alrite Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) Hi everyone, I would like to share my progress of my Heller Mirage IIIE with you guys. I started it on ARC, here; http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....howtopic=189301 I would have posted it sooner, but first I thought I would get enough done and not leave another unfinished thread in the WIP forum Here it is in primer; I finished preshading the jet then set about the undersides alluminium colour, alclad aluminium. At first it did not cover the preshading at all (still learning!), which I think is down to the translucent nature of alclad paints, so I had to give it another try with a different paint. I had xtracolor "weissaluminium" and Humbrol metalcote alluminium, both of which were very good matches the alluminium painted undersides. However when it came to spraying, even when I thinned them massively, all I got was a splutted pattern from the airbrush and not at all what I had hoped for, I tried them both again with cellulose thinners and still no luck If anyone can advise me how to use these I would be very grateful. I polished the paint down again with micromesh, by this time the preshading was gone, and overcoated with several thin alclad aluminium coats, which gave pretty much the exact alluminium tone in my eyes Alot of trying/learning but I got there in the end lol. Various panels were replaced on the undersides, most noticeably ; gear doors, cannon pack panels, exhaust panels and various ones around the rocket motor/fuel tank. I sprayed these in polished alluminium, which seems whiter when enough coats have been applied. I think I will still mask off a few more panels such as the main gear ones. These pics show some panel variation; At the moment it's far too new and shiney so the next stage will be weathering the undersides. The final sheen will be dictated by the matt/satin coats that I will apply at the end. I cannot add too many shades though at it was not NMF. I also applied white and black in various areas; Radar, nosecone; The nosecone has a dark grey band which I will sray at the end. Fin (Some black has lifted off and will need to be resprayed); I decided to paint the french colours on the rudder as the decals I have are simply too old and faded. Also on many of the jets there is a stark colour difference between the beginning on the nosecone and the fuselage, which I think has something to do with the white panel like this; So as I had white in the AB I painted this panel aswell, we will have to see if it makes any difference or not when the main camo colours go on. So next stage will be weathering the undersides which I hope to do tonight, until then comment/advise are welcomed, Cheers, Will. Edited September 9, 2009 by alrite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Looking very good. Heller make some great kits given their age and this is one of them. Looking forward to seeing this finished. Is it going to be 'in flight' ? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrite Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Looking very good. Heller make some great kits given their age and this is one of them. Looking forward to seeing this finished.Is it going to be 'in flight' ? David Thanks David. The kit does have a nice overall shape, it just takes a bit of work to bring it up to more modern standards. I have other heller kits such as the their mirage IV, Viggen etc and they are all very nice really, just lacking on the detail side. Oh and yes it will be in flight, I did not want to ruin the graceful delta cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 very nice, Will. I only hope you'll not build it as a French aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrite Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) very nice, Will.I only hope you'll not build it as a French aircraft. Sorry Antoine, but I wouldn't build it in any other markings lol Besides I love french colour schemes and markings. cheers. Edited September 9, 2009 by alrite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 You probably know but check your pics carefully to see if the machine you model had that RWR on the front of the fin. IIRC, many Armee de l'Aire machines did not carry it. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Great progress, Will. Looking forward to more of this excellent build. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) Hi alrite loverly stuff have FINALLY bagged a heller 1/72 Mirage IIIEA kit for a Falklands build so this thread very timely and great to see is there any hope/point in resurrecting the Airfix kit from the Falklands set? Edit: bloomin eck! These Mirages are like buses! you wait ages for one then three turn up all at once just got a PM IIIEA (don't laugh!) but with an AML IIIC Edited September 10, 2009 by walrus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrite Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 You probably know but check your pics carefully to see if the machine you model had that RWR on the front of the fin. IIRC, many Armee de l'Aire machines did not carry it.David Cheers for the advice David, after looking through a few photos I'm certain the jet I'm making did. I think the modeldecal sheet also shows it having one too. Great progress, Will.Looking forward to more of this excellent build. Andrew. Thankyou Andrew, should be another update latter today. Hi alriteloverly stuff have FINALLY bagged a heller 1/72 Mirage IIIEA kit for a Falklands build so this thread very timely and great to see is there any hope/point in resurrecting the Airfix kit from the Falklands set? Edit: bloomin eck! These Mirages are like buses! you wait ages for one then three turn up all at once just got a PM IIIEA (don't laugh!) but with an AML IIIC Cheers Walrus, you can never have too many mirages! I was not aware airfix even did the E (EA), so I cannot advise you on that, though their C is a very old boxing which isn't really comparable to modern standards. Good luck with your AML mirage build, it's not the easiest build out there cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrite Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 Managed to weather the paint yesterday, a few pics; I isn't weathered too much as the camo was fairly recently added (1972) in respect to the time period I'm modelling the jet in, circa 1974. I initially selected a few more panels and sprayed various mixed of alclad. Then I went around the panel lines with heavily thinned tamiya nato black, also adding some grime to the silver finish in places. This was a little too stark so I sprayed a thin layer of alluminium again to blend it all in. Finially I used thinned tamiya smoke to add some more colour to the panels in various places, the two centre wing panels seem to always be dirtier than the rest. I will do all the oil streaks etc when the decals are on I think, it is still too metallic atm which I think a satin coat will fix. Thats all for now, hope to get the uper surfaces done soon and I think alot of masking ahead cheers for any comments/advice, Will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Looking the bees knees Will Airfix didn't do a EA but stuck the old IIIC in the Falklands set, Will try and see if i can bring it up to some sort of standard Thanks for the warning on the AML will be ages before i can get around to it so have time to do some research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 is there any hope/point in resurrecting the Airfix kit from the Falklands set? Forget about it. Will, I don't know how it look like in reality, but at least the pics looks good to me. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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