Crazy Snap Captain Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 (edited) For my next Tiger I'm going to build the excellent RoG 1/48 Dassault Rafale B. This is one of my favourite kits as it's relatively easy to build and the fit is pretty darn good. The particular aircraft I'm building will be the OOB Armee de l'Air EC 5/330 Cote d'Argent CEAM bird that partiocipated in the 2006 NATO Tiger Meet. Here's the bad boy: The build will be totally OBB, decals included. I find that RoG's decals are pretty good so need for AM here, and as I'm closing the canopy, no need for super detailed cockpits either. So here's the seats: Not sure if this is a general problem or a box specific one, but I've got two rear HUD's instead of a front and rear specific one. The instructions call out a front one, but the corresponding sprue piece is definately a rear HUD... :bandhead2:/> Here's the piece. The photo is of 100 but 99 is exactly the same as this one.... Not happy, but hey..closed cockpit and all. More to come. Edited January 30, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Painted the cockpits and the MLG wells... The wheel wells are not really visible when the plane is stationary so again no real need for super detailing. Here's the front cockpit with the HUD and pedals installed And then the front wheel well. Glued with Extra Thin and held in place till thumb burn kicked in... Then chucked on the pegs front and rear... Thanks for looking... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 Front landing gear well assembly settled nicely... Joined the cockpits ready for attachment to teh fuselage halves The fit was really good on the fuselage halves. Minimal filling and sanding will be required... Rear fin halves joined up. I highlighted the panel lines and rivets to show the nice job Revell have done on the kit. Th ehighlight also works as a pre shading as I want the aircraft to be relatively clean as shown in the above photo, so no airbrush pre-shading for me now. Wing halves also joined and highlighted... The fuselage settled well and looks good... Added the intakes. A small fit issue here but noth major. Only small amounts of putty will be required... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Started the filling and sanding process... While I was waiting for all that to dry, I got a head start on the nozzles... Thanks for looking... Edited February 3, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tobiK Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 You are really heading forward! Rafale is an elegant jet, I like it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Life finally got out of the way and I've managed to get some more work done. Firstly got the fuel tanks done. After sanding and getting rid of seam lines I pre-shaded: Then painted with Gunze Aqueous 307 (FS 36320). This is what I find matches the Rafale colour the most according to my eye and have read this on a number of threads on various forums. Will look the biz when they get a coat of Tamiya Flat clear. The pre-shading isn't that visible in the photos but it is there (although very slight) I'm not going for an overly weathered bird so I'm keeping the weathering to a minimum. The tanks will receive some post shading to replicate oil stains etc, but again, minimal: Like most kits, the wing roots present a filling challenge although its not that bad on the RoG Rafale. Instead of my usual go to filler of Tamiya white putty I tried Mr Surfacer for the first time. Works a treat for these types of smaller fill areas. Sands really easily so you don't lose too much detail in the process. Attached the tail fin as well. Next step will be to run a wash over it to see any detail that may need rescribing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tobiK Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Oh, your french guy comes along nicely! Good to know about the Gunze color, still have some Rafales in the stash... Mr.Surfacer was my 1st choice for liquid putty some years ago, that stuff is good! BUT it needs time to dry! That's why I switched to CA glue and accelerator...now only a few seconds drying time and the dry CA is about the same hardness - that is a big advantage when it comes to rescribing /riveting! Also tamiya putty WAS in use...until I realized some shrinking of the dry putty. After that I switched to 2 compound putty: called magic sculp. Well, really recommended! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks Tobi! Ran a wash over the bird to check for areas to re-scribe and for some subtle weathering. With wash: Wash removed: Masked off the front canopy and added a few of the last bits of the office and the main part of the canopy: Canopy was masked off with a combination of Montex masks and Tamiya tape. The Montex was actually for the Hobby Boss kit and didn't quite fit the RoG canopy, but it did get some of the trick curves of the frame done. Ready to paint!!! You know that feeling you get when you nail your mixtures and the paint job goes down like a dream? That's what I felt when I painted this. Smooth as silk finish and just the right amount of covering of the panel wash. Awwww yeah! Super happy with the end result! While that was drying I finished the wheels...always tedious... Thanks for stopping by... