RF-5A 97164 Abandoned Larisa AB
A few words about the kit
It is about the well-known kinetic in 1/48 scale. Quite a few mediocre kits in an application with several issues which, with a little attention, can be overcome relatively easily. It is a good kit in terms of lines and details, but its plastic could be a little better and of better quality.
Construction – Improvements
The construction progressed quite smoothly, bypassing of course the extra work that was needed in the stuccoing and sanding, due to the changes I decided to make to the model.
I converted the muzzle of the kit where the kinetic does not include an option for RF-5A, by cutting it and adding in its place the muzzle from the Classic Airframes kit, which with a little work fit correctly. In the cockpit area I also placed the resin cockpit from Classic Airframes. This also fits well, but it needs a lot of rubbing on the sides and the bottom, so that the two halves of the spindle can be closed at once. Finally, in the space of the left machine gun, an addition was made with a resin copy to represent its interior, as well as the lid, which I left in a half-open position.
Colors-Painting
The colors I used come for the most part from the Gunze series for SEA variants diluted with the same company’s Leveling Thiner. It is about the H303 H309 H310 H311, which were reopened to a very large extent with white and with the H311, in order to achieve extensive aging on the back surfaces of the model. I also used for the various brown tones of the also extensive wear of the colors that the real aircraft has, the H462 H402 H37, either as such or opened in other places, as well as mixed between them.
The black walkways on the wings were initially painted with Aluminum by Alclad and then varnished, finally the black color was sprayed and removed at various points in order to achieve their relative wear.
The same technique was applied to the spine of the front fuselage at the base of the model’s vertical stand.
The interior of the S/P nests, the air brake and the engine exhausts were painted with colors from the Alclad range.
The decals come from the Icarus Decals set.