African Group Build - The Official Thread

Good to see some progress Theuns - good luck with the gaps!

Numerous distractions & onset of summer since my last effort - finally mixed up the buff & orange last night & sprayed the base "deep buff" for the RZ this morning, almost satisfied with colour, my pics show more orange

Here are some pics of the first three coats. I'll put the green camo on over the weekend

A little bit of progress on the Cheetah.

Filled ,sanded and re-scribed the sinkspots on the wing LE's. Same on the intakes.

Juts look at how poor the fit of the wing to fuse is :-(     lots of filling to be done there.

I must tell you that the tip of the dogtooth is darn sharp!

Theuns

Nice work Theuns!

Hopefully after 3 failed attempts at this post it will go through now :-(   !!!!

I completed the filling/sanding of the new nose and exhaust. I put in the new instrument pannel top, just need to add the HUD and PE pannel.

The rear cockpit bulkhead looked very bare so I scratch built a few electrical boxes/wiringharnasses and the seat rail from some pix I had.

Light drybrushing to bring out the detail a bit.

Next comes the new intake shock cones and getting that lot all smooth LOL!

Theuns

I did the nose and exhaust replacement, the cheetah has a marked longer nose than the Kfir.

After it's all nicely sanded I will fit the fin and wings this weekend I hope.

Sofar working with the resin parts has been fun, but then again I have not strted any sanding yet!LOL

Theuns

Good to see some of your efforts here - very impressive detail Theuns

I bet you have a few spare parts hiding in that carpet monster?

No progress on the RZ yet - have been doing the Weekend Madness GB (sacrificing quality for speed) with Vance and learning about what not to do with NMF.

Decided I am going to mix my own paints to achieve the deep buff and have bought  the paint to do this - will give this a go tonight 

Seat completed , bang handle from thin copper wire glued to seat base. This MB Mk-10 seems to have no top handle.

Next the inst pannel needs assembly and PE detail.

Theuns

PS, there are allot of rough detail, but luckely the small actual size hides most of it LOL!

I eventually started on my 1/72 Kfir to Cheetah convex.

I cut off the fin and filled the wingroot internal area where the electrical cable duckts are located on the Kfir. The Cheetahs don't have them.

To paint the bangseat was "fun" and I have finally realized that my eyes are not so good anymore LOL! Just need to make and install the eject handle.

Theuns

I think that if you want a "factory fresh" look it will have to be gloss (over the codes given) but if you want a faded plane the clearcoat wil have to be more matt.

The SAAF's planes were actually well looked after (remember we could not replace them due to the arms embargo) and only after standing at a meseum did they start to fade.

Personally I try to stick to either enamels or acrylics on a project, just because I don't know any better LOL!

As for presice colours, well I tendto use what I have in the paintbox and mix if nesessary. I need to paint the Super Etandard soon and will be mixing what I have with my "Mk-1 eyeball"

Colour is a personal thing and we all see it in different ways , so I try to get close, but not do a "rivet count" on it.Afterall, it is supose to be fun!

Theuns

And here I am showing up just in time to add to the confusion! The last few kits I've built, I decided to try to use up the paint I have in-hand rather than buy specific new paint. (I realized that I had 4 different brands on the go!)

Anyway, the combination I used on my Mirage F1 is

• underside - Model Master enamel RLM 63 Lichtgrau
• topside deep buff - Humbrol enamel 63 matt + a little 160 matt (probably a 12 or 15 to 1 ratio)
• topside green - Tamiya acrylic XF26 deep green.
• clear gloss coat of Future, which ends up darkening the topside colours quite a bit.

Hope that helps a little. The colours look good to my eye for a "factory fresh" paint job, they would have to be lightened quite a bit to give you that sun-baked look.

As far as enamel over acrylic - I generally try not to mix them when possible. This time I went acrylics (green) over enamel (buff), I waited about a week between coats & didn't have any problems.

That was a great help thanks Theuns!

I did these blindly on my previous builds using Revel which came pretty close but some of these have dried up now

Looks like i'll be mixing acrylics & enamels on this one - i have some but not all

Done the underside in correct Tamiya acrylic 

Done the first topside coat in MM French earth enamel but its nowhere close, I can go over this with the recommended #63 Humbrol enamel which I have but I dont think its the correct match (I used this on my F1)?

Alternatively I'll have to go down to LHS get some Tamiya colours to mix/make a deep buff ?

Whats the deal going over enamel with acrylic?

I posted the question on the SAAF forum and a few codes came back. Please go and check out the link to my thread, it might help those who need the info.

http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4029

Theuns

I can't say offhand, but wil post on the SAAF website and get some imput from the lads................

Theuns

NeedBeer

Theuns - glad you found a kit. Will be following your progress here with interest

Here's a pic of the RZ I'm hoping to copy (alsots me & my son, taken at Swartkops museum in 2008) - do you know what the official colours are here, particularly the orange/earth/sand/tan colour - whats the best match in Tamiya, Model master, Testors or Humbrol or is there a mix to get this match?

I've done my first coat in French Earth but its too brown, nothing like this?

Nice pic! I don't recall the paint #s I used on mine, I'll track them down for you this evening so you'll at least know what I was working with - your results may vary!

Theuns - glad you found a kit. Will be following your progress here with interest

Here's a pic of the RZ I'm hoping to copy (alsots me & my son, taken at Swartkops museum in 2008) - do you know what the official colours are here, particularly the orange/earth/sand/tan colour - whats the best match in Tamiya, Model master, Testors or Humbrol or is there a mix to get this match?

I've done my first coat in French Earth but its too brown, nothing like this?

