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Following a couple of quiet months, these GBs seem to be coming around quickly now, at least from my perspective. See how this one goes. Back when a flag against our names was a strong hint as to which country we should build, Portugal was selected for me. OK, they are now decorative, maybe a gentle hint ... but my choice was made in earlier times. Portugal Now, I know little about Portugal or its armed forces, but I took a look to see what I could find. After rejecting ground forces as (nearly) impossible to model, two aircraft stood out as possible in 1/48. An F-86 and an F-16A. Already overcommitted on GBs, and with Denis's F-86 GB due to follow soon, I settled on the F-16A. OK, what is needed for a Portuguese F-16A? An F-16A kit, and some appropriate AM stuff, a selection from Model Maker Decals, and a 3d printed ADF tail from 3D-Chute Expert and a 'pit from Quinta Studio. Actually, the AM stuff isn't essential for a Portuguese build from the Kinetic kit. The ADF tail isn't shown in Kinetic's instructions, but the necessary plastic is in the box, the key detail is shown here alongside the 3d printed tail. The difference is subtle, but I feel the 3D printed part is better.

I really like the triangular black and red markings Mozambique use, but all the ones in my stash are for MiGs that are already well represented in this GB already. So I went back a generation to the 1965-74 War of Independence and looked at some of the Fiat G.91Rs operated as counter insurgency/ground attack aircraft by Portugal during that conflict. There is a set of decals out there that has 'my' scheme on and also an overall dark green aircraft from the early 70s. Meng made it easy for me by including the scheme in one of their boxings, so that's what I've got. Or will have. Sorry postie 😢 This is the box... ...and this is the scheme I'll be doing from it I've been reading up and a Portuguese member of BM built this one back in 2014 and painted it light grey rather than natural metal. I'm going to follow his lead. Hopefully mine will be within touching distance of how good his turned out. Andy

Good evening all, Today, a FAP T-6 Texan operating from the 3rd Air Force Base in Portugal at some point in the mid 1960's. Academy has made a lovely 1/72 Texan that is kitted by Encore with a wide range of markings options, so it was tough to choose which I would go with. Ultimately I chose Portuguese as I have a Hawker Fury on the way that will also have Portuguese markings and which shares the Daschund marking of this build. Once I had underwing serials, I expect this one will go quite fast. I haven't yet decided if I will install the entire canopy or just the forward two sections, but I am leaning towards just the forward two to ease painting. In any case, I haven't got any clear parts glue just yet, so it will have to wait. Thanks for checking in, Tweener

CASA C-212-100 "Portuguese Tail Arts" (72376) 1:72 Special Hobby The CASA 212 is a medium cargo aircraft with a short field capability designed by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA or CASA of Spain. The aircraft is a boxy fuselage with a high mounted wing and twin turbo prop engines. The cabin is not pressurised. In the 1960's the Spanish Air Force was looking to modernise as at the time it was still relying on a mix of C-47s and Ju-52s for its transport requirements. The SASA 212 was a proposed 18 seat transport aircraft which could fill a few different roles. The aircraft first flew in 1971 and the Spanish Air Force would acquire them from there. 477 Aircraft were built over 42 years, with the last being built in 2012 when Airbus Military decided to discontinue production. Production continues though under license in Indonesia. The aircraft has been used by many military and civil users all over the world The Kit This is a new toolkit from Special Hobby. The plastic is the same as the original boxing we reviewed here. The kit arrives on five sprues of plastic and a clear spure. From the look of the unused parts on the sprue a maritime/patrol version is planned at some point. Construction starts with adding the instrument panel in at the front. Instruments are supplied as decals. The windows are put into the main fuselage halves from the inside at this point, as well as the side cockpit glazing. The main fuselage doors and inserts at the front are then added. The rest of the cockpit is then built up, this can then be added and thee main fuselage closed up. Its worth noting there in no interior for the main cargo cabin and the ramp is moulded closed. Next up the undercarridge is made up and the main sponsons added. The nose is added along with the main cockpit glazing. The tailplanes are made up with seperate control surfaces. The instructions advise to add nose weight but ommit how much is needed. The tailplanes ad rudder are now added to the main fuselage, along with the tailplane fairings. The wings are made up next. There is a single part upper and left/right lowers. 4 flap actuator fairings are added to each side. The two engine nacelles are made up and added along with the fronts and propellor assemblies. These can then be added to the wings. Two trim tabs on the wing need to be removed.The wing is now fitted to the fuselage along with various antennas and sundary parts. Markings There are are two special tail art schemes as used by the Portuguese Air Force on this boxing; 16507 - 50th anniversary of 502 Sqn, Sintra AB 2005 16517 - 160,00 Flight hours and 35 Years of Service, 502 Sqn, Montijo AB, 2009 Both Aircraft wear the standard two green and tan over grey paint scheme. Conclusion It is great to see more boxings of this new tool from Special Hobby. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

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.

AgustaWestland AW101 (EH101) Portuguese Air Force. All pics thanks to Vitor Sousa. Airborne Pictures.