Gnats for Lebanon

[Nick]

In 1956 the Government of Lebanon announced that it was interested in buying Folland Gnats for the Lebanese Air Force. For some reason they decided to go with De Havilland Vampires instead.

This is my interpretation of what a Gnat would look like in Lebanese Air Force colours.

I used the modern 1/72 Airfix kit and some very old and delicate ESCI decals for the national markings. Tamiya sprays and a mix of Xtracolor, Tamiya and Humbrol paints for the details.
It still needs some finishing touches. The pilots are still undressed and I am looking for suitable serial numbers. That nose probe is like a telegraph pole!

[63cpe]

Looking good Nick! Impressive you had the guts to use esci decals. They usually have interesting and exotic decals options, bit spliter in tiny bits once they hit water....what's the trick?

Totally convincing model.

David aka 63CPE

[AeroplaneDriver]

Very nice!

[Nick]

Looking good Nick! Impressive you had the guts to use esci decals. They usually have interesting and exotic decals options, but splinter in tiny bits once they hit water....what's the trick?

Totally convincing model.

David aka 63CPE

Thanks! All I did with these ESCI decals was to slide them straight onto the model exactly where I wanted them and not touch them again.
All 6 roundels and the 2 flags you can see started cracking at the edges when I tried to move them too far. One of the underwing roundels is definitely not on straight but I didn't want to mess with it any more than I had.

I'm still trying to find suitable numbers for the sides but I've just seen that one side is Arabic script.
The next stage is to varnish the model and I am worried this will also damage the decals.

[Dizzyfugu]

Simple, but very nice, a great idea! A suitable successor of the Spitfires that were used by the Lebanese Air Force until 1953... 


1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVIe Trop (Type 361); aircraft "١٥٤ ﻞ/L 154" of 2nd Squadron, Lebanese Air Force (LAF) (القوات الجوية اللبنانية‎/Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Lubnaniyya); Rayak Air Base, 1951 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[zenrat]

So that's what they look like with the proper wings on...


I'm impressed with this kit and will pick up another some time.

[PR19_Kit]

I double Klear coated all my old ESCI decals ages ago, after a TOTAL disaster when trying to use one for a B-25G.

That seems to have worked, certainly in the short term, but I've not used any of those very interesting sheets for some years now.

[NARSES2]

That looks really good Nick 

Rather like Kit I coated all my old ESCI transfers with Klear ages ago and that seems to have worked. Worked with a few other companies sets as well.

[The Wooksta!]

I simply refuse to use ESCI decals.  Too many bad experiences, so disposed of them some time back.

[Nick]

I simply refuse to use ESCI decals.  Too many bad experiences, so disposed of them some time back.

Smart move. I'm sure they were great when first released but they haven't aged well. Shame is that ESCI are the only source for many of the rarer national markings. Xtradecal or any decent firm would do well to release sheets like these.

[The Wooksta!]

Zotz did a load of sheets with odd nationalities on them.  I paid a small fortune some years back for the Middle East sheets, and in the end only did a Jordanian Spitfire F.22.

[NARSES2]

Yup I had some of those Zotz sheets but moved them on a few years ago. Only one I kept was the Southern African sheet as I'd used some and didn't want to sell a "part" sheet as the buyer would probably end up complaining even though I'd have spelled out exactly what was on it. 

As For ESCI transfers ? They were probably almost as bad when new, but then our expectations were lower.