Mirage IIIS conversion, Modelsvit 1/72

[Squibby]

Exceptional nmf painting, what a beautiful finish you've achieved. 

 

Also while quite belated since I only caught up on this thread today, Im incredibly impressed with the cockpit paintwork. At 1/72 scale it's truly incredible how neat and fine your work is. 

[Andrés S.]

Hi David.

 

I assumed that the information you would have would be for a Mirage IIIS but I was hoping you could have something of a Spanish E, as it has been.

In the first photo that appears of a Spanish IIIE you can see a small piece of the panel we are talking about and I think I recognize that the color is Zinc Cromate Yellow.

Certainly not all Spanish IIIEs had that panel of different color. The two-seater did not have it or at least I have not seen it in the photos I have of them.

 

I do not like the models representing perfectly clean airplanes just left the factory. I like the look more when they are used, and it is more fun to paint them like that. I think I will listen to you and starting from that color I will add dirt.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Regards.

 

Andrés.

[Cookenbacher]

Wow, that's perfect David.

[Col.]

Your latest update is a masterclass on metalic finish and one I intend to reference when I next try to represent a NMF  

[mirageiv]

12 hours ago, Squibby said:

Exceptional nmf painting, what a beautiful finish you've achieved. 

 

Also while quite belated since I only caught up on this thread today, Im incredibly impressed with the cockpit paintwork. At 1/72 scale it's truly incredible how neat and fine your work is. 

 

Thanks Squibby, I was pleased also how the cockpit turned out by my eyes were not!

 

1 hour ago, Col. said:

Your latest update is a masterclass on metalic finish and one I intend to reference when I next try to represent a NMF  

 

4 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Wow, that's perfect David.

 

Col, Cookie, thank you guys, glad you like it! I'm going to try and weather it a bit now to introduce some texture to the 'metal' as maybe it is looking a bit too pristine atm, well we will see how it goes in the next update! 

 

 

12 hours ago, Andrés S. said:

Hi David.

 

I assumed that the information you would have would be for a Mirage IIIS but I was hoping you could have something of a Spanish E, as it has been.

In the first photo that appears of a Spanish IIIE you can see a small piece of the panel we are talking about and I think I recognize that the color is Zinc Cromate Yellow.

Certainly not all Spanish IIIEs had that panel of different color. The two-seater did not have it or at least I have not seen it in the photos I have of them.

 

I do not like the models representing perfectly clean airplanes just left the factory. I like the look more when they are used, and it is more fun to paint them like that. I think I will listen to you and starting from that color I will add dirt.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Regards.

 

Andrés.

 

Hi Andrés, yep the first photo in the article was the only photo I could find that gave a reasonable clue to the colour of this panel, finding a clear photo here seems difficult for a Spanish Mirage. I agree and would go ahead with weathering a base of zinc chromate yellow, especially as you plan for a weathered example. As you are going to build the kit I can't stress enough you must test fit the main landing gear assemblies with the wings and fuselage to prevent fit problems later on when you attach the forward fuselage+nose assembly, the tolerances with the kit's fit are small and problems can snowball from this point if the main landing gear bays are allowed to distort the fuselage/wing before you attach the forward nose/fuselage assembly. 

 

Cheers guys,

 

David 

Edited November 30, 2019 by mirageiv

[mirageiv]

Well the decal stage arrived. The Matterhorn decals are rather comprehensive, you can decal two of any Mirage IIIS/RS throughout their operation history from very early NMF aircraft to the final canard equipped KAWEST85 updated camouflaged aircraft which is great. The few missing off my sheet below were used in tests to see how they would go over a NMF, they are super thin so everything looked good!

 

 

 

During the decal phase I realised I had masked off the red trim around the fuselage avionics panel incorrectly (the red trim covered the panel too much as threw off the look), it was a borderline 'is it worth it?' decision but I went ahead and corrected the red trim, first off by sanding the access panel to prep for Alclad,

 

 

 

Black surfacer then polished up. After accidentally pulling off the intake warning triangles with Tamiya tape during the process I more approximately made little decal coverings (paper over the decal secured with tape) to prevent the same story with the main markings.

