Some Alpha Jets just landed!!

A small shipment from Dom at Dom's Decals arrived today. What a joy Dom is to deal with. Apart from some Soviet red star decals, as well as some Belgian roundels, I received a pack of Alpha Jets made by Tumbling Dice!! Yippee!!

The Alpha Jet was a joint project between Dornier and Dassault-Breguet in the 70's. Each company produced a very slightly different version of the aircraft. The Germans used them for light ground attack and the French only as advanced trainers. Of the other countries which purchased them, Portugal and Belgium both used theirs as dual-role; ground attack and training. The aircraft began entering frontline service in 1979 and the last were delivered in 1991. 

The two versions are fairly easy to tell apart. Those built by Dornier have a very sharply pointed, stiletto-style nose:

While those built by Dassault-Breuget have a rounded nose:

This being one of those that the Belgians bought. 

The Alpha Jets that TD makes seem to be the French version:

But a bit of judicious filing on the nose should easily turn it German. A very nice little sculpt. The only downside is that very few 1/600 scale aircraft seem to come with underwing stores, which is a damned shame. 

As I now have six, I'll paint four as West Germans (I can't foresee ever needing more than that) and the other two I'll do as Belgians, as I don't imagine I'll find a need for Portugese attack jets anytime soon. I'm quite pleased with these little guys. Let's start drilling mounting holes in their bellies so we can get them primed!!