1/48 Rafale by ACE corporation.

[snowman819]

The french Rafale is an omni role aircraft built by dassault which has been in service since 2001, but rather than go on about the jet itself, lets get into the kit itself.

This build is for the 1/48 scale French Rafale by a Korean company called ACE, but the kits it self, is originally the kit from Revell
I've never build anything from ACE,but initial impressions of the kit seem to be really good. The surface details just look beautiful with really nice panel lines. There is a nice load out with bombs, missiles, fuel tanks to a targeting system.
The instructions are in Korean, so there is no English, except on the box itself and for the colors.However the instructions are easy enough to follow and are the same as Revells.
The paint call out chart is only for Revell paints. No other brands are mentioned, so if you don't have Revell paint, you would need to do a cross check with Tamiya et al.

The model decals include the NATO tiger meet scheme from 2014, as well as the Iraq/Syria 2015 "Operation chammal"scheme.
So there are a couple of nice choices to choose from.
I haven't decided which scheme to build yet but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

For this build I got some inspiration from Dassault and from a walk around.Some nice photos are at the link below.
http://photos.dassault-aviation.com/gal ... /536871096
http://www.taringa.net/comunidades/fana ... genes.html


So my main goals are to
1)Build it out of the box to keep the costs down. and keep everyone happy.

2) To improve my painting overall.(not weathering)

3)If I decide to do the tiger meet scheme, it would be to not mess up the large decals.

4)Finish on time.

5) POSSIBLE CHALLANGE . Try to make carrier deck and some remove before flight tags. ( If time permits)


The build itself has been pleasant, it goes together well, and it is a lovely looking model with lovely lines.
I like the way it looks fully armed, with a nice choice of GBU 12s, MICA missiles (IR and RADAR). Although you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between them, and finally, there are the Matra missiles. There are other options included too, with fuel tanks and a targeting systems.So I think there's a good choice of weapons and equipment for us to choose from.
The plastic itself feels nice, fits well, and has some really nice panel lines over the fuselage. The cockpit is pleasant, but it's a bit dark to see into.The decals are also good, with no obvious problems going down.
One area they could improve on would be to include an ejection handle. It's easily scratch built with some spare sprue, but it would be better if they had one in the kit itself.( good easy part to try and scratch build for a beginner)
It's not a difficult kit to build in itself, but it does have some tricky areas outlined below, and on the second page of this build.

So the main problem areas I found were,
No 1 Area. The tail fin didn't quite sit well at the very end of the fuselage and needed some sanding.(easy fix)

No 2 Area. Where the wings join the fuselage, you may need some filler underneath, but be careful not to fill the rivets though.( easy fix)

No 3 Area. The landing gear is the most complicated part of this whole model, and the biggest headache.(small wheel bay, poor lighting, and parts find it hard to lock in). (Absolutely not for the beginner, and it was a nightmare, but that could be just me)
The landing gear doors don't lock in place either, and I didn't think Tamiya's glue was strong enough to hold it in place while it sets. As a result, super glue was needed. Watch for the struts attaching from the rear doors to the landing gear itself.Quite tricky. No problems with the front landing gear doors.( Difficult)
No 4 The Mica missiles seem to be a wee bit tricky as the nose cones needs to be attached. Not difficult in itself, but could cause alignment problems. Furthermore, you can't tell the difference between the Radar and IR versions. ( easy fix)
No 5. Ariel refueling and other probes at the nose. These have very small locating pins/holes,and the Tamiya extra thing glue may actually melt the pins away for locating, so I'd be careful here. The refueling probe when attached, may sit at an award angle and may require some super glue and alignment. (Medium difficulty) Watch out for the carpet monster though.He's waiting for them.




So have a met my goals so far.
Goal 1 keep costs down.
Built out of the Box, and pretty happy so far.The only extra part needed was for a GBU 12 bomb.The front of the bomb is pretty fragile, and easy to break off. So I cut off the tip of the new smart bomb, and super glued that onto the old bomb. Saving the kits bomb, the paint, and the decals.
Four thumbs up for keeping costs down and having fun.