 

 

 

 

 

Going back a few steps, before I placed the decals, I applied a brushed layer of Alclad Aqua gloss over the main fuselage to protect the delicate Alclad Polished Aluminium, I find I get a much better finish with Aqua Gloss by brushing rather than spraying and this does a great job at allowing you to handle this paint with no rub off. Then to add a little wear to the metal finish I dry brushed slightly various panels and areas with Humbrol Metalcote polished aluminium and steel in various mixes, very subtle to break up the pristine finish like in the previous posts, unfortunately it is difficult to capture on the photos. After this another layer of Aqua Gloss was brushed on to protect this, so that is two layers on so far, this is important for later, then I went ahead with the decals. 

 

 

 

I choose the aircraft 'J-2336' Geronimo which was the last aircraft off the Swiss production line with some nice artwork, these freshly delivered jets had slightly different stencils (more French) in places, soon these were replaced with more Swiss trilingual German, French and Italian stencils so you need to check exactly what time your aircraft is the decal correctly. 

 

 

 

I was worried about any decals over a NMF, the decal film is always supposed to be a problem. The Matterhorn decals were quite the opposite, the decal film is practically invisible and really didn't even need a clear layer over the top, very impressive. Check this close up of 'J-2336' number below, this is without a clear layer over the decal and no trimming of the film. I have no relation to Matterhorn-Circle and I'm certainly not here to advertise anything, but I think how good they were deserved to be highlighted. 

 

 

 

I choose to build J-2336 as it came off the production line. The airbrake decals and red wing walkways were from the Modelsvit kit sheet as they are sized very specifically to the kit's dimensions in these places, these went on very well indeed also, top decals all around fortunately! I didn't apply any decal softener to the crosses as, contrary to any other build I've done,  I didn't want them to shrink into the rivets, highlighting the rivets through the white of the cross I think wouldn't look so scale going off images of the real aircraft. 

 

 

 

 

 

The dry brushing of Humbrol Metalcote gave a slight variation to the super pristine Alclad in the prior posts and I was quite pleased how it helped bring a bit a realism (or at least non uniformity), it is difficult to photo but in the shot below you can get a sense of it,

 

 

 

Then, disaster. I decided to spray a fine clear varnish layer over the model to protect the decals, only a few light layers to avoid disrupting the Alclad shine too much using Tamiya X-22 clear and levelling thinner. I tested it prior and it worked just fine over Alclad, no reaction, no crazing just a super clear rock hard varnish that kept the NMF really well, better than Aqua gloss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

man-vegetables.  

 

I'm guessing the levelling thinner penetrated the two brushed layers of Aqua gloss, then the Alclad Polished Aluminium, then the underlying Xtracolor gloss enamel and finally reactived the Mr.Color lacquer paint underneath all of this, which then reacted with the Xtracolor enamel on top of it and crazed everything. Pretty gutted tbh, tough way to learn this lesson on this model! I thought there was always a chance but I wrongly assumed enough barriers were between the X-22 and the earlier Mr. Color silvers. There is no reaction on the wings where no enamel paint was applied over Mr.Color, so thinking logically the Xtracolor enamel-Mr.Color interaction therefore has to be the reason for the fuselage crazing. I didn't do a test piece of Mr.Color---Xtracolor enamel---Alclad---Aqua gloss---X-22 as it wouldn't have been a quick test, another lesson there, if in any doubt whatsoever always test paint compatabliity no matter what! 

 

I think I would be able to strip all the paint off, hopefully trying not to get any paint remover inside the cockpit, but because of the scale this will be a difficult job indeed. I just don't fancy doing this and then going through the tortuous paint process all again anytime soon, so I'm going to put the model aside for a bit until I'm prepared to fix this carefully probs in the new year, way too much work has been done modifying the base kit to quit on it totally. 

 

I'm sorry to those viewing and commenting on the thread that is ends here for now.

 

Cheers,

 

David 

 

P.S

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kushan_Farsight]

Firstly, my hats off to you on some incredible modelling and attention to detail on this Mirage IIIs. I have an Academy 1/48 Mirage IIIC with boxart very similar to your scheme, and originally i was going to stray away from this and go for a camo scheme, but your natural metal finish has made me rethink this!

