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Mirage IIIS conversion, Modelsvit 1/72


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Hi guys.

 

After getting the Modelsvit Mirage IIIE a few months ago I've decided to build it as a Swiss Mirage IIIS. For me this is the most interesting derivative of the Mirage III series and a very capable fighter when introduced with the combo of the Hughes Taran 18 radar and Aim-26B missile. What a job it must have been flying one of these beauties through the Swiss Alps!

 

For some context a nice video can be found here if you have a few minutes to spare (the footage is great regardless if you speak French): https://notrehistoire.ch/entries/kOPYgj3dWyz

 

We have the dedicated Kinetic kit in 1/48 scale, however after doing the sums on how much the build would cost me knowing I'd throw a lot of aftermarket at it, I decided I'd prefer to do my ultimate IIIS in 1/32 using the Revell/Italeri kit as basis as the work and expenditure would be similar (I already have numerous AM for it already anyways). That long term 1/32 build is for another day however when I have a new modelling area all set up. Until then I've decided to make a 1/72 version for now and I'll apply what I've learnt here to that build, particularly the NMF which I think will be done by Alclad (not sure yet). 

 

PJ productions has recently released a 1/72 Mirage IIIS/RS kit aimed at the later updated variants. A while ago I made a Mirage IIIRS using the original PJ conversion kit on the old Heller kit, to which I had the IIIS resin nose left over with the aim of doing something like this one day. There are various modifications that need to be done to produce an early IIIS from the IIIE, however not nearly as many as the upgraded later versions to which I think the new PJ kit would be the way to go in this scale. I have chosen the Modelsvit kit as the details are unbelievable in the scale, I think the most detailed kit I've had in my hands in 1/72, it's like a very good 1/48 or 1/32 kit hit with a shrink ray in many places. Also I quite like the much disputed rivet detail on the model, maybe under a camo scheme I agree it would look too much in 1/72, but for a NMF it could look very nice, well we will find out.

 

I've got quite a bit of AM for this build too,

 

L1180580

 

Matterhorn Circle decals, Reskit Mirage IIIE exhaust (please ignore the paint mark on the box, that was me!), Barracuda Mk.4 seat, Reskit wheels, Master pitot, Maestro Aim-26B or HM-55 in Swiss service and the PJ resin IIIS nose. I know quite a bit but I thought what the heck, my build rate is so slow I just threw everything at it tbh wanting to build the best one I could. The rest of the IIIS conversion work will be scratch built. 

 

I would like to make an early example soon after delivery in the mid 60's in a QRA set up with pairs of live Aim-9Bs and Aim-26Bs and supersonic tanks. Maybe 'Geronimo' if I can find when the artwork was applied and is applicable in this period, does anybody know?

 

L1180582

 

 

First up was to remove the Doppler radar under the nose area, AFAIK the Taran radar could ground map also allowing all weather navigation. Modelsvit made this integral and hollow to the front fuselage pieces so after some careful cutting I then glued in some thick plasticard to then shape to the surface contours of the nose area, this is yet to be refined until I glue the halves together to get a nice symmetrical shape. The nose gear bay and door (not pictured) is being extended to take the longer modified IIIS nose leg/fork. I'm using dimensions taken from a real IIIS using an article I found online ages ago that doesn't seem to be around on the 'www' anymore, saves to plan ahead and save interesting articles via pdf for future use! 

 

L1180602

 

 

After finding some good images of the underside of an early IIIS I began removing various antennae not present (still some to do) and opening up all the air scoops and drilling the cannon ports,

 

L1180598

 

 

More antennae removed from the fin. I've cut the rudder out in order to build the actuator linkage and displace it although it seems at rest it does look to usually be in the neutral position. Clear light also drilled/installed and blended in, bloody small job in this scale!  The exhaust area will have to be thinned quite a bit to get the Reskit exhaust nozzle in which is no bad thing as it is quite thick and overscale imho here. 

