Foxbat Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) Back when I was young and they were talkin... sorry, wrong thread Through my teens, my dad worked in a ship repair yard. He would often bring home interesting bits and bobs. One day he brought home a magazine I'd never seen or heard of before; Born in Battle - an English language mag produced in Israel. This very issue in fact: I was aware of Israel and the seemingly endless state of war that seemed to be going on (Yom Kippur and Entebbe both made a big impression when they were on the news), but hadn't made anything Middle Eastern at that point. That magazine changed all that. The IDF/AF was the new cool and I had a modelling theme that would last through the next 15 years at least. What to build though? I went into Newcastle, and climbed the stairs to the kit department of The Model Shop (on Blenheim Street, and if your going to be amodel shop, that's the address to have). I asked the bloke behind the counter for advice and came away with the Heller kit of the Ouragan. My first Israeli aircraft, my first kit from the very exotic (at the time) Heller, and my first solo purchase from a shop I spent a LOT of time in over the years that followed. There were many more Israeli aircraft over time (and a few Arab ones too, almost all Matchbox and Airfix MiGs) Forty years later, it's time for another go. The box has changed a little since that first time, although the picture is still the same Inside the fold up lid and ahhhhh, such memories There are three sprues rattling around in there which seems a lot for the modest parts count, but Heller have made good use of the space... Now THIS is a decal sheet A French line jet, Patrouille de France, Israeli and Indian air forces. I may need more than one of these. Let building commence. Andy Edited June 13, 2020 by Foxbat 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Great choice - I've got a few of these lined up for the Heller GB later on in the year. As you say - it would be a shame to waste any of those decal options. 😀 Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Now this really is a great choice Andy. I too remember building this one and really liking it and with a shark mouth like the one on the decal sheet what is not to like, and that decal sheet really does look very nice indeed. As I am thinking of getting another of these myself I'm really interested to see how you get on with your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klr Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 2 hours ago, modelling minion said: Now this really is a great choice Andy. I too remember building this one and really liking it and with a shark mouth like the one on the decal sheet what is not to like, and that decal sheet really does look very nice indeed. As I am thinking of getting another of these myself I'm really interested to see how you get on with your build. The decal sheet is a huge improvement over the old decal sheet from the time I built it. I'm almost tempted to buy this current boxing, to go with the second kit I have in the stash. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 It does look like a very impressive package. Good to see Heller getting back to full strength. I got one of these in the original "black box" release from The Model Engineer in Stirling, although I'd be in my 20s by then so no longer qualifying as a kid 🙂 John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dansk Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Great to have you onboard Andy, thanks for sharing your story It would be great with the magazine that started all the modelling theme in one of the gallery shots at the end 😊 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 10 minutes ago, Dansk said: It would be great with the magazine that started all the modelling theme in one of the gallery shots at the end Great idea Paul! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 That's a great choice Andy,similar story with me the Arab-Israeli wars were a fascination and Airfix's Phantom and Mirage were duly built in Israeli colours,second coincidence is that I've climbed those stairs in Blenhiem street kots of times and came out with many a kit third coincidence is I have this very same kit for the Heller GB so interesting to see progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Nice bit of propaganda andy, i wouldn't mind casting my eye through that, i like an Israeli subject, the french did a lot of buisness with the Israelis back in the day, i think this one flew not long after ww2, the super mystère is my favourite from dassault though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 4 minutes ago, Hewy said: Nice bit of propaganda andy, i wouldn't mind casting my eye through that, i like an Israeli subject, the french did a lot of buisness with the Israelis back in the day, i think this one flew not long after ww2, the super mystère is my favourite from dassault though I have a fondness for both Mysteres, but the ones I built were released too late to qualify for this GB. That seems to happen a lot, kits I thought would be perfect actually hit the shelves when I was in my early 20s 😕 Andy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 Work has started. First up was the cockpit and nose insert, the latter also forms the nose wheel bay. Out of focus again, but this is still more than you will see when everything is buttoned up. Which happened soon after. We'll gloss over the hassle I gave myself by forgetting to put the jet pipe in and having to wrestle things apart then rebuild them. No one needs to know about that 😕 In an effort to seem pro-active, I gave everything a coat of primer. This is an old kit and most of the fuselage is joined by hope and good intentions so I wanted to check the seams weren't too obvious and there wasn't anything too out of skew. Close enough for jazz, and a lot better than 15 year old me managed, so I'll live with that. The underside wasn't quite as good. The cannon pack/undercarriage bay piece has several mating edges and you can't have all of them neat and aligned at the same time. I got it as close as I could then attacked it with a sanding stick. The wings went together easily and slotted into place without problems. The upper surfaces make a neat enough join that they should look fine under paint with no more work. Again, the underside begs to differ 😢 They're not huge gaps though, so 30 seconds with a dab of filler and things were much better. I'm almost at the paint stage, but that will