Really unfortunate that the clear varnish has reacted with the paint, and i can see why it would be a bit deflating for the morale after getting so close to completion. Thankfully the wings appear to have been a lot less affected, so perhaps you dont need to do a total strip back.  Either way, i look forwards to seeing this completed.  

[Cookenbacher]

Oh no, I can't believe that interaction occurred through so many layers of clear coats and paint. What terrible luck.

The finish was one of the best I've ever seen David, truly amazing. 

Hopefully, your modelling morale will be restored in the new year for all our sakes, and we can see this beauty completed.

[mdauben]

Oh, no!  That NMF was looking so beautiful.  I hope you can fix the problem.   

[Aardvark]

No words.

 

B.R.

Serge

[Andrés S.]

Absolutely unfortunate. !!

 

I was enjoying this construction and painting work immensely. It was one of the best NMF jobs I've seen and the decals had a magnificently perfect presence.
I understand the discouragement but I recognize that you cannot leave this job permanently. I hope you soon find the strength to continue it.

 

Regards.

 

Andrés

[Graeme H]

As another who has missed this until now, and just read through all the thread, only to end up at a messy end, I can only say, I love your work, and I'm sure you will get it fixed, you have that dedication

I didn't know how different the Swiss Mirages were until now, quite a lot of differences that you covered off beautifully.

all the best with getting it sorted.  

[mirageiv]

16 hours ago, Kushan_Farsight said:

Firstly, my hats off to you on some incredible modelling and attention to detail on this Mirage IIIs. I have an Academy 1/48 Mirage IIIC with boxart very similar to your scheme, and originally i was going to stray away from this and go for a camo scheme, but your natural metal finish has made me rethink this!

Really unfortunate that the clear varnish has reacted with the paint, and i can see why it would be a bit deflating for the morale after getting so close to completion. Thankfully the wings appear to have been a lot less affected, so perhaps you dont need to do a total strip back.  Either way, i look forwards to seeing this completed.  

 

Thanks Kushan, agreed the NMF Mirages look so nice! 

 

15 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Oh no, I can't believe that interaction occurred through so many layers of clear coats and paint. What terrible luck.

The finish was one of the best I've ever seen David, truly amazing. 

Hopefully, your modelling morale will be restored in the new year for all out sakes, and we can see this beauty completed.

 

Cheers Cookie, it did surprise me when I came to the model an hour later after spraying, it looked pretty nice when I clear varnished it. I can't blame anything but myself, there was always a chance of it happening I guess when using a wet layer of X-22+levelling thinner. I have stripped a model before using Mr Color thinners which was clear varnished with Aqua gloss, where the Mr Color thinner had a lot of difficulties removing the Aqua gloss compared to the underlying paint so I assumed 2 layers of Aqua gloss was going to be a sufficient barrier here, guess not! 

 

14 hours ago, mdauben said:

Oh, no!  That NMF was looking so beautiful.  I hope you can fix the problem.   

 

14 hours ago, Aardvark said:

No words.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

8 hours ago, Andrés S. said:

Absolutely unfortunate. !!

 

I was enjoying this construction and painting work immensely. It was one of the best NMF jobs I've seen and the decals had a magnificently perfect presence.
I understand the discouragement but I recognize that you cannot leave this job permanently. I hope you soon find the strength to continue it.

 

Regards.

 

Andrés

 

Thanks guys! I'll fix it when I can. 

 

7 hours ago, Graeme H said:

As another who has missed this until now, and just read through all the thread, only to end up at a messy end, I can only say, I love your work, and I'm sure you will get it fixed, you have that dedication

I didn't know how different the Swiss Mirages were until now, quite a lot of differences that you covered off beautifully.

all the best with getting it sorted.  

 

Cheers Graeme, yes the Mirage IIIS was quite an interesting and specialised variant of the delta.

 

I've ordered another set of Matterhorn decals and will try to contact Modelsvit to purchase a replacement set of the kit decals for the walkways etc...as they fit the kit accordingly. hmm I might think about trying to use foil on the model second time around, at least I'll avoid potential problems like this!

