Iranian Air Force 

Tactical Aircraft Part I 

by Fariborz (Fred) Shammas

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Here are some photos of my 1/48th Scale Aircraft.

 

  1. F-4E (Hasegawa)

On this kit I used a Verlinden cockpit, but aside from that it’s out of the box. The markings were kluged together from various sources.

 

   2. F-5E Tiger II (Monogram)

 In terms of improvements, I used a Black Box resin cockpit set,  I fabricated intake covers to avoid the “flat intake wall” problem, and I rescribed all of the panel lines. I used Model Master enamels straight from the bottle, but I like to use Testors liquid cement to thin the paints. No difficulties with paint adhesion here!

 

  3. Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Hasegawa)

I built the infamous Hasegawa Tomcat about 10 years ago. I used a Verlinden cockpit and of course made the intake covers. The wings are actually from the Academy F-14 kit, since the Hasegawa wings at the time had some molding irregularities, and the flaps and slats did not fit particularly well in the retracted position. Decals came once again, from the spares box.

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I’m sure you are wondering about how I photograph my models.

 

99% of my photography is done outdoors. I use a SONY Cyber-Shot 3.2 megapixel digital camera. I have a simulated 1/48th scale tarmac about 36” wide by about 56” long. I set this on the roof of my car so that I may angle the camera from a flat, low angle in order to get a realistic “worms eye” view of the subject. The ground support equipment comes from the often used Hasegawa and ESCI ground support equipment sets.

 

 

For the background scenery, I’ve taken photographs of various control towers and airports from around the world, including RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus , RAF Tai Kali on Malta , and some shots taken at Kabul and Shiraz Airport in Iran . I’ve also “Borrowed” some shots from Airliners.net. Using Polaroid PhotoMax (which came with the computer) I can composite in a realistic background. Adding other 1/48th scale aircraft in the background lends perspective, and “busys up” the environment so that it looks less sterile.

 

Right now I’m working on the Classic Airframes F-5A. One way or another, I’m sure it will work its way onto the Net.

 

 

Fred

 

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Photos and text © by Fariborz (Fred) Shammas