1:48 Rafale B 4-FP 10 years ESTA 15.004 Haute-Marne 2017 - Limited edition -

When the wrench crews celebrate

Jubilee finishes almost always concern flying units. This one is different. The technical support escadron 15.004 Haute-Marne looks after maintenance, repairs and the preparation of the machines at a base in Champagne, and in 2017 it was ten years old. Its founding falls in the reorganization of French aviation maintenance that separated the technicians into independent formations with a name, a badge and a tradition of their own.

The thank-you took the form of artwork on a Rafale B with the code 4-FP. The two-seat version was chosen fittingly: it is precisely on that one that the largest part of the training and test flying is handled at the wing, that is the work the technicians see to every day. The artwork was tied to the anniversary season and vanished from the machine after it.

The unit borrowed the name Haute-Marne from the region its base lies in, and such a tie to a region is the rule with French support units. The celebration therefore belonged not only to the air force but also to the town and the surroundings that part of the people in yellow vests by the apron come from.

On building the model

The two-seat Rafale has a longer canopy than the single-seater and a differently solved spine, so the sheet belongs to the B version. Festive motifs on the Rafale are usually spread over the fin and the sides of the fuselage and pass across several parts, which is why it is worth gluing the whole airframe together first and applying the decals only to a finished painted surface.

This is a limited series of the kind that is as a rule not reprinted once it is sold out, so hunting one down later tends to be difficult.