 

David

 

 

[mirageiv]

Hi guys, well after a long delay I've almost got back to where I was a few months back. 

 

Whilst removing the crazed paint with Mr.Color thinners (it doesn't harm plastic even clear parts but strips anything), I realised there wasn't any easy option to remove the residue from the intake area so I broke off the forward fuselage area to get at it better. Whilst seemingly back to the building stage I decided to address a few things. 

 

First thing, I filled and scribed new correct panels on the wing using IIIS drawings and close up images of the wing. Swiss Mirages featured a slightly different panel set up here due to extra strengthening measures introduced to the airframe compared to baseline variants. 

 

Before and after below, spot the difference, not much   but it makes the model seem that bit more a true Mirage IIIS in my mind. 

 

 

 

Also maybe noticeable, I have reduced the appearance of the rivets on the wings and vertical fin by some sanding. After looking at many photos I decided to fill the rivets on the fuselage as despite them being readily apparent on the wings and fin, the fuselage hardly showed any visible rivet traces, especially if we consider the scale. I used Zap-A-Gap superglue and even with this I kept finding rivets here and there that refused to be filled. It became a game of 'whack a mole' in a way as I spotted some and filled them, after the sanding a few more appeared in other places so I called it a day after most had been sorted, my excuse is that on the real airframe some of the rivet lines are visible here and there in a sporadic way so I'm cool with not getting every one. 

 

 

I then repainted the model roughly the same way as before with some changes in the order, fortunately I saved all the little masks I made for the tiny access panels across the airframe, this saved hours of masking second time around! The finish is my attempt to replicate an almost factory fresh Mirage IIIS soon after delivery, so this called for some quite reflective areas such as the main fuselage and vertical stabiliser. The exact finish I was trying to achieve can best be seen in this linked video below from the website 'notrehistoire.ch' (which has some great videos on the Swiss Airforce), showing detailed construction of the Mirages in Switzerland. Go to the time '35.55' in the video and you can see the different finishes of the various areas of the airframe of what think is a brand new or near new airframe. 

 

https://notrehistoire.ch/entries/49a8VOvPWnv    time, 35.55. 

 

My photos here really aren't capturing reality but you get the gist, I'll take RFI photos outdoors where the finish really comes alive. Trying to replicate a foil finish with paint I'm finding is an impossible task for my abilities, I'm not good enough to do it so for my 1/32 Mirage IIIS I think I will try foiling first which should give the look I'm truly after.

 

 

I used Alclad Airframe aluminium for the darker reflective areas such as the fin, intakes and rear exhaust shroud and a 50-50 mix of Airframe and Polished for the brighter fuselage areas. The forward fuselage around the cockpit simply used Alclad normal aluminium with polished aluminium over the top to replicate a modest shine. The nose rings around the folding nose cone were painted with airframe and white+polished aluminium to give the various contrasts here. I did mottle the Alclads on the wings to the vary the finish but again this is largely lost on the photos which is rather annoying! 

 

 

I've sprayed the red intake trim at the end this time to prevent any paint lip build up, because of the super smooth fuselage surfaces any paint lip is magnified and impossible to really work on properly without damaging the surrounding Alclad, the decals do cater for this but cutting them and adapting their fit I think would be harder to do than just paint it. However, I left the red trim around the avionics hatch behind the cockpit and will use decals here as painting the correct shape of red trim here was really tricky to do correctly and symmetrically first time, best left to the decals which fit well here. 

 

 

I noticed in a few images a strange patchwork pattern along the rivet lines on the underside wing panels so below is my attempt to replicate it. The exhaust is just in primer atm. There are plenty of shades and mixes of Aclad all around the airframe but the photos aren't doing them much justice.

 

 

After painting Alclad's aiframe and polished aluminium you get a super reflective finish which I find not so realistic, it looks like you have dipped your model in chrome so I slightly weathered it up with thin mottling of normal non high shine alclads (thinned with levelling thinner btw which helps a lot) and then dry brushed very very slightly with Humbral Metalcote polished aluminium which gives a slight bit of 'texture' and grain or character to the finish, enough to take it from a mirror finish but to still be shiney. 

