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Hi This is my build of the Mirage F-1C with the Tiger Meet scheme It is the Special Hobby kit. A pleasant kit with no major problem Some other photos at this adress Mirage F-1C "Tiger Meet"

Remora/Sycomor Pods for Special Hobby Mirage Kits 1:72 CMK Special Hobby have released a small family of Mirage kits, and as you would expect, they have supported the kits with a range of resin upgrades from their CMK label. We have received examples of the Remora radar jammer pod and the Sycomor Chaff/Flare dispenser pod. Both pods are nicely made, with crisp detail and flawless resin. What's more, they only cost a few Euros each, so it won't cost you a lot of money in order to hang something a bit more interesting from the wings of your kit. Remora Radar Jamming Pod for Mirage F.1 and 2000 Sycomor Chaff/Flare Dispenser for Mirage F.1 Review sample courtesy of

Mirage F.1C/C-200 Armée de l'Air' 1:72 Special Hobby The Dassault Mirage F.1 has been a successful point defence fighter for over forty years. Originally developed as a private venture by Dassault to replace the ageing Mirage III, it is a single-engined, single-seat fighter aircraft with a high-mounted wing and the ability to reach mach 2.2 in short order. Power is provided by a single SNECMA Atar turbojet providing about 15,000 lbf of thrust. The Armée de l'air operated various versions over the years, with deliveries beginning in 1974 and the last aircraft retiring in 2014. The aircraft was also an export success for Dassault, with foreign operators including Ecuador, Greece, Morocco, South Africa, Spain and Libya. The F.1C-200 featured a fix air-to-air refuelling probe. This is the latest iteration of a well-regarded kit from Special Hobby which first saw the light of day three years ago. The parts are crisp with engraved panel lines that are probably on the deep side, but still acceptable. At least they won't disappear under a coat of paint. The kit is spread across six grey sprues and a single clear sprue. Decals are by Cartograf and the instructions are printed in full colour. So far, so good. Construction starts conventionally enough in the cockpit area. The cockpit is of conventional tub construction, with a multi-part instrument panel and coaming and detailed rear bulkhead. The control column is added as this stage, but not the ejection seat. For some reason step 3 in the instructions has you placing the cockpit inside the fuselage and closing it up, while step 4 has you adding the front wheel well and exhaust into the fuselage. I would say that it's best to reverse these steps. On the subject of the exhaust, it is a three part sub-assembly and the quality of moulding and detail is very good. Once the exhaust, front wheel bay, and cockpit are in the main fuselage can indeed be closed up. Once the main fuselage is together the correct nose can be added for your chose decal option. If you are building the C-200 variant, the IFR probe in moulded in place on the starboard side of the nose cone. Various nose antenna are added along with the front air brakes which are moulded in the closed position. The single-part engine intakes are also added at this stage. Next the main wings are added. These locate via tabs in the wing roots and are of conventional upper/lower construction. Once these are on the vertical and horizontal tails can be added, as well as the ventral strakes. The landing gear - or at least the main gear legs - of the F.1 always remind me of the units for the Sepecat Jaguar. The undercarriage is quite detailed but has been moulded to be in as few parts as possible. The main legs along with their retraction struts are one part, with only a single small section needed for each of the mains. The wheels are one part each and have nice relief for painting. With the bulk of the airframe complete, construction returns to the ejection seat. For the scale this is quite detailed, with four parts making up the seat. Apart from adding the canopy, all that remains to do now is add the pylons and your choice of ordnance. The instructions show which should be added for each decal option, but in total you get: 2 x Matra Magic Mk.I/II AAM 2 x V-3 Kukri AAM 2 x Matra Super 530F MRAAM 2 x GBU-16 LGB 1x ASTAC reconnaissance pod 1x RAPHAEL SLAR reconnaissance pod 1x RP35 reconnaissance pod 1x ARAL 1B Phimat 1x ARAB 9A Barrax 2 x RP35 Fuel Tanks If bonus marks are awarded for generosity in the field of ordnance provision, the Special Hobby get a hat full. A generous four decal schemes are provided on the Cartograf sheet: Mirage F.1C c/n 46. 12-YE, Escadron de Chasse EC 1/12 Cambréses, Base Aérienne BA103 Cambrai Épinoy. This aircraft is finished in blue-grey over aluminium, with tiger strips painted on the tail for the 1979 Tiger Meet; Mirage F.1C c/n 84. 12-ZF, Escadron de Chasse EC 2/12 Cornouaille, Base Aérienne BA103 Cambrai Épinoy. This aircraft is finished in blue-grey over aluminium; Mirage F.1C-200 c/n 206. 5-OA, Escadron de Chasse EC 2/5 Ile-de-France, Base Aérienne BA115 Orange Caritat, France 1981. This aircraft is finished in blue-grey over aluminium, with a fleur-de-lys emblem on the vertical tail; and Mirage F.1C-200 c/n 201. 30-LA, Escadron de Chasse EC 4/30 Vexin, Base Aérienne BA188 based at Ambouli International Airport, Djibouti City, Djibouti, Africa, May 1994. This aircraft is finished in sand/brown/chocolate over aluminium; Conclusion Special Hobby has the F.1 market pretty much sewn up now, and with each new release we got the ability to build more and more variants. The mouldings are crisp and well-made and the overall package is very complete, particularly given the amount of ordnance and the generosity of four decal scheme. Overall, this is a nice kit an can be highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Armée de l'Air 2000D at RAF Faiford. Pics thanks to Mike.