have to wait as the paint is still in the post. Got a set of early Israeli colours and a CS-199 (well, they had the colour for it in the set and it wouldn't havegot used otherwise). It's the old KP, or based on it, so that might end up here too, we'll see. Andy 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 That was quick Andy! Very nice work too, what small gaps there were you seem to have dealt with nicely. Interesting that you have the old KP CS-199 coming, I remember building a couple of them and their range of Migs as nobody else kitted a lot of them at the time and as "iffy" as they could be to get together they were at least pretty accurate shape wise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 20 minutes ago, modelling minion said: Interesting that you have the old KP CS-199 coming, I remember building a couple of them and their range of Migs as nobody else kitted a lot of them at the time and as "iffy" as they could be to get together they were at least pretty accurate shape wise. I built quite a few of their kits when I first saw them as they were cheap and exotic. Like you, lots of MiGs, but I always remember the various Jumo engined Messerchmidts as they fed my IDF obsession and an Avia B.534 that got finished but looked like it had recently been crashed as neither wing was square in any plane Just checked and it's the single seater I have in the post (so S-199 not CS) which seems to be a re-box of the fairly recent AZ kit. I'll save it for another day and concentrate on the F-80 for now. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Yet another well written intro. We are getting a bit more provided here than yer average GB here, aren't we? A nice looking kit as well. The magazine title is familiar, I think I had a copy at some point, although not the one you show. I'll have to have a search about, you have me interested now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Hi Andy, I must admit that the early French jets are something I have considered buying several times - Mystere, Super Mystere, Vautour and Ouragan, but for some reason I have never quite got round to it. I shall watch with interest. Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Good progress Andy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted May 29, 2020 Author Share Posted May 29, 2020 After a weekend break while I Blitz Built, I got back to the Ouragan. I got an AK paint set for early Israeli aircraft (and treat myself to an S-199 as there was a paint for it in the set). I'm not sure if it's me, the weather or if AK paints claim to be brush friendly is slightly overstated, but this is where I am after 4 coats on top of white primer. I've never used paint like it - it manages to be so thin that it doesn't give any depth of colour whhilst at the same time so quick drying that it doesn't have a chance to self level so you can see every brush stroke. I even dismantled the bottle and gave it a good stir with a stick between coats 2 and 3. I hope there's enough paint left in the bottle and time left in the GB for me to get a decent finish 😕 Andy 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 That paint is very strange Andy, after 4 coats I would have expected far better coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 (edited) I put a fifth coat of brown on and it finally looked about how I would have expected the first coat to look. More in hope than expectation I slapped some blue on and wonder of wonders, this was the first coat. Flushed with success, I added a third coat to the undersides, and that didn't look too bad either. It's a strange colour though, called silk grey, it varies between washed out Sky and Aircraft Grey depending on the light source and intensity - no doubt a useful property in a camouflage colour but no help to amateur model photographers No stopping me now!! I gave the centres of the blue sections a second coat, the idea being that any thin bits would give a bit of a soft edge to the pattern. I had to make the port side camo up as the instructions give four views, but the port side doesn't line up with the top and starboard which at least mostly agree with each other. I couldn't think of a reason not to, so I've started the decals. The stripes round the rear fuselage were a struggle. Heller print them as straight lines, but there are compound curves and a kind of cone section to fit them round so it's pretty much impossible to get them square all the way round (if you see what I mean). I've got them close-ish, and I'll attack the wrinkles with a scalpel before I add varnish. Back on track and happy again Andy Edited June 1, 2020 by Foxbat 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 See what you mean about the stripes, I think you've done well with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dansk Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Loving this scheme Andy it looks ace espeacially with the (shark’s?) mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I think your Ouragan is looking great Andy. Funny how the blue paint behaved itself perfectly when the brown was a pain. Other than the stripes how are the decals behaving? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 31 minutes ago, modelling minion said: I think your Ouragan is looking great Andy. Funny how the blue paint behaved itself perfectly when the brown was a pain. Other than the stripes how are the decals behaving? Thanks. Yes, the blue has restored my faith a bit and I'll look for another kit to paint in the same scheme (fancy a P-51, be a nice change from a NMF). The decals are behaving impeccably, they're really easy to use and have just enough 'slide' so that once they're about in place you can fine tune them without them wrinkling or splitting. Seem to be reacting well to decal solution too. I keep looking at the Indian scheme with the huge scorpions on the nose. It has to be done really Andy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 18 minutes ago, Foxbat said: The decals are behaving impeccably Good to know as I've got my eye on one on a certain auction site. 19 minutes ago, Foxbat said: I keep looking at the Indian scheme with the huge scorpions on the nose. It has to be done really I couldn't agree more Andy, it's a fantastic scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 1 hour ago, Foxbat said: The decals are behaving impeccably, Great stuff - will suit me fine come the Heller GB! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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