 

This last dry brushing is largely lost on the photos but hopefully I can capture it better later on. 

 

 

It is hard to see. I did a little bit a blotching on the wings too. 

 

 

 

I decided to spray the main crosses on the upper fuselage (to speed things up I'll simply use decals on the lower wings). First time I've done this and I totally underestimated how long it takes to get everything lined up correctly, kudos to those who do this often! Btw in the below pic the fuselage looks a bit duller compared to the other photos, this is because I over did the dry brushing so after a layer of Alclad Aqua gloss as a barrier I re-sprayed the Aiframe and Polished aluminium to bring back the shinier finish, then repeated with a much more subtle dry brushing. 

 

 

 

 

I used Tamiya matt paints with levelling thinner to reduce any chance of a lip forming around the mask, overcoated with MRP super clear and a final very high grade micromesh gave a result I'm really chuffed with, not perfect but from normal distance I'm happy. 

 

 

 

This is ready to start adding the decals now.

 

I've also been working on some of the smaller details. First up the modified front gear leg and extended nose wheel fork. The Swiss had strengthened gear but also an extended, positionable nose wheel fork used to adjust the height of the aircraft (raising the front therefore dropping the rear) to allow the vertical fin to duck under the entrances of the mountain hangars. On the left is the Modelsvit part (I have two kits) and the right shows my modified version using 1:1 dimensions to make sure everything is ok, here is a pic of the real thing for comparison: http://master194.com/photo_avion/mirage3-suisse/pages/train-avant01_jpg.htm

 

 

 

 

I'll be using the kit's nose wheel with a thin steel rod as the axel or strength, I know it looks small but this took ages to replicate and adjust! I've scribed some tread into the wheel since this photo which is the problem with the Modelsvit wheels, they don't have any and in this scale is a hard thing to add.

 

 

I'm using the Reskit main wheels because of the tread issue and added some basic brake lines to the main legs. I found the main legs to be pretty horrible tbh, there was tooling misalignment between the parts (one half had shifted) so cleaning them up was difficult in this scale, they aren't perfect but will do. 

 

 

 

The Barracuda resin ejection seats I realised aren't quite correct for the Mirage, they are for the EE Lightning and have the side walls. So I carefully sanded these off and then rounded off the cushion and added a few fold creases to better represent the Mirage IIIS seat. Also a few extra parts like the oxygen supply were added using a good online walk around of the seat. The base sides needed some sanding to fit into the Modelsvit cockpit but this will all be hidden when in place, the pull handles will be added at the end. 

 

 

 

I've been working on the armament too. I got some Eduard Brassin Aim-9Bs as they really nail the sidewinders in this scale imho but I noticed something a bit strange during painting. One of the four missiles provided was noticeably shorter than the other three, and the other three had these strange raised panels on the outer surface. Looking at some photos of Aim-9Bs, these seem to be fictional so I made up another Aim-9B of the same length and sanded off all the raised panels, now both equal and ready for painting. Strange! The seeker heads will be made up with Gauzy glass agent. 

 

 

Sorted,

 

 

 

I've been at this model since last August, about time I finish it now! (oh and a RF-104G from a group build a year ago)

 

Thanks for looking,

 

David

Edited February 29, 2020 by mirageiv

[Cookenbacher]

I'm so glad to see you back at this one David, and well worth the wait - it looks even better the second time, what a finish! I really like the results of the metallic dry brush and have stolen the idea from you with enthusiasm - I wonder how well it would work over foil.

Oh, and the painted Swiss roundels turned out great too.

[srkirad]

Great save of the work David!

Will you spray gloss clear over decals to protect them in the end this time?

[Terry1954]

I'm really pleased to see this back and very glad you have persevered and overcome the original nightmare that happened. This is one of the very best NMF finishes I have seen and your modelling skills are much admired. I had a similar experience about a year ago with an RAF Sabre 4 and Alcad finish. I semi overcame the issues, but felt drained when it happened. Leaving the model for a few months helped, and enabled me to correct some of the issues.

 

Looking forward to seeing this progress to the end.

 

Terry

[mirageiv]

17 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

I'm so glad to see you back at this one David, and well worth the wait - it looks even better the second time, what a finish! I really like the results of the metallic dry brush and have stolen the idea from you with enthusiasm - I wonder how well it would work over foil.