* "ORP Sokół (Polish: Falcon) was a U-class submarine (formerly HMS Urchin) built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. Shortly after launching in September 1940 she was to be commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Urchin, but instead was leased to the Polish Navy due to a lack of experienced submarine crews.[citation needed] A sister boat to Dzik, both boats operated in the Mediterranean from Malta, where they became known as the 'Terrible Twins'." * 1/400 scale Mirage kit contains PE and resin upgrades. Only resin part is nose. And it does not fit well. So it needs alot of filling and sanding. * I scratchbuilt ladders, gun barrel, weld marks, exhaust covers etc. Thanks for viewing... Çetin

Dassault Mirage IIIE/RD/O Revell 1:32 History While the initial Mirage IIIC model was heading towards quantity production, Dassault promoted a long-range, all-weather air defense/strike fighter (multirole) variant of the design as the "Mirage IIIE". The prototype first flew on April 1st, 1961 and included a lengthened fuselage with increased avionics and fuel, a Marconi navigation radar, Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and Cyrano II series air-ground radar. The Mirage IIIE was outfitted with the SNECMA Atar 09C series afterburning turbojet engine and a total of three prototypes furthered the endeavor prior to production. After adoption by the French Air Force, the IIIE was also licensed-produced in the countries of Australia, known as the Mirage IIIO(A), and Switzerland while fielded by the forces of Argentina, Brazil, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela under various export designations. French Air Force Mirage IIIE models were cleared for nuclear ordnance. As with other interceptor aircraft of the period, a dedicated reconnaissance variant soon emerged as the "Mirage IIIR". This variant offered the ground attack frames of the Mirage IIIE models with the avionics suite of the Mirage IIIC interceptor. They lacked radar under the nose cone and housed multiple cameras for photo-reconnaissance sorties instead. The Mirage IIIR was then improved through the "Mirage IIIRD" upgrade. Reconnaissance types were adopted outside of France by the forces of Israel, Pakistan, South Africa and Switzerland. The Model Originally released in 2016 by Italeri, Revell have now re-boxed the kit with new decals. The kit comes in a top opening box which is still incredibly flimsy, which showed by the fact that the review samples windscreen had been badly cracked. Inside there are six large sprues of grey styrene, one of clear and a large, colourful decal sheet. The moulding of the parts looks to very nice and fine, with no flash or other imperfections. Whilst quite detailed out of the box, there is plenty of room for extra, should the modeller wish. Construction begins with the assembly of the nine piece ejection seat with a choice of ejection handles on the head box. Although nice, the kit only comes with decal seatbelts, etched steal/brass or cloth would be much better, so you will have to resort to aftermarket items. The single piece cockpit tub is fitted out with a lower front bulkhead, alternative two piece instrument panels, depending on whether you are building the E/O or RD versions, joystick, and three piece coaming with optional head-up display. The upper rear bulkhead and sidewalls are then attached to the tub, followed by the three piece nose wheel bay, which is attached to the rear of the cockpit tub. The cockpit/bay assembly is then glued to the lower fuselage, which will also need some holes drilled depending on which version you are building. The main wheel bays are each made up from four parts, which are then glued into the lower fuselage. The full length intakes are each made from two halves, but in such a way that there shouldn’t be any seams to worry about. The rear sections of the intakes where they join is a single piece, which when all assembled allows the intakes to be fitted to a bulkhead which is then glued into one half of the upper fuselage. Strangely enough, the instructions then tell you to build the engine at this point, which is a very nice six piece assembly, as a standalone model itself, but could have been left till the end where its transport stand is also assembled. The fin is then assembled and