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) Fiiiiinaly got back from work travels. Down to a lot of the fiddly bits now. Masked off and painted chafe dispensers... Some more making off and painting of details on the tail fin and the metallic section on the base of the fin. The colours look a bit vivid in the photos and they will need some blending once the final weathering is done. The fit with the lights on the wings is okayish. Might need some filling. Painful but will have to be done. In hindsight I should have glued these before painting and filled in gaps and then masked them off before painting. Also the photos tend to bring up some of the more minuscule bits that need to be fixed. Note the smoothing out required on the leading edge of the wing near where it meets the fuselage... Started on some of the decals. The stock RoG decals lay down pretty good. Tiger time. Here are the decals applied to the canards... Lots of decaling coming up! Thanks for stopping by. Edited March 12, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SARguy Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Looks really good can't wait to see it with the decals on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Nice work Andrew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Small update today. Progress is slow due to work and the young ones being sick. The major artwork decals are on. Phew! They took a heap of softener to conform to panel lines and I had to run an Xacto along some of the deeper demarcation lines (leading edges, tail fin etc) in order to get them to settle nicely. The decals can up a bit short on the tail fin especially and I'll need to colour match them to do some touch up work. All in all though, happy with the way they went down. Now for the multitude of stencils. I also did the darker colour on the nose cone. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tobiK Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Sieht gut aus! Looks nice! Decaling usually is one of the parts of modelling I really like! So i hope you enjoyed it, too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Thanks Tobi! I like decaling as well but putting on some of the bigger ones can be intimidating especially when they need to conform around some major lumps and bumps. Although the RoG decals settle well in the end they are thick to start off with so there is that oh sh!t moment for a while before they finally settle down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
glorystomper Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Only recently started to like the Rafale.. but the more I see it in this GB, the more I'm deciding that I definitely want to pick one up! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J Hammer Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Have to agree with Glorystomper, it's a damn s3xy jet. Nice work so far Snap! Which softening solution do you use? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Thanks chaps. Justin, I use Mr Softner on OOB decals. For AM stuff I use either Mr Softner or MicrolSol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Nice job Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) Thanks SERNAK. Some more decaling and detail work done. Got the walkway decals done. Used Mr Setter as well as Softener on these to avoid any sivering as there was quite a bit of clear film between the various pieces. Needed to put some more softener on the tailfin decals as they were still looking a bit stiff and toy like (if you know what I mean) Starting to look like a Tiger Meet bird now! Also did a bit more detailing work around the intakes and various other bits and pieces. I redid the chaffe dispensers (?) in a darker colour as all the ref pics I have seen seem to show them as a dark grey as opposed to the instructions guide of light blue grey. Still need to add the little bits near the exhausts that have the bottles (not sure what they are). They are slightly darker than the airframe colour and although not really clear in this photo, the bottles are lighter in colour as well as the two switch type levers. More stenciling to be done! Edited March 22, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tobiK Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Those "bottles" are small rear view cameras! Nowadyas the french Air Force has female pilots, too. And these cams are used for parking the Rafale properly. Especially when the parking is just big enough for a 2CV! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) Those "bottles" are small rear view cameras! Nowadyas the french Air Force has female pilots, too. And these cams are used for parking the Rafale properly. Especially when the parking is just big enough for a 2CV! At least about the camera part... :D Edited March 23, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) Small update today. I finished up the MICA missiles and the gas tanks. The actual plane only carried 2 MICAs on the wingtip rails. I realised after I had fixed the RF seeker heads that this particular bird carried the MICA IR in all the ref pics I have seen Dammit! Oh well. I do have a Skunkworks French Weapons Set that I could have used but I was really happy with the way the OOB ones came out and to be honest, I can't be assed. Gas tanks. They need a coat of Tamiya Flat Clear now. The actual bird carries three of these, however the kit only comes with decals for 2! I might have to paint up the markings on the third tank, or just hide it in the centreline: Stenciling continues in earnest. There are so many! And then it's dreaded landing gear...The bane of my existence... Edited March 24, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J Hammer Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Hey Cap, Neat work on those missiles. I read on another thread that the kit missiles were tough to align and not that good. These look real nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 Rafale has taken a back seat as I set up my new workbench organisers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 (edited) I took the masking off the canopy. Whenever I do this it's like in the movies when they take the bandages off a patient after major reconstructive surgery. Exhaled in relief when I saw that there was no leakage! I've started on the landing gear but have lost one of the scissors on the MLG Will have to raid the stash as I can't now make this an in flight bird (no pilots) :( Edited March 29, 2015 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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