Revell 1/144 - Dassault / Dornier Alpha Jet - WiP 4 - Built, masked and ready to paint

This is the first bit of real modelling ive done since the thumb incident which is almost all good now. Luckily all this involved was masking off the canopy, which is just time consuming since most off this model was basically complete a month ago.

Next will be to prime this up and then find the correct paint colours to paint in the Luftwaffe livery and to find some RAF decals which will have to be burrowed from some other kits.

Ian

Revell 1/144 - Dassault / Dornier Alpha Jet - WiP 2 - Assembled

Basically all the meat is now done, got to fit and mask off the canopy and at the very last i will glue the canards on the new resin tail, otherwise i will only accidentally knock them off.

New resin tail fitted from Retrowings to correct the warped end of the fuselage which gave the kit the strange "banana effect". With the Retrowings kit you can choose to replace the entire tail canard as well but i choose to keep the original plastic one which has the same shape as the British style alpha jets.

Was quite easy to fit, simply cut off the end off the tail along a panel line and then this new part fitted inside the hole left and just had to be glued and putty added to fix as discrepancies, very easy and convinced me to start buying new releases from Retrowings.



Think this is one of revells first attempts at a good 1/144 kit before the F-14 came along and imagine that when this was released over ten years ago and was quite the quality 1/144 kit. All went together nicely and has all the panel lines and parts structure which ive come to expect from the modern 1/144 revell kit.

Ian

Revell 1/144 - Dassault / Dornier Alpha Jet - WiP 1 - Retrowings cockpit painted

The Retrowings office all painted and ready to be glued in. Tried to paint all the tiny dials and instruments to give a feel that there all there and the second control panel at the rear has the same amount of detail as the front one which will be glued it near the very end of the build. This has not been glued in yet but you can see it fit perfectly.

Next to to change the tail.
Ian

[Kit Review] - RetroWings 1/144 - Cockpit Detail Set for Revell 1/144 Luftwaffe Alpha Jet -

One of 3 cockpit details sets from RetroWings for the Revell 1/144 Alpha Jet, this being the Luftwaffe set and the other 2 French and Belgian Air forces, main difference is the ejection seats.

Great little set this  just like the one for the Hellcat and a real great update for the rather plain one supplied with the kit. Comes with 2 sets of ejection seats so that you can model both version in the Luftwaffe the early and later ones. Also got a sweet new front dashboard which really easily fits into place right on top on the existing model after removing a small bump, it simple but super effective at suddenly adding alot more detail.

Dry fitted the cockpit and tried to bring out the excellent detail with some brown wash, as im posting this ive already fitted it into the cockpit and it fits a charm.



Next is to  give it a clean and then painting begins, for such small parts with alot of tiny details its amazing that or the enitre set there on only one bubble! Easily fixed.
Ian

[Kit Review] - RetroWings 1/144 - Tail correction kit for Revell 1/144 Alpha Jet

Second RetroWings resin set for the Revell Alpha Jet, this one to correct the "banana effect" present on all Revell Alpha Jets.

Smart design for this, all that's need to to assemble the fuselage then cut along a horizontal panel line and fit this new tail. All panel line present and correct, brown wash really brought out the detail on this one.

Will probable keep the original tail canard and only replace the banana fuselage, the Alpha i will be modelling has a flat top to the tail while this has a curved top.

Ian

[Kit Review] - Revell 1/144 - Dassault Breguet / Dornier Alpha Jet -

The original release of the Alpha Jet by Revell which includes the "banana effect" which really should have been fixed with the recently released "Patrouille de France" version.

This will be the one i model, prefer the green plastic and some of the detail is a little sharper.

Exact same sprues as the blue Alpha, either the mold was fresh or the darker plastic but im sure the detail is better on this model. Notice the "banana effect" on the tail end fuselage.



Detail does look more pronounced, maybe just because of the darker plastic.



This will be the scheme i will model, the RAF style Alpha Jet's bought from the Luftwaffe by British defence contractor Qinetiq original kept all German marking but replaced the German cross with RAF roundels.



Next review Retrowings cockpit detail set.
Ian

[Kit Review] - Revell 1/144 - Alpha Jet "Patrouille de France" -

A recent re-release of a Revell kit which was becoming hard to find, the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet.

Nice little kit you to the usual Revell standards except for a real lack of decent cockpit and a strange banana effect on the tail. Checking against line art this is almost perfect and it molded in a blue, a first for me. Notice the end of the fuselage, the tail points up, the strange "banana effect".



Most the panel lines are present and correct, for an older kit from Revell i was surprised that the detail of the panel lines is still on par with there newer kit, but the newer kits have better interior detail and are design to be assembled easier.



Only one scheme to paint "Patrouille de France" but you can model all the 10 of them. Revell needs to release a 1/144 Hawk like this "Red Arrow" style.



Decals, white on light blue not the greatest for taking a photo of, like how all the white markings can be decals, makes it easier to paint.



Noting going to model  the scheme myself but was i a model shop and never like to leave empty handed.
Ian