Waiting in the Wings

This is a project I've been working on for a couple of months now, a sort of on-off job - though lately more off than on.

What is it?  This is Trumpeter's 1/48 Su 24 'Fencer'.  And what a kit it is.  Excellent detail throughout, great selection of weapons, even the decals (millions of them) are quite nice.  All the sub-assemblies are complete, painted and weathered.  I merely have to fit them all.  So what's stopping me?  The answer to that lies in the next blog entry.  So for the moment, this great project is waiting in the wings.

A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing

The US said no to Pakistan over their F-16s, so Pakistan made their own with China, creating the JF-17 Thunder of 'Fierce Dragon'. This brings me nicely on to Trumpeter's 1/48 scale kit and it is really very nice. Well engraved and riveted, great cockpit, but terrible decals. While looking at photos of the real aircraft you can't help but notice how F-16-like it is, but with a Russian influence. This gave me an idea, to combine both looks into one radical colour scheme. I chose a great aggressors scheme I'd seen in Scale Aircraft Modelling. Also, I had some good decals from Linden Hill.

So here are the photos.  I think you might agree that the first photo, of the aircraft in service with the PAF is a little dull...Sometimes it's good to think outside the box.
                                (PA Defence Blog)

An Ace in 1/24

Here's the completed BF109 G-6, late version, by Trumpeter. What a lovely project this was. It lends itself perfectly to all the extra detail I added.   The builder is limited in 1/24 scale, so I made my own seat belts, wiring, cables and conduit.

I hope you have as much fun looking as I did building, and yes, I do highly recommend this kit.