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Mirage IIIB Heller 1/48 finished


exdraken

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bon jour mes amis!

le Heller classic GB! ๐ŸŸ, oh no, voila: ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ทย 

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I am not old enough to actively remember the golden times of modelling, but still I have this black box Heller kit in my stash (together with several more recent boxings....)

Shape-wise this is said to be THE best Mirage out there, at least in 48th scale.

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wRcYpE2.jpg

no decals unfortunately in this box...

but as aftermarket is an option in this GB, I will see what I come up with!

I plan to do a B model, first for not having a 2 seater Mirage on my shelf, and second for that is the big advantage of this box! you can have either!

before Kinetic released the D model ~2 years ago, this was the only way to getting a 2 seater MIII....

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so , either I will do an Israeli B model of the 6 days war, or a French one... SA would of course also be an option.... โ“

some AM will of course be used, I think of a Master pitot, resin seats? cockpit PE? .... what else?

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cheers,

looking forward to start already!

Werner

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Werner, brilliant choice, I have one of these in the stash and I'm so pleased you've chosen to do the B!

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This was originally released in 1979, catalogue number 599.

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Welcome to the GB and good luck!

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Hi Werner,

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beautiful kit!

Only drawback are the raised lines. A Mirage must have recessedย lines! Or no lines at all!!!

As a result, mine is still on the shelf of doom! I have almost finished re-scribing the panel lines after several years!!! OK, I work on it in microscopic installments once or twice a year!

I am sure you will have fun, as long as you install lengths of sprue to keep the fuselage from caving inward when you handle it, as the plastic is rather soft, Same, you must install longerons in the wings on either side of the wheel wells, for the same reason.

And you are right: best shape of the lot!

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Have fun!

JR

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I wouldnโ€™t be too worried about not having the kit decals Werner, canโ€™t imagine theyโ€™d be of any use and quite possibly very out of register. Great to have you onboard and nice to see a few of these larger 1/48 scalers making their presence. Best of luck and enjoy the show.ย 
Cheers.. Dave

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21 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I wouldnโ€™t be too worried about not having the kit decals Werner, canโ€™t imagine theyโ€™d be of any use and quite possibly very out of register. Great to have you onboard and nice to see a few of these larger 1/48 scalers making their presence. Best of luck and enjoy the show.ย 
Cheers.. Dave

Hi Dave,

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funny you say that. My kit's decals are actually in excellent condition and the roundels in register.

The roundels' colors are a bit suspect, at least for me, hence I need after market roundels as well!

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Cheers

JR

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on page 3/5... certainly needs an update!

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went though the spares box and found some metal parts obviously from the HI-Tech release... will help to dress up the (rear) pit at least!

vX2MVzm.jpg

I also found some resin seats, but not 2 the same... ;)

examples here:

GZWLFKO.jpg

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shape of things to come:

3WBOICA.jpg

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ok, pushed back to page 4 again.... :D

my final? additional pieces came today

yd63fkg.jpg

ResKit nozzle (will fit for sure somehow ;))

eTEfGBi.jpg

PNej5aJ.jpg

Master pitot

Armycast decals :)

rjpQiIh.jpg

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were the B models used for combat in the 6 days war in 67?

something similar to this?

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ddb4b4_f9788364df4e44229ad7700334132ae5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_640,h_480,al_c,q_85/ddb4b4_f9788364df4e44229ad7700334132ae5~mv2.jpg

cheers,ย 

Werner

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so....

although these PE and white metal parts are a definitive upgrade for this kit you still see that this is quite old!

plJuXq7.jpg

I think extra nose weight will not be needed ;)

JJ5u3Dp.jpg

EKlcI7y.jpg

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UVjArDF.jpg

mofcAQg.jpg

GrPW6kH.jpg

more soon!

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Thats all looking seriouslyย good exdraken. All these enhancements will no doubt turn this basically good kit into a great one. Keep up the excellent work.ย 
Cheers.. Daveย 

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This is serious modelling! It looks fantastic.

I wish I had known about it when I tackled the jet exhaust on this kit...

How are you going to paint the inside, by brush?

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Great show!

JR

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  • 2 weeks later...

after some time a bit more was done over the weekend!

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closing the fuselage rear part, fit is good, but some warpage and hardly any usefull pins....

Y8BcugL.jpg

this plastic is old and brittle! :wall:

Gy8es4M.jpg

I put a support on the upper fuselage inner joint:

ySlBFMP.jpg

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It simply snapped because of my gentle intent to close the rear fuselage.... ๐Ÿ‘ผ

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a7sloZC.jpg

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N98utwR.jpg

I will probably try to glue the upper wing sections to the fuselgage first.. as this joint is crucial for looks!

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On 11/2/2020 at 2:55 PM, Jinxman said:

It's worth the careful fitting and gluing to save that filler work later on I reckon - nice work.

yeah, but fit is actually good, problem is the brittle plastic and some warpage! This plastic is really fighting my efforts!

I had 3 three sections snap already....

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ok, some more work in progress:

qB8KBh8.jpgย 

some wing and nozzle glueing support (had to be removed in parts later due to landing gear bay interference ;)ย )

rZ4SQok.jpg

nozzle is fixed now :)

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and we are fighting:

i96lJSB.jpg

RrFyokT.jpg

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15 hours ago, exdraken said:

yeah, but fit is actually good, problem is the brittle plastic and some warpage! This plastic is really fighting my efforts!

I had 3 three sections snap already....

Hi Exdraken,

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my plastic is not warped, but I did get a shock when a small piece of oneย wing tip snapped without any warning!!!

I will have to fix that with some melted plastic...

But these old kits deserve to be built.

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Great job!!!

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JR

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