again, the modeller has to drill out holes depending on the version they are building. The fuselage halves are then joined together, sandwiching the intakes in-between, after which the fin assembly is glued into place. Each wing, also requiring holes to be drilled out depending on version are each made up from upper and lower halves, but before joining them together the modeller has to fit the upper and lower airbrakes, outer main gear bays and main gear oleos. Clear lenses for the navigation lights are then attached. If you’re building the RD reconnaissance version then the camera nose needs to be assembled. Each of the four cameras are made from three parts including clear lenses. The rear nose bulkhead is then fitted with the camera platform onto which the cameras are then fitted. The lower camera bay hatch is fitted with clear ports, after which the nose halves are glued together with the bay in-between and a fifth camera in the extreme nose and the final clear parts to cover the ports. The bay hatch can either be posed in the open or closed position with support rams to hold it open should the modeller wish it. The upper and lower fuselage sections are glued together, followed by the fitting of the wing assemblies, intakes and either the RD or E/O nose sections having fitted 20g of nose weight just forward of the cockpit first. Now the rather confusing bit in the instructions, which show the engine assembly being slid into the exhaust orifice before the exhaust fairings and nozzle sections, yet in another diagram it shows the nozzle and fairing being fitted without the engine. So, it looks like you can either engine on the display stand or in the aircraft, yet there are no other details for the interior of the fuselage should you want to display it out. The wings are fitted with half of the flap and aileron actuator fairings, whilst the other half is fitted to the control surfaces. The main undercarriage assemblies are then completed with the addition of scissor links, actuators, outer doors and two piece wheels. The inner doors are fitted with separate hinges before being glued into place. The nose wheel is made up from thirteen parts not including the bay doors and once assembled is glued into position. In front of the nose wheel bay there is a bulged panel, which looks like a doppler panel, and depending on the version the modeller is building there is an option of two types. The build of the aircraft is completed by the fitting of the windscreen, canopy, which can be posed open or closed, various aerials, pitot probe and a nicely produced access ladder. The optional engine stand is then assembled from thirty six parts and will look great in a diorama setting. If you are building the E/O strike version then the kit comes with a wide selection of weapons to hang of the aircraft. These include the Matra R530 missile, 500 l, 1300l and 1700l drop tanks, JL 100R Rocket pods/fuel tanks, R550 Magic missiles, AIM-9B missiles, Matra AS37 Martel missiles, Barax pod, Barracuda pod and Phimat pods Decals The decals come on a large sheet and provide options for three aircraft. The decals look very nice, being in register, good colour density but with quite a matt/satin finish. Some of the decals are quite large and will probably need some softening and setting solutions to bed down correctly. The sheet also contains a full set of stencils and warning symbols for both the aircraft and the ordinance. The options are:- Mirage IIIE 3-XT “50 Years EC 3/3 Ardennes” Armee De L’air, BA133, Nancy-Ochey, 1993 Mirage IIIRD 33-TI ER 3/33 Moselle, Armee De L’air, BA124, Strasbourg-Entzheim, 1987 Mirage III0, A3-49, 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Butterworth AB, Malaysia, 1983 Conclusion I never got to see the Italeri kit when it was first released, so it’s nice of Revell to re-box it. The kit does look very nice and will certainly look stunning in any collection, just a shame that you have to use the separate engine either on the stand or in the aircraft. It would have been nice to have a simpler tube just to fit in the aircraft. Not really knowing the subject I can only go by those who have reviewed the Italeri kit when it comes to accuracy and from what I’ve read it does measure up well with the real aircraft. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

