African Group Build - The Official Thread

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

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.

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

Looks great, Its in : )

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

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.

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

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...

MilitaryAircraft101

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

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

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

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?

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.

@ 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

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

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

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

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)

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

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!

Being an Airfix kit(!) it's not all that clear about painting the drop tanks - SAAF drop tanks were generally left in natural metal (like on yours)  right??

VanceCrozier

Being an Airfix kit(!) it's not all that clear about painting the drop tanks - SAAF drop tanks were generally left in natural metal (like on yours)  right??

In Angola/SWA they were (on the F-1's) mostly bare metal. They were droped brfore going into a fight or bomb run, so they were generally not painted. Southern Angola must be littered with them, unless the local population made them into cookware.

On the 3R they could have been BM or painted, the photo pilots didn't regularly have to drop the tanks.

The F-1's that were posted in the RSA (when an ops was not on) also carried BM or painted tanks, I have pix of both.

Confused yet??? LOL

Theuns

lol - bare metal it is!!!

Theuns - Good idea with the stand, I'll fall back to that if I dont like the final result. I do remember them being shiny.

Vance: Bare metal is good although in later years I've seen pics in camo. Theuns has first hand knowledge

I have a pic of the F-1's with mostly the BM centreline tanks.Then I have of F-1's with wing tanks that are painted plain or with cammo, even a F-1 with one BM and one painted wingtank.....so your choises are not limited!

As far as I know, the F-1AZ (ground attack) mostly carried the Centreline belly tank as the hardpoints on the wings were needed for the bombs, The SAAF did use the "14 bomb config" but this made the planes VERY heavy with Africa's Hot and High climate.

After the bush war, the F-1's were repainted in the low vis brown/green and blue-grey sceeme or in the 3 tone grey "ghost" sceeme for the CZ's

If you are going with the "yellow/green" sceeme, remember on the F-1's it was a hard masked edge.

Theuns 

Slight change of plans, going for an Airfix MiG-23 Flogger-E in Libyan AF colors, as a cross-over with the Airfix GB.

Theuns

I have a pic of the F-1's with mostly the BM centreline tanks.Then I have of F-1's with wing tanks that are painted plain or with cammo, even a F-1 with one BM and one painted wingtank.....so your choises are not limited!

As far as I know, the F-1AZ (ground attack) mostly carried the Centreline belly tank as the hardpoints on the wings were needed for the bombs, The SAAF did use the "14 bomb config" but this made the planes VERY heavy with Africa's Hot and High climate.

After the bush war, the F-1's were repainted in the low vis brown/green and blue-grey sceeme or in the 3 tone grey "ghost" sceeme for the CZ's

If you are going with the "yellow/green" sceeme, remember on the F-1's it was a hard masked edge.

 

Theuns 

Alright, I sprayed the upper (and side) surfaces with the yellow. The photos & illustrations Ive seen seem to run from yellow to almost a golden brown. I've used an Humbrol enamel tan that was pretty close... (shoot, forget the paint#!!!) plus a couple drops of red-brown. It still looks pale to me, but the layer of Future that I will be laying over the whole thing should darken it down nicely. The best match for the green that I have on hand (trying to use up my back-stock of various brands before replacing anything!) is a Tamiya acrylic, "deep green". Should give a good contrast to the yellow. But... acrylic over enamel, I didn't dare spray that only one day after the enamel was laid down. So the F1 is paused for a few days to make sure I don't encounter any "off-gassing" issues.

Humbrol 94/93 (Desert Sand and Desert Yellow), one of them is a pretty good match. I'm not sure which one though

I've used Revell #'s SM363 & SM316 for the green & sand/yellow in the past - comes pretty close in semi matt finish which can be gloss/dull coated 

After some searching for a good "out the box" model for this GB I have decided to go for a 1/72 Airfix new tool Bf 110 in Africa core sceeme.The reviews say it's a nice build.

The SAAF seems to be wel reprisented here anyway LOL!

Theuns

I have a P-40E of the RAAF on the way, it's nearly done. :)