DONE @p.3 +++ 1:72 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HF-26M ‘Teer’; IAF, 1982

[NARSES2]

Looks like they were Flagon a dead horse 

I see The Book in your future too! 

Strange but there's been a couple of entries so far this year and Zenrat hasn't featured yet 

How huge is your spares box?

I've often wondered about that 

[Dizzyfugu]

How huge is your spares box?

Huge...  The idea vault is bigger, though. 

[su27rules]

Nice!!    

[zenrat]

Looks like they were Flagon a dead horse 

I see The Book in your future too! 

Strange but there's been a couple of entries so far this year and Zenrat hasn't featured yet 

 

[PR19_Kit]

How huge is your spares box?

It's a separate German state in it's own right! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Some news from the workbench.

Painting and markings:
The paint scheme for this fictional aircraft was largely inspired by a picture of a whiffy and very attractive Saab 37 Viggen (an 1:72 Airfix kit) in IAF colors, apparently a model from a contest. BTW, India actually considered buying the Viggen for its Air Force!
IAF aircraft were and are known for their exotic and sometimes gawdy paint schemes, and with IAF MiG-21 "C 992" there's even a very popular (yet obscure) aircraft that sported literal tiger stripes. The IAF Viggen model was surely inspired by this real aircraft, and I adopted something similar for my HF-26M.


1:72 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HF-26M 'Teer'; aircraft 'N 318' of the Indian Air Force No. 1 Squadron (The Tigers); AFS Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh/Central India), 1982 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HF-26M 'Teer'; aircraft 'N 318' of the Indian Air Force No. 1 Squadron (The Tigers); AFS Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh/Central India), 1982 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


IAF 1 Squadron was therefore settled, and for the paint scheme I opted for a "stripish" scheme, but not as "tigeresque" as "C 992". I found a suitable benchmark in a recent Libyian MiG-21, which carried a very disruptive two-tone grey scheme. I adapted this pattern to the HA-26M airframe and replaced its colors, similar to the IAF Viggen model, which became a greenish sand tone (a mix of Humbrol 121 with some 159; I later found out that I could have used Humbrol 83 from the beginning, though...) and a very dark olive drab (Humbrol 66, which looks like a dull dark brown in contrast with the sand tone), with bluish grey (Humbrol 247) undersides. With the large delta wings, this turned out to look very good and even effective!

For that special "Indian touch" I gave the aircraft a high-contrast fin in a design that I had seen on a real camouflaged IAF MiG-21bis: an overall dark green base with a broad, red vertical stripe which was also the shield for the fin flash and the aircraft's tactical code (on the original bare metal). The fin was first painted in green (Humbrol 2), the red stripe was created with orange-red decal sheet material. Similar material was also used to create the bare metal field for the tactical code, the yellow bars on the splitter plates and for the thin white canopy sealing.

After basic painting was done the model received an overall black ink washing, post-panel shading and extensive dry-brushing with aluminum and iron for a rather worn look.
The missiles became classic white, while the drop tanks, as a contrast to the camouflaged belly, were left in bare metal.

Decals/markings came primarily from a Begemot MiG-25 kit, the tactical codes on the fin and under the wings originally belong to an RAF post-WWII Spitfire, just the first serial letter was omitted. Stencils are few and they came from various sources. A compromise is the unit badge on the fin: I needed a tiger motif, and the only suitable option I found was the tiger head emblem on a white disc from RAF No. 74 Squadron, from the Matchbox BAC Lightning F.6&F.2A kit. It fits stylistically well, though. ;-)

Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (except for the black radome, which became a bit glossy) and finally assembled. Scneic shots still pending, though. 


1:72 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HF-26M 'Teer'; aircraft 'N 318' of the Indian Air Force No. 1 Squadron (The Tigers); AFS Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh/Central India), 1982 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HF-26M 'Teer'; aircraft 'N 318' of the Indian Air Force No. 1 Squadron (The Tigers); AFS Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh/Central India), 1982 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[thundereagle1997]

Keep up the great work

[NARSES2]

That does look the business 

[Gondor]

Looks a bit like the TEJAS, a precursor perhaps?

Gondor

[Dizzyfugu]

Not to me? I rather have the impression that this unintendedly looks like the lovechild of a Mirage III and an F-4 Phantom?

[Wardukw]

What ever the hell it's ment to look like one thing is for sure Thomas...it looks bloody superb..love the lines and as usual..great paint job 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you!

[UhuFin]

Awesome! Very good use for the horrible PM Su-15 kit

[DogfighterZen]

What can one say other than excellent? 

[kerick]

That's going to turn some heads!