 

L1180590

 

 

After gluing the rear fuselage halves together I then attached the wings to get the best join I could before attaching the lower piece against the instructions. A black wash shows the join, not bad compared to what I have seen online on many other Mirage builds, this will be filled with Zap a Gap I think. Modelsvit seems to have made a lot of the joining parts not on panel lines which I think is quite a smart way to do it (except the front canopy unfortunately), for me it is easier to fill and eliminate a join opposed to doing the same then rescribing back the panel line on it as most manufactures do. I found I needed some plastic shims on the other side of the vertical fin join. Hopefully the pic also gives an idea of how fine the rivet detail is.

 

 

L1180589

 

 

 

Fuselage progress so far. I cut and installed clear lights on the wing tips that will be sprayed with Tamiya green/red clears when painting comes around. If it wasn't for the IIIS modifications I'm doing I think this would be a very quick model to assemble. 

 

L1180585

 

 

Next up will be sorting out the gear bays and cockpit area which will need a new specific Swiss IIIS IP, quite different from the IIIE variant. 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

David 

Edited by mirageiv
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I had the Revell 1:32 kit as a kid, but never finished it. Not sure what happened to it but it probably got binned when I moved to the US. I do remember that the fit was terrible though, particularly the tail.

 

That video reminds me of the TV show "The Aeronauts"!

 

Ian

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you chaps, glad to have some Swiss Mirage fans along. Jackman-great clip!

 

I've made some good progress on a lot of the internal parts so the main construction can now motor along pretty quickly, a big wordy update!

 

After extending the front gear well, the plumbing etc..was extended also to match. Modelsvit's cockpit OOB is pretty fantastic for the scale and would be more than enough for a typical black Mirage cockpit as not much is seen, however the Swiss used a bright metallic grey-green colour that shows up details quite well. With this in mind I went about replacing the (inaccurate for IIIS) etch cockpit sidewalls with my own plasticard versions and placing in tiny switches from stretched sprue. My eyes didn't like it but it sure makes it more busy than original etch panels. Additional wiring added in various places according to references. 

 

L1180622

 

The more I looked at the IIIS IP the more differences I saw between it and the IIIE, including the IP coaming which originally seemed much too short. I ended up modifying it too and extending it as the Swiss version seems to come out further with a larger glare shield. The pic below is before extension. 

 

L1180607

 

 

Modelsvit Mirage IIIE IP provided OOB is nice,

 

L1180606

 

 

But the Swiss version on the IIIS looks like this, https://www.airliners.net/photo/Switzerland-Air-Force/Dassault-FW-Emmen-Mirage-IIIS/876193/L . Actually there are some further differences from the linked image as this represents a late IIIS IP after the update program. I used another reference for an early IIIS IP but I can't post it due to copyright. 

 

I initially made this, taking a page from Eduards book in using clear sheet as 'glass.' Sorry for the crappy photo but I just couldn't get a good one. Since this picture it was refined some more, but it was extremely difficult to drill such small holes using very thin plasticard and required 'a few' attempts. 

 

L1180627 copy

 

 

 

Since the cockpit parts and front gear bay are one of the same I painted them both simultaneously. First up the gear wells were painted a chromate colour matched to photos,

 

L1180638 copy

 

 

Then the cockpit parts were painted the Swiss 'Metallic, minty, greyish green' colour. I used Mr Color 008 silver as a base as the metallic pigment is extremely fine then added Tamiya X-28 green and some blue and a little white to get the tone I wanted, which I used his image: http://master194.com/photo_avion/mirage3-suisse/pages/cockpit02_jpg.htm . I made the metallic hue too strong at first chancing that further varnish layers will tone it down to about right and mixed a good amount into an empty Tamiya jar for my planned 1/32 Swiss Mirage. Due to the metallic nature the exact hue is very difficult to photograph but the general idea is there.

 

L1180647

 

 

The gear bays in this kit are quite complex for a 1/72 model but the detail in hydraulic lines etc...provided is the best I've seen in this scale, almost too small to paint tbh! You certainly need a very very fine paint brush at hand to do this model justice. 

 

L1180670

 

 

The cockpit parts painted up.