The Kinetic's German partner, Wingman Models (http://wingmanmodels.com/wm/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.display.65./superior-military-aviation-model-kits-accessories), is to rework the chinese new 1/48th Dassault Mirage IIIE/O/R kit (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234959104-148-kinetic-mirage-iii5/) to propose a Belgian Dassault/SABCA Mirage 5BA & BR in its Superkits range (http://wingmanmodels.com/wm/Pulsar/en_US.Store.display.80./superkits) - ref.WK48014. Source: https://www.facebook.com/wingmanmodels Now what about the two-seat Belgian variant, the Mirage 5BD? V.P.

Hello, I'm looking for information on the Belgian Mirage 5BA during the 80's. In the specific what kind of weapon load could carry, in addition to the two huge 1700L fuel tanks. I found some pics of Mirage 5BA with LAU rocket pod under the external wing pylons, but nothing else. During the Desert Storm some of the 5BA were deployed in Turkey carrying 2 AIM-9J Sidewinder. I saw a picture of a Mirage 5BA in a museum surrounded by different bomb loads like Snakeye bombs, BL755 cluster … Also I'm looking for some good photos of the Mirage 5BA nose, especially the lower part. Thanks in advance. CIAO! Piero

Thanks Luis 😉 High Planes Models (HPM) next 1/72nd Mirage delta kit is the ENEAR Mirage 50CN Pantera - ref.HPK072101 Source: http://www.hpmhobbies.com/high-planes-enaer-mirage-50cn-pantera-kit-1-72/ V.P.

Mirage F.1 EQ/ED (72386) 1:72 Special Hobby The Dassault Mirage F.1 has been a successful point defence fighter for over thirty years, and was developed initially as a private venture by Dassault as a replacement to their ageing Mirage III fighters. It is a single-engined, single-seat fighter aircraft with a high-mounted delta wing and capability of reaching mach 2.2 in short order. Power was provided by a single SNECMA Atar turbojet providing about 7 tonnes-force (69 kN; 15,000 lbf) of thrust. Dassault soon found an eager customer in the shape of the French Armée de l'air, who bought various versions over the years starting on 1974. The French retired the Mirage F.1 in 2014. The ED is the export version for Qatar, and the EQ the version for Iraq. Its worth noting that private military contractors in the US are buying large surplus stocks of Mirage F.1s to use in the adversary role. The Kit This is a reworking of the superb new tool kit from Special Hobby. This boxing has extra plastic parts for this version being the tail and large centre line tank. There is also some small resin parts for the "lumps & bums", and a resin Exocet Missile for the Iraqi version. The parts are crisp with engraved panel lines deep enough not to disappear under a coat of paint, but not trench like. From the parts break down on the sprues it is evident more versions are on there way. Construction starts conventionally enough in the cockpit area. The instrument panel and coaming is built up and attached to the front of the cockpit, the rear bulkhead is attached, and the control stick added in. For some strange reason step 3 in the instructions has you placing the cockpit inside the fuselage and closing it up; and step 4 has you adding the front wheel well and exhaust into the fuselage. I would safely say that it's best to reverse these. On the subject of the exhaust, it is a three part affair and the quality of the kit parts is very good. Once the exhaust, front wheel bay, and cockpit are in the main fuselage can indeed be closed up. Once the main fuselage is together the correct nose can be added for your chose decal option. Various nose antenna are added along with the front airbrakes which are moulded in the closed position. The engine intakes are also added at this stage. Next the main wings are added which are of conventional upper/lower construction. Once these are on the rudder, tail planes, and ventral strakes are all added as well. Once the main aircraft is built it is time to switch to the landing gear. All three units are built up and added along with their respective doors. The undercarriage is quite detailed but has been moulded to be in as few parts as possible. The main legs along with their retraction struts are one part, with only a single small section needed for each of the mains. The wheels are one part each and have nice relief for painting. It is then a quick re-visit to the cockpit to build the ejection seat. For the scale this is quite detailed with 4 parts making up the seat. There is a choice of seat back/cushion however no indication of which to use for which option. It is suspected these options are time frame based, and the modeller should check their references. The penultimate step is to add the pylons. A single centre line pylon is added along with wing pylons, &chaff dispensers. Thankfully this time the instructions show which should be added for each decal option. The instructions show only fuel tanks to be attached, although the sprues do contain a nice selection of French weapons to be deployed as the modeller sees fit,. Lastly the canopy and front screen are attached. Markings There are four decal options on a sheet from Cartograf so there will be no issues there. 1. F.1EQ No.79 Sqn Iraqi Air Force (Sand / Grey scheme). 2. F.1EQ-5 No.81 Sqn Iraqi Air Force (Dark Sea Grey Scheme) - Fitted for Exocet. 3. F.1EQ-6 No.102 Sqn Republic Of Iran Air Force (Grey / Blue Scheme). 4. F.1ED Libyan Peoples Air Force (Aircraft which defected to Malta) Conclusion It is great to see more versions of this new tool from Special Hobby becoming available. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I´m travelling to Europe in a couple of months, and I have the opportunity to buy either Italeri´s Nesher/Dagger or Kinetic´s Mirage IIIE/O/R/RD/EE/EA. Since the Italeri one has the decals I want (and it´s cheaper), what are your opinions on that kit regarding its fit and the need to fill and sand seams (and other type of details you guys may have). The Kinetic is, as stated, an option, but it doesn´t have the decals I want and it´s twice the price of the Italeri one. Good night, read you tomorrow!

