Dassault Rafale
Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful fighters to ever grace a carrier deck and arguably the best fighter produced by Dassault. In 1983, France, Britain, West Germany, Italy and Spain decided to produce an agile multi-role fighter that could out-match the next generation of Soviet fighters ie. Su-27 Flanker and Mig 29 Fulcrum. France, early on in the design phase, wanted to gain design leadership and a major share in production in this joint European venture. However, due to objections from the other European partners, France decided to leave the consortium in 1985. By July 1986 Dassault had produced one technology demonstrator known as Rafale.
Rafale was conceived as a twin-engined single-seater of canard delta configuration. Rafale had to replace the Mirage F1 and Jaguar in the French Air Force as well as the Crusader and Super Etendard in the French Navy. The engines for Rafale had to be improved for naval operations thus giving rise to the SNECMA M88-3 spool augmented turbofan. Max speed is rated at Mach 1.8. Climb rate is 305 m/sec with max operational ceiling at 16 750 m. Armament comprises of one 30mm GIAT 791 cannon. A typical AAM load would comprise two Magic R550's and 4-6 MICA heat-homing missiles. For the ground-attack role a variety of bombs and laser-guided munitions could be carried. Recently the Rafale M saw combat over Libya.
This is Revell's Rafale in 1/48 scale. I built her OOB. This kit has very good surface detail and Revell has recently upgraded the kit to include air-to-ground munitions. The kit goes together easily and the colour scheme makes this a less labour intensive build. Be warned, she comes with MANY small stencilling on the decal sheet and that prolonged the build considerably. The model was painted using Model Master enamels coated with Future. Weathering was kept to an absolute minimum.
Nicely done build, Morne...two thumbs up!
Thanks Craig for the positive comment.
Good clean build and finish, good job, Morne.
Had to keep the weathering to a minimum. The Aeronavale keep these aircraft clean.
Good attention to detail Morne.
Very sharp.
Thanks Al!
Nice work Morne! That is my favorite modern jet. What shade of gray did you use on it? I have one calling from the stash to be built.
Thanks for the thumbs up on my build. Revell says satin blue grey. I opted for Compass Grey from Model Master.
Nice undercarriage and tyre details from Revell.
I concur Rob. All round this is a very good kit. When Revell brought out the re-release with guided bombs I just had to buy one more!
Stunning build on a lovely aircraft! Good effects on the exhausts.
Thanks Richard. The Rafale is a thing of beauty. Still don't know why the South African Air Force bought Gripens instead of Rafales.
Quite wicked Morne, I like the details and with a cleanish look to her , makes her appear very sharp.
Well done Morne
Thanks Simon. She looks real menacing! I just love Dassault's deltas.
Hello Morne
Undoubtedly a very beautiful model. I share your opinion on this plane, one of the most beautiful. And your assembly pays her well tribute.
Well Done
Thanks Emmanuel. I appreciate your assessment of my model.
Great looking Rafale Morne. Nice detail.
California Steve
Thanks Steve! The aerodynamic profile of the Rafale adds to its beauty. It creates the impression of flying Mach 2 parked on the ground. 😉
good job ! and "vive la France" lol
Thanks Olivier and vive la France indeed! 😉
Well done Morne, nice clean build. I think it took me 3 days to apply all the stencil decals, but I didn't get them to lay down as well as you.
Hi Rick. Thanks for the positive assessment. The decals were set in position using Future as a setting solution. A very laborious task indeed.
Hi Morne
nice looking build!
Thanks Paul. When she was first released by Revell the kit generated a lot of hype. Most of it focused on how well the kit goes together without the necessity of using copious amounts of filler.
Morane,
Excellent job on this.
Greatly appreciated Frank!
Hi Morne. I am late joining in and can only echo the comments above. It is a very nice looking plane - both your model and the real thing.
Thanks Alan for the thumbs up!
I agree with the others, your model is superb!
Appreciate the feedback Ramon.
Really nice work Morne, and I agree with you: one of the best looking carrier jets out there.
Thanks Mike for the thumbs up on my build.
Morne, I think you've excelled yourself with this one. She's just beautiful & you've more than done the kit justice. Nice detail photos too!
Hi Tony. Thanks for the vote of confidence in my abilities as a modeller.
Well done, Morne. It looks great ! It's a kit I never really noticed before, but I think you've changed my mind about adding one to my stash..
Thanks Joe. You won't be disappointed at all. A great kit for sure.
Great build Morne, again with great photography and a high informative
text. And you are right, from the aesthetically point, the Rafale is the best
looking "new" fighter aircraft.
A good inspiration to start a new generation jet .
AUSGEZEICHNET !
Vielen Dank Bernd. I can't praise Revell enough on this kit. I have not seen the Hobbyboss offering yet. However, I doubt if it would surpass the Revell kit.
Guten Tag Morne, after all what i have read about both kits, the
RoG kits is second to none and the price made it to the winner.
The new Tornado kit is also very good.
I must agree with your assessment! I have seen the Tornado and it is crammed with detail. RoG has surely produced another winner.
This Tornado, the Eurofighter and the Rafale are great kits from RoG. It is good, that they not totally forgotten this scale. Years ago they put out the nearly perfect F-15E on the marked but missed the chance for the rest of the Eagle family.