 

L1180728

 

 

L1180722

 

I'm pleased about how the new IP turned out (hence too many photos!), although the close ups don't look so neat in real life I'm really chuffed! The dials were taken from various spare decal sheets. 

 

 

L1180678

 

 

L1180705

 

The 'glass' worked too,

 

L1180679

 

 

L1180703

 

L1180689

 

Close enough!

 

The front gear gear bay extension required the cutting off of some of the lower fuselage, something in the order of the red lines,

 

L1180716

 

 

I noticed in a few images the centre panel of the fixed canopy had a blueish tint to it, I assume armoured glass but I"m not certain. It is very subtle however so I just sprayed a single pass of a Tamiya clear blue/green mix. Over a white background is about the only way I could get my camera to pic it up,

 

L1180734

 

 

Over the dark IP coaming it almost disappears which seems to be the case on the real deal, honestly in the flesh it is very subtle. 

 

L1180735

 

 

Before closing up the fuselage further I needed to check the Reskit nozzle. It needed a lot of thinning of the rear exhaust area to get it in which was no bad thing as this area is rather thick as done by Modelsvit and a tad out of scale. The Reskit exhaust has a larger diameter than the kit version but also is in a more 'shut off' position (not totally either unfortunately), the Modelsvit exhaust seems to be done in 'full dry power' for whatever reason. It now can simply slide in at the end of the build and is held by friction.

 

L1180740 L1180743

 

 

 

The Reskit exhaust is full length so it needed a mounting plate. The rear turbine face of the supplied Modelsvit exhaust provided a great mount after being hollowed out.

 

L1180741

 

 

 

Finally I've been playing around with Alclad testing various things. Below is a pic of two spare tanks sprayed with Polished Aluminium. The tank above primed with Mr.Color gloss black, the bottom with Humbrol 21 enamel. The difference in shine was distinct, the enamel being much superior, almost chrome really. However I then dry brushed a silver over it in order to introduce some texture and graining which reduced the shine somewhat. I'd like to know your guys opinions here, as I'm not sure tbh. Does it look like metal grain or is it a bit messy in this scale? Maybe more testing needed but I have been thinking about using this technique on the main fuselage which is quite shiny, not sure. 

 

L1180748

 

 

 

Thanks for looking (and reading if you made it to the end,)

 

David. 

Edited by mirageiv
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PERFECTION, Sir!

 

Excellent work on a very nice subject!  I intend on building a Mirage IIIRS from the old Revell kit and will use your article as a guide.  I plan on using Humbrol's Mist Green metallic paint for the cockpit.

 

Can you tell me the approximate length of the nose landing gear?  I know it was lengthened to make the tail lower for the Swiss dispersal caves.

 

Thanks,

 

WARDOG

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Great work David and such a wonderful build report too. As a Mirage fanboy you have my full attention. Looking at the Moldelsvit kit, the rivetting doesn't seem as bad as originally claimed and the whole kit shows great quality.

As a Mirage fanboy, I bought a couple of very limited print books covering the Mirage 111RS (one book) and Swiss use of the Mirage 111 aircraft  over the years (other book), big glossy very high quality books all nicely enclosed in a thick qualiy cardboard outer slip box. Imagine my horror when I later found it soaked, warped and stuck together after a period of storage in someones shed...and the mice had been at it too.

 

As for the fuel tanks and the grain effect - I understand what you're trying to do and think the effect is certainly very much in the right direction. The untouched tank (the upper tank in your photo) looks a bit flat and much too "perfect" and smooth to represent metal. Did you dry brush the silver in a side to side motion across the tank to get the subtle streaking? It looks very good.

 

Great build and looking forward to more updates, thanks.

 

Jeff

Edited by pinky coffeeboat
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Thank you guys for the kind words! If anyone is building their kit whilst reading this, test fit the main gear well parts before painting! I found they needed some adjustment to get a good fit. 

On 9/4/2019 at 1:49 AM, WARDOG said:

PERFECTION, Sir!

