Revell Mirage F.1 C/CT (04971) 1:72 Revell

[Julien]

Mirage F.1 C/CT (04971)

1:72 Revell

 

 

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

Here Revell have re-boxed the excellent Special Hobby/MM kit with new decals.  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 two decal options on a sheet from Italy so there will be no issues there.

 

1. F.1C No74 5-AE, EC 3/5 "Combat Venaissin"  1989

2. F.1CT No260 Disbandement EC 1/30 Normandie Niemen July 2009 (box art)

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

A great kit re-boxed with a decent set of new decals . Recommended. 

 

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit   or
 

[alex]

Nice review of a nice kit. I assume the other marking option is a plain vanilla grey/green/silver bottom one?

 

Alex

 

[stevehnz]

I think I saw somewhere it is the air superiority blue scheme.

See here. https://www.super-hobby.com/products/Dassault-Mirage-F.1C-CT.html#gallery_start

Julien posted his confirmation below before I found where I saw it, moment of panic.

Steve.

[Julien]

1 minute ago, stevehnz said:

I think I saw somewhere it is the air superiority blue scheme.

Steve.

Yes the blue/grey over silver

[hwallen1410]

Is it just me or are the decal options the wrong way around?

[Julien]

2 hours ago, hwallen1410 said:

Is it just me or are the decal options the wrong way around?

Yes, Revell have printed it the wrong way around on the instructions!

[alex]

I find it a bit a shame that Revell has still not yet published the instruction on their homepage.... thanks for the link to a page with painting guide!

 

Alex