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Zhizhou, Welcome to the GB especially with a Mirage IV, most welcome indeed! I first saw these impressive beasts when one was on a landaway at Riems AB whilst we were transiting through on a fuel stop. I last saw a couple of them last week at Savigny-lès-Beaune, sadly looking rather the worse for wear. Unfortunately my phone died and I only got a couple of snaps - some muppet had forgotten to charge their phone Sorry to hear about your technology issues, hope you get them sorted soon. Looking forward to your M5F build too so I can see how it's supposed to be done!

Good start Evert. Such a pity Italeri didn't provide a correct IP for the recce versions but you seem to have overcome that particular problem. I'm impressed with the decals and masks too. Looking forward to your next update.

Yes Antoine, I shall certainly do that even if it means I end up with egg on my face!

Another placeholder. In a moment of weakness I succumbed to the purchase of a PJ Productions 1/72nd Mirage IIIR/RZ/5F, it's the newer tooling with the finer panel lines which will be perfect for the intended NMF. My older HPM version of this kit will end up in a camouflage finish at some time which will hopefully help disguise the heavier panel lines of the earlier version. The kit will be finished as an AdA M5F, one of the supposedly embargoed aircraft intended for Israel but retained by France, this of course was a smokescreen for the real events. I'll be using good old Modeldecal sheet 38 for the markings, I've had them for donkey's ages, I won't bore you with how many times I've biffed up the Heller IIIE/R/5 kit trying to alter the nose to the correct profile. The markings are for EC3/13 "Ardennes" whilst based at Colmar in 1973. As I'm still on my holidays and I only ordered the kit today, I'll post the photos up when I get home - hoping of course the kit has arrived by then.

A PJ Productions 1/72nd Mirage IIIR/RZ/5F dropped into my basket whilst browsing a a certain East Anglian model shop's website, I was powerless to resist and completely unable to say no when I checked out - I know, I'm weak and a bit hapless I wonder where it will end up? Mirage GB anyone? http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/594-mirage-gb/

Don't forget the extra belly intakes on these jets and the deletion of a cannon, the Cocardes book has all the details, well worth getting hold of!

Nice to see another variation on the Mirage theme even if the real thing does try to make the elegant IIICZ look ugly (something it doesn't quite succeed in doing mind). I'm also glad to see that particular colour scheme, good luck with it, hope your eyesight doesn't suffer as a consequence). I like your previous Cheetah D, you've set yourself a high standard to follow! Welcome to the GB.

Cool! Which scheme? Nice to see another delta! Welcome to the GB.

What scale? What's the surface detail like, how does the colour compare to the BS/FS colour charts?

The point about the slats and flaps is this, some modellers (and I hasten to add I'm not one of them), expect a modern kit tooled in 2016/17 at the level of complexity of a Series 3 kit to have separate slats and flaps, I get that as it's how the aircraft would routinely be seen on the ground, please don't confuse another services practices with another or the specific requirements of an individual aircraft type. Likewise, the same people would probably expect it to be covered in dimples to represent rivets, however, I've said it before, if those were scaled up to real aircraft size they would be indicative of an overstressed airframe that would at best require re-skinning if not scrapping. I'm happy for Airfix not to include separate slats and flaps, if I want to add those I can, after all, that's called modelling isn't it? Likewise, I'm more than happy with the surface detail presented, I don't want to see more pulled rivets, I've seen enough in real life.

But that's the point Simon, these aren't sprung slats, they're aerodynamic ones which rely on air pressure to keep them shut, once you get boundary flow separation caused by lack of lift there's insufficient pressure to keep them closed good old gravity takes over and they pop out to provide lift. These types of slat have no actuators to deploy them and no springs to pull them shut, they simply have rails to guide them in and out and they should be free to move on those rails, the last thing Herr Pilot needed is for them to stick in the wrong position, worse still one side staying shut and the other open or vise-versa. The video clips show the techy verifying they are free to move. Because the Me-262 has a tricycle undercarriage the wing is more horizontal to the ground, its more likely that gravity will overcome and the slats will drop on their rails. You're less likely to see this on a Bf-109 because some of gravity will be acting with the coefficient of friction to keep them in. All that said, the kit is what it is and a lack of deployed slats and flaps won't prevent me buying it.

Today me and my self propelled house are in Saumur where we a Piper Super Cub is stooging around.

Andrew, Welcome to the GB, very pleased to see late scheme CR and CT versions. I know what you mean about these kits falling into your ownership, I seem powerless to resist them, I now have the CE, 2xB, CR and two Simple kits in the stash and I'm always on the lookout for more! The F1 so far appears to be the most popular Mirage.

V-P, I can't answer your question but welcome to the GB. Now crack on with those Bf-109's, the La-5FN and the Typhoon, there's a good chap, then you can have fun with the Mirage!

I remember Graphy-Air, they did a PE detail set for the Heller 1/72nd Ouragan which I used and an Etendard IVP conversion kit also for use with the Heller 1/72nd IVM kit, I never got around to using that and sold it to a fellow BM'er. I never knew they did a Mirage IIIOD conversion, I would have got one of those!