African Group Build - The Official Thread

Nice stuff Vance!

I think you captured the cammo just right, well done. It will look good with the dark blue and gold decals on.

Looking forward to seing the final result.

I am going to go look for a 1/72 Kfir kit the weekend for my Cheetah build. (hope I can actually find one!)

Theuns

The Mirage is in the home stretch, one of my assistants is quite interested, but she is used to seeing WW2 subjects out of me:

Clear coat on, I like how the colours came out.

Then I masked & painted the "sensor areas" on the tail:

Trying to decide if I need to give it an over-spray of very very thin tan to blend the upper surfaces or not.

That sounds like half of the styrene is being replaced with resin! Make sure you have a dust mask, or do your resin sanding & cutting in some water.

The resin worx for the Cheetah is rather substantial.

New tail, engine nozle/fairing, chaff/flair dispencers, loads of areals, new undercart doors, all manner of scoops/vents ,new cannards, bang seat..............................and oh yes, I nearly forgot - a whole new nose section!

Fun to be had I tell you!!!

But atleast the SAAF has come to it's sences and started using easier cammo sceems LOL!

Theuns

For resin, the only items I've used were wheels and a seat on a 1/48 P-38 Lightning, both were pretty straight-forward replacements. I've got a pair of replacement cockpits lined up for kits I'll be working on within the next year though, could be interesting!

Yes, that is one good thing about working arround aircraft all day, you tend to meet all kinds of interesting folk!

I must admit that I have never worked with any AM resin stuff, so I am a tad in the dark. Luckely I can go visit the manufacteror and get some tutoring !LOL

Theuns

True - it probably won't take much to gloss them up anyway I suppose. And the orange I'll have a second look at that after the decals are on - if it looks right once on the model, good enough for me!

Ha! You know you're a modeler when... you have a "resin guy"!!

I would not tone down to the decals, I would rather closs them up to the rest of the paint (which was generally gloss)

As for the stripe, orange do tend to fade fast , so I would not be to worried unless it is very translucint.

Spoke to my "resin guy" and can collect my stuff next week.....VERY exited!

Theuns

The F1 - I made a couple of touch-ups last night & painted the undercarriage doors and air-brakes as I plan to show those deployed, just because I can! I need to add a coat of clear-coat tonight, then I'll try out the kit decals - if I can make them work, why not try it! The test decal I tried last weekend was verrrrrry thin, took awhile to soak off the backing sheet and was very matte. I may need to dull down the finish to help blend the decals. The orange stripe on the tail decals seems really pale as well, I need to compare it to some photos, may need to over-paint that portion.

Yea, sometimes I do actually have a little luck :-D

I am also planing to do his convex kit for the 1/72 Italeri/esci MB 326 Impala MK 2 and the SA Navy Super lynx (as soon as I get some loot together. LOL!)

How is your F-1 coming allong? If I didn't build the F1 CZ I would have bought the resin kit for the AZ, much cooler cammo than on the CZ !

Theuns

A resin-master right in your back yard... not fair!!! Looking forward to seeing that one as well,

If all goes to plan I have eventually managed to track down a nice project for this build.

It will be a 1/72 Denel Ceetah E. A locally very upgraded Mirage 3. I will be using a local guy's resin conversion set and the Italeri 1/72 Kfir C7 as a base kit.

Really nice to have someone local who does convertion resin work for SAAF stuff, no need to order from overseas................................unless you already are overseas LOL!

Theuns

I've got one of those -130s! I'm modifying it to be a RAAF -A version, lots, and lots of PSR.

The cammo on the SAAF 130 BZ's (same as the B) was dark green/dark earth wrap around for the wings,tail and fuse.The only part that was not like this was the bottom of the fuse, it was dark sea grey IIRC.

Again the 130 and 60's sometimes had no castles on them, only serial #'s. The props were silver woth yellow tips.

MAV does a set of decals for it.

These days the airframes were upgraded, internally mostly and are allover satin medium grey, almost like a compass grey.

I have some pix, will post if you need.

Theuns

Well thank you! I can't find time to build a model-per-week like some on here, but I try to contribute what I can! More touch-up paint on the F1 this weekend, decals & landing gear etc is next up. The camo pattern on the instruction sheet was not to scale, I had to scan it & scale it up in Photoshop, then print out a few copies - one to cut up over top of the tape; one to keep in front of me while applying the masks.

I started this some time ago - first time building Italeri

Depends whether its allowed for this build? I suspect its more than 50% built although there's still a lot to do, fair amount of sanding & filling - fuselage seams have big edges - Clear parts, props, doors, priming, painting, decals & general finishing!

Original intention was to do SAAF but did not have the decals & had no idea of the color scheme besides or this is the E or H version, SAAF is B version(1960's) - whats the difference? If its just techonology & internal stuff then I suppose its ok? I believe they've recently been upgraded - obviously pretty robust/enduring craft!

I've seen some resin kits for the engines - is there a substantial physical difference from reality on this kit?

I have been undecided on the colours - bought some RAAF decals with a nice camo scheme from LHS recently so I was going in that direction for this one 

But since getting involved with this GB have done some more research on SAAF for a 70's colour scheme which was quite easy to find on the unofficial SAAF website - have also ordered decals from MAV recently so I'm up for it?

Whats the verdict - here's a pic?

@ Need Beer

I see you "bragging" with your 1/72 C-130. I hope it will be in SAAF colours

Theuns

Hi Vance

F1 looking good!

Also great set of "How to" masking instructions .........

Never occurred to me the instruction sheet was to scale?

You can't find this in any book or magazine, I've been searching believe me

Not just a sense of humor, very talented as well

With this in mind I can now get stuck into my RZ this weekend with a more positive frame of mind - the body has been assembled but lots of edges & gaps to sand/fill

Update on the Mirage...

underside gray (ModelMaster enamels) already on & dry; masked off & upper tan sprayed on (Humbrol enamels).

Instruction sheet scanned & scaled up for masking the camo,

Masking tape in place,

Green applied (Tamiya acrylic after 4-5 days of allowing the enamels to cure), masking tape removed. I see a few spots that will need to be touched up before weathering & clear-coats, but the tape job worked pretty well. Using the acrylics & misting them on slowly probably helped avoid paint bleeding under the tape as well.

Next up in the paintshop - black nosecone, white markings on the tail, metallics on the exhaust can.

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

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'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 

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

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.

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

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 

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

lol - bare metal it is!!!

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

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??