ANGELO LODETTI

Aircraft Scale Models

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Israeli Air Force flight school - IAI Tzukit – Hatzerim 1978 –

1. History

The Tzukit, is an Israeli-built all-weather jet. It was initially produced by Bedek Aviation with French help and after was renamed and shortly later local license-manufacturing was started by IAI, with the aircraft named the IAI Tzukit. The first Tzukit was completed in 1959 and entered service in 1960. The Fougas served with the IAF's flight school, where they were used for both basic and advanced jet training. The aircraft also formed the IAF Aerobatic Team. In 1964, the flight school organized a fighting squadron, manned by school instructors and IAF reservists, to use the Magister as light attack aircraft in case of hostilities. In the 1967 Six-Day War, 44 Fougas were used by 147 Squadron as a close support aircraft, attacking targets on the Sinai front during the first day of the war, when Israel's more capable combat aircraft were deployed on Operation Focus against Arab air bases. They were then deployed against Jordanian forces, including armour, on the West Bank. Fougas reportedly destroyed over 50 tanks and over 70 other armoured vehicles, helping in holding back Jordanian armour which had been advancing towards Jerusalem.

2. The Kit

The kit is from Wingman/Kinetic Model Kits Item No. WMK48007 - . The presentation of the box is very beautiful, with a photograph of the plane in flight. The box offers several versions supplied to the Israeli air force and one option for the Lebanese Air Force. The shape of the plane It is done well, the lines of incision of the panels are good. The assembly is relatively simple, moreover the kit has a double mold as in the Kinetic box To get a nice, for a very realistic model, I have used the following accessories:

CM. 170 Magister S.A. cockpit set for AMK kit 1/48 scale, Eduard Eduard 1:48 cm.170 Magister S.A. Color PE Detail Set for AMK #49721
CM. 170 Magister S.A. cockpit set for AMK kit 1/48 scale, Eduard Eduard 1:48 cm.170 Magister S.A. Color PE Detail Set for AMK #FE721
resin wheels included in the box
Isradecals included in the box

The model that I wanted to build belong to Israeli Air Force Flight School – Hatzerim 1978 -

3. Cockpit and Seat

I wanted to upgrade the cockpit area to include side wall detailing and replace with cockpit set for AMK kit 1/48 scale, Eduard 1:48 cm.170 Magister S.A. Color PE Detail Set for AMK #49721. The ejection seats of the kit are not in scale and are without belts, not even those in resin of the Wingman box, I preferred to assemble those of Eduard very detailed and in scale, the belts are very realistic. To make the side walls of the cockpit I used the MILLIPUT BLACK, and for instrument panel I used photoetching by Eduard. After gluing the parts with superglue, I painted the entire cockpit in black Mr.Hobby -H12 - Flat Black, and after with a medium gray. All the buttons are painted in white and some in red. After these operations, we will do the weathering, for the line between the panels I used color OIL - MAIMERI PURO mixing with THINNER 5816604 - Petroleum essence (535 - Ivory Black ). Then I applied the dry brush technique to the Cockpit and ejection seat with metallic colors from Testor colors.

4. Air intakes.

The first step to do is to prepare the air intakes, gluing the various parts and close inside the fuselage. After you can spray the interior with Mr.Hobby -H12 - Flat Black Acrylic. Once this operation is completed, the air intakes are glued to the two semi-fuselages. The alignment is very precise.

5. Fuselage and radome

The fuselage complete with negative panels is dimensionally scaled, but requires some minor adjustments, before closing the two semiconducts that make up the shell, I inserted the long air intake ducts previously glued inside in this way it was easier to place them inside the nacelle. When the fuselage is closed, the radome cone must be prepared by filling it with small weights of lead, also here it will be necessary to sand to align the radome with the fuselage.It is good to sand the whole model with a sheet of sandpaper No. 500, slightly damp.

6. Wings and Fuselage.

The Kinetic model fits the wings very well to the fuselage. It will be necessary to do many dry tests, and glue piece by piece paying attention to the alignments with the fuselage. The cracks that are created between the wings and the fuselage are minimal, they must be filled with Mr.Hobby Mr. Dissolved Putty and then sanded and smoothed and superglue.

7. Canopy

The canopy is very clear, but requires several fixing techniques, because it does not align perfectly with the fuselage. Personally I used a small wooden stick inside the canopy for a perfect alignment, after the glue dried I removed the thin wooden thickness used. Before gluing it will be necessary to paint the interior frames in matt black . Toothpaste was used to polish out all of the sanding scratches after the seam had been removed. And after I used Johnson Wax Wood, Beeswax.

8. Landing Gears.

Landing gear, those from the kit are very good, they have good proportions, it was necessary to add wiring in copper, of various thickness, I also added a hydraulic jack not present in the kit, for this I used photographs taken from the internet, the wheels must be replaced with those of the resin included in the box.

9. Camouflage, Markings and Decals.

Marking is taken from an image of the – Colors and decals guide – Wingman Models - I chose the scheme of one of the first training subjects, the training scheme consisting of white and dark orange. Before painting the model ,I gave a hand of Mr. Surface 1200 gray and sanded and the kit, just to see if there were roughness in the surfaces. After as you can see in the pictures, I made several passages between shading and masking. The decals of the kit are excellent, I have passed a layer of transparent acrylic paint of semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it.

This is the sequence of the surfaces that I painted.

A. Clean the whole with alcohol

B. Mr. Surface 1200 gray and sanded and the kit

C. All the final surface with Mr. Hobby Color H1 white gloss FS 17825

D. Other surface with Mr. Hobby Color H79 shine red FS 12197

E. Landing gear with Ak aluminium.

F. Final semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it - floor glass

10. Weathering and finished model. See Pictures :

The weathering of the model is very important and this entire task was undertaken carefully. In order to give prominence to the panel lines I added diluted Acrylic. The darker colors were added to the lower areas of the panel lines with the lighter shades along the edges. This latter operation will give a certain depth to the model and will eliminate the flat appearance of a standard paint scheme. For the lines between the panels I used colors I used OIL - MAIMERI PURO mixing with THINNER 5816604 - Petroleum essence (278 - Burnt Sienna - 535 - Ivory Black - 018 - Titanium White ), Some shades of oils and fats were made with the excellent AK pencils. In conclusion you will paint all the surfaces with a semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it - floor glass