No2: Improve my Painting:
Well yes and No. I tried pre shading with black, which is a good place to start for a beginner,for the panel lines. I also tried white on some access panels to highlight them a bit on the model when the full coat goes on.I thought it worked pretty well, and I'd recommend a beginner trying the white as it was simple to do. If you don't like it, you can easily paint over the white. I'll do it on my next build too. While I couldn't get as smooth a finish as I would have liked with the varnish.I did manage to smooth the whole surface down with Tamiya polisher ready for the decals. Worked a treat, and the decals went down fine. It was a bit like using T cut on your car.( be gentle though). 3 Thumbs up for trying something new. 1 oops for not noticing the fuselage seem needed to be sanded.




Goal 3:Decals.
I decided not to do the tiger meet scheme as I felt I wanted to arm the Rafale, but I could still improve my decal application with all the smaller decals. 3 Thumbs up as the decals are nice.
1 oops for not stepping up the plate and doing the Tiger meet version.



Goal 4: Finish on time. 4 thumbs up for completing on time.One for each month.


Extra goal 5: Carrier deck.
Carrier deck was some plastic card and cheap. Everything else was just normal everyday modeling tools.Tamiya tape,Tamiya paints, Tamiya weathering sets, and a pencil. If you're a kid or a beginner this is really easy one to try. 4 thumbs up for trying something completely new.


Well, that's the Rafale complete and I'd be happy to recommend it to anyone.
To any kids out there, enjoy your modeling and if you're having a hard time at school, modeling is a great way to have fun, and escape into something great.

[snowman819]

Other sprues in the kit.

[snowman819]

Finally the last set of sprue and decals.

[Avgas]

Never heard of ACE. What does Rafale mean in English?

[Smiffy]

Never heard of ACE. What does Rafale mean in English?

Gust I do believe.

[Avgas]

Not a very warlike name you have to admit...'We're being attacked by Typhoons, Hornets and er, some Gusts.'

[Tomcat64]

Google translate came up with six options: Gust, Flurry, Squall, Blast, Drift & Bluster.

Will be watching along in any case looking forward to seeing the Tiger scheme if you decide to give it a go

[snowman819]

Google translate came up with six options: Gust, Flurry, Squall, Blast, Drift & Bluster.

Will be watching along in any case looking forward to seeing the Tiger scheme if you decide to give it a go

Thanks for that Tomcat64.I'll be watching yours.

The ACE kit is Korean.No English info at all, except for on the box itself and color call outs.
The paint instructions aren't easy to follow as there is only one set of paint colors called out.REVELL AG.
No other brands are mentioned, so a bit of cross matching is needed with Tamiya et al, if you don't have Revell.



My French Canadian buddy told me they use Rafale as in a burst, similar to a burst of machine gun fire or salvo, or as Rafale de vent "gust of wind, a flurry of snow, rain "squall", what ever that is.Never the less it was interesting. Certainly not as hard as those Tornados,Whirlwinds,Typhoons,and Hurricanes, but definately weathery from the french/english dictionary.

http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/rafale.

I should have studied more french from Allo Allo or from Del Boys, Only Fools and Horses

[Lysus]

A gust can be dangerous, like a gust of bees, or a gust of acid, or a gust of angry toddlers.

[Avgas]

A gust of toddlers, I likes that.

[jnbattleship]

Nice subject. I will be wearily vigilant now as not to encounter the Rafale de Toddler

[snowman819]

I haven't managed to post much but i have done some things.

I have completed the ejection seat.
I painted it as per instructions but used Tamiya panel liner to get into this tricky places and let the capillary action do its work.
Dab any excess off just to take the edge off the black, and soak up any excess.
I

[snowman819]

I added a ejection seat handle.
I used left over sprue.
Heated it over a flame, stretched it and gave it a little bend.
I then bent it around a cocktail stick and got it into shape.
I glued the bottom together and let it set.
I then painted the handle yellow, and let than dry before painting the black stripes.
One tip I learned was to stop, even though it wasn't perfect.I knew if i went in with another stroke it would become a mess.
Better to take what I have,rather than loose everything.
I used blue tac to allow the handle to rest against it while the glue dried.
I really enjoyed having a go at this, and I'd recommend you have a go too.

