommend for anyone interested in exotics paint schemes. I started with the cockpit, using Eduard's PE parts: The main challenge about this kit will be time: I want to finish it before November so I can give it as a present to my aircraft enthusiast and modeler uncle, who lives on the other side of the Atlantic and I thus can't often see. And finally, please excuse me for my English, I guess I did some mistakes, but I am still learning this language, so I can't guarantee a perfect level for the moment. Have a nice day, Daniel

Hi guys, So, there are all those Iranian F-5 variants: single fin, twin fin, single seat, twin seat, round intakes, square intakes, Saeqeh, Azarakhsh,... but what about that with the wing mounted mid-fuselage? Was this for real or just a photo-shopped picture? Does any of you know of some other images showing this aircraft? I searched the web but ended up empty handed. I'd like to see how the wing trailing edge meets the fuselage... Would it be the exact F-5 wing moved up a notch and forward?! Thanks for looking, Niki

Something new from me - Iranian F-14A in 1/72 scale. Built with Hasegawa SP14 kit, converted to Iranian with HDL decals and some scratch (opened refueling probe door and AIM-9Ps). Eduard`s PE ZOOM set, Rob Taurus` vacu canopy and Master`s pitot tube were used. AIM-7Es are Eduard`s Brassin and AIM-54A are from old Heller kit. Painted with acrylic Lifecolors. It was a hard work, but I hope it was worth it. 😉 Model shows my interpretation of F-14A number 160318/3-6020, TFB 8 IRIAF during Iran-Iraq War in 1986. This aircraft was one of the most successful "Alicat" in this war. It was still in service some years ago!

Hi Guys, This is my latest completed model the excellent F-5F by AFV Club. This really is a fantastic kit and has lots of detail straight from the box and I only added a few extra bits in the cockpits and replaced the kit seats with resin Martin Baker seats as fitted to iranian F-5's and scratch built the extra canopy breakers which are fitted to the front seats. I really enjoyed building this kit with one exception, the decals! They are very good at shattering and that's about all they are good for. I built this as part on the ongoing F-5 Group Build and here is a link to my build thread:- http://www.britmodel...force-finished/ You really should pop along and have a look at the great builds on this iconic aircraft. Anyway here are the pictures.... Hope you like her. Craig.

Well I've given up trying to resist joining in on this GB and thought I would throw my hat in the ring with an AFV Club 1/48 F-5F that I will build as an aircraft operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Iran is probably the most important operator of this classic aircraft and has used every model from the F-5A through to the F-5F and is now producing it's own upgraded versions, in fact Iran (then the Imperial Iranian Air Force) was the first country to operate the aircraft when their F-5A's were delivered in February 1965. The kit I will be using is the by now familiar AFV Club F-5F which seems to have some very good details both inside and outside the airframe. I will be building pretty much out of the box but will add a few homemade details to the seats and cockpit area. Anyway here are the ubiquitous box and contents pictures.... The kit does come with markings for an Iranian machine (and a very tempting Jordanian one!) but I will be using a set from Hi-Decal which has markings for 3 F-5E's and one F-5F all in Iranian markings. The markings are for an F which is still in use today and has a large Tigers head one on side of the tail and an Eagle on the other, I am unsure whether to use these tail markings or to build an aircraft as it would have looked during the Iran-Iraq War, here are some pictures of the decals and the option on the sheet that I will use in one way or another.... Hopefully I will be able to get some work done tomorrow and be able to post an update either then or early next week. Thanks for looking. Craig.

