IDF GB April 15-October 1,2006

I'm trying to decide what to build next.  The Mirage is 95% finished...taking my sweet time.  I have a Spitfire Mk ll.  I wonder if the IDF ever had any Spitfires?  Most likely I'll have to find decals for it.  Any suggestions on my choice?

I started! I finished the egine assembly and painted it also painted floor in the thing.

hi guys,i need some help,since i dont have any Sinai gray,or armour sand to piant my fitter,can you sugjest a colour that i can use,i use tamiya acliys,thanks guys.and you all have a merry xmas .

hi guys,i just added some pics of the fitter to my site,i hope you like them.

I just finished adding the armaments and fuel tanks.  The canopy on the pland is nog up to standards right now.  Too much super glue was squeezed and it fogged up the canopy. Now I am trying to fix it. Not sure how though.  I posted my question in the Techniques forum.  Hopefully I will be able to fix it.  Also the pics can be seen in the Techniques form under Damaged Canopy.   

Excellent! It's great to see some other progress being made.I also got some done on the halftrack I'm building. Here it is:



Now for a few details, and it'll be ready for decals.

ua0124 wrote:

I'm trying to decide what to build next.  The Mirage is 95% finished...taking my sweet time.  I have a Spitfire Mk ll.  I wonder if the IDF ever had any Spitfires?  Most likely I'll have to find decals for it.  Any suggestions on my choice?

I believe they did have Spitfires, I can remember seeing one in Israeli markings. They also had Messerschmitt Me109's as well that they got from Czechoslovakia.

gdarwin wrote:

hi guys,i need some help,since i dont have any Sinai gray,or armour sand to piant my fitter,can you sugjest a colour that i can use,i use tamiya acliys,thanks guys.and you all have a merry xmas .

If you haven't already painted it, try any dark sand color, or even a light grey-green. I'm sorry I cannot be more specific, since I don't normally use Tamiya paints.

Thank you all and Merry Christmas to everyone!

thanks Duke i will try that,your half track is looking good,what scale is it? Merry xmas,happy new year,to all in the idf build.

Yes merry Christmas.   Looking good Duke.

 

Anybody get any kits or anything. 

I didn't but i got a cell phone!

OK, so, it's taken me a while to get started...I've also decided to build a Trumpeter 1/35 Tiran 4 or 5 (does a Tiran 4, given to the Lebanese allies of Israel count for this GB, or not?)

I've been really impressed by the quality of the models, and by Duke's output! How does he do it?!

To answer a couple of questions:
The tank that went into the gully: the tank commander, not the driver, would have been court martialled (tank drivers basically don't look out, but rely on the commander to tell them what to do)

As for Spits: During the 1948 war Israel had a few Mk.IX Spitfire from the Czechs (the British gave them as gifts to the Czechs, but the Russians didn't want them to use western equipment). The story of how they arrived in Israel is amazing. In addition, there is also the famous 'Black Spitfire', a PR Mk.IX, used by Ezer Weizman, constructed out of bits left behind, and crashed Spitfires (May 14th 1948, the Egyptians attacked Ramat David, thinking the Israelis had no AF, but didn't realise the RAF still had some Spitfires, which were overseeing the withdrawl, hence a Spit vs. Spit dogfight. A few months later, an RAF patrol from Egypt strayed over the border with Spit Mk. 18 , and tanged with some of the Israeli Mk. 9. Result: 2 British Spits downed), er, hope this hasn't bored anyone!

As for the kit, it's a motorised version. Think I might remove the motor, or at least the battery part. I still can't see how the batteries power the motor, no obvious wires...

Well it has to be in Israeli service.  Likea Spitfire can be done but it has to have Israeli markings.

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/FSM/CS/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>ygmodeler4 wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4">Well it has to be in Israeli service.  Like a Spitfire can be done but it has to have Israeli markings.</td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

A Tiran 5 it is then!

The project is 99% complete, the canopy is missing.  Never will I use CA near any clear plastic.   I am not sure what I am going to do.  I emailed Eduard's about purchasing a new canopy but no response so far.  I also did not find any company producing canopies for the Mirage.  I thought abount trying vacuum form.  I would need to build one, or try thermaform from Squadron.  Decisions decisions.

The Spitfire Mk ll will have to be converted, more research will need to be done on my part.

The Mirage missing the canopy.

Lookin good ua0124. 

A tiran 5 okiedokie.

your Mirage is looking real good,pity about the canopy.

Thank you ygmodeler and gdarwin.  I am currently working to restore the damaged canopy.  A few days from now I should have a better idea as to what I am going to do. Order Thermaform, or do a dio...blown canopy wihile plane is still on the ground...inexperience pilot...now that's ashame

That's a shame about the canopy. Would be a pretty plane with it. Well its pretty now but.. just not the same. Oh well if you do a dio Im sure you'd be able to pull it off

gdarwin wrote:

thanks Duke i will try that,your half track is looking good,what scale is it? Merry xmas,happy new year,to all in the idf build.