Hello, Here is my IAI Nesher “61” 5 in IAF No. 113 “Hornet” Squadron during late ‘70s. The Nesher was the Israeli version of the French Dassault Mirage 5 multirole fighter. The “61” was the personal Nesher of IAF’s ace Giora Epstein. KIT The model is based on Italeri Mirage IIIE/R in 1/32nd scale. This kit is good in size and shapes. Details are generally good but sometimes are a bit poor especially panel lines due the shared molding with the IIIC kit. CONSTRUCTION To convert the IIIE kit into a IAI Nesher the main change I had to change the following airframe parts: · Replaced the IIIE radome with a longer and pointed resin one from Isracast conversion set for Nesher; · Length vertical fin base. Other than the modification listed above I had to add more details using aftermarket as a resin ejection seats, wheels, undercarriage bays and ATAR 9 exhaust. I made from scratch the instrument panel and the FOD for air intakes. I added some details such as hydraulic pipes and electric lines into the undercarriage bays, undercarriage legs and cockpit tube. The pitot tube is turned metal set from Master. I tried to add some missing details around the fuselage: · Panel lines under and above the fuselage; · Fuel drain points and intakes; · All the aerial antennas; · Cannon’s barrels. COLORS & MARKINGS Paints were from the acrylics lines of Gunze and Tamiya. Squadron markings, serial numbers and stencils are from Isracast conversion set for IAF Neshers. Some IAF RBF tags were added to finish the model. And now go with the pictures! CIAO! Piero

RV Aircraft is to release in May 2015 their first 1/72nd Dassault Mirage III, 5 and Cheetah injected kits - ref. 72048 & 72049. Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RVAircraft/412179818902422 Box art - ref.72048 - ref.72049 V.P.

A nice little kit this, fitted together well and looks a bit different in Taiwanese colours. The Taiwanese operate 57 of these capable French jets, all based at Hsinchu in north western Taiwan. The three squadrons of the 499 TFW are the 41st and 42nd TFGs, tasked with air defence, and the 48th TFG, tasked with conversion training for the type.

There seems to have been a few of these posted up recently, and way better than mine, but heres my interpretation of the kit done in Royal Australian Air Force 3 SQN markings. The tail flash and this particular scheme called the Lizard scheme were both short-lived. The frill neck lizard on the tail dart being replaced with the 3 SQN winged grenade, and the EDSG of the lower surfaces being replaced with Light Gull grey The kit is certainly not my favourite, fit being not so great, and moulding quality poor for a kit released so recently paint is by Xtracolour with decals from caracal. Centre line beam comes from PJ Productions with bombs from a Hasegawa weapons set Resi-art resin wheels replaced the rather poor kit offerings Thanks for looking

Another project this year is placed in the shelf. I started the Mirage series and here's the first one. The model is grateful for the work, the little decals are worse, but the end result is satisfied. Thanks to the pilots of the South African Aviation, who sent me books and a handful of photos, not only for Mirages but for their other planes. The colors are Humbrol, upper HU63 and HU75, and down HU65. Here's the picture.

