African Group Build - The Official Thread

I also did the Academy 1/48 (actually 1/50) Mirage 3 RZ in SAAF sceeme a few years back. They did sometimes fly without national insignea

I think it can be built into a nice little model if you do an inflight stand to eliminate the bad under cart.

As you can see, back then I knew nothing about shading or pannel line washes LOL!

Theuns

PS. It might seem odd, but these planes wee actually high gloss!

A little progress last night, another coat of gray to the undersides of the Mirage.

Thanks for the advice Theuns - this will be the first time using customised decals

Took the Mirage III R out of the box last night for a dry fit - am I looking forward to this build???? (sarcasim)

This will be another challenge - $15 for 1/48 Academy, I thought the price was good, but the quality is not!

Have built two Hobby Boss kits (C version) couple of years ago which I got on clearance for same price - chalk & cheese

Minimal parts, very little detail, soft/thin plastic. No clear parts for camera holes in the nose? The cockpit & undercarriage seriously lacking detail, very basic. Pilot sits on floor & looks like an under nourished elongated alien. I suppose thats what you get for the price here!

Fit is not too bad but there will be some gap filling gaps on the underside of wings

Looks like I'll have to try my hand at some scratch building on this one - have some left over parts from Hobby Boss which I can use.

Am hoping to copy  #838 (now at Swartkop museum)

Happy you came right with decals. Just a warning. Seal them with a clearcoat before you put them on.

I forgot this stage when doing the SAAF BAE Hawk and with all the handling of the model before clearoating, my fingers removed some of the ink on the decals

I was officially a ground loady, but volunteered to go on every flight I could on my off-days. I flew in C-160/130's , DC-3 and mostly DC-4's. Sometimes in Puma and Oryx Helis. Great times back in 90/91.

When I went in for national service, we missed the Angola/SWA trip by a year, so I did loady training at Waterkloof and was then sent as a shift boss to Swartkops, hence the DC-3 and 4's of 44 Sqn.

Man, I can still hear that R2800 P/W  starters kiking in and the smoke and flames billowing out of the exhausts on a freezing highveld morning!

Theuns

I like the idea of a "What if" >: )

Theuns

Thanks buddy

Didnt occur to me at first but after putting out that message last night went to Mav website & placed an order there - they've already responded, have Paypal facility for international orders, so its being processed now

Also ordered some decals for C-130 (70's era)

As load master you must have worked on quite a few craft?

I was at Waterkloof for a couple of months (radar school) then went to mobile radar in Pietersburg - spent most of my time driving bedfords culminating in a long drive to Angola in 1975

Cheers

@ NeedBeer.

Did you already order the decals? I asume it is Mav decals.

If you don't get any joy form them be fryday let me know by posting here and I might get the chance to pop over the the aviation shop and chat to Karl. He generally gives me very good service.

Infact, that is where I need to get my ICM ground crew from.

Maybe I can work up the will power to do the final work on my little "what if" SAAF Cessna 337 tonight.

Theuns

Theuns

Wow, so that is what a dedicated building station look like! I have to build at the kitchen table AFTER the kidsare asleep, otherwize they like to take my parts away! LOL

 

Theuns

ahhhhh, a dedicated area - some day!!! The family doesn't wander off with parts, but seem convinced that the table should be used for eating, homework, coaching paperwork and homework.

You can actually see the work surface!

I'm going to start my Mirage IIIZ tonight - just waiting on the decals - anyone coming to Perth from Joburg - cant seem to get any response from Aviation Shop re my order?

Wow, so that is what a dedicated building station look like! I have to build at the kitchen table AFTER the kidsare asleep, otherwize they like to take my parts away! LOL

Theuns

That's right, :) I'm a bit slow me self..

MilitaryAircraft101

I wonder what happened to everyone else??? : ( 

MilitaryAircraft101

Looks great, Its in : )

I wonder what happened to everyone else??? : (

This...

Tables and light came down tonight. The move is a week from Friday. No way I'll be doing anything until at least Thanksgiving, perhaps longer...

Thanx Noah, my airbrush is not quite fine enough to do the mottling as acurate as I wanted, but is will do for me.

Problem with this specific plane is that is is so well docomented, you can not easly get away with any inacuracies. The river counters will "get" you LOL!

Theuns

Need Beer: Great job with the stencils on the Canberra, nice set of planes.

Theuns: I have always thought Black 8 was a really cool looking plane. Good work on the mottling very well done.

