1/48 Hobbycraft AT-33 (Ecuador)

Gallery Article by Javier Johnson on May 13  2009

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The AT-33 was used by the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE) as a trainer and in the ground attack role.  This plane was in service as patrol up to 1995 at Cenepa´s war. 

I got lucky when I found  the Hobbycraft #1547, AT-33 COIN bird in 1/48 scale that now is discontinued. 

When a friend told me of the existance of a 1/48 AT-33 in Ecuadorian version, I started to look for one on ebay.  To my surprise, one day it was for sale a few minutes before to my auction. It got shark´s mouth decals and markings. 

KIT

This kit has good exterior details, but the cockpit was replaced with resin and photo etched parts from Verlinden.  Just I didn´t use details or the nose in order to show the shark´s face

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PAINTING

Ecuadorian AT-33 version used the same Vietnam era camouflage colors seen on American aircraft.  I used Humbrol 116, 117, 119 upside and 28 underside. All them were lightened with white for the scale factor. 

DECALS

But, when I compare photos about this jet with decals, I found it was not exactly accurate to the real jets and aftermarket markings aren't available for the aircraft I wanted to build. 

So, I decided to make my custom decals. I used as reference 1/72 AT-33 decals by Andean Decals (Francisco Bonilla).  I made a Xerox copy of the decal sheet and then I drew the shark´s mouth, eyes and nutgalls, Ecuadorian flags on AutoCad.  When I fixed the correct size for 1/48 scale, It was printed on white waterslide decal paper and finally I sealed with the decals with Microscale Liquid Decal Film. It's amazing, "it's works". Roundels, number and letters were used from the original decals in the box 

Of course, first I applied Future coat before and after the decals. 

WEATHERING

To get a matT finishing, I always used acrylic matt varnish from Pebeo.  For panels lines, Tamiya´s powders for finishing.

I would like to thank to Alfredo Jurado, Galo Perez, Cristian Villacreses, Juan Montesinos and all IPMS Guayaquil´s team for  their support with references on this project. 

Enjoy 1/48 AT-33, FAE 500 

Regards from Ecuador

Javier Johnson

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Photos and text © by Javier Johnson