Jump to content

Alpha Jet, Armee de l'Air


Jessica

Recommended Posts

Will you be doing the Canadian civvy one ?

While it's tempting, I'm going to be boring and do the overall grey Armée de L'air one. J'ai besoin de plus des avions Francaises sur mes étagères.

Besides, it's the one with the blunt nose and I'm tired of knocking pitot tubes off...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got a little more work done in various subassemblies. The landing gear has 90 degree bends made up of separate pieces. I decided to glue them together before painting to achieve the greatest strength glue bond.

alpha_jet_4.jpg

Nose and tail cones. The instructions are not clear which of the optional tail cones to use so I had to google pictures of Alpha Jet Es in order to discover that the plain tail cone without the chaff dispenser is the one I need to install.

alpha_jet_5.jpg

The intakes are made up from two halves. I glued them together, then ran a bead of gap filling superglue down the inside of the joins. Once it's dry I'll spray some white in there.

alpha_jet_7.jpg

And finally, the cockpit sidewalls are repaired after my adventures into inaccurate scratchbuilding

alpha_jet_6.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another day, a little more progress, another test fit. I read a thread on ARC (referenced from Pappy's build) about the difficulties of fitting the wheel well in around the intakes and the lower fuselage part. Perhaps it's because I haven't glued anything yet, but I haven't run into the problem with this model. Everything fits where it ought to.
alpha_jet_9.jpg
The tape held long enough for me to take the picture. The moment I put the camera down the model went *plink* and fell apart. But I know it fits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another day, a little more progress, another test fit. I read a thread on ARC (referenced from Pappy's build) about the difficulties of fitting the wheel well in around the intakes and the lower fuselage part. Perhaps it's because I haven't glued anything yet, but I haven't run into the problem with this model. Everything fits where it ought to.

alpha_jet_9.jpg

The tape held long enough for me to take the picture. The moment I put the camera down the model went *plink* and fell apart. But I know it fits.

G'day Jessica,

I haven't experienced any trouble either, my fit is great

3007_zps85936064.jpg

I think the guy in that build I placed the link to largely induced the problems himself, mainly by not aligning the intake ducts correctly (It also helps if you glue in the central divider in the correct orientation). It is good to know that there is no requirement for nose ballast, but I am intrigued - "liquid gravity" ?

cheers,

Pappy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to add: Not one bit of nose weight is needed! I went out and bought a bottle of Liquid Gravity for nothing!

Bought as an investment for future builds. :-)

This is coming along great.

Edited by snapper_city
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the guy in that build I placed the link to largely induced the problems himself, mainly by not aligning the intake ducts correctly (It also helps if you glue in the central divider in the correct orientation).

I've figured out how his problem happened because it just tried to happen to me. When you're fitting the intakes, it's very important to get the two little pins on the rear of the splitter plate to line up into their holes, and the top pin doesn't like its hole so it tries to fit behind it. This tips the end of the duct downward inside the fuselage where it ends up fouling the top of the wheel well, forcing it downward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to the Alpha Jet. Reference photos kindly lent to me show that the forward portions of the instrument panel shrouds are covered by a very light coloured fabric material. I thought that pure white was a bit too strong, so I toned it down with a drop of Deck Tan
alpha_jet_11.jpg
The cockpit is finished apart from washes and drybrushing. The carpet monster got one of the front seat belts, so I'm just going to claim that it fell down between the seat and the side console when the front-seater got out last time
alpha_jet_12.jpg
alpha_jet_13.jpg
A test fit once again
alpha_jet_14.jpg
The intakes didn't want to fit very well. I'll need a session or two of sanding the Mr. Surfacer I globbed on
alpha_jet_15.jpg
The other fuselage inserts also need a bit of filling and sanding
alpha_jet_16.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...