 

Excellent work on a very nice subject!  I intend on building a Mirage IIIRS from the old Revell kit and will use your article as a guide.  I plan on using Humbrol's Mist Green metallic paint for the cockpit.

 

Can you tell me the approximate length of the nose landing gear?  I know it was lengthened to make the tail lower for the Swiss dispersal caves.

 

Thanks,

 

WARDOG

 

I didn't know about that Humbrol colour, good call Wardog it looks very good, I'll look at that for the future builds for sure! According to the information I have the Mirage IIIS/RS nose wheel fork is increased to 54cm in length in total and no indication that the actual nose leg itself was extended, therefore 75mm overall in 1/72 fork length. I will measure my IIIE nose fork supplied from the kit and either extend it by the appropriate amount or make a new one to the correct size, I need to test fit the nose wheel first and decide from there. I plan to work out this part when paint is drying on the airframe but I will show my take on it. On my build, because of the small scale, atm I think I will only extended the nose fork, however there does seem to be some little differences in the base of the nose gear leg also around where the fork is attached. I assume for the foldable feature the new fork allows. The new longer aft nose wheel bay door measures 18.26mm in 1/72, so depending on the size of your nose bay door in your kit you can then extend it and therefore the nose gear bay itself by the appropriate amount. Credit for the measurement data goes to Jean-Paul Poiseroux where he took dimensions off a real Mirage IIIS/RS, unfortunately I cannot locate the article online anymore. Hope that helps a bit!

 

 

 

11 hours ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

Great work David and such a wonderful build report too. As a Mirage fanboy you have my full attention. Looking at the Moldelsvit kit, the rivetting doesn't seem as bad as originally claimed and the whole kit shows great quality.

As a Mirage fanboy, I bought a couple of very limited print books covering the Mirage 111RS (one book) and Swiss use of the Mirage 111 aircraft  over the years (other book), big glossy very high quality books all nicely enclosed in a thick qualiy cardboard outer slip box. Imagine my horror when I later found it soaked, warped and stuck together after a period of storage in someones shed...and the mice had been at it too.

 

As for the fuel tanks and the grain effect - I understand what you're trying to do and think the effect is certainly very much in the right direction. The untouched tank (the upper tank in your photo) looks a bit flat and much too "perfect" and smooth to represent metal. Did you dry brush the silver in a side to side motion across the tank to get the subtle streaking? It looks very good.

 

Great build and looking forward to more updates, thanks.

 

Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff! The rivets look good to me I agree but everyone has their own take on them I guess, I'll get some improved photos later under paint and we can judge better, under a camouflage job maybe they might look a bit too strong, but for a NMF I think they could look really good. If anyone has built the Tamiya 1/72 F-16, the surface detail is pretty much identical to that, really impressive for the scale. Oh nooo on the books! Do you know which ones they were?

 

Thanks for your input on the tanks. I dry brushed in a vertical direction trying to replicate the grain I saw, as you say to break up the pristine finish Alclad gives. The problem is getting them all relatively neat and parallel is difficult over large parts like the fuselage so I'm not sure yet, more testing and I'll decide! I was thinking about attempting foil but the surface detail and scale makes it maybe too intricate for me to do, at least for a first time foil job. 

 

Cheers,

 

David. 

Edited by mirageiv
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My comments above were made after looking at this thread on my phone while out this morning. Am now back home taking a proper look, and this work is really stunning. I can now see what an amazing kit the Modelsvit Mirage is. It's on my to get list now also!

 

On 8/24/2019 at 6:51 PM, Jackman said:

I too feel that the Swiss Mirage is the most beautiful of Mirage III series, especially after watching the Vols Blanc video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoJ8hEsmI0

 

 

Great video Jackman. I've watched a few similar showing fast air through the Welsh Mac Loop, but this one is like the Mac Loop on steroids! 

 

Terry

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That cockpit does not look like its from a 1/72 scale model!  That's real "super-detailing" for sure!

 

The research and work you are putting into this build are really inspiring.  

