Vautour IIN ‘IAF All Weather Fighter - no. 69 , Tayeset 119 Bat Squadron
1. History
The French Vautour was designed to serve as an attack aircraft, bomber and night fighter. Israel purchased all three versions and was the only nation to operate all three types. Sqdn. 110 recon Vautours collected imagery crucial for IAF operaton Focus, the pre-empitive strike that opened the june 1967 Six Day War. It was during this war that Sqdn. 110 attack Vautours spearheaded the IAF air superiority offensive.
Gun Deflectors
The Cyrano to Vautour N was an ambiyious requirement that woulde consume a lot of resources. A much more minor Vautour N issue was sensitivity of engine cut during high altitude gunnery. The French solved this issue through installation of gun deflectors,but this appendage had a negative impact on performance. Only Vautour 69 was fitted with such deflectors. By 1963 the Vautour was no longer expected to intercept enemy aircraft at high altitude , for whatever reason, was a remote option. Therefore, in an AIR2 meeting on 25 November 1963, it was decided to abandon plans for installation of gun deflectors in IAF Vautour . Instead, the gunnery envelope of the Vautour N was restricted to speeds higher than 210 knots and altitudes lower than 35,000 feet.
2. The Kit
Highly accurate and detailed model,the 1/72 scale model kit comes on four grey styrene sprues joined by a single clear parts sprue, a bunch of resin parts and photo etches.
To kick things off in the construction depart we start with the cockpit (shock). The two seats are made up each with four plastic parts, and PE seatbelts. The rudder pedals attach to the back of the instrument panel and this is then added to the coaming. The cockpit is then made up with the other side of the cockpit floor being the roof of the front gear bay.
Three differing colour options showing the type throughout its Iaf career
Accurate decals including a set of stencils
To improve your model you can buy nicely detailed fuel tank set no CMQ72262, available separately.
3. Cockpit and Seat
With the help of real photos I could significantly improve the cockpit. is accurate and the photo-etch seat belts give it a good look.
4. Fuselage
The fuselage is accurate, with recessed panel lines and the plastic is easy to work. After assembling and painting the inner parts, you have to insert the exhaust pipes and glue them in place. The fit of the two fuselage halves is good, but you will have to rescribe some panel lines that are removed during sanding etc.
5. Landing Gears and Wheels
The undercarriage looks good, but still needs some detailing work like adding some wire to simulate the brake cables on each oleo. The wheels are too are good too
6. Painting
Here I will detail a couple of the techniques I employed. The first task is to smooth the surface of the kit using wet abrasive paper of different grades until you get to 800. After having prepared the surface the model is primed. I painted my model using Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black thinned with Lacquet Thinner.
This is the sequence of the surfaces that I painted.
A. Clean the whole with alcohol
B. Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1200 gray – and Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black
C. All the final surface with AK aluminum metal
D. Final semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it - floor glass
7. Weathering
The wear of the model can certainly not be carried out randomly, especially in the case of the Vautour IIN overall metal , which must respond to a precise logic. Let's see how: first of all we need to highlight the paneling lines. There are different techniques for this purpose: Personally, I use dry brush strokes with aluminum-colored powders in various shades and acrylic and oil colors for soft effects.
To complete the work it is necessary to pass a coat of semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it - floor glass transparent on the whole model.
8. References.
* Vultures over Israel: The Vautour in Israeli Service: Squadron 110, 1957-1971 - Shlomo Aloni
* SO 4050 VAUTOUR by Alain Crosnier – Histoire & Collection