OK, so I got my stuff today and as it is the first time I have recieved AM resin stuff I am extremely happy with the level of detail in 1/72 scale!

There is just no way plastic could ever compare again!

Here is the "standard" kit shot of the 1/72 Italeri Kfir C-7

The resin wheels and exhaust detail

Might start on the "office" this week, stay tuned.

Theuns

Thanx, it was a 1/48 Italeri T-6 out the box eccept for decals.

Yes I do think R50-00 ($6 odd) is stiff for shipping, but then when I need something from the US it will most likely be the same. Bottom line - order allot to cut down on unit costs LOL!

Theuns

Nice Harvard Theuns - what kit & scale ?

[quote user="Theuns"]

"Not sure about shipping costs, but 1 US$ is about 8ZAR , so round 6,25 US$ for a nice set that will not curl up and seat nicely."

Mav charged me postage R50  for three sets to Oz (bit pricey for an envelope)....  they arrived yesterday - look impressive

I'll be making some headway now , RZ , Gripen & C-130

Tried out my new airbrush on the weekend, Iwata HP-CS,  what a difference from old Paasche H! Did three planes in the space of an hour (would normally take best part of day), so efficient, can change colors with minimum fuss, cleanup quick & easy - first time I have used double action, gravity feed AB !

So Mirage RZ (warts & all) got its underside done in sky blue, so did the Me 109 and i did  the Pete in a metal undercoat for Jap GB (want to try the salt weathering on this one) - will do the RZ sand/yellow top coat hopefully by week end, then I've got the weekend GB which looks like fun

I'll post some pics soon

On the T-6 Ijust gave the wholw sheet a light coat of gloss clear, but I think the other commercial decal film will do the trick.

Happy you came right :-)

Theuns

A-ha! Thanks for that link Theuns, I'd never heard of these folks before. It looks like they have these in-stock as well. So seal these up with a liquid decal film like Microscale sells, or do you use something else?

Just checked their site now, 1/72 SAAF F-1 AZ full set decals sells for ZAR50-00

Not sure about shipping costs, but 1 US$ is about 8ZAR , so round 6,25 US$ for a nice set that will not curl up and seat nicely.

Here is a pic ov my 1/48 T-6 Harvard. You can see the MAV SAAF decals on it.  Nice and crisp and thin.

Theuns

PS. that big yellow side # is a single decal that seats so well.

Hey Vance, not to worry mate. I can get a kfir from my resin guy, just want to make sure I can replace it for him though!

As for SAAF decals, look no further than www.mavdecals.co.za

He doesn't generaly make big sheets, rather sets for individual planes. I hve used them before and theywork great. Just seal them with clearcoat before using them.

I didn't do that on the SAAF Hawk 120 and with all the handling I damaged them.

I think NeedBeer might also know these decals.

Theuns

NeedBeer

Vance - love the cat (and the F1), good work. Interesting you chose not to do wheels down

.....

Wheels will be down, I generally leave them off until I'm done decaling, I've been known to knock the occasional piece of landing gear off from time to time! It seems I'll be putting the gear on before decals on this one though:

Sat down with the Mirage & decals on Friday and...... they curled up like you would not believe. Not "curled up in the water", but after they were on & dried. I used some liquid decal film, the colours held well enough, but I'd say the adhesive is simply non-existant on these original decals. (I had also been warned about the "brown-paper-backed decals".)

So, I'm on the hunt for decals! Albatros made a massive sheet, but I'm only looking for the SAAF decals of course. I'll be searching some of the online sources for sales/trades. If I don't have any luck there I may have to go the "print your own" route. I'm certainly capable of it considering what pays my bills, I just need to find the supplies to do it right.

And in the "funny news" department - I walked into the little 2nd-hand shop that I've found several nice kits at over the past few months and found not one, but two..... 1/72 Kfirs from Italeri!! I'm guessing shipping from Canada to South Africa would be kind of crazy though!

Just check the eagles in the SAAF "coockie cutters" in the 1/72 kit they all look left. On the wings they look inward and on the fuse they must look forward.

Angola had/has MiG 21 MF's and MAV does decals for them and other African Air Forces aswell, check out the web site.

Theuns

Theuns - for the Kfir try Lucky Model (Hong Kong), good supplier, US$14 shipped to RSA. Thanks for advise, making my own inquiries for a resin kit now, will keep you posted

Vance - love the cat (and the F1), good work. Interesting you chose not to do wheels down?

Update from me - finding it hard to get inspiration with my cheap RZ kit, the gaps are so big underneath & air intakes, its going to be a challenge, hopefully some progress this weekend

Good news - my Gripen arrived last week, beautiful craft, wish I could see a real one? This will be my next build just waiting on colour PE for the cockpit due any day now

Other potential African candidates form me

- Trumpeter 1/32 F-7MG (Chinese Mig21), depends whether I can get colour schemes & decals for appropriate country

- found some 2 hand kits recently, now in the mail, Hawker Hunter & Vampire (Rhodesian), Canadair Sabre (SAAF), SU-27 (Angola?)

- C-130

I'm going to be busy!

Interesting you say that, I went to the model shop to get the kit and it was not in stock! Hope they canget me another one otherwize I am slightly screwed.

Theuns

Thanks Theuns, I'm happy with it so far! Hoping to finish is off this weekend. The resin looks good, now you just need to find the plastic to go with it!

Here it is!

He simplified the kit so that the entire nose doesn't have to be cut off as the kfir c7 already has the fuselarge plug extention behind the cockpit.

Theuns

I was just informed that my resin convertion set (wich includes PE and decals) is ready, boy oh boy this is going to be good!!!

Theuns