Edited by mdauben
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On 9/5/2019 at 9:00 AM, Giorgio N said:

Fantastic work, that cockpit is really outstanding. More so as a 1/72 Mirage cockpit is really quite small

16 hours ago, mdauben said:

That cockpit does not look like its from a 1/72 scale model!  That's real "super-detailing" for sure!

 

The research and work you are putting into this build are really inspiring.  

 

Thank you guys, glad you like it, my eyes didn't! Giorgio-true, it is tiny, I will get a better non-close up pic of the IP to give some sense of scale as the close ups aren't really doing it justice tbh

 

23 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

A great thread and as @Courageous said, I also need to up my game! Will follow this with much interest. I have a couple of 1/72 RV Mirage, and I think I'm eventually bound to get a PJ resin one too.

 

Terry

 

Thanks Terry! Those RV Mirages are an 'interesting' build from my short experience. I attempted an AML rebox of the RV Mirage IIIC last year and eventually gave up after plenty of parts didn't even remotely fit or look like they should, my conclusion being life is too short! The Modelsvit IIIE kit is absolutely worlds apart despite looking superficially similar. 

 

 

Cheers,

 

David 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Excellent and very detailed work as usual David.

Really don't know how you manage it in 1/72.

Great catch on the cockpit colour, I didn't realise the Swiss used a different colour and would have missed it when doing a Swiss Mirage in the future. I saw them during an airshow at Dubendorf in 1988 when most of them were in the air defence grey scheme but there were still a few in the natural metal finish and do plan on doing one in the future. I think your 1/32 one will be a masterpiece when you build it. 

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On 9/20/2019 at 3:20 PM, colossusfr said:

Hi, 

 

Your paint job is absolutly fantastic. 

I'm also building this kit. It's really a nice kit. A lot of details, a very good engineering, despite some difficulties like intrados.

 

I'm waiting for your next step !!

Great job.

 

Alain

 

Hi Alain, thank you for your interest. I agree, a super kit, the surface detail is beyond anything else I have seen in this scale and even 1/48 I think. I am just trying to sort out the intakes now, probably the most awkward part of the construction but I will have an update soon! 

 

On 9/20/2019 at 8:15 PM, modelling minion said:

Excellent and very detailed work as usual David.

Really don't know how you manage it in 1/72.

Great catch on the cockpit colour, I didn't realise the Swiss used a different colour and would have missed it when doing a Swiss Mirage in the future. I saw them during an airshow at Dubendorf in 1988 when most of them were in the air defence grey scheme but there were still a few in the natural metal finish and do plan on doing one in the future. I think your 1/32 one will be a masterpiece when you build it. 

 

Thank you Craig, glad you like the work so far. Dubendorf 88' sounds like an ideal airshow for me with these sort of participants, jealous! :) I look forward to your IIIS also, I assume you will use the 1/48 Kinetic kit which looks very good, although Aero48 produces a nice resin nose to make up for the one dodgy part of kit.

 

Thanks guys, I'll have an update sometime later next week.

 

David 

Edited by mirageiv
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On 9/5/2019 at 9:04 AM, mirageiv said:

Credit for the measurement data goes to Jean-Paul Poiseroux where he took dimensions off a real Mirage IIIS/RS, unfortunately I cannot locate the article online anymore.

Maybe, I save this article (or maybe only photo from article?!) on hard disc my computer.

I search this article on my computer on next week.  But if I find it at my PC ... can it be published here?

🤔

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

I also have Mirage III E from Modelsvit. 😎

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/29/2019 at 7:47 PM, Aardvark said:

Maybe, I save this article (or maybe only photo from article?!) on hard disc my computer.

I search this article on my computer on next week.  But if I find it at my PC ... can it be published here?

🤔

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

I also have Mirage III E from Modelsvit. 😎

 

Hi Serge, sorry for the long delay, I missed this! I have not published the article because it is someone else's work so I doubt it can be published here without consent by the author, I think he is a member here however; https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/profile/5878-jpp/ . See this thread: 

 

 

In other news, I've mostly finished construction of the kit and will do an update soon so hang in there those following :) .  It has been a seemingly endless loop of priming, scribing, filling  (in any order)...the surface details of the kit are so fine, replicating them again after sanding suitable for a NMF has been mildly difficult!

