1:48 Camouflage Paint Masks For IAF KFIR C.7

A French airframe, an American heart

The IAI Kfir grew out of the Israeli effort to stand on its own feet after deliveries of French aircraft came to a halt. The delta shape derived from the Mirage 5 remained the basis, but into the fuselage the designers built the American General Electric J79 engine. That was shorter and bulkier, so the outline of the rear end and of the air intakes changed, and small canards were added in front of the cockpit, which markedly improved the aircraft's behavior at high angles of attack. The C.7 version meant the last big step: more thrust, added pylons and modernized avionics.

The principle of the set

The stencils follow the outlines of the individual camouflage fields. You proceed from the lightest shade, cover the finished area and spray the next one. Once it is peeled off, a sharply divided boundary is left, which would be hard to repeat freehand identically on both halves of the machine. On a delta with its large wing area, symmetry shows at a glance, and that is exactly what the stencil secures.

Who the set suits

An airbrush is assumed, as is the ability to plan the order of the coats in advance. A particular skill is working with the character of the boundary: a stencil laid flat gives a hard transition, while one lifted or packed with a thin roll of putty creates a softer blur. Anyone who does not consider that choice will get a correct but uniform result. There is no decal substitute for camouflage over a whole surface, so the alternative is not a sticker but drawing freehand, which is quicker and at the same time far harder to repeat.

Before building

The base must be dry and cured. Neither paints nor a kit are part of the delivery.