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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

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

Mirage F.1 - for Special Hobby Kit 1:72 Eduard The Special Hobby Mirage F.1 is a great kit, we recently reviewed it here. This set from Eduard provides one colour fret on nickel plated metal and one brass fret. The coloured fret provides mainly cockpit details with new instrument panels side consoles, new seatbelts and ejection seat parts (the kits seats do need some help). The brass fret provides details for the exhaust, air brakes (and well interiors), interior panels for the main and front undercarriage bays, rudder pedals, fin vortex generators, fuel tanks fins, canopy frames, and a front gear door. Lastly a whole host of flush aerials, vents and skin fittings are provided. Conclusion These frets should enhance an already great kit. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dassault Mirage F.1 CE/CH 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.1 was an export success, going to ten nations; Ecuador, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, South Africa, and Spain. The F.1 is still in service with four nations, with only Morocco being an original customer. Gabon has aircraft passed to it from South Africa, Iran operates aircraft which flew there to escape the 1991 Gulf War, and the new Libyan regime operates an unknown number. Some refurbishment of the Libyan machines was underway when the civil war broke out as evidenced by the two aircraft which defected to Malta. Now France had agreed in 2012 to refurbish the rest of the aircraft. 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 and wing tip pylons (all these being in resin). 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. Five marking options are provided in this boxing; 14-40 Spanish Air Force 14th Fighter Wing, Los Llanos AB. Camouflaged aircraft. 462-18 Spanish Air Force 462nd Sqn "Falcons". Blue Grey over Aluminium. 11-04 Spanish Air Force 11th Fighter Wing. Purchased from Qatar in 1997 and left in original dessert camo.. 128 Sqn Royal Moroccan Air Force, Sidi Slimane AB. 175 Sqn Royal Moroccan Air Force, Sidi Slimane AB. Conclusion This is a great new tool kit of an important French Aircraft which enjoyed export success. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Mirage F.1 Update sets 1:72 Special Hobby Following on from their excellent kits of The Mirage F.1, Special Hobby are now producing their own aftermarket sets. The first of these are for the wheels, exhaust, and Radar units. Wheels These are for all aircraft, and again as well as being designed for the Special Hobby kits they should fit the kits from Hasegawa and Esci. The wheels are well cast with the tread visible, one has a tiny pin hole only visible under magnification which paint should fill with no issues. They are a direct replacement for the kit wheels. Uncovered Radar Unit This uncovered Cyrano IV radar unit is designed directly for their new kit. The mounting plate fits directly onto the front of the kit fuselage in place of the nose cone. The radar unit itself and the scanner dish then fit to the mounting plate. The units are highly detailed and should enhance the front of your model if you wish to show the unit in place. Pressurised Radar Unit This covered and pressurised Cyrano IV radar unit is designed directly for their new kit. The mounting plate fits directly onto the front of the kit fuselage in place of the nose cone. The radar unit itself then fits to the mounting plate. The unit is highly detailed and should enhance the front of your model if you wish to show the unit in place. Exhaust Unit This is a direct replacement for the kit parts in the new Special Hobby kit. There are three resin parts and a small PE fret. Conclusion These are high quality parts and should add to what are already great kits from Special Hobby, and of course the kits from other manufactures. Very highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Despite an appalling 'no show' for the recent Harrier GB, I'm going to chuck my hat into the ring for this one. I'll be combining the new Sword 1/72 Lightning F.1 with Modeldecal sheet 78 to produce XM139 of Leuchars Target Facilities Flight in 1967. This will be my first ever BAC Lightning build as well, despite nearly 30 years modelling! Given my not very good completion rate for GB's and a glacial build speed, I make no promises regarding completion.... Since I have 2 days off, I'm away to make a start on this one, Regards, Mark.

Scimitar XD317 pics from Phil Chapman (Vulcanicity)