Oh, and the painted Swiss roundels turned out great too.

Thank you Cookie! I own none of these ideas though   , everything I have done including the dry brush is seen here or online and just copied. I have borrowed your panel shading variation from your Mustang on my wings also however ...I think the combo of dry brush and tonal variation goes someway to helping us get the finish we want. My reference to foil is that you can use the grain and gently sand the foil to any sort of scuffing and wear you want, for me it still is the benchmark finish for NMF. 

 

As a point of reference, check out this Mirage build using foil: https://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal15/14001-15100/gal14037-Mirage-Doll/00.shtm

 

I think that is simply the best representation of a NMF Mirage I have seen, my attempts to replicate something like that with paint I just can't do tbh, that's why I mention for my 1/32 build I will try foil route in hope of getting something 1/4 as good as the build linked above. Thanks for your input as always!

 

16 hours ago, srkirad said:

Great save of the work David!

Will you spray gloss clear over decals to protect them in the end this time?

 

Hi Srkirad, thank you and yep I'll either spray or brush a layer of Aqua Gloss over to protect everything. The Humbrol metalcote used for the dry brushing seems to argue with any non water  based varnish going over it, so I'll go for the least intrusive to the finish. I will loose some shine and NMF feel but the protection to the decals and delicate Alclad I think is worth the trade off. 

 

13 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

I'm really pleased to see this back and very glad you have persevered and overcome the original nightmare that happened. This is one of the very best NMF finishes I have seen and your modelling skills are much admired. I had a similar experience about a year ago with an RAF Sabre 4 and Alcad finish. I semi overcame the issues, but felt drained when it happened. Leaving the model for a few months helped, and enabled me to correct some of the issues.

 

Looking forward to seeing this progress to the end.

 

Terry

 

Cheers Terry, thanks for the kind words and I agree with your points! I seem to be making a habit out of repainting models, my last two needed repaints so I'm going to be more careful in the future. 

 

 

So I began adding the first few decals yesterday and thought the model looked too pristine. I started to have second thoughts about building a super new finish in this scale, it was looking maybe a bit too toy like and needed more realism for my liking so I decided to make the dry brushing and wear a bit more obvious on the central fuselage and fin. I'll do more weathering later but not excessively as even examples of the IIIS in service for a few years were almost always relatively pristine. 

 

The below image shows more what I'm trying to do, I think it has some sort of filter exaggerating the tarnishing of the surface but it is more what I want to replicate,

 

 (used under clearance from poster of MC-ONE)

 

I carefully dry brushed some more Humbrol Metalcote polished aluminium on the surface to exaggerate the wear compared to the previous post,

 

 

also on the tanks

 

 

 

My phone's camera seems to capture the dry brush finish better than my camera (but makes everything seem more chromatic), in reality it is somewhere between the two cameras,

 

 

 

Back to the decals!
 

Thanks for looking,

 

David 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by mirageiv

[Shorty84]

Hi David,

 

really glad to see you've picked up the kit again. You must have beed quite dishearted when the gloss cote went awry.

 

I'm following your build since way before I registered here and can only say how impressed I am about the details you put into it. Although not my scale, the Modelsvit kit features a really impressive level of detail, further augmented by your work. I did not know that Swiss Mirages differed in so much small details to the French ones so I've learned a lot thanks to you.

 

Btw, the NMF you achived is really impressive, easily one of the best I've seen till now. I will gladly steal try to reproduce it on another future build of mine (Mirage IV).

 

Cheers,

Markus

[Andrés S.]

I am delighted to see that you resume work and take it with the same enormous quality as before.

 

Bravo!!

 

Andrés S.

[Col.]

Add me to the chorus of people delighted to see you return to this one and move it forward again

[mirageiv]

On 3/1/2020 at 11:38 AM, Shorty84 said:

Hi David,

 

really glad to see you've picked up the kit again. You must have beed quite dishearted when the gloss cote went awry.

