I
t was 1993 when Portugal
received the first of its
fifty Alpha Jets from the
German Air Force, which was
part-payment for the use of the
Portuguese Air Base Nº11 in Beja.
From the initial fleet, only forty
aircraft were designated to be
operational, the remaining ten
to be used for spares. The Alpha
Jet replaced the Fiat G-91 and
T-38 in FAP service; it was chosen
as a basis to train new aircrew
on the F-16, although many
had a secondary combat role.
When Kinetic released their
Alpha Jet back in 2013 there
was huge excitement in the
Portuguese modelling community.
Unfortunately, the kit didn’t
allow you to build a Força Aérea
Portuguesa (FAP) version straight
from the box, and no aftermarket
sets were available, which was
a disappointment. Fortunately,
one year later Wingman Wings
SPONSORED
FEATURE
ALPHA TRAINER
Vitor Costa Uses AK Interactive Products to Paint and
Weather the 1/48 Scale Wingman Wings Alpha Jet
KIT DETAILS
PORTUGESE ALPHA JETS
MANUFACTURER: WINGMAN WINGS
SCALE: 1:48
KIT TYPE: MULTI-MEDIA
KIT NUMBER: WMK48006
74 • MAY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
BY SACCO DE VRIES
ALPHA JET
BY VITOR COSTA
1/48
074-77-FEAT-AKInteractive-0518.indd 74 13/04/2018 14:12