 

David 

 

 

 

Edited by mirageiv
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On 11/5/2019 at 7:21 PM, Col. said:

Wow! Amazing work :wub:

 

Thanks Col!

 

Finally an update guys!  

 

First up, trying to make the PJ IIIS nose fit the Modelsvit kit. I have all the Matterhorn Swiss Mirage decal sets (I really like these Swiss Mirages btw) and in the 1/32 set there are some very nice drawings of the specific Mirage IIIS nose shown below. It is longer than the IIIE variants for the special TARAN radar and is probably the biggest difference in terms of modelling we need to consider.

 

 

 

L1180969

 

 

I scanned and scaled these drawings to the Modelsvit 1/72 kit and compared to see what I had to do. These photos have some camera distortion so must be taken which a pinch of salt how they line up.

 

L1180857 copy

 

As you can see there is a noticeable profile difference between the kit and the PJ nose, I guess the PJ kit series have a slimmer nose profile than Modelsvit. The real Mirage IIIS has a a nice curvature in the transition between the fuselage, across the nose until the pitot tube. Because of the step shown above and the scribing needed inevitably after sanding I didn't want to use filler here, I'm sure a noticeable 'kink' in profile would have been the result so instead I added a plastic spacer ring to help the transition in profile. Also the nose seemed a little tad short in comparison to the drawings so it helped add a little length.

 

L1180868

 

The radar cone bolt holes, used for folding the cone in the tight Swiss Mountain hangars and the hoist holes were filled with sprue as these were all in the the wrong place now, as well as the panel lines being filled with Zap a gap. I made the fuselage rivets deeper around this area so they would survive the sanding. 

 

After blending and contouring (it took a while, about 4-5 primer check layers) I then re-scribed the panel lines again slightly further rear and drilled all the necessary holes using the Matterhorn drawings and close up images of the details. Some of the scribing needed was beyond my templates so small templates from plasticard were made, they worked quite well tbh but a bit delicate. 

 

L1180894

 

L1180924

 

This is what I'm going for below, (Image very kindly allowed for use by Robert Schneidier of MC-ONE). From this great thread over on LSP: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/73589-mirage-iiis-swiss-air-force/page/4/

 

 

 

 

The final nose profile I settled on below,

 

L1180931

 

It is a little too pinched IMO, but this is because I used a Master pitot here which is little thinner than reality. It does give better strength and detail and it is also a little longer matching the drawings better. Also having the Aero48 resin nose for the Kinetic kit at hand helped in getting the right shape. 

 

L1180922 copy

 

 

As the Modelsvit kit is an IIIE OOB with the doppler radar under the forward fuselage, all the details around the very forward underside had to be scratched. After scribing the correct panels, the thin cover over where the doppler radar should go was scaled from dimensions from the Kinetic 1/48 kit and added via plasticard. Foil would have been a good bet here in terms of thickness but the last thing you want with an Alclad paint job is paint flaking off foil and all the headaches that would could come about fixing that.

 

L1180896

 

This was then blended in and further small details added in this area,

 

L1180929

 

 

The intakes of the kit have a longitudinal seam line due to the breakdown (and some tooling faults on top) that was a bit annoying to sort out but I got there in the end. The intake shock cones received a few different Alclad shades and then a semi-matt clear layer, even only masking a few panels like this made me realise how much of a masking marathon this NMF will be!

 

L1180749

 

 

 

The ailerons and flaps of the IIIS seemed to be slightly dropped most of the time so I set about modifying this. The kit has no provision for dropped surfaces so you need to do plenty of cutting.

 

L1180935

 

 

Before this I forgot I added some rivet lines that were missing for some reason on the top panels of the surfaces, to be consistent more than anything. I thinned the trailing edges a little too for scale.