Hi, Promised few days ago and just finished - second one radial Audax, this time with 9-cylinder Bristol, next of my "Hawker Hart Family mass production" - the Hawker Persian Audax. Model was scratch converted and detailed from AZ Hart B4 kit. Markings are following the Profile Publication scheme with small differences based on speculations or photos In Interwar section I tried to discuss confusion I have with details http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986512-persian-audax-1941-confusion/ - many thanks for most of all John Aero for his comments, which encourages me with finish. This machine is in markings of 4th regiment based in Abadan. However - the numberals on cowlings and upper wing are Perisan "2" - why not "4"?. The individual number is 253 (read from right to left). She is suppoused to take part in few days war against British-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. Since it was short war and before it machine was exploited in peacefull time and was repainted shortly before the war - I made very delicate weathering despite desert condisions there. Here she is: Comments welcome and thanks for watching Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, I am doing now Persian Audax, intending to do in WWII markings from short war during Soviet-British invasion of Persia in 1941. The main question is about details of painting scheme. There is classic painting scheme published in Profile publication on Audax (I have both profiles from net, so I hope I can them here): .The same machine is subject of painting scheme in Kora Miidels resin kit: There are important deifferences between them (starting from the blue or sand band on fuselage, position of numbers, wing tips on upper wing etc, shade of blue etc...) The profile on Audax is much older and for sure must be known to people from Kora - so is suggests that their re-impretation of painting scheme in newer and thus perhaps better. Some detail work against it - the cowling in Kora model is like in Nisr or Hart B4 whereas in Persian Audaxies, since they originaly were equipped in US engines they got cowlings leter, during re-equipment to Bristol engines and were deeper (almost no collector is seen from the side). So it is better done in Profile publication. On the other hand they have skid not tail wheel (plus for Kora). They have also wind electric generator on starboard (opposide to MG) - omitted on both profiles.... My second question is about bombs used in Persia in 1941. It is said, that Persian Audaxes were attacking military columns of Brittish army. I expect that it was done with some bombs. On box art of Kora model Audax carry (or rather just droping) four bombs (50 kg?). On photos which I have found in net the provisons for bomb racks is seen, but nothing about the bomb themselves. Cam anybody answer my questions? Or perhaps just comment, please... Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek EDIT P.S. Here is nice photo showing different Towdend ring cowling: http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/MY/MY73-7/55-1.jpg and here is wind genarator seen: http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/MY/MY73-7/54-1.jpg And here a line of Furies is described as Audaxies http://www.whq-forum.de/invisionboard/lofiversion/index.php?t27915-1400.html And here another two photos showing deeper cowlings and one shot of model of Audax described as photo of real things - but Fury.... A lot of confusions there

Hi all, I am calling this finished. It's the old Hasegawa kit that's been re-boxed umpteen times. Generally an ok build, just a few hiccups along the way. I used Hi Decal sheet for the decals which are quite delicate bur worked ok in the main. Seats are from Airwaves and the weapons from my spares box. Thanks for looking! FF

Middle Easterners 1:35 Meng Models Following on from their highly successful and high quality Pick-up Trucks, Meng have released this set of rather handy and topics figures dressed in typical middle-eastern clothing. The set contains four very well sculpted figures, all of which are in multiple parts to improve detail and facilitate moulding, including: Man standing and leaning against "something". Wearing a jacket and knitted hat and sporting a beard Female youth/child carrying a bag of produce on her head with a long smock dress and open-heeled shoes Woman in long robes and sandals with her lower face and hair covered Boy in open jacket and sandals Moulding is first-rate, especially for a company's first figure set, and a slide-mould has been used to give the woman figure a realistic overhanging hem to her long robes. The facial sculpting is excellent, and the female faces look distinctly female, while the males have a middle-eastern look without being caricatures of the region's people. Both male figures have separate legs to enable moulding of the creases in their trousers to go fully around the leg, and the women have separate feet that glue to the recessed bottom of their dresses. A painting guide is included on the construction diagram on the back of the box, with call-outs in Gunze Sangyo colour codes. A list of paint colours without reference codes is given on the side of the box, but in reality the world is your oyster. Check your references for the colours typically worn, and don't forget that sometimes dust and dirt makes its way onto people's clothes no matter how they try to stay clean. Conclusion Given the military activity in the Middle East during the last decade, these figures are both topical and useful in any diorama or vignette. They are well sculped, and with careful construction and painting should look very well, especially in conjunction with one of the Pick-Up Trucks I mentioned earlier. A little filling of joints will be necessary, but that's standard fare with figure construction. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of