drake122

Is it tough? I've seen pictures of eggplant grey Su-34s and Su-30s, and it seems to have a blue-purpleish tone, whereas this grey, and also the grey they use for Mi-24 or Ka-52 helicopters, seems to be a proper grey. The model is very nice though, makes me want to build one myself.

Modelsvit Mirage III family does cost more than SH Mirage F.1 family, true, but if you want to spice it up with PE or have masks, with Modelsvit these come out of the box, and for Special Hobby, you have to buy everything as separates through CMK/Eduard. I think Modelsvit offer good value, even if they are typical short run kits, no locating tabs, etc.

The might also be waiting because Modelsvit released their Mirage III family first, and mostly everyone who wanted to buy one already got that kit, as it is generally a good build and accurate.

I asked a Special Hobby rep on a czech modelling forum, however my question was ignored. The general consensus seems to be that Mirage family is coming sometime in 2022.

It is fascinating how desperately you wish to take this into a anti-china argument. I will not be provoked however. Your response is not worth a reply in this aspect. I do not claim to be God of Flanker modelling at all. However, when you see a scheme offered by a kit made in 2017, and research the subject, the exact reg. no plane, whether in books or online, and you spot many differences and also you happen to find 'correction sets' for all of those differences in hobby shops, you start to get the feeling something is not right. And the further you look into it, expand into different kits by the same manufacturer, you discover a pattern. It is simply poor research on their part, even though the engineering side of it might be great. I don't rivet count and often just ignore smaller errors, regardless of manufacturer, but for the price tags I mentioned above, I expect a certain level of accuracy. Is that so bad to have this expectation? Especially when other manufacturers can deliver exactly that. If I paid 5 euro for a kit that is absolute rubbish I certainly wouldn't complain about missing wingtip fillets and the like. As a closing thought, I request that you refrain from personal attacks towards me by trying to manipulate this discussion with claims that I spread anti-china sentiments.

I couldn't care less about China. Why do you mix country/ethnic related hate into this? They have a 2017 new tooling, instructions and boxart depicting a up-to-date Fullback, costing 50+ Euros for a 72nd scale kit and it is full of errors and shortcomings. Their boxart has the jet depicted with the mentioned wing fillets ffs. Had to buy a external PE set by A2-squared to correct external detail issues, Quickboost nose cone, wheel and mudguard set by Reskit and scratchbuild many more things to make it accurate for my own tastes. As opposed to that, you have Zvezda Flankers that cost 20 Euros tops and are generally accurate out of the box. Or you have the GWH Su-35, which is in similar price range of 50 Euros, but delivers a much better kit. Similarly the Trumpeter Mig-31 in 72nd scale, comes without parts of landing gear doors, which you can of course cannibalize from a old Zvezda kit, and the mentioned mismould on the canopy part which needs filing and polishing in a terrible place to work with. There was also many smaller external inaccuracies, but easily correctable without buying separate sets. There is a whole thread here on BM or over on ARC documenting these. And that kit costs 35-40 Euros as well.

The general rule of thumb for me when picking a kit HobbyBoss/Trumpeter vs. anyone is to always NOT pick HB/Trumpy. Every time in the past I pick their kit and start building it I felt like what a waste of money: - bought their J11/Su-27 family - realized they "forgot" to include ALL hydraulic pistons for gear bay doors - bought their 72nd Mig-31 - realized they forgot to include 2 whole gear bay doors! Also a nasty mismould on the canopy - I bought their 72nd Su-34 kit... realized the entire gun bay area is wrong, APU exhaust grilles from the tail are missing, nacelles are wrong shape and have inaccurate detail, wingtip fillets for ECM pods are missing and nose shape is completely wrong. This supposedly best-in-scale kit for 50 euros requires another 50-70 euros worth of aftermarket or equal amount of hours of scratchbuilding to make it accurate! Their engineering is generally good, but the subjects are very poorly researched. So, for me, HobbyBoss/Trumpeter - never again!

There is a competition currently initiated by Mr.Sulc on the czech modelforum, where the first 3 people to correctly guess this kit type will receive it for free - one limited edition, one profipack and one overtrees edition. Most mentioned types so far are the Zero, P40 and P51 haha.

Here is me hoping this will be a new 72nd scale Mig-21 variant or at least some jet fighter... ...but in the end it is going to be another Bf-109-110-SpitHurricane-whatever over and over again...

Thanks for all the tips. I did spray the inside of the canopy, and also dipped in a Future equivalent, the shine is restored, but it is still uneven coverage from the rattlecan and visibly so. I prefer not dipping canopies at all if it can be avoided, as I often have problems masking over them, etc. I usually brush paint a layer of future on and use gravity to spread it thinly and evenly. Anyway, the metallic wax seems like a cool idea, I have raided an artist shop for some and will experiment. I have also bought a bunch of metallic gold sharpies, I've heard covering the clear part with sharpie and removing excess immediately with a cotton bud can produce nice results. If all else fails, I will just brush paint clear gloss varnish with a few drops on gold mixed in. Or food coloring

Greetings, I would like to ask for advice. I am looking to build a Su-35S fighter jet and according to reference material, all of them have a dark/gold tinted canopy. What would be the best way to reproduce this without using an airbrush? I have looked up various tutorials, and tried Tamiya Smoke from a spray can on some junk canopies, but my results seem less than satisfactory. The finish is often "grainy", despite me shaking the rattle can properly and also warming it up using warm water. I apply thin mist coats and build up the paint slowly. Using polishing compounds after each layer seems to reduce the grainy effect, but also knocks back the tint somewhat. What are some other methods to achieve this effect? Alternatively, if there is an aftermarket pre-tinted canopy, I would just buy that. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Good news indeed, even though this is not my scale. Would love to build a Ecuadorian Cheetah, but not only there is no kit available (except Scaleworx resin conversions in all scales), also no one really makes aftermarket decals for them! Another nice one would be Chilean Pantera or the SAAF Recce Cheetah... A rep from Special Hobby claimed they would make the "exot" Mirages after the mainstream ones, but their kit is nowhere to be heard of even years later.

My local hobby shop has this on preorder for 560 euros, but there is no way any bag of plastic is worth that much money

No, there is only 2 variants of the current tricolor navy scheme, one older (look at reg. blue 109 for reference - but these were not in Syria) and one current. Syrian veteran machines have kill markings and an orca whale painted on one side of the fuselage, which is nice. There is also a special marking celebrating Timur Apakidze - his face painted on the fuselage, somewhere on display, one of the early prototypes I believe, but it is just static display and not airworthy. If you want a different scheme, just make a what if build.