Dassault Mirage IIIC - 1:48 Eduard - Weekend Edition

[Julien]

Dassault Mirage IIIC

1:48 Eduard - Weekend Edition

Sacré bleu! If you have not heard of the Mirage IIIC where have you been? The Mirage III is one of the most recognisable aircraft to emerge from the Dassault Aviation stable in post war France. The Mirage III grew out of French government studies for a light weight all weather interceptor able to reach 18,000 meter in altitude in Six minutes and able to reach mach 1.3 in level flight. The tail less delta combined the wing with an area ruled fuselage to achieve its speed. The Mirage IIIC would remain in French service from 1961 until 1988. Export order would be received from Israel, Argentina, South Africa, Pakistan, and Lebanon. The Israeli Mirage IIICs performed very well against the MiGs of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In addition Pakistani aircraft performed well in the 1971 war with India.


The Kit
The Eduard Mirage IIIC has now been with us since 2004 and it is still a great tool of this famous aircraft. Eduard have released it in various boxing over the years, the moulds still look as good as they did the first time around. In addition to the sprues with the fuselage halves, and the wings we get six additional sprues of parts, and one clear sprue. For a weekend edition the modeller is getting a lot of plastic here, and a decent set of underwing stores. Two types of fuel tanks, Sidewinders, Matra 530 missiles, Matra ATM-9D missiles, and rocket pods are provided.

Construction starts in the cockpit area (quelle surprise!). It is quite something how many parts there are here and how much detail Eduard have packed in. The ejection seat is made up first and this consists of 6 parts including ejection seat firing handles. The cockpit tub is then built up, this consists of 18 parts! the instrument panel and side panels are provided as decals if the modeller does not wish to paint them. Next up on the construction list is the jet pipe, this has eight parts on its own. Once built this and the cockpit can be sandwiched between the main fuselage halves and the intake bullets added to the exterior.

The next area for attention are the main wheel wells. These are built up from six parts each and attached to the inside of the lower main wing. At this time the modeller will need to open up the appropriate holes in the wing for the externals tanks/ordnance chosen. Before the lower wing can be attached to the main fuselage the intake are behind the cockpit needs to be installed. Once this is done the upper main wings can be attached. **Note here that due to the flap attachment area Eduard advise no glue is used here at all** Once the main wing is complete it can be attached to the fuselage.

Now the main parts are together the intakes can be completed. Next up the modeller needs to select the right underwing pylons for the load being used. The cannon barrels are installed under the intakes at this stage, and on the wing the three part pose able flaps can be installed.

The next stage is the construction of the landing gear. Again Eduard seem to have gone to town with the parts count, but this should provide a good looking gear. The front gear is moulded in with its retraction strut so it should be a more stable join than most. The front wheel is attached with a locking part holding it in. One the front gear is in the gear doors and separate retraction strut can be added.

The main wheels are of standard two part construction and attach to a one part gear leg. These are installed to the wheel wells and their retraction struts added. The inner and out gear doors are then attached with their appropriate retraction struts.

To finish off Eduard provide the modeller with both a pilot figure and boarding ladder if the mopddel wants to use them. The modeller can then add the canopies and choice of underwing stores.

Decals
With what now seems to be standard there are two decal options in the Weekend boxing. The decals are printed by Eduard, look in register, are glossy and colour dense. The two options are;

• Mirage IIIC, No. 92, EC 02/010, Seine, Armée de ľ Air, BA 120 Cazaux, April 1976
• Mirage IIIC, No. 87, EC 03/010 Vexin, Détachement Air 188, Armée de ľ Air, Djibouti, October 1984

Conclusion
This is a great kit from Eduard, and it is good to see it re-released in a weekend edition. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of