Flying Badger Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) This is entered into the French Fancy group build... I was doing two builds at once (this and a 1:48 Rafale but the rafale didn't get as far and this one grabbed more of my interest. See the WIP for more details of the scratch building (I appear to have a pathological inability to build anything completely OOB!) 1:48 Italeri Mirage F1C Armee de l'Aire, No. 62, E.C. 2/5 "Ile de France" in livery from 1977 Italeri kit (not all that good but OK as a base) DIY Photo Etch Air Brakes Scratch Built and DIY PE Air to Air Magic R.550 missiles Resin Pit Scratch Built Cockpit detailing Resin Exhausts Scratch Built access ladder Scratch Built Pitot tubes Turned Brass nose probe / pitot DIY decals on the missiles (R.530 Matra and R.550 Magic) WIP thread: http://www.britmodel...cy-gb-rafale-b/ Paint it a mix of Alclad, for the undersides, Vallejo for the Mirage Blue and then Tamiya and Revell - whichever gave me the closest match to the real thing. Edited March 9, 2022 by Flying Badger Replaced lost photobucket images 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Zut alors! that is gorgeous! Très agréable!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Merci amis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 The one thing I may have to correct is the angle of the top step of the ladder.... but I may be away next week and the GB ends on Bastile day next week so I've entered it and will fix the ladder later. FB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avgas Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Very nice! I agree about this kit being ok as a base - I'm busy building one from the box to see what I can live with and what needs replacing for future builds. I'm quite surprised with this kit having been around for so long that nobody's produced a resin replacement nose that eliminates that awful step that needs to be sanded and blended (which you've done beautifully I might add). Anyway, nuff about that - lovely result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolphin38 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Very nice, beautiful looking Mirage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 thanks. avgas.... the nose is sanded (you're right the step is terrible) and I then drilled the end so that it would take the turned brass nose pitot that is fairly cheap (well worth it as the number of times i caught that probe and bent it.... the plastic kit part would have broken off and been eaten by the carpet monster by now!). fb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 that and check your references.... the kit has parts that just dont exist on the real thing (e.g. part 10E) or are way off in placement (parts 29B) fb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avgas Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 that and check your references.... the kit has parts that just dont exist on the real thing (e.g. part 10E) or are way off in placement (parts 29B) fb Yea, I learned the hard way with part 10E... Do you have a close up shot of the main gear by any chance? I can't seem to find a clear shot of the arrangement of the various bits and where 29B needs to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 fantastic looking mirage, very nice job on the scratch building some great detail....nice work.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Very classy! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildeSau75 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 A very nice model of a great plane. One cannot have too many Mirages. Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich25 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Great looking build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IGKent Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Amazing job! Looks nice Mirage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngstROM Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Yea, I learned the hard way with part 10E... Do you have a close up shot of the main gear by any chance? I can't seem to find a clear shot of the arrangement of the various bits and where 29B needs to go! Dunno if this helps (not sure where it came from, so I can't post the actual photo because it belongs to '3/33 LORRAINE'): http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l613/sixtyonesixty/Avions%20Marcel%20Dassault/F-1%203_1.jpg Do you know of any other fixable inaccuracies with the Italeri kit? Edited July 17, 2015 by AngstROM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 (edited) Hi AnstROM Yeah I found that shot as well I used that to guess a position for 29B. Should note that that shot has the forward door for the main gear open, which is only opened to lower/raise the gear or to inspect etc. normally it's closed on the ground. The kits panel lines underneath aren't accurate... but not hugely so and the intakes are OK ish - I used a resin replacement set but there isn't that much in it. The main issues are the exhausts, cockpit and nose/pitot I also think the other pitots rear of the radome are somewhat over scale - that and there are only 3 of them in reality not 4 as the kit has it. If I'd have had time I would have scaled them down a bit. FB Edited July 18, 2015 by Flying Badger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngstROM Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 'Ello Mr Badger! Yes, I thought it was a lucky shot finding the forward door open, showing all the spaghetti and stuff inside. Huge thanks indeed for the pointers; I have the resin corrected intake bits with light lens and NeOmega 'pit (choice of 2 seats), so will probably spring for the AML burner to get a little closer to reality. Fab-ola build, by the way -IMO, easily the nicest Mirage colour scheme! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 (edited) The intakes.... they have the lights on both sides but.... no glass to go over the top. The starboard side (right) one is round and I managed to punch out a disc of clear plastic (from the packaging of the exhaust set) to fit using my punch and die set (2.2mm or 2.5mm I think).. by sticking masking tape to one side of it before I punched the disc out I managed to leave it masked ready for paint! Then a drop of clear glue held it nicely in place. The Port side though is oval and a bit of a bugger..... as getting an oval shape cut out that small is hard.... I didn't end up covering the port side light but I now think I should have painted it silver, then filled it with CA glue (the slower setting thin stuff would have been best to keep the bubbles to a minimum) then carefully sanded it back to the right shape and polished it with micromesh to get it smooth before masking it off and painting the rest of the model..... that should work as I've done it on other areas before (windows over nav lights etc) The aftermarket resin wheels are good as the kit MLG parts had a mis-formed rim and were therefore a sod to paint - I use the method of a spot of thinners on each rim/tyre edge then capillary action with some thinned black paint to get a nice clean edge to the black tyre - works well as long as the parts are molded well. My only issue was that I didn't dry fit them first and as my gear legs weren't perfectly aligned, the flat bit of each of the two tyres per main gear wasn't in equal contact with the ground - bit of sanding helped but they're still not 100%. Still minor issues. If anyone wants to buy a set of the PE airbrakes or missile fins I'm happy to sell them - the airbrakes need a bit of tweaking to get right but they work OK - I'll do them at cost for Britmodellers to experiment with (not sure they are ready yet for full blown commercial market) FB Edited July 18, 2015 by Flying Badger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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