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1/48 Black Saudi RF-5E


Motty

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G'day All,

 

It's been quite a while since I've had anything to contribute here (or to modelling in general to be honest), but I have finally finished a kit!

 

This is the 1/48 AFV Club RF-5E kit done using markings from an IsraDecal sheet to depict an all-black Royal Saudi Air Force machine. 

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The kit is basically out of the box but I have added a Master pitot probe, scratch-built refueling probe (the boxing I had didn't include the probe) and replaced the sidewinders with ones from a Hasegawa weapons set.

 

There are a few issues around the markings as I had to cobble together various stencils and guess a lot, so it's more of a representation than a replica, but at least it's finished! :)

 

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Externally, it's painted using Mr Colour and Gaia lacquers which worked very nicely. The metal area at the rear is with SMS paints, a local, Australian brand, which looks very nice too. The base black is very slightly lightened with pure black over the top to depict a bit of weathering, then a matte varnish and clear black (also called "smoke" when Tamiya does it) for further effect. The model does have more tonal variations in real life but it doesn't seem to show up well here.

 

The ladder comes with the kit, the figure is from an old Hasegawa Strike Eagle kit (cleaned up and refined) and the helmet and mask are made by hollowing out a Hasegawa pilot's head. These were added just for a bit of fun and are intended to just be used as generic props.

 

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If you've got any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

It's good to be able to contribute something again.. Thanks for looking,

 

Cheers,

Motty.

 

 

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Well done for finishing one. We all get those dry spells from time to time and I know how frustrating it can be. It's a super model too. I'm impressed by your cockpit painting skills. Interesting to see the black finish too. I didn't even know the Saudis used the F-5

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G'day All,

 

Thanks for your replies and kind comments.

 

I don't really know anything about the scheme. I would have to assume that it was intended for night ops?

 

I found this site only just before I finished the kit but it seems to give a pretty good rundown of Saudi F-5 use and suggests that there may have been four aircraft painted black.

 

https://www.dstorm.eu/pages/en/saudi/f-5.html

 

That site also has a reasonable version of this shot which was the original inspiration to do the scheme.

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Cheers,

Motty.

 

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