After everything was done, i decided to do some slight dry brushing, but I prefered, to go over the edges and sides with a normal pencil which I think looked better.

[Tomcat64]

That's a nice looking seat - and great work with the scratch building on the handle too

[snowman819]

That's a nice looking seat - and great work with the scratch building on the handle too

Thank you very much.

Well I've popped the ejection seat to one side and will pop back to that later.
I've put the airframe and wings etc etc together and there were no huge problems.
The wing roots attaching to the airframe needed a bit of putty underneath, so I used the plastic putty.
This is easily smoothed over with some water and preserved any panel lines.
I did come across one problem.It will end up filing the rivets.So if I was to build this again, I would use tape to mask the rivets.
So that was a good learning experience, and one to keep in mind.

Once I have this done I think I'll do some pre-shading.I'm going to attempt black pre-shading of the panels with some white over the small panels/covers to give it some depth.Never tried it with white so here goes.
It's a nice looking plane though.

One area of caution: The under carriage bays are a tight squeeze for the undercarriage.

[snowman819]

Well,I've managed to do a wee bit of pre-shading with some Tamiya black and white over some hatches to try and give the plane some variation of color, when I finally cover the Rafale in its colors French Marine colors.
I've never done this with white before, but hopefully it'll work out, and might be worth doing for a beginner instead of post shading.I felt this was a safer way to do bring variation onto the jet, and if it went wrong, it's easy to over paint.

[bluebottle]

Never heard of ACE. What does Rafale mean in English?

Gust I do believe.

according to Dassault's Chief test pilot... " Dash/ Rush"

[snowman819]

Never heard of ACE. What does Rafale mean in English?

Gust I do believe.

according to Dassault's Chief test pilot... " Dash/ Rush"

I think it depends on what the word Rafale is used with, it can mean a salvo, burst,gust of something but i guess the main thrust of the word is something is fast.EG a "gust" of wind, "Flurry" of Snow,"Hail" of bullets.

I have tried to get some more done on the Rafale,and I've put on the main airframe color

I've tried to preserve some of the pre-light and dark shading, I did earlier and I'm pretty happy with it.
I put on some Tamiya varnish before the decals go on, but it wasn't as smooth as I would've liked.
I think I put it on too thin,so it was kinda rough to the touch. However, when I let the varnish build up a little and allowed it to be a littler wetter on other areas, it seemed much smoother and shinier. Something learned.
So rather than risk ruining the whole project with too much varnish, I thought I would polish the whole model with some tamiya polish to get a smoother surface.
Seems to have worked. If anyone has some advice on applying "VARNISH" please feel free to share.

[DrSprue]

The Blast Bluster is looking cool! sorry for that gust of wind...

[snowman819]

Time for a little up date on the Rafale.

There is one really difficult area on this build which, if anyone is going to build should be aware of, and that is the undercarriage area.
It is a (IMHO) an extremely difficult set to build, and at time seems more like a balancing act.
The main undercarriage itself required a bit of cutting, sanding and filing to get it shoe horned in.
The second struts are difficult to settle into the corner, and at times I thought i was working blind,just because of the angles.
The third strut is under the second strut and locates to three spots,(one on the main strut, one on the second strut, and the third into the bay.
It may have been me or it may have been the instructions but it is an area to be careful off.
Dads will defiantly have to help any kids here.( you could just.. ... give it to the carpet monster) and I did actually think of that.

[DrSprue]

Awesome landing gear!

[Tomcat64]

Good to see you're moving this along - nicely persevered on the undercarriage, that can get mighty fiddly.

[snowman819]

Good to see you're moving this along - nicely persevered on the undercarriage, that can get mighty fiddly.

Thanks for that Tomcat. I've been taking it a bit slower on this one, as it is a nice looking aeroplane.The undercarriage is something I would not recommend at all.I'd love to know if there is an easier way to build it, but I got it done.

I managed to get the jet exhausts partially completed, and I think I'll do little touch up with some gull grey where the jet nozzle leaves overlap to give it the impression of some wear and tear. I'll nock it back if I have to with some Tamiya smoke.

