Kallisti Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 (edited) I'm struggling with the modelling mojo with my most recent build for the Battle of Britain GB, so thought I'd take a quick break to do something as a bit of fun. At the weekend I picked up this kit as I've always wanted to build one again since I came back to the hobby I remember building the Airfix dogfight double with the Mirage IIIc and the Mig 15, and so wanted at some point to build a 1:48 Mirage IIIc. The two colour schemes presented in this box are interesting but on getting home on Saturday I remembered another plan I had to do one of these - the clue is in the picture... Obligatory sprue shot It doesn't look to be a complicated build, but on the other hand it doesn't look to be a particularly well detailed kit. There are numerous sink marks and some flash. but I think it could be a fun kit to build and hopefully restore my mojo to return to the more complex Spitfire Mk 1 build I was undertaking in the BoB GB. Edited September 13, 2020 by Kallisti 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Quack Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 A Spectrum Mirage? Excellent idea Kallisti....but it'll need a female pilot figure and finished in white....... S.I.G Q 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 (edited) This is a bit of a cheat as I already did a Spectrum Angel Starfighter earlier in the year which has a female pilot See here: But that got me thinking what other aircraft would work in this scheme and of course the obvious one to accommodate the big "A" is the Mirage III I have some further ideas about how the future of the Spectrum aircraft pan out, but those are builds for the future... Edited September 7, 2020 by Kallisti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Nice one. I'm looking forward to your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 The week has gone by and some progress has been made. This is an old kit with lots of flash, mould lines and poor fit, but I'm not expecting to make a masterpiece so I'm not all that bothered to be honest, I've not bought lots of aftermarket for it as shown by the ejector seat which is pretty basic, but will be good enough for this build The cockpit was built out of the box using the decals provided, the only change I made was to paint the side panels grey instead of black then put the supplied decals over the top which give good contract colours. You can see from that pic how much filler was required for the joins of the fuselage halves which were not great. Even worse was the joining of the wings to the fuelage, not so much gaps but canyons!!! As for the underside... oh dear!!! So I foresee my immediate future involving a lot of sanding and probably a bit more filling... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Well done on your Mirage !! Funny paint scheme it is !! The starfighter is looking top notch too !! Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Not Eduard's best fitting kit, just wait 'til you get to the intakes! A small point on the seat, the overhead pull handle should be the earlier 'D' type. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 8 hours ago, Biggles87 said: Not Eduard's best fitting kit, just wait 'til you get to the intakes! A small point on the seat, the overhead pull handle should be the earlier 'D' type. John Ah well this was obviously updated when they were acquired by Spectrum This whatiffery makes stuff easy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 I'm In !!!! what a great idea ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted September 16, 2020 Author Share Posted September 16, 2020 Welcome along for the ride Norman! So the next step in the assembly of this kit is to fill the huge gaps that are present in the engine intakes. Here is a dry fit that shows how much plastic shim I had to add to close the gap that is left when adding the upper part of the engine intakes This was relatively easy fix as I have a range of plastic strip of various sizes and this one was the perfect size This show both intake parts ready for attachment. There is one small problem on the left on - the near bottom left got damaged as it came off the sprue and will need a spot of filler once its attached. More filler on this model? Goodness me, the very idea! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Told you so, but it looks like you’ve found the solution. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 The fit is truly bloody awful, how do you manage to make a kit with such fit issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT 876 Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Kallisti said: The fit is truly bloody awful, how do you manage to make a kit with such fit issues? Its the best 48th IIIc there is so no option. As a what if how about a re-fuel prob you could fit one like the other Mirages or how about a F100 style one the bent up one would look great. Ref the seat as you said it has been upgraded so its fine. You could do over wing pylons like the Jag and Lightning had. Keep going will look great when done. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Well this isn't turning out to be the mojo motivator I expected it to be The white paint is now on - this was a Halfords white primer, given a polish with micromesh before spraying Tamiya X-2 gloss white over the top. Once this was all done, it got a brush coat of Klear over that. Next was an attempt to add the large A on the underside. The decals were supplied by JBOT and I completely forgot that you need to give these a coat of Liquid Decal Film before dunking them in water. So I cut carefully aroudn the decal to remove the carrier film then dunked it in water only to see it fracture and start to fall apart... oh boy! Thankfully I was able to use the cut out backing sheet to use as a template to mask the A on the underside and eventually sprayed black. This has come out rather well! I blue-tacced the undercarriage doors into place to match in with the masking, but accidentally scratched the paint on the starboard inner door as I was extracting them, so that will need a touch up. I'm now just waiting for a new bottle of liquid decal film and I managed to crack the lid on the last bottle and not notice until I went to use it again and discovered it had all dried up! That is due to arrive on Weds, at which point I'll add the Spectrum roundels. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Good save on the ‘A’. It’s often the way that when you look for an ‘easy’ build it bites you in the bum! Keep up the good work, you’re still winning. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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