Here’s my latest, Revell’s 1/144 diminutive Dassault Rafale M…
It’s a superb little kit, with incredible detail for the scale… Building it was rather trouble free, but care must be taken in fixing the intakes to the rest of the fuselage.
I primed it in acrylic automotive light grey, the airbrushed a blue-grey of some sorts to the whole aircraft, minus its radome. Decalling was done with Future, but a single coat of Future overal was not enough to tone down the shine of the decals… A second would have made the whole thing look too shiny so, very reluctantly, I opted for a very fine coat of flat varnish (Revell’s). That did the trick…!
Next came the details inside the cockpit, the canopy itself (which I tinted in yellow), the undercarriage. Several days went by. I then used watercolours (a dark blue) as a wash, applied only in the recesses. Saliva (yuk!?) and a wide flat soft brush got rid of the excess and I then highlighted with pure white (artist oil).
It’s less than 4 1/2 in in length. Now, I just need one in 1/32…
Hey DJ;
How are you & the Wife doing those kits?, By Electron microscope?, that’s an awsome job done on the lil model if you keep that up you may go blind from eye strain(Matter of fact I think I’ll go blind for looking at ithings that small) and tell the better half she’s doing a great job for being a beginner
Very nice job! I have built 2 kits in 144 and can only admire Your skill. Of course, this kit looks to be better engineered than those from Airfix, that I have made. But still, You have done very nice job [tup]
Deej, that is gorgeous! You really did a great job bringing out the details of that little Rafale. What a cool plane![8D]
By the way, I went back to the LHS last week to pick up the 1/48 Rafale M, and of course, that baby was gone, Daddy, gone…[:(]
That was the only time I’ve seen that kit in Japan, too!
I’ll snap it up next time.
Really Nice ! Clean lines on the canopy & wheels. Did it come with a cockpit, or did you scratch that ? Looks finer than a lot of 1/72 kits I’ve seen. I’d go blind trying to build that. I can barely see 1/48 without a lot of magnification !
Pixilater, the kit comes with a nicely detailed tub, a superb separate ejection seat and control panel. Just picked up Dragon’s F-16D at the same scale and all you have to put under that long clear cockpit is a single kind of blob that incorporates 2 pilots, 2 seats, and the tub… But of course, Revell’s Rafale is like 10 - 15 years older too…
It had also a fairly large number of missiles and fuel tanks but I decided against them. I like this plane ‘clean’…
Far out…
That’s really very easy on the eyes, man. I’d never have guessed it was 1/144 scale by looking at the photos. That’s a very nice model.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
LeeTree
That Rafale looks amazing at that scale, heck at any scale. It is hard to believe that is 1/144. Though it looks and sounds like the kit was a nice foundation for such a quality result. I have been mulling over purchasing the 1/48 version, you may have just saved me a few bucks.
