AMX Ghibli Kosovo War

AMX 32 Stormo, Amendola, 1997, Kosovo War

This is the Italeri 1/72 AMX Ghibli built out of the box. I modeled an aircraft stationed in Amendola during the Kosovo war with markings included in the kit. I was attracted to this option due to the shark mouth on the nose but it also allowed me to model an early version of the aircraft carrying an Orpheus Reconnaissance pod. Since the pod did not interfere with the weapons capability of the aircraft I also loaded it with two GBU-12 bombs with Israeli Opher IR seeker heads which were used by the AMX during this conflict as they were fire and forget and needed no tracking or guidance from the AMX. Also standard for armed recon were 2 AIM-9L sidewinders on the wing tip rails.

The FS36280 gray used on the airframe was not available in either AK or Vallejo acrylics I normally use. I decided a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Air Dark Gull Gray FS36231 and Gull Gray FS36440 were close enough. I used Flory grime to bring out the panel lines and provide some light weathering to the aircraft. I tried to find an image reference for the Opher GBUs but from what I read they were standard GBU-12 with a Opher seeked head. I used GBU-12s from the Hasegawa #2 weapons set hoping they were close enough.