Patrouille de France; Alpha Jet (and I have built every other aircraft they did but forgot to post)

[MsModeller]

As soon as I saw this group I decided I was going to fulfil a project that I was starting as a kid; build every aircraft of Patrouille de France. Why? Well, let me tell you a small story...

 

When I was a kid we went to France. Every time we went to the beach my parents would walk into town to either get money or food or drinks (it was about a 5 to 10 minute walk). Each time I'd go with my dad to go to the toy store. 

 

Inside there was a Heller boxset of Patrouille de France. The first day I saw it I begged my dad for it but he declined, saying that I didn't need it as I would never build it (he was sort of right for that). 

 

The next day we were driving to a museum and I spotted a sign on the roundabout, and low and behold the Patrouille de France were performing at the beach where we were staying.  We saw them two days in a row and I met some old pilots, I got posters (that sadly got damp damaged and had to be disposed of)...I was so excited.

 

On the last day of our trip my dad bought me the set. I was overwhelmed and so happy. Below is a picture of the set I got.

 

 

Ever since then I've wanted to build the entire set, and this group build gave me the motivation and inspiration to do so. I meant to post for each model that I was doing, but often many of them were done so quickly that I just didn't think to post them. I've now completed every aircraft in the series so far. The only one not complete is the Alpha Jet, and so that will be my subject here. 

 

For reference, if you'd like to see all the other models I've done I'll link the Playlist below:

 

 

 

As for the Alpha Jet in question, here is what I have so far:

 

 

 

I streamed building the whole thing, and construction was nice. As expected the landing gear has been weak as all hell, which I know having completed about 5 Alpha Jets in my time. They're always the worst and I hate them.

 

However, it was snapped entirely whilst painting and now I have this... (ignore the line between the paint, it'll be cleaned up by the white decals).

 

 

Sorry for now posting all the other builds, but I just completely forgot. To top it off, whilst building this I spilt the glue ALL OVER my desk, thank god I had this protective matt down! Safe to say I felt kinda ill after! 

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

37 minutes ago, MsModeller said:

I spilt the glue ALL OVER my desk,

 

Ventilate! Ventilate!

 

You seem to have splashed paint on you head too. 😁

 

Seriously, that was a lovely story, I like your Dad. I like the model too. Could you post the others in a grand RFI here sometime perhaps?

[JOCKNEY]

12 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Ventilate! Ventilate!

 

You seem to have splashed paint on you head too. 😁

 

Seriously, that was a lovely story, I like your Dad. I like the model too. Could you post the others in a grand RFI here sometime perhaps?

 

We need to get him back down off the ceiling before he can open the window ! 

 

Lovely job of the masking, looks really striking. 

 

Cheers Pat

[Troy Smith]

13 hours ago, MsModeller said:

For reference, if you'd like to see all the other models I've done I'll link the Playlist below:

 

 

Since you used AM sheet for the PDF F-84 build, you may have missed that  Heller did a another PDF box set,   which was the F-84, Ouragan and Magister,  gift set with paint. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/heller-53001-patrouille-france--227134  2013 according to the link.

Creative Models were selling them cheap a few years ago, £13  IIRC,   the decals sheet look very impressive.   I got one as it was cheap, and thought it might be a neat little project to not get to worried about.   But thought is such a neat little set I did get worried about it....  

 

I presume this wasn't about when you did the F-84?  

 

13 hours ago, MsModeller said:

As expected the landing gear has been weak as all hell, which I know having completed about 5 Alpha Jets in my time. They're always the worst and I hate them.

sound like a candidate for doing gear up and making a display stand to simulate the smoke trails, 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234989381-red-arrow-hawks/

 

I think it's cotton wool round a wire.   

 

[MsModeller]

15 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Ventilate! Ventilate!

 

You seem to have splashed paint on you head too. 😁

 

Seriously, that was a lovely story, I like your Dad. I like the model too. Could you post the others in a grand RFI here sometime perhaps?

 

I opened the window after and had a headache ALL day. I am fine today though, thankfully. It was a nightmare!

 

Yes though, I was going to put them all in for the RFI

 

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

Since you used AM sheet for the PDF F-84 build, you may have missed that  Heller did a another PDF box set,   which was the F-84, Ouragan and Magister,  gift set with paint. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/heller-53001-patrouille-france--227134  2013 according to the link.

Creative Models were selling them cheap a few years ago, £13  IIRC,   the decals sheet look very impressive.   I got one as it was cheap, and thought it might be a neat little project to not get to worried about.   But thought is such a neat little set I did get worried about it....  

 

I presume this wasn't about when you did the F-84?  

 

 

 

Funny you should mention this, but I looked for this and just couldn't find it anywhere. It was a real shame as I remember when it was on offer but alas that was in my former home where I retain almost none of the models. So I had to look for alternatives. There have been a few boxings that popped up but they were really expensive compared to the £50 or so I spent on everything separately. As money is super tight I had to be really conscious of it - what is a girl to do! But judging by my last Heller multi-set they're really quite impressive! 

 

I've been looking at which display teams to do next and I have the Hasegawa Thunderbirds set....so that's exciting! And that one was actually really cheap for some reason! 

Edited September 22, 2021 by MsModeller

[MsModeller]

Double post, but mainly because I have an update!

 

I've essentially finished the model. So I'll be posting the RFI soon. I'm getting some wood today to make a nice base for the models so I can have the whole team together! First time I will have ever done anything like this so excited!

 

I did, somehow, manage to drop the entire model. Here's a screen grab of it from the building stream as I've not done finished pics yet, this was after I glossed it and t hen dropped it:

 

 

 

 

[MsModeller]

 

Build is now complete at the above link  

[exdraken]

nice work,

perfect colors!