Airfix 1/72 Scale. Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard

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Marc
Series 3 and Beyond
Posts: 39
Joined: July 7th, 2012, 4:38 am

Re: Airfix 1/72 Scale. Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard

Post by Marc »

Hi all

Thank you for the positive feedback. As I mentioned in my initial posting the model was built OOB except for thin strips of masking tape to replicate the seatbelts. I primed the model with Rust-Oleum flat grey. I am VERY, VERY impressed with Rust-Oleum. It is not plastic model paint but rather "standard" rattlecan paint that I bought at the local hardware store. It gives a very smooth finish ... ideal for models even at 1/72 scale. I enjoy the research aspect of building models and delved into several online and hard copy resources. Even with all the research it was nevertheless difficult to get the exact blue/grey colour for the top surface. In the end I mixed Humbrol (dark grey) and Testors (dark blue) in the mixing cup of the airbrush and basically ... just went for it. The mixture ratio was done literally by eye.

Once the blue/grey topcoat had dried I masked the fuselage, drop tank, wings and tailplane and painted the bottom whith Rust-Oleum, white. Once again I was very impressed with the quality of the spray. I left the model for a day or two (The Rust-Oleum dries quickly though) and then gave the model a coat of clear gloss, once again from the R-O stable. After another day or two I started with the decaling. For such a small model, both in scale and size Airfix provided a detailed decal sheet with lots of small 1mm decals. It took me about a week to get all the decals down. (Only have a few minutes at night to work on my models) Here I want to give a big shout-out to Airfix. The kit decals were EXCELLENT. Thin hardy with virtually no decal flash. I wish all Airfix decals were as good. The decals got a coating of Micro Sol, not that it was really necessary.

After all the decals had been positioned I gave the model another coating of clear gloss. In hindsight I think it would have been better to apply a satin coat to the finished model. The gloss coating does give the model a somewhat "toy" appearance. At the time of the Falklands War, Etendard # 203 did not have a matt sheen but neither did it have a high gloss appearance. With everything dry and all the small "thingies" in place I gave the model a wash of black pastel disolved in water with a drop of degtergent. The wash is not visible in the photos of the model I posted.

For those interested in photographing their own models the following might be of interest. I place the model on a convex shaped sheet of glossy white paper. Set my camera on a tripod, set the apperature to it's smallest setting so as to give more depth of field. This allows the whole model to be in focus. I set the self timer at 10sec, depress the shutter release, stand back and let the camera do it's thing. I usually try and get as much natural light on the model. (I take my photos inhouse) but in this case I used a torch to "paint" the model with light so as to minimise the shadows that can be created with flash only photography.

A fun and pleasurable model to build. .
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Purplethistle
Delusional Miniature Killer
Posts: 4680
Joined: July 10th, 2014, 1:03 am
Location: Glasgow

Re: Airfix 1/72 Scale. Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard

Post by Purplethistle »

Museum display quality. excellent job on an old kit.
"Spits, SLUFS and Rock 'n' Roll"
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PTB11
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 2462
Joined: April 30th, 2015, 12:50 pm
Location: Belfast

Re: Airfix 1/72 Scale. Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard

Post by PTB11 »

It's great to see these classic kits built to such a high standard!
Regards, Paddy.

On The Bench
Fujimi 1/72 A-7E Corsair II
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Clashcityrocker
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 10781
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 12:31 am
Location: Adelaide. South Australia

Re: Airfix 1/72 Scale. Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Nice build, and nice run through of your painting and photographing.

Nigel
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