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As mentioned elsewhere, this particular GB inspired me to do several aircraft, and while I was waiting for paint and glue to dry on my Revell 1/72 scale Tornado to set, I started fooling around with a bright, anniversary schemed Dornier Alpha Jet A, of JBG-41.

 

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The kit is very simple and probably doesn't have the highest degree of detail, but it was colorful, which is what attracted me to it.  So, I started off with the basics, painting the cockpit and the gear wells, after I assembled the main gear.  I decided on a basic neutral gray for the cockpit and aluminum for the interior of the wheel bays.  Very little of the wheel wells will show when the model is all buttoned up.

 

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Edited by swbailey
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The one thing that I really found lacking, especially with all that glass in the canopy, were the ejection seats.  I picked up some Pavla Martin Baker Mk.10s off of eBay, and as soon as they arrived, I painted them up and got them installed in the cockpit.  

 

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Just to jazz it up a bit, I added some cable runs to the backs of the instrument panels using copper wire.  Once the cockpit was done, I sealed up the fuselage and added the intakes on both sides.  The fit there was surprisingly good, so that just a little touch of sanding got them smooth and flush with the rest of the fuselage.

 

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Here are a couple more in-progress shots.  The most of the fuselage went together without too much fuss, but the same cannot be said for the belly pan.  I realize that the Alpha Jet has some interesting and complex shapes to its underside, and it seems that there have been a lot of different ways that kit manufacturers have tackled that.  Revell did that by having a single piece that goes from the underside of the cockpit to aft of the exhausts.  The mating surfaces go from good to almost non-existent, so it was it was pretty clear to me that there was going to be a bit of putty work under there.  Luckily, I just got a package in the mail containing Micro Mark's "Same Stuff" liquid cement.  I prefer to use Tenax 7R with a Touch-N-Flow applicator for gluing and with Tenax no longer in production, I was a bit peeved when I ran out, part way through this project.  But, the Micro Mark formula truly is the same stuff, and it worked like a charm to bond even the most minimal contact points and fuse them together.  

 

So, when I was ready to do the putty work, the undersides were pretty solid.  I used the white Deluxe Products Perfect Plastic Putty.  It worked well and did a good job filling the gaps in the undersides.  You can see some of the putty in the photo, although it is hard with it being white putty on white plastic.  The sanding cost me some of the raised panel lines on the underside, but with the gun pod in place, there won't be too much re-scribing to do.

 

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Next, the wings and horizontals went on after I had completed sanding on the exhaust "cones."  Fit is not too bad with regard to those parts.

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I did have a bit of an ugh-oh moment when I attached the horizontals as the model went immediately to being a tail-sitter.  The instructions had said nothing about adding nose weight, however once the canopy is on, she drops back onto her gear.  In hindsight, I would probably add a little bit of weight next time just to be safe.  I dipped the canopy in Future and am going to get to work on that next.  Seems like there is a lot of gap at the rear where the canopy meets the fuselage and I am already working on creating some shims to put back there to fill the gap.

 

 

Edited by swbailey
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Nice job on the old Heller rebox.

It is known that his kit has some issues with the bad fit of the canopy, but you should be good without adding lead. As the trailing part of the main landing gear is not yet intalled, the wheel will be about 3/8" aft of the strut, moving the fulcrum even further back.

 

I've built the Fujimi Alpha Jet many years ago, and as far as I remember was pretty easy to assemble, but it has it's own problems.

Anyways, both kits are still better than the Airfix tooling.

 

BTW: Maybe add some F-4 style black/yellow striped ejection handles to the headrests of the seats. They are very prominent when you look at a real jet.

Edited by Lancer512
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  • 3 weeks later...

Tobi- Thanks so much for the kind thoughts.  It was up on the bench with the Tornado and I could see that the Tornado was above the flood waters, so I'm guessing the Alpha Jet is in good shape.  When done, those two models will be significant reminders of making it through the disaster. 

 

Happy modeling!

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