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This is the Frems Aermacchi MB-339A.
The kit is manufactured in Italy and features recessed panel lines
(though a bit heavy), a detailed cockpit, and markings for 7 different aircraft.
I chose the Argentine Navy variant because of its unique camouflage and
history in the Falklands war.
As usual I started with the cockpit.
The ejection seats are nice and decals are provided for them.
I added various bits of plastic and wire to the sidewalls and rear
bulkheads. A light wash of Windsor
& Newton burnt sienna followed by a drybrushing of white brought out the
details. Lastly, individual
instrument decals were applied to the dial faces.
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Overall fit of the model is very good except for parts
sandwiched between the fuselage halves. This
included the cockpit tubs, instrument panels, and exhaust nozzle.
A lot of test fitting and sanding is needed to get a proper fit and to
avoid a huge gap in the fuse. I
removed all antennae from the fuselage halves and reattached them prior to
paint. They were bound to get
broken off and it made filling and sanding the seam a lot easier.
Frems includes two beautifully turned brass gun
barrels for the gun pods, a nice touch. The
clear lenses provided are nice. I
drilled a small hole in the backside of each lens and painted the hole with its
respective color. The result is a
convincing lens with a colored light bulb inside.
All subassemblies were primed with Floquil Primer
gray. I used Model Master enamels
for the two-tone camouflage and Tamiya white for the bottom.
Neither FS color is produced, so I picked the closest ones and lightened
with white. The decals went down
fine between Testors Glosscote and Dullcote.
Some light weathering with Grumbacher pastels finished it off.
I
posed the bird over a picture of the Argentinean coastline downloaded from
Corbis.com. Staples
(an office supply/printing store) printed a color laser copy for me,
which was attached to a piece of mat board.
Brett
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