 

I'm following your build since way before I registered here and can only say how impressed I am about the details you put into it. Although not my scale, the Modelsvit kit features a really impressive level of detail, further augmented by your work. I did not know that Swiss Mirages differed in so much small details to the French ones so I've learned a lot thanks to you.

 

Btw, the NMF you achived is really impressive, easily one of the best I've seen till now. I will gladly steal try to reproduce it on another future build of mine (Mirage IV).

 

Cheers,

Markus

Thank you Markus for the kind words, yes the Swiss Mirages are quite special in the III series and their unit price reflected that at the time,  even more so after their update programs. Everything I have done is pinched from others always, I'm just winging it! 

 

On 3/1/2020 at 10:36 PM, Andrés S. said:

I am delighted to see that you resume work and take it with the same enormous quality as before.

 

Bravo!!

 

Andrés S.

 

Cheers Andrés, glad you enjoy the progress, I'm waiting for more progress and lessons from your excellent Mirage F1 also!

 

On 3/7/2020 at 9:17 AM, Col. said:

Add me to the chorus of people delighted to see you return to this one and move it forward again

 

Thanks a lot Col, another Mirage fan!

 

 

The decals are on (always seem a breeze compared to DACO's F-104 stencils now), I chose 'J-2305' as it was the aircraft in the video linked in the first post of this thread fully armed up. I will save the last Mirage IIIS of the production line, 'Geronimo' , for my 1/32 Mirage IIIS where the artwork should look more impressive in the larger scale, whenever I get around to it. I also applied a light oil wash and a water colour wash over the more delicate Alclads (polished/airframe aluminium-enamels thinners just strip this stuff regardless of clear coat). These early Swiss NMF Mirages were kept in pristine condition, especially newish ones in the 60's like my model so other than some streaking here and there and light grime I've not done much weathering. 

 

 

The Matterhorn decals really do a great job because the decal film is almost invisible over the NMF which I guess is always one of the pitfalls in these models, really chuffed with them. 

 

However, I have learnt another lesson in the world of NMF. On my first go at painting this model, I applied a clear coat of Aqua Gloss before placing the decals and the resultant decal film was invisible. Below is a photo of the prior paint/decal job without any Klear over the top of the decal, just underneath. 

 

 

 

Instead, this time I thought I wouldn't bother putting a clear layer underneath the decals and directly decal onto the Alclad to preserve more metal appearance which has backfired a tiny little bit. Below is a pic of the decal directly over the Alclad, then an Aqua gloss clear layer over the top. It is still nearly invisible and I've taken a photo at a non-flattering angle to highlight/capture it but the contrast in metal appearance between the naked Alclad underneath the decal and the Aqua gloss has shown up a little bit compared to how I went about it first time over. I guess the slight difference in reflectivity between the Alclad-decal-clear and Alclad-clear around the decal has caused this. So next time I'll apply a clear coat before and after the decals to have a uniform reflection and the film should be back to being 100% invisible again. Don't get me wrong it's still pretty much invisible but another interesting potential pitfall in the NMF world I hadn't thought about, I think the Matterhorn decal's thinness have probably helped here, thicker or ones with less transparent film really could have backfired with the contrast difference. 

 

 

 

After the decals and then the Aqua Gloss overall varnish to seal everything (which did take away a little bit of metallic feel but surprisingly not overly so) I then used MRP clear matt varnish (thinned with Gunze levelling thinner some more) to mottle over the wing panels and control surfaces as these on the Mirage IIIS were really quite a dull and flat aluminium in contrast to the fuselage. I got the MRP matt varnish specifically for this because it is so thin and clear it didn't change the metallic appearance of the Alclad at all, just making it flatter so it worked well. I still need to touch up a few of the little scoops on the underside.

 

 

 

 

In order to get some of the smaller details on easier, I decided to finish the landing gear. I wish now I'd replaced the front lights with some clear lenses as they aren't great. When I added the details I just wanted to finish the project so kind of passed over them. The decals for the wheels come from the Matterhorn sheets. The gear parts as stated earlier were bit of a mess to clean up properly as there was some misalignment in them but I guess this is a short run kit after all so things like this aren't unusual. 

