gengriz Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 (edited) Dassault Rafale M, 14 Flotille, French Navy, FS Charles de Gaulle Continuing, in a loose way, my WW2 Anniversaries theme, Marcel Bloch, leading French Aircraft designer and founder of Dassault Aviation became a "resistant" in 1940. When the occupying Germans realised he was systematically sabotaging any attempt to use his designs, he fled occupied France for the Vichy south, where he was imprisoned for his trouble, ending up in the Nazi's Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war, Marcel changed his family name to "Dassault", in honour of his brother, General Darius Bloch, whose secret resistance codename was "Char D'assault (tank). That proud name, born out of the French Resistance movement of 70 years ago, now adorns one of Europe and indeed the world's leading aircraft companies, whose current flagship product is the beautiful Dassault Rafale. Italeri's kit is based on the prototype Rafale. However, the required changes for a present day aircraft seem to be minimal, and this is a nicely moulded and detailed kit, albeit one with very few parts and with raised panel lines (not many though)! I have built this one effectively "out the box", although I have added some different decals to represent an aircraft in service and I have fitted an AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile on the centre pylon. Pylon configuration isn't quite right for an M, the optical turret on the nose and the flare launcers at the rear of the wing root are missing, and Italeri would have you place some of the sensors on the wrong place, but otherwise, its definitely a Rafale! Not much more I can say really; a nice kit of a very elegant modern aircraft! FredT Edited July 14, 2010 by gengriz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Another nice build Fred, and a good way of remembering Bastille Day. But I'm afraid the Rafale leaves me cold, I don't find it attractive at all. As you probably know I much prefer the Tiffie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gengriz Posted July 14, 2010 Author Share Posted July 14, 2010 (edited) As you probably know I much prefer the Tiffie. Surely not Daz: "Tiffies" are OK, but who can resist such a beautiful French Lady! : Edited July 14, 2010 by gengriz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Nice shots Fred, but the Rafale just does nothing for me. The same as the F-22 looks more attractive then the F-15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gengriz Posted July 14, 2010 Author Share Posted July 14, 2010 The same as the F-22 looks more attractive then the F-15. With you on that one! FredT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A H Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Superb model , love aeronavale stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stéphane Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Hello, Sweet little Rafale, Gen ... And thanks for the Bastille Day comemoration;) One little thing, though : the Exocet in centerline might have been seen for display but it is not an operational thing to date. There is, on the center line, very often if not always, a gas bag. This does not remove anything to the quality of your model, of course. Best Stef (#6), constant froggy on duty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evalman Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 Does it for me! Very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 Nicely done Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davec_24 Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 Well, Tiffy Vs. Rafale thing aside, that is a cracking build! Very nicely done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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