Pappy

G'day Hendie, I found the hysteria about the ill-fitting KH kit to be greatly exaggerated; in fact it went together very well as long as diligent test fitting and clean up was practiced. The reason the build stalled was that I wanted to push on with some other builds. I also have the KH H-9 kit and the plastic is the same. cheers, Pappy

Les, the raised pedestals are indeed the respective seat bases. Note that the seats do not rest on the tub floor as the seats are actually mounted onto the catapult IRL which is located on the aft bulkhead of each cockpit. When assembled, the seat sides should overhang the pedestals and conceal them while still raising the seat off the tub floor. I used resin seats and a resin tub on my build so I cannot say how well the Airfix dimensions work out in relation to having sufficient clearance for the seats to sit under the canopy

Fitting the weapons bay insert will make life easier and will not effect the fuselage assembly. I didn't think you could fit the bay door insert afterwards anyway? For the cockpit, I would spring for resin seats at least. The seats will be a focal point and are very visible. Yes, most stencils overpainted for the desert scheme. Yes the camo wore off, faded and got dirty - check photos and weather to taste. I think that the desert camo tended to look more chipped on the Jags while the Buccs just got dirtier however, It was clean at some point! Pappy

G'day Les, Yes. the kit has a fearsome reputation for warpage and bad fit and most is nonsense. Sean in (the previous post) has correctly identified the major issue. In deciding to offer different bomb bays. Airfix opted to make the bomb bays a drop in part that would allow for the standard and later 'bulged door' options. Splitting the fuselage horizontally meant that there was now a large square hole in the lower fuselage which considerably weakens the rigidity of the lower fuselage half and can invite warpage if the kit contents are not stored well. Installation of the required bomb bay insert considerably adds to the rigidity of the lower fuselage. Dry fitting the two fuselage halves does not inspire confidence as the two parts don't look like they are from the same kit but if you glue the fuselage in sections it will come together. I found that what worked for me was: Glue from the radome back to the left intake and the rear right fuselage up to the exhaust and leave to set overnight. The next session, do the opposite sides The fin does not fit great. The two halves assemble well but where the fin assembly touches the upper fuselage is very gappy. I had a step where the front of the fin assembly meets the upper fuselage spine The multipart slipper tanks do not fit well, buy some filler you will need it! There is a weird recessed oval feature on the left fuselage half from memory. This oval panel should be flush like the one on the opposite side The upper fuselage needs to have a slot scribed into the spine aft of the canopy to represent the channel that the canopy actuator runs along The intake parts are a poor design as part of the intake is moulded to the fuselage half. I cut these portions off the lower fuselage half and attached them to the intake assemblies as this allows for a better fit and adjustment and easier access for filling and sanding The decals in all my boxings were out of register, best replaced with AM decals Nose weight - Yes! Depending on variant and timeframe, there are other modifications required. I would have to check refs but one of the vortex generators on each outer wing panel needs removing. Also, late in the aircraft's career i.e. during the Gulf War it was common practice to leave off one or both of the wing fold cover panels to aid in inspections. check photos for your chosen aircraft if possible There was one release of this kit in which there were two complete kits were included. I was lucky enough to have two of these. Airfix realised the mistake but not before these kits had been distributed. Having a free second kit is a great bonus but this could also contribute to warpage and scratched parts if the box was not stored well. I re-boxed the contents within another box and did not experience any issues other than the ones mentioned cheers, Pappy

Not quite correct. A single AIM-9 could be loaded to a launcher fitted directly beneath the pylon, in which case, yes, that pylon could not have anything else loaded to that hardpoint. This is beacause the adapters used to attach the LAU-7 required the MAU-12 suspension and release unit to be removed. This was the case with RAAF F-111s (ESMA adapters were trialed but never adopted) however USAF F-111s could be fitted with an adapter that allowed the LAU-7 launcher to be installed to the side of the pylon and still allow for a store to be carried beneath the pylon. Pappy

Pretty sure Ron was referring to the MJU-1 Aerial Stores Lift Truck a.k.a the "Jammer'" used to load stores to the jet Pappy

Wow! Pappy

G'day Giorgio, Not built any myself but having seen these un-built and built by a mate (and Mirage freak) the synopsis is: Great detail and accuracy Good manufacturing quality (some clean-up) Assembly needs work due to the resin nature of parts - removal and cleanup, alignment etc. They looked really good when built cheers, Pappy

G'day, I used the aqueous (GSI Creos) equivalent of H307, happy enough with it. WIP here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/search/&tags=Mistress of Deception If you don't like the out of bottle colour you could always add drops of white/black or even blue to get exactly the shade you want. I have found that the FS colours vary in hue depending on the light conditions. Fading does occur but this is less evident on in service jets and more noticeable on display jets that have been kept outside. The Ravens were pretty well maintained and although they could get dirty, and even develop a patchwork appearance especially around the 'football' due to upgrades, fading was not really common. cheers, Pappy

Thank you Bjorn cheers, Pappy

🤩 Lovely! Pappy

Any colour you like so long as it is black Black cockpit and black seat Note - the ejection seat used changed during the service life. Originally fitted with MB MK.4s, there were later upgraded to MB MK.6s Pappy

It would be helpful if you could be a little more specific like which variant and operator e.g. RAAF Mirage IIIE/O Pappy

G'day people, I was a little pre-occupied with my Tamiya GB entry, but now that I have that 'monkey' off my back I can get back to this. Before I do though I need to big up Beard for being a top bloke. I had asked for a spare pair of Fujimi CBTEs and low and behold these have now arrived, thanks very much Mr Beard! Normal programming will resume shortly, cheers, Pappy

Ben, BW and Finn, Thank you very much for your help. I think red for the IFR door inners and z.c. green for the bay it is. The yellow and black IFR probe l,ooks too cool not to include, cheers, Pappy