Ogaden Fighters

Whilst priming and base-coating aircraft for the Suez campaign, I got slightly distracted and decided to finish off some F-5s and MiG-21s I’d got primed already for the Ogaden War.

I tried out a different method for doing the canopies and although I’m a pretty average painter I’m really pleased with the results. Previously I painted the base colours and then added the canopies but I found that I could never get them neat enough. This time I painted the canopies first, including dry-brushing to bring out the frame detail, then painted around the canopy with the base colours. This turned out to be so much easier, and the results spurred me on to spend a bit more time on details such as the air intakes and jet exhaust. I also put decals on the sides of the aircraft, something I don’t normally bother with.

F-5As of the Ethiopian Air Force. These guys were real ‘Top Guns’ and pretty much outclassed any other pilots in Africa. The pin wash looks a bit overdone in the photos but looks pretty cool from a normal viewing distance

It’s amazing how a simple thing like painting the exhausts black and adding some ‘burn’ in yellow and orange lifts the models

Somali MiG-21s; hopelessly outclassed but I do love how they look

I do love Tumbling Dice’s aircraft!

And as a comparison with earlier efforts – a bit more care and effort makes all the difference

My new method for doing canopies is so much neater – I never was happy with the white stripe highlight anyway!