Another project this year is placed in the shelf. I started the Mirage series and here's the first one. The model is grateful for the work, the little decals are worse, but the end result is satisfied. Thanks to the pilots of the South African Aviation, who sent me books and a handful of photos, not only for Mirages but for their other planes. The colors are Humbrol, upper HU63 and HU75, and down HU65. Here's the picture.

Hi all, been away for yonks, does any good soul have any idea what type of font Dassault used on its mirages? Basically depicting Mirage F1 or Mirage III below the canopy? Thanks and best to all

Hi all, That question is in the title. Is the Special Hobby Spanish F1CE/H okay? If not what is the best alternative? Thanks. M

Hi all, That question is in the title. Is the Special Hobby Spanish F1CE/H okay? If not what is the best alternative? Thanks. M

Modelsvit is tooling exclusive 1/72nd Dassault Mirage III V01 & V02 kits for French shop Bassin-Maquette. Release expected for Christmas 2014. Source: https://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Bassin-Maquette/136603423173762 Bassin-Maquette 501 Avenue Gustave EIFFEL F-33260 La Teste-de-Buch FRANCE Email: [email protected] Homepage: http://www.bassin-maquette.fr/index.php Tel: +33-(0)5-57.16.48.24 V.P.

Hi! I would like to join the GB with another Mirage F1C (suprise ) My choice - F1C, Armee de l'Air EC 1/12, No. 16 , Tiger Meet 1991 Original Kit and accessories

Mirage IIIE No.458 / 13-PP EC 2/13 ‘Alpes’, Colmar – Meyerhiem, France, 1967 The 1967 Battle of Britain ‘At Home’ day at RAF Coltishall was very special for me. I remember being there with my Dad and my Uncle and was equipped with a camera at last! This was the first time I had seen a Mirage IIIE amongst all kinds of other amazing aircraft and I was determined to model No.458 / 13-PP or its brother No.415 / 13-PK also on display that day. Well it took 50 years but I finally got there. This is one of the photos I took on that day : Thank you High Planes Models for a kit that captures the shape and details of the Mirage IIIE very nicely. I actually had the Australian IIIO kit but all the parts are there to make a IIIE. To be honest, I was expecting the fit of parts to be much better (the main joints required a lot of filler) and the panel lines are overdone (a tad too Matchbox trench like) but it certainly looks every inch a Mirage. I built the old Heller kit just before it to try out some finishing ideas (see pictures) and it certainly shows its age in comparison. Finish was basically AK Extreme Metal AK481 Polished Aluminium sprayed over a Tamiya grey primer undercoat. Wing panels were a mixture of Xtracolour Dark Sea Grey and Aluminium with some panels highlighted with Daler Rowney ‘Goldfinger’ silver (previously marketed as ‘Rub N Buff’). Most small access panels were painted Light Aircraft Grey. Panel lines were highlighted with a sharp HB pencil before coating the whole thing in Klear before decaling. Decals were mainly Modeldecal from various sheets. National insignia came from an IPMS sheet. I had to cut out the centres of the roundels and use the central blue disc from the next size down roundel to get the proportions right. For some reason early Mirage national insignia didn’t conform to the more usual 1/3 red/white/blue proportions. I tried out some ‘standard’ roundels on my Heller model of No.492 / 3-JN but they didn’t look quite right – see photos.

