Eduard 1:48 Mirage IIIC U/C mods

[Stéphane]

Hello,

 

Someone asked me to detail the steps to modify the Eduard Mirage IIIC undercarriage legs to achieve a proper sit of the plane. Here you are .

 

The Eduard kit :

As said, it was  acclaimed when released, setting a new “modern” standard for the Mirage IIIC in 1:48 scale.

Yes, indeed; but fit is ranging from bad to terrible, in the windshield area (a common weakness of Mirage kits, Heller has this issue as well), the air intake area and wing to fuselage upper wings seams.

 

But the most outstanding issue (at least to us frog-eaters Mirage buffs) is the kit kit long legs, giving a “Missus is on 2.5 inches stilettoes” stance to the plane.

That came out of the Eduard team coming to France to measure the real McCoy in a museum, which was a real smart move of the design team. Even the best led plans can fail and as goes the saying devil is in details … Quite a big detail in fact, as the museum bird as no engine installed and no radar, hence the oleos were in full extended position.

 

Oops !

To a profane eye, indeed that’s not obvious, once fit issues are overcomed, with a good paint job, she’s a beaut ! (let’s be clear, the Mirage III is the sexiest jet of the early 60ies !!!)

 

How to fix that issue :

Main landig gear legs needs to be shortened by a good 3,5 mm by cutting immediately above the compass and removing plastic from the remaining leg.

You then add a section of paper clip to strengthen things a bit, a quick drop of CA glue, sand round once dry and you’re done.

Pics : 

Main UC comparison : grey one Eduard, silver ones Hobby Boss.

Measure thrice, cut once ! :)

Eduard legs cutted to good length and paperclip section inserted

 

The front leg is a bit trickier. The pivot is on the wheel arms axle, so you need to assemble the whole U/C leg and then have the arms cleanly sawed off. Just close the angle to obtain the proper look.

Next, on side view, the front leg have a slight rearward slant; to achieve that you need to reduce the length of the retraction rod.

Pics :
One can see the fully extended front leg

Here are the cuts that need to be done on the wheel "arms"

... and the retarcting rod is shortened

Front leg reassembled

 

Et voilà, you’re done, one properly sitting Mirage on your shelve ! :).

Pics :

Proper angle and proper slant, yippeeee !

 

Should you like to see the complete building album, it's here : Mirage build

 

++Hope this little summary was useful, and if it's placed in the wonrg section, please, Boss, feel free to move it where it should belong

 

Best,

 

Stéphane

[Glen]

Thanks Stephane, that's really useful. I've got a couple of these to build sometime and had never heard of the undercarriage problem so will store your post away!

 

Cheers

Glen

[Seawinder]

Stéphane, your timing couldn't have been better. I'm about to start priming/painting an Eduard Mirage IIICJ and will certainly try to make your recommended corrections to the landing gear. Boy, are you ever right about the fit issues! I keep reading reviews of the kit calling it brilliant and wondering how many of the reviewers actually tried building the thing. Not impossible, but comparing it to the Eduard Spitfire IX I'm currently working on, one can see how far Eduard has come in their engineering.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Seawinder
typo

[fewr9fkr9595]

Good chat. 

 

I have a few eduard mirages in the stash so this will come in handy one day.

 

merci! 

[Stéphane]

Glad my little post is useful

 

Seawinder, I don't know how far advanced you are in your build, but the real dark spot is the windshield are. I don't know what your building habits are, but it's important for your mental sanity that you install the windshield, -before any painting operations - as it has to be real flush with the fuselage.

 

On the painting side, dpending on the color range you're using, you'll want to "strenghten" a bit the israeli colours, especially if you're using the Gunze acryls ones, they are a bit too pastel, the green and dark earth especially.

 

Best of luck for your build.

[Seawinder]

51 minutes ago, Stéphane said:

Glad my little post is useful

 

Seawinder, I don't know how far advanced you are in your build, but the real dark spot is the windshield are. I don't know what your building habits are, but it's important for your mental sanity that you install the windshield, -before any painting operations - as it has to be real flush with the fuselage.

 

On the painting side, dpending on the color range you're using, you'll want to "strenghten" a bit the israeli colours, especially if you're using the Gunze acryls ones, they are a bit too pastel, the green and dark earth especially.

 

Best of luck for your build.

Thanks again, Stéphane. I will deal with the windshield before painting. I think there's going to be a fair amount of work to do between primer and paint anyway, especially with the intakes where the lower part of the seam has to be removed and the overlapping rectangular panel re-scribed.

 

I'll be using Model Master enamel paints matched to FS 33531 Sand, FS 34227 Green, FS 30219 Tan, and FS 35622 Duck Egg Blue. Do you have any opinions on those renditions? They seem reasonably close to photos I've found online.

[Stéphane]

Hello again,

 

No I don't have any opinion about the Modelmaster shades, the only advice I can give you is to achieve something a tad darker than what I've done -  as you can see, my second name is precision ! 

Best,

[Wez]

Stéphane,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this, really helpful and hopefully useful to potential makers of the Eduard Mirage IIIC for the Mirage GB in 2017 (if it gets through the poll).

 

Regards

 

Wez

[AngstROM]

Le WOO-HOO! Many thanks for this excellent How-To.

[Stéphane]

I like  "Le WOO-HOO! " !!! 

[Seawinder]

I've finished doing the gear strut mods on the Mirage I'm currently building, per Stéphane's instructions, and thought it might be helpful if I shared the way I dealt with the nose gear. First I assembled it, including the wheel. Then, rather than completely sawing off the arms of the rear-facing fork supporting the wheel, I made a partial cut just above it and parallel to its upper edge, starting from the front of the strut. I used one of those photo-etch saw blades. I kept going until the rear end of the fork (with the wheel) could be bent upward, flexing the remaining, un-sawed plastic, and opening a gap in the saw cut. I then used two small pieces of strip styrene -- one .020-inch, the other .010-inch -- to fill the gap and cemented them in. Finally, I trimmed away the excess strip styrene. I'll probably blend it all in with a bit of putty or CA glue before repainting the area.

[Stéphane]

Hello Seawinder,

 

Yes that's a good approach, it keeps the flexibility as you said .

There's always more than one way to do things 

 

Best

 

Stef (#6)