You're welcome G! Thank you for the compliment. My halftrack is the Airfix 1/72 scale kit. I kitbashed a 6 pdr gun to it from an Airfix 1/72 scale Universal Carrier and Gun kit.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well.

ygmodeler4 wrote:

Yes merry Christmas.   Looking good Duke.   Anybody get any kits or anything.  I didn't but i got a cell phone!

Thank you ygmodeler.  Enjoy your cell phone, but use it responsibly. I got a good bit of cash which will probably be converted to kits.

ua, that is definitely a sweet looking Mirage. Hang tough on the canopy; you may be able to get one from Squadron, or possibly someone has one in their spares box. Good luck replacing that.

Now, here is my latest on my halftrack. It doesn't look like I got much more done, but I have finally gotten the machinegun on the front of it, and also made a new mount for the 6 pdr gun as well. All the base painting is done now. All I have left to do is paint some details, and then clearcoat it, wash it, decal it, dullcoat and drybrush. I'll post more pics when I'm done. Meanwhile, here's the pic of it so far:



Comments are welcome.

hi guys,i just put some new pics of my fitter on my website i hope you will like like them,give me some feedback is it good or bad.have a good day.

Looking good gdarwin. You've got some great detail going there. On the spare wheels, you may want to clean up the black a bit. Try painting the wheels, then place a mask over them so that only the centers show. Then paint the center. That will really improve an already awesome model.

thanks Duke,about the spare wheels,i repainted them and washed them to apear coverd with dust,do you realy think i should paint the wheeks again?the fitter is out in the sand and dirt.have a great day.

If you got it fixed, then no problem. It looks awesome! Keep going, we have to keep this build on track!

Duke,im almost finished the fitter,i will clear cote it soon and then do the decals,after that its done,and then on the to my m-46 for the Korean war build .thanks for your feed back, have a good day.

glad to help gdarwn! You've done very well. Now I gotta get mine finished...

Lookin good Duke and gdarwin.

Sorry I ve been away Ive been busy w8ith basketball and school and such.

Not a problem. My work has been progressing a bit slowly due to time constraints on my modeling, as well as fighting this flu. I did get my halftrack clearcoated so she's ready for decals and a wash. I'm almost done with this one; I'll be starting my M-7 Priest next.

Well, I can finally wear my badge as a sign that I have completed this Group Build!

My project for this Build just happened to be my first Braille Scale kitbash, for those who didn't know. Here are a couple of views of my Israeli halftrack with 6 pdr gun:






Man, it feels good to finally be done! Next, I'll start my M-7 Priest when I am able to dig it out of the stash!

Thanks for looking, comments are welcome.

looks great Duke,nice little build you have,good work.

Thanks Gdarwin! I'm glad you like it. Now I can wear my badge with pride. I just have to go find it and restore everything again after my system crash.

Hey, nice job Maddog, as always!  Can you imagine what it was like to drive that thing, in the desert, 120F, with no air conditioning, and almost no windows?

Just to give a round-up on my Ti-67 (sorry no pictures, need to sort out my picture account first):  just spent the last hour trying to find a suitable paint, as, amazingly, it's not overall Olive Drab (OD)!  In the end, and maybe someone can suggest something else, I've gone for Humbrol 71, with a dash of Humbrol 94.  Also, this model is the static version, but still comes with bits for the motorised one, leaving some lovely bits to remove first.  Trouble is, you also lose the attachments for the wheels.  Oh well, just another interesting challenge!

Anyway, I've decided to spray the lower assembly sprues, assemble the wheels, suspensions, etc, and then go over them again later.  This is also more important as the plastic is OD.  However, I suspect that being 'sand' over OD maybe look pretty good.  Was that how the T-54's were supplied?  Sand over OD?

Thanks Osher! I'm glad you liked my work.

As for the Tiran 5's (Ti-67) they were overcoated with either the Israeli Sand (Testor's) or a green-grey sort of color that was used in the central part of the country and possibly the north (Golan Heights). This i saccording to by book, "Israeli Army 1948-1973". Other sources may say otherwise, but based on my book, I painted my Tiran 5 Testor's Israeli Armor Sand. You can see the results here:





The above pics  are of my ACE 1/72 scale Tiran 5 (Ti-67) These pics can hopefully give you some ideas as to how yours can look too. I suspect you'll probably do better weathering on yours. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your work.

BTW, did you know that the designation Ti-67 was an invention of the media/military commentators? When Israel first brought those tanks out, nobody looked real hard to see what they were at first and so gave them a designation to differentiate form known Israeli tanks. Ti-67 stands for "Tank (israeli) 1967" for the country and year it was first seen. Israel's official designation is Tiran 5 for the modified T-55 tank. The Tiran 4 is a similarly modified T-54 tank and the Tiran 6 is the modified T-62.

I apologize if you already knew this, I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence here. You build such excellent builds that I'm sure you're just as knowledgeable about the subjects you assemble and detail.

Anyway, I hope my pictures above help in some small way. Thanks again for your compliments.