Dassault Mirage F.1 CR 1:72 Special Hobby The Dassault Mirage F.1 has been a successful point defence fighter for over thirty years, and was developed initially as a private venture by Dassault as a replacement to their ageing Mirage III fighters. It is a single-engined, single-seat fighter aircraft with a high-mounted delta wing and capability of reaching mach 2.2 in short order. Power was provided by a single SNECMA Atar turbojet providing about 7 tonnes-force (69 kN; 15,000 lbf) of thrust. Dassault soon found an eager customer in the shape of the French Armée de l'air, who bought various versions over the years starting on 1974. The French retired the Mirage F.1 in 2014. The F.1CR was a programme to bring in some degree of tactical reconnaissance without going to a dedicated platform. The port cannon was removed and a A SAT SCM2400 Super Cyclone infrared linescan unit is installed in its place. A space under the nose can be used for a Thomson-TRT 40 panoramic camera or a Thomson-TRT 33 vertical camera, and variety of podded sensors can be carried on the centreline station. 64 CRs were ordered for the Armée de l'air. The Kit This is a superb new moulding kit from Special Hobby. The parts are crisp with engraved panel lines deep enough not to disappear under a coat of paint, but not trench like. From the parts break down on the sprues it is evident more versions are on there way. Construction starts conventionally enough in the cockpit area. The instrument panel and coaming is built up and attached to the front of the cockpit, the rear bulkhead is attached, and the control stick added in. For some strange reason step 3 in the instructions has you placing the cockpit inside the fuselage and closing it up; and step 4 has you adding the front wheel well and exhaust into the fuselage. I would safely say that it's best to reverse these. On the subject of the exhaust, it is a three part affair and the quality of the kit parts is very good. Once the exhaust, front wheel bay, and cockpit are in the main fuselage can indeed be closed up. Once the main fuselage is together the correct nose can be added for your chose decal option. Various nose antenna are added along with the front airbrakes which are moulded in the closed position. The engine intakes are also added at this stage. Next the main wings are added which are of conventional upper/lower construction. Once these are on the rudder, tail planes, and ventral strakes are all added as well. Once the main aircraft is built it is time to switch to the landing gear. All three units are built up and added along with their respective doors. The undercarriage is quite detailed but has been moulded to be in as few parts as possible. The main legs along with their retraction struts are one part, with only a single small section needed for each of the mains. The wheels are one part each and have nice relief for painting. It is then a quick re-visit to the cockpit to build the ejection seat. For the scale this is quite detailed with 4 parts making up the seat. There is a choice of seat back/cushion however no indication of which to use for which option. It is suspected these options are time frame based, and the modeller should check their references. The penultimate step is to add the pylons. A single centre line pylon is added along with wing pylons, &chaff dispensers. Thankfully this time the instructions show which should be added for each decal option. The instructions show only fuel tanks to be attached, although the sprues do contain a nice selection of French weapons to be deployed as the modeller sees fit,. Lastly the canopy and front screen are attached. Decals The decals are printed by Cartograf so should pose no problems, The are crisp, in register and look colour dense. Three marking options provided in this boxing are; 33-TA ER3/33 Special 4 colour brown Scheme for Red Flag 1990. Flown the now Chief Of Staff of the French Air Force how managed to claim 2 adversary F-15s. 33-NR ER2/33 Standard dessert scheme as used in Chad in 1988 features a sharks mouth on the nose. 33-CY ER1/33 Standard French Grey/Green scheme. These aircraft operated from Corsica over Kosovo & Serbia. Conclusion This is a great new tool kit of an important French Aircraft. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I wasn't sure I had anything already in the stash that qualified for this GB and Mrs K is keeping a close eye on purchases...but I pulled out a Weekend Edition of the Eduard IIIC with a rather nice NMF Armee de L'Air from April 1976 based at Cazaux. The actual plane is No.92, EC 02/010 Seine, Armee de l'Air, BA120 Cazaux. I have found a couple of reference pictures but am still doing my research. I should mention that I have never attempted NMF before and so this is going to be a bit of a learning curve. I am planning to use Vallejo Metal Colours. Finally I should like to dedicate (my attempt at) this build to my good friend Tim, the only modelling friend I had to share builds with in person (as opposed to you lot) who died in a tragic motorbike accident last month and whose funeral was yesterday. Although not a member I know he had enjoyed browsing the forum for inspiration. Love to his wife Charlotte, son Hugo and daughter Petrie. On with the build. Some photos of the kit: As always all comments very welcome. Dave