 

 

 

Getting the correct 'sit' was a tad difficult as using aftermarket wheels (with slightly different size to the kit) and the mods I had done to the nose leg made sure some adjustment was necessary. I *think* it is right enough now, the nose wheel fork could be adjusted and I've seen photos of it in all sorts of positions and therefore nose up attitudes of the Mirage so I just settled on one photo and set everything to that with a moderate pitch up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The small intake strengthening struts added (bleeding difficult!!)

 

 

 

And another Swiss Mirage mod, the small triangular hoist hooks used for lifting and positioning the Mirages inside the mountain hangars. The red arrows on the right show another less than stella job I did in rescribing some of the spill over main panels after filling the rivets. I did the rescribing over a black primer and now remembered why I don't use black primers, seeing the work done/corrections was difficult for my eyes compared to light greys so I scribed too lightly (I thought better than too heavy at the time) and the result, a few places of inconsistent panels, I'll see if I can do something about it but correcting things and Alclad I've found don't go together so well. Also in this close up you can see the rivets on the wings are a different metal colour, I used Humbrol metalcote polished aluminium as a wash on these (the normal type Alclads underneath are bullet proof to any wash other than lacquers) and carefully applied it after studying some close up photos showing the brighter rivets, hardly noticeable in my other photos but quite nice in real life and something I'd do on other NMF models.

 

 

 

A more focused close up of the forward hook, I think I used Humbrol metalcote steel for these. 

 

 

 

One more update for the remaining weapons, details etc...and we should be done. 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

David 

 

 

[Uncle Uncool]

8 minutes ago, mirageiv said:

 

 

 The anhedral on the wings of this Modelsvit Mirage kit is so SPOT ON even Monsieur @Laurent would be proud. It's the first kit in any scale that this unique feature in the Mirage was captured correctly. I'm looking forward to seeing a 1/48th scale upscale of the Mirage kit by Modelsvit, let's hope so.

She's a beauty standing on her legs, David. Congratulations!

Cheers,

 

Unc²

[mirageiv]

57 minutes ago, Uncle Uncool said:

 The anhedral on the wings of this Modelsvit Mirage kit is so SPOT ON even Monsieur @Laurent would be proud. It's the first kit in any scale that this unique feature in the Mirage was captured correctly. I'm looking forward to seeing a 1/48th scale upscale of the Mirage kit by Modelsvit, let's hope so.

She's a beauty standing on her legs, David. Congratulations!

Cheers,

 

Unc²

 

Cheers Unc² !

 

On the whole I agree the kit captures the subtle lines well in general but there is something that once I noticed, I haven't been able to unsee, but it isn't overly massive. I don't think the wing shape is spot on (compared to say the Heller Mirage IIIC/B), close, but the leading edge wing root begins too far back of the intake, resulting in the wing not having enough sweep and the fuselage/intakes/nose (everything forward of the leading edge) maybe looking a little too long because of this. 

 

Pictures say a thousand words so,

 

 

Compare the picture of the model to this pretty much side on image from 'airfighters' : https://www.airfighters.com/photo/71537/M/Switzerland-Air-Force/Dassault-Mirage-IIIS/J-2331/ 

 

The blue line to me is where the leading edge root should start and the model is definitely further rear. The wing span seems correct so the knock on effect being a delta is a reduced sweep to meet the span. I did compare the wing to some reputably accurate drawings that match the Heller/Kinetic 1/48 Mirage wing's sweep pretty perfectly so I'm pretty sure Modelsvit got this bit slightly wrong. Hard to get a good photo of it but the general idea,

 

 

 

and the Heller and Kinetic 1/48 wings to the same plans scaled,

 

 

 

 

I just hope they correct it on their further releases, not a deal breaker for me for sure but I do see it, the problem is highlighted a bit with the wing tanks as they then seem to slightly protrude too far out from the wing. If they scale up their Mirage III series to 1/48 it should blow Kinetic (and Heller hopefully) out of the water! 

 

Cheers,

 

David

 

 

[Graeme H]

Good to see this again, pity about the wing sweep, but to even the most above average modeller, they will never know, maybe those of us who have followed your WIP will, but even as a Mirage lover, I doubt most would care much about that, keep it up and please finish it off, it's always going to be stunning build.