Italeri 1/48 Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet E, Force Aerienne Belge, 35 Years of Alpha Jet, 2014 +FINISHED+

[Icarus]

Good afternoon.  I would like to contribute this build - the old ESCI kit, with lovely looking French AF decals:

 

 

 

I am planning to build this OOB, apart form perhaps some replacement ejector seats, depending on what the kit ones look like when painted and decaled.  I'm planning to have the canopy closed in this one.

 

As an aside, if you look closely in the second photo you might be able to see what my second build for this GB will be, depending on time.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

Edited May 15, 2021 by Icarus
Typos

[Brad]

That is a nice colour scheme, welcome along.

[Icarus]

So slight change of plan (and build title).  Having looked at the choices, I am tempted by the Belgian commemorative one, so will be going with this option (without the photobombing cat!)

 

 

 

 

Should be fun - I've never done a splinter scheme before!

 

Icarus

[Icarus]

So, getting on with this.  The base kit is very old (raised panel lines etc), with a pretty poor fit.  I have bought, and now painted, two resin ejection seats to provide a bit more detail to the cockpit.  The canopy will remain closed in this one, so I am hoping this will suffice.

 

 

And this is where things are this morning.  Starting to sand down the chasms in the build fuselage.  The wings and ejection seats are just tacked in for the photo.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

[Icarus]

So, here is the fuselage this afternoon following some filling, sanding and polishing sessions....

 

 

This is later this evening, after the first light grey layer/primer was down.  Next step - a lot of masking for the splinter camouflage...

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

[Icarus]

So this is the first stage of masking yesterday...

 

 

 

Note the "anti-idiot" labels - this splinter pattern is pretty complicated!

 

Now after laying the second paint layer - XF-19 looks to be a pretty good match for the mid grey, looking at photos...

 

 

Next step is to make the masks for the mid grey.  This is all a new experience for me, and a great learning experience.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

 

 

[Icarus]

So, this is the final outcome this morning. Wings have just been placed in their slots to check how well lined up the elements are!

 

 

 

A few inevitable touch ups are needed, as I forgot to burnish the final layer of masks before putting on the the sea grey, with the consequential leaks around a few of the raised panel lines.  Not too bad though - you can see I have already been working on them with a toothpick, so just a few dabs of the relevant greys needed now.  I shall probably wait until I've glued the wings on, as there may need to be a few more touch ups after this.  I also need to fill in those redundant wing pylon holes!

 

Next stage will then be a gloss varnish, followed by decals.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

[Thom216]

Nice Splinter! Though it kind of breaks up the lines of the plane, making it harder to discern...😁

[Icarus]

So, decaling is now complete.  Impressively tough decals, which were amenable to manoeuvring but reacted well to setting solutions.

 

 

 

Next steps are some very modest weathering (the original aircraft looks pretty pristine in reference photos) then a satin varnish, before removal of masks.  Finally I'll add the delicate/dangly things, and we're done.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Icarus

[Icarus]

OK - all done now.  I will post photos in the Gallery later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for all the helpful comments,

 

Icarus

Edited June 7, 2021 by Icarus

[Brad]

That looks really good.

[Icarus]

Oops - forgot the canopy decals, plus the fin aerials.  Now on!

 

 

Again, thanks for looking.  The rest of the latest photos will be going with this one to the Gallery.

 

Icarus