These are two
Hasegawa "Fighting Falcon" kits painted in the Israeli Air Force color
schemes. The first belongs to the "Flying Wing Squadron" and the
second belongs to "The Negev Squadron".
There are little
modifications to the kits that include chaff and flare dispensers, situated at
the base of the fin and also another pair hidden between the lower stabilizers.
The dispensers were scavenged from the Hasegawa F-4E kit. One kit has the Black
Box resin cockpit included. The building is simple enough although a lot of
attention is required to properly smooth the inner walls of the air intake. You
would also be required to eliminate the annoying seem line at the top of the
canopy with a very soft glass paper. One kit was a 'C' version that was modified
and received an 'A' model tail and instrument panel, but retained the gun muzzle
cover of 'C'. There were such modifications on real aircraft although I doubt
it whether #290 had undergone such a process.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Painting was in
accordance with the popular color practice among the Israeli IPMS
members for IDF schemes (no arguments there), and included Humbrol paints Nos.
119 and 121. The light green and light grey paints were mixed and matched with
original chips. The decals are from sheet #22 of IsraDecal. Very difficult to go
terribly wrong here. Like the aircraft, the kit is beautiful and the cleft
between the canopy and fuselage results from my reluctance to attach
canopies to completed models because I am sure that the kit will be revamped in
the future.
Rafi
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