Category: French aircraft
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North American F-100 – Part Four – When NATO Meant France As Well
And the French needed American aircraft to fulfil their own defence needs. A long time ago… Long enough to be before the Area Rule in aircraft design – allowing the designers of the Super Sabre a big fuselage space in the mid-rear for the engine. A contemporary of Soviet fighters and interceptors of similar bulk.…
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Morane-Saulnier MS 500 – Part Four – Jiminy!
The Triumph Of The Modest yet again! A vintage Airfix kit – and not even a re-issue at that – and it’s turned out beautifully. I haven’t built a Fieseler-based plane before so I have none of the other makes to compare this to. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the result. If I can…
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Morane-Saulnier MS 500 – Part Three – Sacré Bleu!
But of course it is bleu. What other couleur would the Aeronavale paint their avion? Mais what bleu is it? It is Mr. Color 322 Pthalo-cyane blue. It is also marked as JASDF Blue Impulse. This is for their aerobatics display team. I hope they don’t mind me pinching the hue for the French navy.…
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Morane-Saulnier MS 500 – Part Two – Le Criquet
If you started reading this build as a Fieseler Storch you can be forgiven for wondering what happened. The end of the war happened and the French and Czech aviation industries needed to get started – and there were plans and parts for ex-German aircraft galore. The French army and the Aeronavale needed small liaison…
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Morane- Saulnier N – Part Three – Russian Silver
And Imperial Russian at that. The finest Fabergé egg I could make for myself. The sadness occasioned by ruining a model has disappeared ( though I still have a sin to atone for when next I come to a military vehicle…) and I can start my WW1 collection in fine style. I have avoided this…
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Morane-Saulnier N – Part Two – Simplicity In Silver
The Revell ( NZ ) model of the Morane-Saulnier N monoplane is the aviation equivalent of the spoiled vehicle kit it replaced – so simple in construction as to admit of assembly before painting. The pilot – Dimitri – has been painted separately and can rest in the shade while the rest of the build…
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Morane-Saulnier N – Part One – Off The Horse, On The Horse
I had fallen off the horse. A model that was proceeding well became bogged down with a bad paint choice and nasty wash job – incompatible chemistry. Efforts to rectify it made it worse – parts were bent, then broken. It looked appalling, and I knew that every time I saw the finished product it…
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Mirage F.1C – Part Four – I Must Build More
a. More French aircraft. b. More jet aircraft. c. More Hasegawa aircraft. d. More varied operators. The completion of the Moroccan Mirage F.1C has been a real pleasure – a kit that had few flaws to trap me. Of course I made mistakes but I made them early and easy. And this is the point…
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Mirage F.1C – Part Three – Like Webster’s Dictionary
Or Hope and Crosby…We’re Morocco-bound. Why Morocco? Never been there myself – never expect to visit. Wish them well and hope they do not slide off the edge of Africa into the Atlantic ocean. But their chief advantage to me is their choice of Dassault fighter planes – they fly the Mirage F.1C. They also…
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Mirage F.1C – Part Two –
I am not a naturally suspicious person. I do not see conspiracies in every coup, assassination, or Disney movie. I regularly send money to Nigerian princesses. Yet I suspect every tricycle-geared airplane that they build…they are all tail-sitters just waiting for us to have a moment’s lapse of attention. I regularly weigh and balance planes…
The Little World 