 

L1180783

 

 

I added a thin strip of plasticard to the front of the dropped surfaces to make up for the 'extra surface' needed when the drop, this was then sanded very carefully so that the surfaces could be butt joined at the correct slightly depressed angle. Trying to do a proper representation of dropped control surfaces here using semi-circular rod was beyond my abilities in this scale as scribing a receptive V-notch into the wing would be very difficult, careful enough sanding I think has given a similar impression. The actuators underneath the wing were cut where appropriate and slightly sanded to the correct angle to facilitate the drop.

 

L1180941

 

 

Finally some little hinge slots were cut into the hinge line that are quite noticeable on the real jet, see this image: http://master194.com/photo_avion/mirage3-suisse/pages/fuselage-details08_jpg.htm

 

L1180940

 

 

The result. They are roughly lined up here and I'll glue them at the end because the inner flap is very delicate.

 

L1180949

 

 

The Mirage IIIS and IIIRS had four hoist hooks located at the wing root for manoeuvring inside the mountain hangars and the panels around the wing root had to be scribed slightly different here, I haven't added them yet however to avoid damage.  

 

L1180951

 

 

 

I did a little work on the fuel tanks, namely filling in the lines as they were a bit clunky compared to the rest of the kit, re-scribing these finer and sharpening the tips, they are super pointy!

 

L1190007

 

 

After joining the forward fuselage to rear fuselage/wing assembly something seemed a little 'off' with the shape. I compared the kit to some reputably accurate drawings and I think found the wing sweep is not quite sharp enough, making the wing join at the forward root a little too far back thus making the intake area a little too extended, 

 

L1180963

 

 

L1180965

 

Maybe it was the drawings? I then scaled the drawings and compared to the Heller and Kinetic 1/48 wings. The Heller wing was almost a perfect match with a sharper sweep than Modelsvit.

 

L1180978

 

The Kinetic wing has the same sweep as Heller but a smaller span and inner flap width,

 

L1180983

 

L1180982

 

Given the other two kits match up and just looking by eye there is something. We are not talking major shape errors here but little discrepancies for sure, the Modelsvit wing problem isn't so obvious with casual looking but imho it isn't quite right. I think the Heller 1/48 Mirage IIIC/B kit, whilst old, it still the best representation of the subtle curvature of the Mirage III in 1/48 with the best 'coke bottle' area ruling of the fuselage and wing camber.

 

The upper surfaces of the Mirage IIIS wings had slightly different panel construction compared to the Mirage IIIE but I will not modify it in this scale, as I said before on this kit when you start sanding anywhere replacing the surrounding rivets and details is very difficult and I do not want to make lots more work for myself tbh!

 

Off topic for this thread but I did the basic cuts for a kit-bash from the best parts of the Heller kit (fuselage and wings) and the best/necessary parts of the Kinetic (ATAR-C exhaust, fin, forward fuselage, ventral tank etc...). This will be another Mirage IIIS using the Aero48 upgrades and Matterhorn decals but for another day, the parts fitted really well!
 

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Back to model making I cut off the rudder, thinned the trailing edge, sanded the visible slots above and below and added a bit of actuator detail,

 

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A general shot,

 

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I've been working on the Maestro HM-55 missiles on and off for a while. They are not overly accurate but will have to do, the fins did not fit so well either and required 3 filling and sanding/priming attempts, this was very tricky sanding the cyano glue around very soft resin and thin etch tbh in this scale but mostly there now. They need some details adding like the launch lugs and how they adapt to the launch pylons. Speaking of which I used the Aero48 1/48 scale resin ones to take dimensions and make some 1/72 plasticard versions. They are just basic shapes at the moment and need panel details added. 

 

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They will go on like so,

 

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The cockpit IP and cover glued in, looks nice and snug in there. 

 

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I've polished up the Mr.Surfacer primer, washed the model and it is now ready for the final front canopy part to be added and blended in, then I think I can get on with applying some paint. Masking this should be a ball!

 

Thanks for looking and for any input as always,

 

David

 

Edited by mirageiv
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