Looks great, Its in : )

I wonder what happened to everyone else??? : (

I have an idea to add to my participation in the GB. I would like to "enter" this 1/48 Tamiya BF-109 E that I have been working on for some time now. It was used by the Africa Core, the well documented "Black 8".

What I am planing to do is a diorama of the aircraft in Libya getting some maintenance for the ground crew.

I will be getting the 1/48 Lufftwaffe crew set from ICM and build them. The plane still needs the spinner/prop ,antenna ad rear canopy to be installed.

Theuns

First coat of underside gray is on the Mirage F1 as of last night. The first time in years I've airbrushed with enamels. Some ModelMaster aircraft gray was the best match I had on hand without mixing. (All of my "mixing" cups are being used right now!) I've been using Tamiya acrylics for so long now that this was actually kind of difficult! Another coat tonight should finish it up.

The Buc in my pic is the latest Airfix 1/72 - its not too bad - it was probably more my inexperince dealing with bad fits at the time.

I also did the SAAF Canberra (Aifix) which was not too bad, I recall a bit of sanding around the cockpit fit

Airfix F1 1/72

Sabre in SAAF camo

Looking good man!

I was at Waterkloof AF base during 1990 as part of my National Service trainning where I was a load master.

Saw many Bucks, Canberras, Mirage F-1, 3's C-130 and 160's. DC-3 and 4's.

Most of the SAAF stuff was French and British while the transports were mainly French and US.The light aircraft were Italian and some own built stuff.

Helies were Pumas, Allo 2 and 3's ,Wasps and Super Frelons. We later rebuilt the Pumas into Oryx wich compares to the Super Pumas.

I have read that the airfix 1/72 Buck is a tad old, I thought it was also a new mould. :-(

So, my search for a suitable project continiues LOL!

Theuns

Yes SAAF were pretty active, there's quite a variety to choose from. They started running out of options when the arms embargo was enforced but then took the Israeli route by making their own eg the Cheetah using the Mirage 111 frames. I only learned recently they had Canberras but I never saw any in my time  .......

Theuns, looks like you were in the services too? Buccanner is a great option, my experience with the recent Airfix release was dodgy fuselage & wing fit

My Dad's claim to fame was he was on the elctronics design team at the Blackburn factory about the time I was born?

Here's a couple of my earlier attempts - excuse the lackof depth of field in the pics, also my building s& finishing skills 

SAAF Bucaneer! I was kind of surprised at the variety of aircraft types the SAAF has actually operated over the years, all kinds of options to build.

The Thunder city planes will sure be eazy to paint! Most were gloss black. Pitty they don't operate anymore.

One of my clients owns and flies a single and two seater Hunter. Pitty that the Academy 1/48 F-6 Hunter has a bangseat in 1/72 scale

The more I look at it , the more a 1/72 "new" airfix Buceneer with SAAF decals looks to be the awnser for this GB

Theuns

Well if it turned out experimental.... good thing it was a $5 model and not a $50. Don't worry, I'm sure you learned something, right?!?

My humour failed on my first GB recently - the F-4 Phantom.

Not wishing to spend $$$ I found a $5 gem ( wife happy) Turns out it was a 1960's Hasa mold, massive rivets, bad wing fit, fragile decals and serious lack of gap-filling experience on my behalf - turned very experimental!!!!

Steve - I'm convinced that if you try to build plastic models without a sense of humour, we'd all go crazy pretty quickly! (ie, my recent discovery that Tamiya cement will literally melt the new Airfix decals, even after they've been applied to my nearly-complete Harrier! )

Looking forward to seeing everyone's contributions to this one, should be an interesting one.

Hi Vance

Thanks for the welcome.

Good to see you on this build - I did enjoy your postings & humour on another subject ie "getting the wife's approval for a $200 spend"

Steve

How about some of the fast-movers that "Thunder City" operated out of Cape Town??? Lightnings, Buccaneeers and a Swift iirc???

After my dissapointment with the Angolan/Mozambiquen Mig 15's only being 2 seaters, I have started thinking what else to build. The 1/32 Moz MiG 17 is still going on, but I want to add a "quick build" model aswel.

Maybe a 1/72 Fiesler Storch (Africa core) or if I can get my hands on one, a 1/72 New Airfix Swordfish.

The RAF/SAAF used them for fleet air arm duties here in SA.

Theuns

Steve - good to have you in here, and I'm glad this assignment was your choice!! Quite a few options, looking forward to seeing them.