[snowman819]

I managed to get a bomb rack completed. I like how the pre-shading gives it a bit of shadow on those panel lines.
The GBU 12 tips are pretty delicate and one broke off on the other rack. So instead of buying a new bomb, and loosing the decals from this set, we need some emergency grafting from a spare GBU 12 from another kit. Cut it and gently super glued on.

[Lysus]

Look at those bombs!

[snowman819]

Hi, you beautiful modellers.I've put the Rafala aside for a bit, and I'll come back to it with fresh eyes.
So this weekend I decided, or was inspired to make a base for the Rafale.
So thought I would have a go at making an aircraft carrier deck.


I bought some soft plastic board.
Used some primer.
Tamiya Masking tape.
Tamiya Black.
Tamiya white.
Tamiya red.
Tamiya Flat clear coat.


I did have some white bleed through under the tape, but that'll be touched up later.

I would like to paint on some of the circles we see on the decks.( anchor points?)

So time to put everything away for next weekend.

[Lysus]

Masking off a straight line is harder than it looks, kudos on that

[snowman819]

Masking off a straight line is harder than it looks, kudos on that

Thanks for that. It will need a wee but of cleaning up but I'm happy with with it.
I hope to try and do the tie down points this weekend, and I'm thinking of using the paper hole reinforcers,(Goodness knows what they are called),but if they look about right I might try that or I might go with the hole punch method on tamiya tape.

Option 1:
The paper hole reinforcers might be good A, because they are printed at regular intervals and B less risk of misalignment, but the down side is, the strip itself isn't sticky, and it could result in some paint bleed. How to tac it down?

Option 2:
Tamiya tapes advantage is A, it can be taped down,and B, I already have it, and its a known quantity when stuck down. But the disadvantage is measuring the spaces between points, punching a hole every few centimetres, the holes may not be cut cleanly,and I might risk punching a hole slightly off.

[Tomcat64]

That's some very tidy work on those lines! As Lysus said it's never as easy as we think it should be.

Interesting problem on the tie downs - looking forward to seeing how you tackle that.

[snowman819]

That's some very tidy work on those lines! As Lysus said it's never as easy as we think it should be.

Interesting problem on the tie downs - looking forward to seeing how you tackle that.

Thank you for that.
It does present an interesting problem.i don't want to buy a carrier deck off the shelf.So i had a think about it and I decided to go down the ringed paper approach we use to repair paper

I measured out even spaces along the horizontal and vertical sides. I then placed a straight edge horizontally and the placed the paper circles at each point.This would provide an even circle to paint my tie down points
Second
The tie down points where just painted in gull grey.I did the horizontal first, let it dry and then took the tape off and then did the vertical part. Once dry,I took the tape off and it gives the impression of a tie down.It won't be as good as an off the shelf deck, but i think for a first go,and without good references its not too bad.

[snowman819]

once I placed the circles, I used tamiya tape to create the impression of tie downs., leaving only the slightest gap to paint horizontally and then vertically.

Third.
To soften the black and cover any white that was taken off by the masking, I used a black marker in the direction of the airplane movements, to give the illusion of tyre skids, and to give the deck some black variation. I softened the markers, and dirtied the white lines to make the them less stark by using Tamiya's weathering kit which has white and black.
I'm contemplating drawing white circles around each point.Not sure.

While there are many others who could do a better job than me, I think anyone could do this for a modern carrier setting, and would recommend any level to give it a try.

[ElCapitan]

Looks great, well done!

[snowman819]

Looks great, well done!

Thanks for that.A fellow scotsman I see.

[Tomcat64]

Nice work Snowman - that looks really good!

[snowman819]

Hello happy modelers,
Well i have just managed to give the Rafale M, some post shading too. I have tried to use enamel paints on areas that looked a bit super bright or clean. Very small dots of black and pushed into the crevices at the rear of the wings to draw attention to the interesting shapes there, and brushed off with some Tamiya enamel thinners. Totally unrealistic, but nice to draw the eye to that part of the jet itself. I might reduce it later but for now, I'm happy with it so far and finally I gave the Rafale a coating of Tamiya flat gloss.

[Lysus]

I'm a firm believer in the idea that not everything done to scale looks realistic, that sometimes something "unreal" is actually more real to the eye. It's like in movies when they use forced perspective or color grading to trick your eye into seeing something that isn't there. In this case it brings out some details that you'd see on the jet in real life but not if it's 9 inches long, ya know?

In fewer words: I like it!

[snowman819]

I'm a firm believer in the idea that not everything done to scale looks realistic, that sometimes something "unreal" is actually more real to the eye. It's like in movies when they use forced perspective or color grading to trick your eye into seeing something that isn't there. In this case it brings out some details that you'd see on the jet in real life but not if it's 9 inches long, ya know?

In fewer words: I like it!

I think your spot on, and I suppose thats why (imho) modeling does have an art to it, with some artistic license.Just as in the movies, I've tried to bring out some of the shapes on the jet rather than just one monotone colour, and make it a bit more interesting.

I got some inspiration from this walk around and I noticed the dark lines and scratches on the top of the jet itself.
http://www.taringa.net/comunidades/fana ... genes.html

Dassault have some nice photos too and a few inspired me to do the shapes around some areas as they stood really out in their photos.I was rather surprised to see how grubby some were.But that could be because they were close up.When you pull back it doesn't look as bad.
http://photos.dassault-aviation.com/gal ... /536871096

Well thats what I'm trying to do, and hopefully learn and improve.

I hope to join another group build after this which will be the opposite of this effect.

[Tomcat64]

That's looking great - the panel lines for me are just enough to bring the detail out without being overdone - very nice!

[snowman819]

That's looking great - the panel lines for me are just enough to bring the detail out without being overdone - very nice!

Thanks for that Tomcat.really appreciate it.

Well I'm nearly at the finish line. I've popped on the canopy, polished up with Tamiya polish.attached the pitot tube and a few other things on the nose cone. very small parts, small placement pins that are easy to melt away.
The refueling probe has a small locating pin but to be honest it doesn't sit well as it kinda sits in a misaligned way, and any bending pulling twisting into the correct position will just break it off.Super glue is needed to hold the part in place but that glue is also very brittle.
Anyway it's still a nice looking jet.

I have also managed to draw the circles for the tie downs on the deck.

[snowman819]

Some more picture taken with the iPhone.
Here, you can see some of the tie down effect I was trying to get with a pencil.

I don't know if I have time but I might try and make some remove before flight tags for the bombs, with some kitchen foil, primer, red tape and some wire.
Not sure about dimensions though

Once it's complete I'll try and get some better photo's up.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Love it, Love it, Love it!!!

Awesome to see you go the extra mile to do the diorama base AND add the background for your photos
The aircraft looks so much more real like this
Fabulous work

[Tomcat64]

That looks great!

And as Scott already said the photo-background really adds to the overall effect!

Looking forward to the reveal pics now

[snowman819]

Thank you for the comments scott and Tomcat. Hopefully I can finish it and get some nice photos.To put up.
Really learnt a lot from this model.
If i could go back and change one thing I did, or didn't do in the build and that would be to do more sanding and filling along the fuselage.

[Tomcat64]

If i could go back and change one thing I did, or didn't do in the build and that would be to do more sanding and filling along the fuselage.

Amen to that - fuselage seams are one of my personal bugbears; I always get impatient to get moving with the kit and then in retrospect wish I'd spend more time with them.

[snowman819]

If i could go back and change one thing I did, or didn't do in the build and that would be to do more sanding and filling along the fuselage.

Amen to that - fuselage seams are one of my personal bugbears; I always get impatient to get moving with the kit and then in retrospect wish I'd spend more time with them.

I couldn't agree more with those sentiments.

[Lysus]

If i could go back and change one thing I did, or didn't do in the build and that would be to do more sanding and filling along the fuselage.

Amen to that - fuselage seams are one of my personal bugbears; I always get impatient to get moving with the kit and then in retrospect wish I'd spend more time with them.

I couldn't agree more with those sentiments.

As a person currently in seam hell I, too, agree.

[snowman819]

Well today is the final day, and this is where I will call it a day.
While I wasn't able to do everything i would have liked i have managed to get some things done.

[snowman819]

Here we have a few more photo's

[snowman819]

Some more photo's taken with the iPhone with a printout for the background.

[snowman819]

Some photo's taken with the iPhone with a printout as backdrop.